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Frances with her babies, five in all, but one is tucked under her arm
Seems like just yesterday, Frances was a kitten herself, now she's all grown up and having babies! Yes, the little minx came in to her first heat and managed to skinny out the door for some fun. It wasn't too hard to figure out she was pregnant as her appetite and tummy began to grow and everyday she looked bigger than the day before. Not long after the vet confirmed it, we could feel the babies kicking around inside.
She gave birth early morning on Tuesday. I called "Auntie" around 2:30 am and told her I thought the kittens were on the way, so she woke the kids and they all came over to watch. With me and my four and Cassi and her three (my husband opted out of the fun, but was updated often by the kids), we had our own little version of the Discovery Channel as we watched our sweet Frances give birth to five beautiful kittens! Poor mama had a hard time with the first as it was breech, but with a few loud (understatement... actually bone-chilling, ear-piercing, screaming) yowls, she managed to get the kitten out and the next four went smoothly.

home-grown roses from Auntie for Frances
She has been such a good mama, purring constantly, licking and cleaning like a mad-woman and stretching her paws to cuddle her new babies.
I was able to get a few photos of a couple of the kittens, but I'll share more as I get them. Aren't they precious?

number two

number three

number four

Fourth of July parade, 2007
"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."
~Erma Bombeck

I'd been doing some spring cleaning recently and came across this pair of red Crocs that used to belong to my youngest, but don't fit anymore. (Well, I actually only found one, but I'm sure the other is around somewhere). I thought it was cute and didn't want to toss it and couldn't give it away because I only had the one. So, I tucked it away and moved on to other stuff. In the meantime, I was at the nursery and noticed a cute planter hanging on the side of the greenhouse. When I looked closer, I saw it was someone's old Croc getting a new life as a miniature flower planter! I immediately thought of the little red one I had at home and couldn't wait to do the same thing with it.

The Croc at the nursery was larger and had several plants in it, but our smaller one could only hold one . I put some moss in first to cover the holes a bit and not have the dirt falling out, then put the plant in. Easy!
It looks cute nailed to a tree...

or hanging from a branch...

I'll make another one as soon as the mate turns up. They look so cheery and bright in the garden and of course are known to be durable, can't ask for much more than that!