We Lose Sweet Layla

September was rough. We had to put Layla down. I have a bunch of photos of her in the middle of this blog post. She's always been a bit finicky about her food so when she went off it earlier in the summer we just thought it was more of the same. When we got the diagnosis of advanced kidney disease it was a surprise, even though it shouldn't have been. At least we had done all the things we could have to help her - lots of fresh water and wet food as part of her diet for the past eight years. It still seemed very sudden though and we all cried a lot of tears over Layla. Juliet's tears would have been more meaningful if she could have remembered which cat was dying. One night she was weeping at dinner at the mention of our sick kitty and Eleanor dryly asked, "Which cat is sick, Juliet?" Juliet hesitated and then said, "Sookie?" Oh well. At least she cared that a kitty was dying. I made a project out of going through all of the photos from the past 14 years and we had a slideshow that we watched as a family for the memorial we did the Saturday after she died. It was rough but it was actually really nice to see a bunch of photos of healthy happy Layla after seeing a sick, tiny Layla for her final couple of weeks.

And we did have a lot of bright spots this month. Juliet and Callie love the family that moved in up the street a few months ago.

Callie, Remy, and Cole are quite the friend crew.

Bradley has his dudes at the pool shop that are always excited when he comes in when Nathan or I test the pool water because he likes to talk Yu-gi-oh cards with them. 

Juliet met a friend for a play date at Stilwell Park. She loves Addie - they were on the summer t-ball team together and now Addie is in her class and she's sweet and loves to play pretend. 

Patrick with Nathan at the dugout for one of his baseball games.

Nathan with Layla at her vet appointment. I had an inkling that things were bad but the bloodwork confirmed it.

A very sad, sick kitty at the end. But she wanted to be near us.

She had a cozy, quiet spot she liked on Juliet's bed for the final couple of weeks.

She would purr so loud sometimes when she got some loves and pets.

She kept trying to cuddle underneath me but couldn't get comfortable.

Back to her spot

And another attempt at cuddles. 

We had a trip planned to New York for my friend Cerra's 40th birthday. It felt like a bad time to leave but my parents were going to take care of the kids and knew about Layla so at least we left everyone in good hands. I got in a walk with Callie before leaving and Remy tagged along ... 

Remy had a tail colored on him thanks to Cleo, the little girl at his house. Oh Remy.

We left on our trip, which was bittersweet but also pretty exciting because it was our first trip without the kids in eight years.

So of course I missed them terribly and kept messaging the family cell phone with pictures of me and Nathan on adventures.

The view from our hotel room in the Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan.

I found a nice ramen place to go to before our broadway show on the first night.

We walked through Times Square on our way to the theater. Lots of walking everywhere, I really should have brought tennis shoes. Everything was crowded, dirty, and smelled like pot. Ahhh, New York.

But our play was incredibly cute and fun. Amazing cast.

It's weird to be out at night and have everything lit up and for places to be crowded at midnight. We stopped at a shop and got some fun souvenirs for the kids!

The next day we got to ride a subway to go to the US Open!

We got to watch two matches. For women's doubles finals we got to sit wherever we wanted so we were in something like row 5, which was pretty incredible.

For men's singles semi-finals we had to sit in our real seats, which were considerably further away. Still a good view though. Both matches were really fun to watch. They had little radio earpieces we could wear so we could hear the commentary on the game, which was nice. We got to watch Sinner play, he's currently ranked #1 in the world. It was a great match, he was playing against Draper, who he had played doubles tennis with previously. Draper had a bit of nerves and threw up a few times on the sidelines. They played some great tennis.

But we had to leave after two sets because we had a boat to catch! Sinner ended up winning. It was a quick final set but we made the boat with just a few minutes to spare so we definitely stayed as long as we could.

My friend Cerra had booked a boat for the party people. Kim Vervair was there! It was really fancy and we had an amazing time.

Usually I don't take pictures without people in them. I think this was the Brooklyn Bridge or something?

Statue of Liberty!

There was a fireworks show right by the Statue of Liberty. No idea why, apparently it isn't a regular thing. Also, the Statue of Liberty is 100% in New Jersey, they literally drew circles around this and Ellis Island and declared them part of New York even though they are clearly in New Jersey water. New Yorkers did not appreciate when I pointed this out.

Twin Towers memorial on the way back up the channel. Very pretty but I heard it's killing a lot of birds.

We're pretty sure this is the Empire State Building behind us on our walk back to the hotel.

A classic New York breakfast! I insisted on get a lox bagel while in New York and it turns out it's a lot of salmon for early in the morning. Or really any time. I'm usually not a quitter but I didn't make it through all of this.

