We currently have three Feline-American "children" of our own. 

Maggie is our 7 year old, beautiful, long-haired Calico.  I adopted Maggie from a co-worker back in 2000 and Rick met and fell in love with Maggie in 2004 (oh, and me too!).  Maggie has so many different personalities and it's exciting to see which one she is going to display next!  She can be the sweetest cat at times "allowing" you to rub her head and belly. 

Of course, like many Calico's who believe they're "Queen of ALL they see", this can ONLY be done on her terms!  She likes to play chase around the house and she will occasionally play chase with her younger sisters.  Maggie also has a mean streak - and that's when it's time to back off and leave her alone lest you pull back a bloody stump after trying to pet her.  Then there's other times, such as when I'm not feeling well, that Maggie senses it and turns into a very compassionate kitty.  She is always on her best behavior during those times and gives me a lot of love and affection.  When Maggie is not feeling well herself, she clings to her Mommy and wants a lot of affection too. 

She's also a great judge of character.  If she does not trust someone, she will never leave them alone in the same room with me and she will give them a malicious, glaring, "I'm watching you" stare.  Obviously, she is a mommy’s girl, but she knows who her Daddy is and respects Rick as an authority figure.  One look or a sharp "MAGGIE" and the bad behavior stops in an instant.  There's only one person that can play rough and wrestle with Maggie, and that's Rick.

Cassie (named after the constellation Cassiopeia) is a 3 year old, gorgeous, short haired gray purr machine with one little white spot on her chest.  She is without a doubt the little angel of the family.  Cassie has always been very sweet and loving and welcomes affection whenever she can get it and her personality leans toward shyness.  When there are new people in the house she can usually be found hiding under a bed for the first few hours.  Eventually, she gets brave and ventures out to sniff the new people in the house.

As Maggie is a "Mommy's Girl", Cassie is a 100% Daddy's Girl.  One of her quirky behaviors is carrying a small, gray stuffed animal, which is a cat, from room to room.  Generally, she'll carry it like a baby throughout the house to wherever Rick happens to be as a "gift".  We know she's in the process because she typically meows while carrying it which makes her sound like she's meowing into a pillow.  She'll drop it on the floor and wait for the head rubs.  Other times, while Rick is reading, she'll snuggle up in a little ball with him just to enjoy his company. 

Finally, we have our kitten Emma Grace, our cute little black/brown Mackerel Tabby and Maine Coon mix.  We adopted her from a friend who's cat had a bunch of kittens in their barn.  Emma was the only kitten that survived so we decided to give her a great home with two other great cats.  She certainly is helping to keep Maggie young and gives Cassie a "real" kitten to be a mother to. 

Emma is a little ball of energy, full of love and affection, and is also quite the little piggy.  Actually, she's not so little anymore.  She's just a year old and she's tipping the scales at over 10 pounds already!  You know what they say about cats growing into the size of their feet - well, she's also known as "Little Big Foot".  Maggie eats special cat food due to some tummy issues, but we give the other two cats the same food so they don't feel left out.  It must be the "barn cat" in Emma that makes her wolf down her food, then work her way to Cassie's bowl, then to Maggie's!  If we didn't stop her she'd move everyone out of the way and eat it all!

But all that food must give her a lot of energy to jump, run, and play with toys until she's ready to drop.  When she's tired, she turns into my little lap kitty for the night, then joins us when it's time for bed.  And for some reason, she's fascinated with the vaccuum cleaner.  She's quite the little supervisor when I'm cleaning the couch - she'll follow me from cushion to cushion - just making sure I do a good job, I suppose.

We hope you enjoy our sampling of the many, many pictures we've taken of our cats!