Happy Birthday Grandma

For my grandma's 84th birthday, the family decided that it would be fun to go away for the weekend. We went up to a hotel in Brainerd that had a pool and a few waterslides so the kids can swim.

Zac had two baseball games so he and Shane werent able to make it, so i rode up with Sherri & Ryan. We got up to Brainerd around 3pm. Everyone was hanging out in the pool area and some were swimming. We decided to put our suits on and join in the fun!

Around dinner time, we decided to order pizza and hung out in the hotel lobby. This was so nice because everyone could hang out and enjoy eachothers' company. 

After dinner, we surprised Grandma with a cake! Everyone gathered around and sang 'Happy Birthday'. Grandma really enjoyed herself and especially letting all the little grandkids get into the frosting (This has always been her special treat)!

After we had cake, we pulled out the games. Sherri and I brought some games for everyone to play. Grandma especially liked playing chinese checkers!

It was so much fun that we decided it would be a good tradition to start and will do it every year for Grandma's birthday!

Stella's one and only litter mate

Since Stella has gotten comfortable navigating the entire house, there are times that we 'misplace' her, or cant find her. We look HIGH and LOW only to find her under our bed snuggling with this... My slipper! Now, everytime we cant find her, we just look under the bed for the slipper, and she is found curled up with the leopard print slippers. I wonder if she thinks they are her litter mates???

Can you tell the difference between Stella and the slipper?

Sophie & Stella

Stella loves to snuggle (which is unusual for a cat). Anytime someone is sitting on the couch down anywhere, Stella is right there cuddling in.

On this chilly afternoon, I sat down on the couch under a blanket, and like usual, Sophie finds her spot right next to me. Not long after, Stella finds her way into my arms. The funniest thing is the whole time, Stella kept trying to get close to Sophie. She would extend her little paw so that she was touching Sophie. Pretty soon, she was practically laying on top of Sophie!

This is how she started. You can see Sophie's pink jumpsuit at the edge of the picture.

 
I had to keep reassuring the little princess Sophie that it was okay and Stella wouldnt hurt her. I couldnt resist snapping a couple pictures. :)

Stella meets technology

Stella is enthralled by technology!  She loves to sit on Zac's lap and watch him while he is gaming. She paws at the images on the ipad. She loves to lay and watch the action on the laptop, and recently she was caught watching TV! So far, she has been a fun addition to the family!

Blaine Bengals Baseball

Zac had baseball tryouts for 2 weeks straight! Each day they participated in different drills, including hitting, fielding, pitching & catching and even base running. He came home from practice evey day exhausted. He would come home, ice his arm, do his homework, eat dinner and go to bed. This was pretty much the routine for 2 weeks!
Basically, how it works at Blaine there are:
2 freshman teams
1 sophmore team
1 Junior Varsity team,
1 Varsity team

Throughout the second week, kids were getting cut from the team. Zac would come home and tell us who was cut that day. I think this was a bit unnerving for the kids!

On the last day of tryouts, at the end of the day, each kid was handed an envelope with their name on it. They were given the choice to open the envelope whenever they wanted. Basically inside the envelope was the news of whether or not you made a team, and if you did make a team, you were then told what team you made.

Zac opened his envelope and here is what was revealed:

He made Junior Varsity as a starting catcher/pitcher! (He was 1 of 4 Sophmores to make JV!) We are SO proud of him!

Sophie, meet Stella

The day we brought Stella home, we knew it would be quite the adjustment for Sophie. Especially since Sophie has been alone for a while and is just a little quite the spoiled little girl.

Here are a few pics that tell the story of their first meeting. Sophie was very curious. She would walk up to her and try to sniff her, but as soon as Stella tried to sniff Sophie, she would run away with her tail tucked as far as she could tuck it.

For the first few days, we kept Stella in Zac's room so she wouldnt be as scared. She didnt seem to be scared of her new surroundings at all. Once we started leaving Zac's door open, Stella would wander into the hall, get scared, and run back to Zac's room. Each time she left his room, she got a little bit further. It wasnt long until she found out how to get down the stairs. Once her feet would hit the wood floors, she would run back up into Zac's room (I think she knew she was safe in there).

Hopefully Stella and Sophie will be fast friends.

Meet Stella

The much anticipated arrival of little Stella finally happened on March 15.

Come to find out, she was born on January 27, so that makes her only 8 weeks old! When we got home, we put her on the scale and she weighs a whopping 1 pound 8 ounce!

She is very fun, playful and affectionate! She has a very loud purrrr, and likes to do the sneak attack on Sophie. She doesn’t appear to be afraid of anything!

New Kitten

We have some news in the Odden Household! Zac will soon be the proud new parent of a "Bengal Kitten"!

We pick her up next Thursday she will be 11 weeks old! He has been thinking hard of a good name for her, so if you have any ideas - send them my way.

Here is a picture the breeder sent us of her, she is the one in the back of the cage - so cute!