Special Times with Special Friends, and Good-bye to Our Chia

 This is Sunny's turtle imitation...

 Watching home movies with Chia, whose poor little kidneys began to fail in March.

 Dress-up with our neighbor friend Carolyn and Adam - they're always ready to play!

 Zoo fun with our friends Brett & Lindsay, and their daughter, Sydney...

 Daddy's little shop helper! Cleaning up all the sawdust, which just keeps coming, thanks to the fort, the duck house, the new deck, and various other projects.

 Bunny Brunch festivities at the SW Community Center...

 We signed Sunny up for 4-H Cloverbuds, since the big girls visiting from 4-H were so fun.  And their bunnies weren't bad, either.

 Rock climbin', tutu-wearing, sparkle-shoes lovin' adventure girl.

 Sunny made a special big girl friend.  She walked up to this girl and said, "Hi, big girl.  My name is Sunny.  Will you help me look for Easter eggs?"  And who would say no?  These two were inseparable for the next hour.

Here Sunny's leading a blind-folded Daddy in the adult egg hunt.  I think they scored a couple eggs, but Sunny kept pointing them out to Max - so she was a little disappointed with his gathering skills.
 

We found this guy waiting for hugs in the aisle at Costco.  Hmmm, a toy for the kid who has everything, besides a life-size moose?  Nope - we left him there.

 Fun at Popos, where Sunny plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Look at all her dog buddies.

 Hooray for snow!  Too bad we'd just planted some spring flowers...they limped through the cold snap.

We said good-bye to our sweet Chia (aka Cheech, Weechie-Goggles, Chee-Chee Wee-Chie) last month.  She was finally immobilized by her kidney failure, which we'd been fighting with meds and a special diet for 5 years.  As Chia became more uncomfortable and slow, Sunny was very sweet and careful to be gentle with her. Sometimes the two of them would just curl up near each other on the carpet.  Since she joined our family 10 years ago, Chia went from a skittish, goggle-eyed weirdo rescue cat to the funniest, softest, lap kitty ever.  She had a strange, low Gremlin voice and she'd try to sing like her sister, Sun-Kitty.  She liked to chase the squirrels, snapping her jaw though she had no chance of catching them.   And when Sunny was born, Chia became a champion nursemaid, cuddle toy, and sidekick.  Whenever we were out of town, Chia slept on Sunny's bed.  She'd let baby Sunny lay on her and shriek into her fur with glee.  We miss her very much.  We explained to Sunny that all of us are part of the Circle of Life (she's into the Lion King books). Sunny seems to understand Chia's death.  She didn't cry, though Max and I were a mess. Sunny said good-bye to Chia's body before we buried her in a basket in our garden.  She puts flowers on Chia's grave every several days, and she told me, "I'll show our baby ducklings Chia's grave," since she wants her special fuzzy friend to be remembered.  We were so fortunate to have found each other, and Chia had a great life.  Here's my favorite memorial pic: Max with 6-month-old Sunny and "Weechie," who was always so attentive to "her" baby.

Here we are at a spontaneous cheese-making session:  one of my latest permaculture hobbies!  The mozzarella was good, and it took just 20 minutes, total!  Omi and I will need to attempt a slightly more sophisticated recipe next time: maybe gouda.  I've also made queso fresco and sour cream, so far.