Thanksgiving 2023

Ally and I went to Ohio to see my side of the family. Lots of dogs and lots of cousins.

Jackson 16, Ally 17, Kaitlin 18 & Meredith 13 

We were at the Columbus Zoo for Zoolights which is a long-standing tradition at Thanksgiving for us.

They tried to recreate an iconic cousins picture from their childhood.

There was a meet and greet with Rudolph!

The bears were awake!







We spent some time with Adelaide and Amelia.

I had dinner with my brothers and their wives while Ally and her cousins did a Virtual Reality thing on their own. 

Lazy mornings with Uncle Frank’s dogs. Always a good time.

Heading to Thanksgiving.



Uncle Phil made 5 pies!!!

Everyone is good about humoring me for photos. 





Aunt Martha and I dressed as twins. 

Ally’s Thanksgiving plate.

And a selfie with mommy.

The teen table

My brothers and me.

Katy and me.

This is My brother, Ally’s Uncle Frank, his wife Trish and her daughter Andi who spent Thanksgiving with them too this year. 

It was a lot. Travel. Social time. And we really missed Becky. But it was good to spend time with my family.

November 2023

Catching up on a couple typical weeks

Daisy likes to torment us all by getting on the bookcase.

And distracting Ally from homework.

Ally could not be more delighted about her cats getting along. It really is amazing.

They even beg for food together.

The day came for Ally to drive herself to school. 





She was annoyed but kept humoring me for pictures.



This is the selfie I got as proof of life that she made it to school. We are so incredibly proud of her.

On Election Day we took Cloey to the polls with us. We were too lazy to walk so we drove and Cloey insisted on sitting on Becky’s lap.

One week Ally brought Maggie to therapy with her.



Adorable



We hosted a small Guatemala Girls birthday gathering for Ally.



In the end only Gabi could come. But we had fun. The girls painted pottery and Kim and Becky and I caught up.

Gabi had never held a cat before. She said she was always too scared of them. But Maggie was so soft and friendly. 



We are back making shelter dinners every other week. chili and cornbread this time.

Cousin Kimn came over for lunch one Sunday.

Ally got the best Fab Fit Fun box ever!

Home early from school and ate yummy lunch at home.

Home early for therapy and she drove herself. It was amazing. Ally told me this week that it seemed like I had more energy and I told her YES because I’m not driving so much now that she has her license and can drive herself. 



Working on her art assignment. It was a mini mural.

Daisy always making it hard to do homework.

The finished piece was amazing.

There is an art show at school at the end of each semester. I stopped by to look at Ally’s pieces on display. 


We are in Ohio now to spend Thanksgiving week with my side of the family.