So that means I am 9 years old today!

To celebrate, Mom ordered us some primo Valerian Root. Thanks to the Katnip Lounge kittehs for the recommendation! Panda Bear and Cookie were the first Bambinos on the scene when Mom opened the box.

Mom thought we would like the Valerian Root because she heard that Valerian Root smells like “stinky feet”. And, ahem, a few of us Bambinos are connoisseurs of The Stinky Foot Smell.

Caramel (aka Ms. Floooooofs) also really enjoys a good whiff of Mommy’s Old Stinky Slippers. Floofs’ toehawks are visible in this photo.

Meerkat took one whiff of the Valerian Root, and look what happened:

The same thing happened when Sunny took one whiff:

And Sky got Sky High after rolling in the Valerian Root that Mom sprinkled on the carpet.

When I sniffed the Valerian Root, I was not impressed. Mom, you woke me up for this?

Then Sunny and Panda Bear really became feisty after a few more whiffs of the Root.

They settled their differences in true ManCat style.

Mom and Dad made up for the lousy birthday present by giving me some REAL Food for Breakfast today. They opened a can of Albacore Tuna and gave me lots of tuna and tuna juice!

All right, I shared the tuna with the rest of the Bambinos. Sky also really loved the Albacore Tuna!

You are most welcome to teleport over here to try out the Valerian Root for yourself! If you don’t like the Root either, we also have some Primo Nip! Oh, and Mom’s Stinky Slippers, too.

Purrs,

Padre, aka Earth Day Birthday Boy

Pee. Ess. We haven’t been blogging much these past few months for a variety of lame excuses. Late last year, Mom’s compooter started slowing down to the point of the ridiculous. So she uninstalled some software which kept it limping along for a few more months. Finally, it was so bad that she broke down and bought a new compooter. And you know what that means kittehs – it takes humans FOREVER to set up their new compooter and install all the software and files needed for blogging. We hope that Mom is now back in proper blogging form. We have really missed you and can’t wait to start getting caught up reading all your bloggies!

We are just taking it easy today. Breakfast, then a nap pile. Feel free to join us if you like to nap! Here is a baby picture of us when we were itteh bitteh! This is taken three years ago today – the day we were born!

This photo was taken a few weeks later. Caramel is the black fuzzball, and I am in front serving as a pillow to my sisfurs. See how big my gold flame mark looked compared to my tiny little head?

Mom and Dad brought us some fun nip toys from Coventry Cats, including a new nip nanner!  Rumor has it there is a new Da Bird, but we haven’t seen it yet.  (We dedded our old Da Bird.)  Come on over to play and eat and nap!

Purrs,
Cookie and Caramel

Panda Bear dived inside once Dad got the package opened.

Panda Bear opened the card and read it to us.

Look at all the wonderful presents!

Sunny sniffed the presents in the pretty blue wrapping paper.

Panda Bear is REALLY into nip!

He’s even licking nip flakes off the lid!

When Panda Bear gets really excited, he claws the carpet with gusto! That’s the effect nip has on him.

My sister Cookie sniffed the cute little mousies! We have been carrying those around and practicing our Mouse Patrol techniques with them!

We loves Temptations! Thanks for sending us Fishy Flavors! Meerkat is asking for more. Nom nom nom …

Thank you so much for sending us The Red Dot Maker! It is the one toy that gets all of us moving! Meerkat is stretching out to smack The Red Dot.

Mom put all the presents on the table and took a photo of them all together! We can’t wait for Mom to start that cat grass growing! We ate the Purina One Turkey yesterday! Mom loves the dove pin, jingle bells, and the yummy chocolates! What a generous gift!

Meerkat claimed the box! (The rest of us are a little too “well-endowed” to fit inside the box.)

Even Senior Catizen Padre got off his Gizzy Quilt to join in and play The Red Dot! Padre says Thank You!

My sister Cookie is really into wrapping paper. She likes to lie on it, play with it, and nap on it. Cookie says Thank You!

Sky says Thank You! (Especially for the Temptations.)

Sunny says Thank You!

Panda Bear says Thank You! (Especially for the Nip!!!)

On behalf of The Furry Bambinos, I say Thank You!!!

What a terrific present!!!

A huge Thank You to Mom Paula, Truffle, and Brulee for coordinating Secret Paws!!!

This is what we looked like as newborns:

As Meerkat mentioned in her most recent post, Mom and Dad dragged the rug-sucking monsters around the house, and REMOVED ALL OUR FURS. Especially from the Cat Trees in the Fambly Room. As you can see in the photo below, I am very distraught about this turn of events.

Please join us for a Birthday ReFurring Party! Even though it is still winter here, we are sure that if efurryone sheds just a little, we will have the cat trees back to normal in no time!

Even if you don’t have furs, or don’t shed much, please come and enjoy the party!

We have food,

fountain drinks for the kittens and adult cat beverages for the big kittehs,

treats,

toys,

more toys,

nip

and napping spots!

Lots of napping spots!

