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Friday, March 7, 2008

Welcome to the Circus!



Hello! Welcome to the Allen Family Circus - where we've got three rings full of action, all the time! With two sort-of-grownups, one toddler, five (plus 1) cats, and one dog, life is always an adventure.

Here at the Circus, most of our daily life revolves around the little Dweezil to the right - our wonderful, cute, exasperating, busy, cuddly and squirmy daughter, Wendy. She's 17 months old, enjoys bubble baths, swings, Fruity Cheerios, climbing, and any toy that makes noise. She dislikes sitting still, naptime, having to listen to Mommy & Daddy, and broccoli. Her recent accomplishments include breaking the Binky habit and saying the word, "Cheerios."





Also at the Circus is James, my wonderful husband and Wendy's most favoritest Daddy. (Also her only Daddy, in case you were wondering.) James is a silly, fun-loving guy, even though he's, like, way smart. He's a mechanical engineer, and enjoys math in ways I will never understand. He enjoys sweets of all kinds, having clean laundry where he can find it, seeing black and not red in our check register, and making Wendy giggle.


There are assorted felines in the Circus. This one is the Queen, the Head Cat, the Princess of them all. It's Minuet Eclair. She normally goes by Minnie. She'll be ten years old this fall. She was our first furry child.









These are the three middle cats. Also known as my "Black and Whites." From left to right they are Maestro Mistoffeles, Oreo Speedwagon, and Sonata Juliet. Sonata (aka Sonni) and Maestro are littermates, and will be 9 in a few weeks. Oreo will be eight in a few weeks.

This bundle of felinity can shed like nobody's business.



This is our youngest cat, Birdie Vivace. This picture was taken when she was about 8 weeks old, and she's three now. Back in my former life as a veterinarian (I'll get to that later) Birdie was brought to my clinic when she was six weeks old. A Good Samaritan found her in the busiest intersection in town, and she had already been hit by a car. Her right rear leg was just pulverized, and had to be amputated. Her left rear leg had severe degloving injuries (translation = no skin) from the knee down. That poor left rear leg had multiple surgeries, and was bandaged for about two months before she healed. She's the picture of health now, and doesn't know she ever had four legs. She LOVES Wendy; they cuddle and wrestle and play. She also loves licking plastic - don't know why.





This is Matilda, our "plus 1" cat. She kind of came with the house. She technically belongs to our neighbor, but our neighbor doesn't feed her and has never taken care of her. Matilda is a sweetie, and has more reproductive capacity than any cat I've ever met. She's currently gestating litter #1 for 2008, and she'll be spayed as soon as those kitten are weaned.


This is our dog, Clarabella BooBoo, aka Bella, BooBoo DogDog, and FrogDog. She may be a whopping 5 pounds, but she'd like you to think she's a Doberman. She's 6 years old, and has been a part of the Circus for 4 years.






And then there's me. I was raised as an Air Force brat, and so have lived & traveled in many different places. I went to Harding University and then to the University of Missouri for my DVM. Have you ever stuck your arm up the butt end of a cow? I have. Horse? Yep, that, too.

I practiced small animal medicine for two years before coming to the conclusion that even though we had devoted 4 years of professional schooling and tons of student loans to get my DVM, that wasn't what God had planned for my life. We decided to start a family, and I became a stay-at-home Mom to Wendy. I feel that I am now doing what God called me to do - taking care of my family and raising my daughter to know Him.

I am an avid reader, blogger, cook and baker. I enjoy crafts of all kinds. I love a clean house, but my house is rarely clean. I enjoy gardening, both flowers and vegetables. I enjoy swimming and dancing, neither of which I have a chance to do very often. I really enjoy contemporary Christian music (especially Casting Crowns) and my current favorite author is Francine Rivers.

One of the main reasons I blog is for the sense of community. I read a lot of blogs and comment frequently, and I'd love to have more readers and commenters of my own! Feel free to subscribe, or e-mail me with any questions you have!

To read more great blogs, head over to 5 Minutes for Mom!

14 comments:

Amy said...

I love the names of your animals. So fun and clever!

