Merry, moving, zoo, bath, and piano

First, because it's frustrating me, let me say that I can't wait until Merry is gone! Is that terrible? I love my cat, I really do. She is sweet and generally good with a dash of naughtiness, and I will miss her when she's gone. But right now, I'm going nuts trying to find a good home for her. I do NOT want to bring her to the humane society, I want to find a home myself and KNOW she is being well taken care of, but seriously, ARG.

For one thing, why do people on Kijiji not read the ad fully? I've had more than one response for Merry where they change their minds after they clue in the she's not fixed. It's right there in the ad. And unrelated to Merry, but annoying nonetheless, is when I detail the scratches on a piece of furniture, and even show pictures, and then I get an email after someone's decided to get it saying, "Will you take less for it, seeing as I didn't notice there were scratches on it?" It's happened more than once.

Anyway, I'm frustrated because all I want is to find a nice home for my cat, I've had two people say they definitely want her, and then they stop responding to my emails. That hurts. Especially when I feel like I'm saying goodbye to her and then she's still here and I'm left still worrying about what's going to become of her.

And please don't question the fact that we need to give her away. We do, end of story. And no, it's not because she's bad. Because she's actually quite good. And loving. And sweet. (even if she does like to eat my flowers and put freezie wrappers in Pippin's water dish.)

"Who, me? No, you're talking about some other cat."

"Oh wait, yeah, I do that."

Anyway, enough ranting.

We helped Aaron and Rachelle move Friday and I find myself rather jealous, because Rachelle is done. She's packed, cleaned, moved, unpacked (a lot, anyway) and settled in, albeit 1.5 hours from here. All I can say is, lucky (in a Dash-from-Incredibles voice.)

Have I mentioned that selling a house sucks? Because I'm burnt out, we've had no showings yet, and I have about zero motivation to keep things clean, because it feels like it will never sell. Also, now that our house has maintained one level of superior cleanliness for so long, I feel completely out of sorts when the littlest things are out of place, which may not seem like a bad thing, but really, how can you always keep your house clean? Every last inch of it? You can't, so I'm always stressed and feeling blah about the general cleanliness of the house.

I just want to move. I want it done, over with, finished. But I can't even pack! I have to wait to do that, because it'd make our house look cluttered.

Sorry! More ranting. It's hard. Not the ranting, the moving.

Saturday we went to the zoo with Dave, Farrah, Lindsay, Duncan, and the kids. It was a lot of fun! I got a little sunburned on my arms (gotta maintain the farmer's tan!) but oh well. We brought Elijah out onto the splash pad and he had a ball! He's never enjoyed water so much, he was just splashing and kicking and laughing. Then tonight when he had a bath he was having lots of fun too, so I think he's just liking water more now. Here are some photos:

Classic photo op, but I can't get enough of the looks on Duncan's and Dave's faces!

This girl is so camera-trained! Every time I wanted to capture a candid shot of her she'd turn, bat her eyes, tilt her head just so and smile her best pageant smile ever. So very cute.

The, "Who called me?" smile.

Absolutely loving the water!

That right there is pure joy.

P just loves the babies! She wanted to play so much.

The candid right before the camera-smile.

Sweet baby D, chowing down on some healthy snacks.

He's figured out how to dunk the washcloth to soak it again, and spends most of his time in the bath sucking on his cloth!

Or dousing his face with water from the cup.

Ohhhh the wet eyelashes!

So I think I go in spurts with my picture-taking. I bring the camera lots of places, but often feel like I don't have the energy to take photos, or that I just don't feel like it, because when I'm taking photos it's ALL I'm doing, and I miss a lot of what is going on around me because I'm "seeing life through a lens" as I've heard other people say. Some moments are just so cute, though, that I think, "Quick! The camera!" and the bathtime and following piano photos were two of those times.

I love this look. I get it so often when Elijah is enjoying himself with Matt. He just looks over as if to say, "Oh mom, this is so much fun, you've GOT to try it!"

Curiously watching Matt's hands move across the piano.

Trying to play a little himself.

Start 'em early, right?

Okay, seriously, have you ever wondered how Mozart interacted with a piano at an early age? Was he even more curious and interested than Elijah? It's so cute to see Eli move his hands across the piano now and hit the keys, knowing that they'll make a sound. Cause and effect, right? I love it.

Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't photoshop any photos. I want to, I just don't have time, and if I wait to have perfect photos, then I won't be posting any time soon because I'm not going to have much free time until we move and unpack a little. Which hopefully will be before Christmas, but at this rate, I'm not so sure. **SIGH** It'll all work out. Right?