Something New

 For one of Max's classes he had a summer project.  The teacher wanted the kids to try something new.  He had to pick something to do and document the process.  I encouraged Max to pick some type of volunteer activity.  He decided he wanted to help animals.  After a bit of research and few phone calls we figured out he perfect project - making cat toys for the Animal Protective Association. 

We hit up Petco and Joann's to buy all the supplies needed for the toys.  Max made sure to pick grey fabric so that they would look like mice, but he decided that the fun little blue poms would make great  tails. 

Max cut the fabric, sewed them, stuffed them with catnip and batting, and added the blue pom tails.  They turned out pretty darn cute! 

We made and extra for Chewy and he really seemed to like it. 

 Today was the big day when Max had the chance to deliver his project to the APA.  This wonderful woman, who is a retired new personality here is town, is in charge of education and community outreach at the APA.  She was waiting for us this morning and gave the boys and I a tour.

 We got to tour the room with the big noisy dogs, Will covered his ears for this one.  Then we went into the cat room.  Max was super excited to pet this sweet little kitten, Mr. Dice.  He was pretty skittish.  I think three little boys was a bit much for the poor guy.  Before Mr. Dice was put back into his kennel Max had the opportunity to hold him, and he loved it.

 

Then we were off to the puppies.  All three boys fell in love with this sweet, little, three month old puppy.  He was adorable!  Rex the puppy seemed to love the boys just as much as they loved him and Max very seriously asked if we could adopt him.

Before we headed out there was just one more article of business - giving them the cat toys he had made.  The adoption coordinator explained the Max that the cat toys with catnip will be perfect for when they take the cats pictures for the website.  The better the pictures the more easily they are adopted and the catnip toys really help them to get great photos.  

This was a wonderful experience from start to finish.  I'm so grateful for how welcoming the APA was to the boys and I.  They learned a great deal and had fun in the process.  Max had a huge sense of pride as we left knowing that he had done something that could help those sweet little cats get adopted. He even started planning how he could help the dogs get adopted. . . he thinks he should make dog toys with crushed up dog biscuits inside.  I just love it!