Fresh Girl said...

Even though I've been reading you for awhile, I really enjoyed reading about your family and discovered a few things I didn't know. Neat! It goes without saying that Wendy is ADORABLE, and I love those kitties! Especially Oreo Speedwagon's name... yes, I love me some "Can't Fight This Feeling." heee!

Amy said...

Hi! What a fun blog! Wendy is so cute! I have a 16 month old son... they should meet up some time. ;)

Your staying home after working only 2 years (after all the schooling & expense!) is very commendable. :)

Happy blog party - I hope you have time to come visit! :)

Unknown said...

I love your animals' names!

Mr. Bojangles (a.k.a.) Bo is our Golden Retriever. The song was on the radio when we got him... not nearly as creative as yours!

Owner said...

your animals (human and otherwise) are all adorable, and makes me miss having cats in the house. we only have our dog, and she's a bit too neurotic for a cat i think...

Forgetfulone said...

Hi! Nice to meet you. What a nice family (including the pets) you have. I'll come back to visit again. Now, I'm off to meet more party-goers. I hope you'll visit me if you have a chance.

Kim said...

I'm still working my way through the Ultimate Blog Party -- too many to do in one day (or even a week!).
My daughter loves Francine Rivers, too. I bought her five of Rivers' books for Christmas. She doesn't have a lot of time to read these days since she's in college, but one day...
I'm a totally indiscriminate reader and have lots of 'favorite' authors, depending on the genre :-) Have you read the Father Tim books by Jan Karon? I wanna move to Mitford!
I also really like Chaim Potok, J. A. Jance, Earlene Fowler, Alexander McCall Smith...
I like to cook, too, most of the time. And I like trying new things so especially enjoy recipe exchanges like Saturday Stirrings hosted by Dee. (And thanks for your comment! You'll love the tiramisu. Promise!)

Unknown said...

Great post! Cute little girl. Thanks for stopping by to say thank you. I so appreciate the kudos. :)
Have a great time party hopping.

Gerbil said...

OREO SPEEDWAGON!!!! Hahahahahahahaha! AWESOME. (says the former owner of Genghis Corn and Indiana Scones)

Unknown said...

Hi Jeni! Not my first visit, but I loved learning more about you. And Oreo Speedwagon? ROFL!!!!! Too funny!!

Hope you'll stop by my party! (or did you already and I just forgot? Sorry, time change is messing with my brain!)

Blessed said...

Wow - there are so many neat blogs in this blog party and I'm only visiting a small percentage of them. Happened to stop by your place - I like the look of your blog and all your animals! I used to want to be a vet then I decided to be a Graphic Designer instead - so now I'm a work-at-home mom, God knew what he was doing when he directed my steps! Great party, come by if you get a chance!

Write From Karen said...

Hi Jeni!

I absolutely enjoyed reading about your family. Your daughter's shampooed hair ... well, it caught my attention right off the bat and reminded me of a picture my husband took of our boys when they were quite little and sharing a bath (I was at work) and he stuck their hair up like that. Ah ... the memories.

All of your cats just LOOK like they have a personality - isn't it funny how expressive animals are? My heart went out to the cat who got hit and the one that doesn't technically belong to you. What a kind heart you have!

My husband is an accountant, so I sort of know all about those strange math obsessions. The boys now know NOT to come to me for math help. Seriously.

And I also know about the going to school for one thing but ending up doing something quite different. I graduated from Missouri State University (Missouri, yeah!) with a BA in Professional Writing. And though I do write, I don't write professionally, I design websites. LOL Go figure.

It was great to meet you. Hope you're having fun at the party!

Write From Karen

Jill said...

Hi there,
I think I may have commented before on your post, can't remember for certain though (I think that is a sign of getting older or a sign of having children).
Funny you should post about the Pentagon. My Dear Hubby currently works there. He is in the Air Force looking forward to retirement in July. YAY! and YIKES!

Gloria said...

Your daughter is just precious!! I love your cats too, unfortunately I can't have any because I'm allergic, but I like to look at them :)

It was nice to meet you, hope you stop by and see me at my blog sometime :)