meet buster and lyla's animal relatives

my mom always harps on me for not mentioning my other babycats at home in ATL. to make up for it, i'm dedicating a post to introduce the world to the other side of the reeves family cats. in georgia at the reeves home there are 5 [yes FIVE] big brothers and sisters to buster and lyla. i'm also going to introduce their dog cousins. let's get to it.

first up are samantha and tabitha. these kitties are getting to be pretty ancient. we got them when i was in third or fourth grade and now i've been out of college for a couple of years so you do the math. [mom, chime in the comments how old they are, i lose track]. anywho, the cats as you can imagine take their names from the show 'bewitched.' my parents had a knack for naming kitties after tv show pairs...our former cats were wally and beaver.

samantha.

tabitha.


samantha and tabitha are sisters from the same litter. my parents adopted them from a plant nursery in GA. they've been good cats. as mentioned, they're super old and seem to be shrinking each time i go down to visit. they still seem to have quite a bit of energy though. maybe it's because there are so many others around...


next came eleanor rigby aka ellie. you'll notice this is where i took over the naming of the kitties as they get much cooler from here on out. : ) my dad works in an office-parky area where people seem to dump cats sometimes. this is where ellie came from [and also jackson, upcoming]. when i was in high school [i'm thinking around senior year?] one evening dad heard a tiny meow and out came the tiniest kitten. ellie was itty bitty and to this day remains fairly dainty. she feels a little overwhelmed sharing a home with 4 cats... and really took to me when i was living at home. we still have a very special bond. she's kinda a loner as far as other kitties go.

ellie.



jackson [our only tomcat] swept into our lives when i was a sophomore in college [fall of 2002]. i was away from home in nashville and when my mom told me that dad had again found another tiny kitten that they couldn't find a home for, i pleaded for them to let me have him. i wasn't technically supposed to have a cat, but he was worth breaking the rules. or was he? he was a terror. he was the wildest cat i've ever seen. when adopting buster and lyla, i KNEW that i had to adopt a pair. one kitten isn't a good idea because they get lonely, tear up your stuff, go nuts, only have you to play with, no other kitty to socialize them, etc. jackson was my experience with that. ask any of my college friends! no one wanted to come over because jackson would grab people by the ankles and just start biting when they came over. i raised him for a few months, before i took him home during the holidays for his snip snip. after that, he was used to the kittycompany and big house so he stayed there. now jackson has become quite a sweetie. my parents swear that i made up the stories about how crazy he was!

jackson.



last but not least, is lucy [yes, like the beatles song... while my parents were the cheezy tv pair namers, i was the beatles song namer]. my parents found lucy in north georgia at our lakehouse a few years ago. they failed to find a home or a spot in a shelter for her, so we kept her. do you see now where i get it from??!? lucy is a sweet sweet kitty, from day one. her and jackson are boyfriend and girlfriend and just loooove each other so much. it's really cute. one day i came home to visit and noticed that she was now really fat. literally she doubled in size overnight. she is HUGE. i don't know how it is possible for her to get so fat, but she did. [i think jackson has now packed on some lbs to make her feel better]. regardless, she is still a sweetie and a valued member of the reeves cat clan.

lucy.



now onto the canines. my brother matt got married a few years ago to his wonderful high school sweetheart stephanie. while it was really wonderful to add her to the family, matt straight ditched his love for cats and became a dog person. traitor! but it's okay because they have really awesome dogs.

not sure how old he is, but stanley was in stephanie's family before he came to live with matt and stephanie. he's a cutie jack russell and is the most cat-like dog you'll ever meet. fella just straight chills all day. i love that!

stanley.


then along came ralphie. again, not sure how old ralphie is [feel free to add to comments] but he is a sweet mutt. stephanie's sister meredith was working in a vet and brought ralphie home one night as he was a homeless pup. of course everyone fell in love with his puppyface and they had to keep him. ralphie likes to jump on folks, so a little less my style. but he's a sweet boy. both the pups are really well trained.

ralphie.

and shout out to my bro in the background.


well [thank goodness!!] that's all the brothers and sisters of buster and lyla back in georgia. i wish they could all meet one day and play, but since i haven't figured out an easy way to travel with the kitties it probably won't happen. and they'd all be scared to death and/or pissy at one another anyhow.