Plus ample facilities for when you need to answer the call of nature. No long lines like at the ladies room at rock concerts!

There are two sets of stairs for games of Thundering Herds of Elephants! Each set of stairs has a landing and a turn for added interest and difficulty.

Please join us, and be prepared to SHED!!!  (Furless Cats Welcome, too!)

Purrs,

Ms. Floofs (Caramel)

and Cookie

As regular readers know, all of us Furry Bambinos are former foster kittehs. Padre, my biological sister Meerkat, and I were adopted in October 2007.  Cookie and Caramel were Mom and Dad’s first attempt at fostering in 2009. They joined the fambly, but since then we have had lots of fosters come and go.

I, Panda Bear, am the President of the Furry Bambino Welcoming Committeh. I am the first Bambino to befriend the fosters. Caramel and Cookie are next to accept the newbies. Meerkat is always LAST to accept the fosters. Usually, she bops them on the head and gives them a hiss. Padre, big ManCat that he is, is usually AFRAID of these pipsqueak fosters, so he avoids them.

The fosters LOVE me. Srsly, they do. Why wouldn’t they? The second I walk into the foster room, I get swarmed by itteh bitteh kittehs. Here, I am teaching the tots how to get your nip on. That’s Sunny, Sky, and Hunter observing closely.

They watch my every move. That’s Silver, Sunny, Hunter, and Sky.

Here I am trying to enjoy a good look out the front window, while standing on the bar stool. That’s Hunter paying homage to me.

Dad even made a short film, depicting my groupies in action.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIINXGZ3m5s

Honestly, ya’d think I was Justin Bieber or something.

we purrticipated in Secret Paws this year and we received The Meezers as our kittehs to be Secret Paws for. The Meezers wrote about opening our gift on Tuesday. we’re glad they liked the presents! Nicky has been on a nip high for a few days. that’s OK, so have i!!! because …

we got a FANTASTIC package from Samantha, Clementine, and Maverick in Texas! Cookie read the label to see who the package was from. Panda Bear helped to open the box.

Panda Bear helped to take the presents out of the box.

Panda Bear sniffed some primo nip toys inside the stocking and gave the stocking a good bunnykicking.

when Panda Bear was done bunnykicking, Caramel and i joined him to check out all the wonderful gifts.

Padre and Cookie joined Caramel, Panda Bear, and me. i am taking a good long sniff of the stocking stuffed with nip toys!

nip fest! mmmmmmmm nip!

i took a break from my nip fest to look at the pretty card from Samantha, Clementine, and Maverick!

Panda Bear checked out the YUMMY Fancy Feast Appetizers! we ate them and gave them our highest rating: 20 paws up! thank you for the Appetizers!!!

Padre and Panda Bear are checking out the Crunch ‘n Clean treats! mmmmm! yummy! we had never tried these before, but now mommy knows to get these since we liked them so much!

just like a meerkat, i know how to stand on my hind legs! sometimes i hold onto mommy’s hand …

and other times i go paws free! just like a good meerkat!

nip! nip nip nip nip! bunnykicking with a fishy toy this time!

Panda Bear with a package of nip sardines! don’t you love their little smiley faces?

not to be outdone, Floofs (Caramel) shows that she knows how to get her nip on!

Floofs having a nip fest with nip peppermint stick. she looks really high in this photo.

nip fest with bunnykicking to show off her floofy feets and toehawks.

Floofs says don’t touch her nip peppermint stick!

Panda Bear really got into the nip peppermint sticks too!

Panda Bear likes to lick the really primo nip toys. ewww. then nobuddy else wants to touch them.

Padre likes the nip sardines.

Padre also likes the jingle balls!

Cookie is posing with the nip toys!

check out this neato toy mousie!

Cookie made friends with the toy mousie. they are shaking paws here.

Cookie and the toy mousie are having a conversation.

i don’t think the toy mousie wants to be friends with Cookie any more.

check out the great calendar! do you see the resemblance between Cookie and the cover kitteh?

ahhhh! relaxing in the debris field! you can also see the great tablet! it has a magnet so it is going on the fridge. i will see to it that it is used for catfood shopping lists!

Thank You, Secret Paws!!! Thank You Samantha! Thank You Clementine! Thank You Maverick!

And a Special Thank You to Sweet Praline for organizing Secret Paws this year!

happy new year, efurryone!  (remember, if you nip, don’t drive.)

We have stinky goodness, crunchies, and beverages! Panda Bear has graciously offered to serve as bartender! (ID required for adult kitty beverages, please!) Of course, there will be lots of nip! I am so delighted that you could come to my party!

Mom planted cat grass for us a few weeks ago, so feel free to nom nom nom!

In honor of Earth Day, Mom is going to dig in the dirt outside. She says we can help! It is Spring here in northeast O-Hi-O, and the weather is supposed to be sunny and mild!

Great napping weather! (Isn’t it always great napping weather if you’re a cat?)

Lots of interesting things to sniff in the back yard! Plus bird and squirrel watching!

