Mary has a stinky lamb. . .

Mary has a bunch of lambs. Their fleece is. . .gray. . .

The main culprit is her constant companion since birth, Lambie.
He's a Beanie Baby gifted to her by her sister on the day of her birth.
And everywhere that Mary goes, that lamb is sure to tag along
(the bathtub, the sandbox, the backyard garden, the dinner table. . .
he nearly was made into frybread last weekend after
camping out near the dough preparation area. . .).

Lambie usually spends two-week stints
accumulating funky mementos of his adventures.

When the stench becomes overpowering,
Lambie goes solo to the spa (washer/dryer)
to be de-funked and fluff-dried.

Pretty baaaaaaaaad
(couldn't resist that one)

Big glut of update photos from ages past. . .

Yes, I've been negligent in my family news duties. . .no excuses but life, really. . .here are some photos I snapped since just before Thanksgiving. . .

Thanksgiving (in February)

Courtney originally was scheduled to work at St. Luke's on Thanksgiving, but got canceled due to low census. Bad for the paycheck, but great for the family. She got to stay HOME on a holiday (imagine that) and recorded Ken frying turkey on our driveway.
Yes, the birds were thawed.
Nothing blew up.
We ate well.

We set up a safety perimeter around the fryer
so Megan could continue her Bigwheel racing.

Ken with the cooked turkey.

That Friday, we traveled to Bartlesville, OK for a visit with Courtney's extended family:

Megan and Mary with Melissa.

Mary, playing atop an old plow near the
Keepsake Candle factory, near Bartlesville.

Here's Mary, doing Melissa's hair.

Mary and Courtney

Long-awaited update

Yes, we're still here. . .just busy! This is mostly a catch-up post. We've had mounds of leaves to mulch (but just had to jump in them, first). . .

We had Halloween festivities. . .
Mary was Tinkerbell, and Megan went as Ariel.
And yes, Megan's hair was dyed red for the role.
She got to go to school with bright red hair,
and enjoyed being the hit of that party.
The red spray dye rubbed off easily onto her her clothes, face and hands.
But she thoroughly enjoyed being a redhead.

Tinkerbell and Ariel, just before Trick-or-Treat began

In mid-October, we had a delightful visit from friends Belinda and David Zeitouni and their daughter, Rebecca, who had turned one year old only the week before. Belinda and Courtney have known each other since sixth grade in Fort Scott. The Zeitounis now reside in the Seattle area, and were in the Midwest to visit family. It was wonderful that they could visit us in the midst of a very busy schedule to reunite with family in Kansas and Missouri.

(l to r) David (holding Rebecca), Belinda, Courtney, Mary, Ken and Megan

And just one more. . .

This is Mary, enjoying the bluegrass and folk music floating across
the Winfield City Lake area during theWalnut Valley Festival in September.
When floodwaters drove campers from the festival grounds,
many of us scattered into any nearby campground that could hold us.
Mary and I camped with friends at the lake, and made many more friends
in the process. Mary had a terrific time, enjoyed the music
and fell asleep to jam tunes surrounding our tent from every direction.

Megan's birthday

Just a very quick post about Megan's birthday last week. . .we'd planned a party for her and her friends in a nearby park, but it was a washout (literally, a swamp) after last week's torrential rains. So we held the party in our house, instead. Fourteen kids under the age of 7 (plus parents). The house held up fine, our cats hid for hours, but everyone had a great time. Ken even cleaned the garage so we could have a pinata for the kids.

Mary and I are off in a few minutes to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield (also a washout. . .the campgrounds are closed for the first time in festival history after flooding earlier this week). The festival still will happen, but there will be no camping on site. People are scattered all over the county, which cuts down on the ambiance quite a bit. It will be a muddy adventure! Megan and Ken will stay behind this time around, because Megan has plans in her social agenda, including her school's carnival tonight, and a birthday party tomorrow.

I will post more when we get back, including some party shots. Until then, here's a shot of Mary with Megan, shortly after Megan received a Fancy Nancy Posh Puppy from Mary for her birthday:

Megan also received a camera from her parents, so she's a likely contributor to this site in the future.

Busy day. . .

Another quick post with unedited photos. . .

At the beginning of a busy Saturday, Megan and Mary constructed

football goalposts during their usual Home Depot trip today. . .

Here's Mary with her goalposts. . .

Then Mary went to her gymnastics class (that's Mary, second in line)

Then we braved a cool, misty evening to attend the Royals game.
Mary kept her ears plugged against any fireworks that erupted
when the Royals got a home run. The Royals won 3-1 over the
Cleveland Indians. Here are some more photos. . .

Mary and Megan with Slugger, the KC Royals' mascot.

Leaving the stadium as the rain began picking up
in the bottom of the seventh inning

KU football pep rally

As usual, we attended the annual Jayhawk football pep rally at Corinth Square late last month. But after the Jayhawks' unprecedented victory in the Orange Bowl, this year's rally was absolutely mobbed. At least we got our hot dog dinners, and the girls got to meet the KU cheerleaders and Crimson Girls. . .

Mary with Ken

The rally was so mobbed we opted to leave early,
even before the KU band played and Coach Mangino arrived.
So we went for ice cream, instead.

Kindergarten begins. . .

Megan is officially in Kindergarten,
at Dorothy Moody Elementary School
in Overland Park, KS.

Her first day was Aug. 18.

Here's another photo: