Fun with Mommy

Peek-a-boo Bible: Ginny and Mommy play Peekaboo with a little Gideon Bible

A classic:  The gotcha nose game, with some tickles thrown in for good measure.

The French Connection

With a special thanks to our friend Annabelle Florent in France, we were able to obtain a copy of the magazine that featured the story that the French photographer we met during our China trip contributed to.  There were a few pics of some of the folks and places we encountered on the trip that brought back some special memories, but we were really surprised when we Sharon and myself made a cameo on the last page of the article, which shows several of the families on board a bus in Guangzhou.

Small Change

Here's a video I took yesterday while I was watching Ginny for a bit.  After changing her diaper, she wanted to change her dolly's.  I did this more as an experiment to try uploading a video straight to the blog, but it was so cute I decided to leave it posted.  Ginny didn't have much used for stuffed animals and dolls until recently.  I've tried to subvert this new fascination by doing things such as having Transformers 2 playing on TV in the background while I watched her (I knew I should have used TF 1), but even that hasn't appeared to contest this newfound girly-ness that is apparently taking place.  I blame Sharon.  :)  hehe.

Fun Run & Sibling Fun

Nathan's school had their annual "Boosterthon Fun Run" fundraiser today.  Nathan got pledges for how many laps he could do, and he was able to do the max of 35.  He walked much of it, but even after having a fall and losing his show, he still had a good attitude and finished the race with a smile.  I was glad I was able to be off today in order to see him participate in it.  Sharon's job as a teacher's assistant was to mark off laps on the kids' shirts as they passed the starting line.

Nathan and Ginny have really started to connect over this past week.  As I write this, she has "snuck" into his room (even though Nathan is supposed to be sleeping) and there are loud giggles and songs.  She still has her little attitude, but has had a few really good weeks.

 

Say Hi To Buddy

Well, we weren't sure we would do it this soon, but we have adopted another family member, a feline one.  After an exhaustive search for a cat purr-fect (hehe) for our family, we stumbled across a fantastic rescue facility in Concord, NC, called "Princeton's Meow."  This is a cage-free facility in which the adoptable cats are given a degree of freedom by not being as confined.  It is a house with several rooms, and each room has ten or so cats in it of varying colors, sizes, & personalities.  The volunteers there spend lots of hands-on time with the cats to get them acclimated to people and that really shows.  We were very impressed with this place and there were several cats that would have made a fine addition to the Bridges clan.

After an initial survey visit, we took the family back a second time.  We had every intention of bringing a set of brothers home named "Cowboy and Rocky" as they had temperaments that we felt would fit in very nicely.  However, the day before I (by myself) had stopped in for a spontaneous visit (happened to be in the area) and was introduced to a new cat they had just taken in named "Peanut."  He was a long-haired Maine Coon or Norwegian Forest Cat mix with a very sweet disposition and a hint of playfulness.  He was a rescue from a hoarding situation in which the owner had kept him and about 50 other cats inside a "chicken coop," ironically located in Dallas, NC, near where we used to live.  They had not been mistreated, but the gentleman had just came to the realization he couldn't take care of the growing horde he had accumulated.  I kept this cat as "a favorite" in my mind, but as mentioned, had every intention of bringing back the brothers.

However, when we got to Princeton's Meow, Nathan and "Peanut" became fast friends, and he made it very obvious to us that this was the creature that had his heart.  We signed some paperwork and took the guy home.  He has also underwent a name change (as to be fair to our existing "Pee", the names would have been so similar it would have been confusing).  Nathan had told me several weeks ago that he would love to use the name "Buddy" for our next cat.   After some discussion, we decided that name fit, and went with it.  We have him separated from the rest of the cats at the moment to get adjusted.  He's got a little bit of a sneeze at the moment, but had a clean medical report and is fixed.

His temperament is much like Hunter's, the cat we just lost.  Since bringing him home, we've discovered that he is very laid back, and is also very "chatty", making a warble sound as he walks around, and often talks back to you when you speak to him.  He has HUGE feet, which may be a predictor of his future size, as he is still just about a year old.  Huge feet are also a Maine Coon trait I've learned.  So far, our other two cats have sensed something's up, although they really haven't been around him yet.  Pee is "pouting." and Molly is just well, a bit ticked off at the idea of another cat, as we predicted.  He and Nathan seem to get along very well at this point.  He's a little more cautious of Ginny and her volume and sudden movements, but other than keeping his distance a bit, seems to be tolerant of her.

We're excited to have "Buddy" aka "Peanut" with us.

Snaggle tooth

This week Nathan lost one of his front two baby teeth.  It was loose anyway, but he didn't help matters when he fell at school and bent it backwards.  After an "emergency" trip to the dentist, the X-rays proved nothing out of place, but both of his front two teeth were actually poised to come out soon, so we expect the other to follow suit.  Meanwhile, we have this little grin.

RA Project

Last Saturday, the RA group from our church that Nathan is involved in had a ministry opportunity at Vera Henderson's home to remove leaves from the yard.  After explaining the difference between a "chore" and a "ministry", Nathan got the hang of it and really had a good time with the other boys and adults.  Although he wanted to use the blowers, he actually found his "niche" with the more "manual" raking and had a blast.  It was a good opportunity for our young men to do some service for the Kingdom.