We have a cat . . . sort of

Funny Story. While my parents were in Montana a couple months ago, I was taking Robert to school. As we walked into the garage we heard the scariest little meow. Seriously. That may not sound scary, but it freaked me and Robert out. There was a little cat in the garage and I wanted to make it leave before Ava found it. She found it anyway. She immediately named it Princess and told me that she was "so hungry Mom!" I tried to get out of feeding her but I finally gave in and let her feed it a little milk in a dish. I knew that cat was going to stick around the house because we fed it and I was praying that somehow my parents wouldn't notice. :) Well, Ava took a million pictures of the cat and seemed so worried about it. I looked outside a little while later just in time to see Ava run out back with the ball of fur in hand, and throw Princess in the middle of the dogs. The dogs, of course, went wild and Princess took off. I thought this might bother Ava, but she was LAUGHING so hard! It was a little disturbing, but I figured the cat wouldn't be sticking around. Later that night, Ava and I were in the backyard and I heard a faint meow. I acted like I didn't hear it and tried to rush Ava in the house, but she stopped dead in her tracks, put her hand to her ear, and said in a whisper, "SSSHHHH Mom! I think I hear Princess!" Well, we searched the bushes for a long time amd eventually found out she was stuck up a tree, which is obviously where she went when the dogs scared her to death. We sent Randy and Robert out to get Princess out of the tree because the meowing was right outside the window. Sadly, we never saw Princess again, but every time we see a random cat Ava says, "Mom! There's Princess!" She also periodically says, "I have a cat named Princess." This works out great because we don't actually have to own a cat in order to have a cat as a member of the family. Works for me. :)