Feel free to play Thundering Herds of Elephants! We have two sets of stairs – one to the basement, and one to upstairs. By the way, the powder room is in the basement.

If any of you choose to party into the evening, join us in the basement for Mouse Patrol! We will gather on the ledge at the top of the basement stairs at 8:55 pm EDT. Remember to keep your voices down, as we want to sneak up on the mousies!

Also today, my sister Cookie will be competing in Kitty Fight Club at The World According to Misha!

Photo: from Misha’s blog

Kitty Fight Club is a contest that pits two adorabubble kittens against each other for the title of cutest kitten! Cookie is nervous that she won’t get any votes at all!

Please vote for Cookie on Misha’s blog!

We decided to have a contest for a Gift Certificate to The Animal Rescue Site store! Since Caramel and I both celebrated our birthdays, we decided that each of us should choose a winner.

We typed all of your names onto a piece of paper, and then Panda Bear “assisted” with trimming the paper into individual pieces for each name.

Then, we put the little pieces of paper into a special bowl (Mom says it is handmade by a very special friend).  Padre inspected the names in the bowl to make sure they all were in there.

Padre said that the names passed his inspection, and it was time to draw the winners!

I really didn’t want all that responsibility, so I let Panda Bear choose my name for me.

Panda Bear carefully considered his options.

Finally, Panda Bear selected the first winner!

And the winner is … Noll from Noll’s Nip!

Caramel wanted to select her own winner. She studied the bowl of names.

But she actually drew two names, so to be fair, we are giving gift certificates to both A Few Good Cats at It’s All Good and Tiki and Kirby!

Hooray for all the winners!

And as promised, Mom is making a donation to the Humane Society of the United States in our honor!

On our four birthday blog posts, we received a total of:

30 + 9 + 11 + 14 =

Umm …  Ahhh …

A really big number of comments!  So Mom will be making a donation to the HSUS of $A Really Big Number. What’s that Mom?

Mom said that she decided to round up to $100.00!  Thanks Mom!! The Humane Society will put our gift to good use “to protect not only America’s most beloved companion animals—dogs and cats—but also other pets, wildlife, farm animals, and animals in research” (from our Thank You from HSUS).

We received an award from Monty Graycat, so we will post about that next time! Thanks Monty!

And thanks again to all of you who helped make our first birthday so special!

and me, Caramel!

Today, we become Young Lady Cats, as we are now One Year Old! Today, I officially graduate from “Diva-in-Training” to “Diva”! I am so happy! Cookie is delighted to be a Young Lady Cat as well!

Please make yourselves at home! We have food and beverages (please drink responsibly),

nip (please use nip responsibly, unlike Panda Bear as shown here),

toys,

cozy napping spots,

treats,

fun and games,

friends and companionship!

We received some very lovely gifts from Mom and Dad, and we are happy to share with you!

Please leave us a comment to tell us you were here! In honor of our birthday, Mom is going to donate $1 (US) to the Humane Society of the United States for each comment received on any of our birthday blog posts. All comments must be received by 11:59 pm on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

In addition, one lucky winner will receive a Gift Certificate to The Animal Rescue Site store! To enter, leave us a comment on any of our birthday posts! One chance per household will be entered. We will have one of us draw the name of the winner on Thursday, March 11, 2010, in the evening EST. All comments must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

Enjoy the Party, Efurryone! Stop by tomorrow to see what Panda Bear gave Cookie and me as Birthday Gifts!

we all had a lot of fun, and perhaps a few of us overdid the partying.  not mentioning any names, but their initials are Padre.  he wound up completely trashed, as evidenced by this photo.  some cats just can’t hold their nip!

although i personally could not care less about about the apostles living upstairs behind the closed door, i know that many of you wanted to meet them, so we had sniffing opportunities for you.  the apostles even got into the party spirit.  that’s Joann with her itteh bitteh mouth open, and that’s Mark with the boa draped over him.  (Mom says this photo of Joann reminds her of the “Frances” the bear children’s stories by Russell and Lillian Hoban.  she says if you never read them as a kid, they are wonderful. go to the library or bookstore immediately.)

Matthew had fun batting the lamp cord around.

Luke had fun playing with a toy mouse, practicing his hunting skills …

… then napped in Mommy’s lap.

Panda Bear got all mellow and showed us his belly furs while resting on his Gizzy quilt.

that’s probably because he enjoyed a few of these first.  he says it was only water …

Cookie likes to climb the dining room chairs when playing.  Daddy calls her Teenage Mutant Ninja Cookie when she gets like this.  you can see the flame mark on her forehead very clearly in this photo.

caramel tried to play hide and seek, but she seemed to misunderstand the hide part.  kittens!  by the way, check out the floof on her tail!  she is becoming floofier every day.

and i had a great time playing with the trackball toy.  i just love it!

thanks again to all of you for stopping by and for the well wishes!

i’m supposed to tell you to check back soon, as dad is working on some movies of the bebbeh kittehs!