Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a really nice Thanksgiving weekend here in Kansas! The weather was stunning, especially for late November. Thanksgiving morning was cold, but as the day went on it warmed up a bunch. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving afternoon in the sun on our patio with no coats while the kids and dogs played in the backyard. Here is Brian working hard to prepare our feast...

And I was slaving away to prepare these fancy, not-turkey cutlets!

The dogs have been enjoying the backyard a lot! We think Athena may have been a strictly outdoor dog based on a lot of her behaviors so she loves the backyard. She and Holly have been playing like crazy together...

They are also very good at relaxing together inside...

Friday was probably the most beautiful day of the weekend, and we went to the Overland Park Arboretum for the Luminary Walk. This was the first year we brought Jonathan with us and it was a perfect night! We got there early so we wouldn't have to wait on long lines. Some of the pictures I have are from early in the evening before it got really dark so they lights don't look as stunning as they did later on. Volunteers set up thousands of luminaries and decorate with Christmas lights. It was a beautiful evening!

Last night, Grammy and I went to a local historical house in Westport where they were having an 1860 re-enactment/candlelight tour of a pre-Civil War era home. It was really cool and the "characters" included us in their re-enactment. When they questioned our clothing (ladies wearing jeans???) we just told them we were from New Jersey. "Oooooh" they said.

Family Time

On their first full day of Thanksgiving break together, the boys enjoyed our abundant leaves all over the yard! Chris raked two huge piles for them to jump in and they had a great time...

 After dinner, Mommy "relaxed" on the couch with all the kids...

Recital at Home

In lieu of a fall piano recital, Mackenzie invited her students to prepare a piece, play it at home and upload it to her Facebook page for a "Facebook Showcase." Here is Christopher's performance...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYYJEARz93g

Settling In

Athena has been settling in with us nicely! She is learning our routine and following Holly's lead (in a good way!) with our early morning walks and she flies around the backyard at top speed. She is very fast. No one has moves like Kasey did but this girl goes from 0 to 60 in like 4 seconds. Holly tells her what's what every now and then but they get along well. Today they finally chilled together on the couch at nap time...

And then there is Jonathan, with his smoothie mustache and veggie pack...

Athena

We would like to welcome our newest family member, Athena! She is a hound mix and is about 38 pounds which is a bit smaller than Holly. We adopted her at our favorite no-kill shelter, Wayside Waifs, which is the same place we got Holly from. It was quite an interesting experience, adopting a new dog while bringing a crazy 3 year-old and a barky-pants coonhound (oh, and Christopher, who was fabulous). Jonathan actually did very well until the end when we had to wait to go through all the paperwork, so all in all it could have been a lot crazier. Holly and Athena are adjusting to the house together. That's interesting to watch because Kasey was always the alpha dog and Holly fell into line with her. Now Holly is the one whose territory is being "invaded" and she likes to "tell" Athena about the boundaries. They will adjust but as always, it is a process! We went for a successful walk together where there was a lot of sniffing going on. Athena was a little shy at the shelter but warmed up eventually and has really warmed up at home! We may finally have a dog that licks again!

Updates

Hello BabyWogs blog world! Did you think we forgot about you? The last few weeks have been pretty busy and Brian was traveling for work, hence the computer was traveling with him. The laptop is the easiest way for me to upload the blog, but we are back in business! Last weekend, we made a quick trip back to New Jersey for Julia's bat mitzvah. It was such a fun weekend and wonderful to see so many Jersey friends and family. Here are some pics from the party...

Julia did a great job during the ceremony and we all had a blast at the party! Even this little party boy above stayed up past his bedtime to enjoy the music (although he wasn't quite the party animal that Chris was at Ally's bat mitzvah!). The boys even got to start the big day with breakfast at a diner. When in Jersey....

Why is it that we can hardly find anything resembling a diner in Kansas and I passed at least seven of them on Route 46? And here is my good little Jewish boy, all ready with his prayer books...

Before our trip to NJ, we had some other fun. Lahna invited us over to celebrate her 13th birthday. After I teased my friend Danna about having a teenager, I joined Jonathan in their basement where he was working on his drumming techniques...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVK8WtOsoOI

As much as I like to encourage music in our house, I'm kind of hoping a drum set is not in our future! Speaking of music, right before our trip, Christopher had his 3rd grade concert where he had a solo! That's right, he volunteered for a solo. Sometimes Brian and I wonder where he came from because I'm pretty sure neither of us would have voluntarily sang in front of anyone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsAXpiAkQ6U

And here is just a funny picture of Jonathan...

Another Year, Another Garden

It is time once again to dismantle the remains of our garden plots today. Chris and I got to work pulling roots, cutting vines, and turning soil. As you can see from above, the gnome survived his first year with the cantaloupes and peppers. Christopher's plot (below) is empty and he wanted to see if a thin, insulating layer of leaves would help the soil in the spring...

 My plot still has two kale plants that are giving us some final greens...

 And the gargantuan zucchini/tomato plot is now empty. It also had an absurd amount of oregano in it but it was time for all that to go too...

 The boys have finally been able to find some leaves to make into a pile as well!