Today Les and I celebrate 20 years together (!) almost six of them with our boys. We adopted Tanji and Uschi in 2006 and Vladi in 2007. Wow, time flies! We're celebrating the best way possible: digging up never-before-seen kitten pictures.
When Tanji and Uschi came home in 2006, we were just starting the blog and we had some photos that went unedited. Here are some taken two weeks after they came home...
Kitten Uschi-Swirl...
... and kitten Tanjiro.
When they weren't mushing each other...
...they were busy mushing us too.
Some things haven't changed, Tanji is with his Meow...
...and Uschi is close to me.
We had only been outside with the boys a few times,
and they were still learning to play close to the house.
Tanji was already becoming a big explorer.
Uschi was already developing tail-itude.
Very proud parents.
Uschi looks large and in charge, but he didn't like to be alone.
(and still doesn't)
Oops, a little too far from home and Uschi is crying.
Back to the safety spot. That hasn't changed either.
Time to go home for dinner and a treat...
A new box!
This is awesome!
The boys were getting a bit tired and grumpy.
Time for a nap.
By the time Vladimir joined us over a year and a half later, we were much more blog-savvy and most photos made it into the blog. But there were a few that slipped by, including these taken three days after Vladi came home.
Tanji and Uschi were much bigger...
Here they are conspiring against their new
litter box-stealing younger brother.
Vladimir was all over us from the get-go,
with abundant confidence and...
... an insatiable desire to play.
Most of our photos were of Vladi interacting with his big brothers,
since he was chasing them around trying to get them to play too.
But Vladi did spend some time exploring on his own...
First time in the sunny window bay.
Watching the birdies outside
(which he still does every day).
Oooh, a crack.
Guys, did you know there's a crack here?
Vladi is still a big talker with his quiet kitten voice.
Ohhhh, a dust bunny.
Will you be my friend?
Settling in for a nap.
The secret to twenty years together,
much of it living in a one room house?
No idea :)
But there is no doubt adopting these
three little sweeties made us a family.
The first few days Vladi came to live with us, back in September of 2007, he slept in the bathroom with Les, so he would be apart from his big brothers until everyone settled down. We didn't want him to be completely in the dark because all of the new noises could be a little scary. So we put up a Christmas bubbling night light to keep Vladi company.
Vladi chattered at his new friend...
...and stuck out his tongue (something he still does when happy).
Someone looks a little tired...
Its bedtime, so Les turns down the lights.
For a while Vladi is mesmerized by the bubbles.
As he settles in, Les turns the rest of the lights out,
Vladi wakes for a moment...