We took a morning walk to Central Park but we didn't explore much, we sat on a bench and did a crossword puzzle because I got a cheap subscription to the New York Times Games app and it turns out Nathan and I really like doing crosswords together.

Then we traveled over to Brooklyn, took a nap, and went to Cerra's cool kid birthday party!

The party had a dress code and was catered. Cerra doesn't mess around.

It also had a Photo Booth which we enjoyed thoroughly!

Then there was karaoke. I got up on stage a lot, at first to support Cerra and then because I was told to sign up for a song and I thought we would run out of time before I would have to perform.

It was an emo karaoke party and I didn't know most of the songs very well. So I picked Stacey's Mom. It was not great but I jumped around a lot.

Mostly I just jumped around on stage. I don't know how to dance to these songs. But I didn't let that stop me.

It was pretty great. It was our high school squad up there a bunch. And Cerra got a professional photographer, which was extra cool.

The party was great, we had brunch with the crew the next morning, and then headed home. Again, I am so grateful that my parents took such good care of everyone but especially Layla while we were gone. My dad slept at their house so Layla would have plenty of space on our bed with my mom at night. Layla got lots of fresh water and cuddles from my mom and I can't believe my mom got one of Layla's signature arm cuddles because she mostly wasn't doing that anymore when we left.

Bradley sent us some pictures of the kitties from the house phone.

And then we were back and got some final photos of Layla with her sisters.

We decided to schedule her euthanasia for that Friday but then she couldn't walk without wobbling and had a really rough dismount from our bed and so we had to move it up to Wednesday. We were so worried that she would fall and hurt herself in the night and she clearly was not a happy kitty.

So we took a lot of pictures of her that are tough to look at because she's obviously such a sick kitty.

Nathan stayed home from work and cuddled Layla all morning until we had to take her into the vet. They were so nice and we cried a lot. It was a rough day. They even sent us a card the next week that was signed by both vets saying how sorry they were and that they knew it was a tough time for us. It's still a little surreal that she's gone.

Nathan had to pull himself together to go to a Bradley cross country meet that afternoon. Bradley is doing really well at cross country and we're really happy with how that is going.

And the next day I had a Girl Scout recruiting event. It went well - a little too well. I think we're going to have 17 girls in the kindergarten troop.

We weren't sure if the other cats were really going to react to Layla being gone but they both have seemed extra cuddly. The cats didn't generally cuddle together so we know if they particularly cared about Layla but they definitely sensed something was off.

The younger two had a donuts with grownups event at their school and Nathan was able to go with us because he had one of his Fridays off work.

Then he and I went furniture shopping (again) and discovered that I have excellent taste so we're waiting a bit to buy the investment couch and I'm perhaps willing to wait another year or two on the one we have. But I had seen a Mexican bakery on my way in to the furniture store and was really excited to check it out. We got a *small* assortment of pastries which at $2 a pop was well worth it.

That night we went to our first high school football game because the 7th grade band was getting to play.

Bradley is the white tuba in the middle

Juliet loved the game, mostly because of concessions and daddy cuddles

Patrick raged hard on snacks, screaming with joys after successful plays, and he took his shirt off a lot because there were some high school boys who ran around with letters painted on their chests. He is desperate to go back. We'll see if the Watts let us sit by them again after his antics.

Begging for more concessions (Daddy said yes)

Eleanor ditched us to go sit with her friend Maya a few rows behind us. It's quite the scene at these games, the kids would go every week if we were up for it.

I took the boys to go play pickleball with my folks over at their tennis courts the next day. It was toasty but fun!

Juliet likes to practice basketball and has actually gotten pretty reasonable at dribbling. Well, for a 5 year old.

We had a pretty legitimate heatwave and the kids had had a bit of a break from the pool so they were excited to use it again. Stella and Juliet were mermaids together!

And I was a genius and told Nathan it was high time to switch from basketball hoops to the volleyball net in the pool. It has been a huge hit and Eleanor and Maya played a ton of volleyball together when they stayed up late for a sleepover.

Juliet lost her first tooth, which was momentous. She told me it was wiggly on Sunday morning and then spent all day wiggling it and she ripped it out at dinner when we were at Grandma and Grandpa's. She wrote a little note to the tooth fairy so she could get money for her tooth but she could still keep it so she could feed it to the fishies the next time we visited Aunt Diana.

I take daily walks with Callie and it's so pretty out in the watershed preserve area. So many nice little wildflowers.

Callie has been getting long chunks of time with Remy, which is super nice for her.

Bradley really enjoys reading in my room and is always very proud when Meg joins him.

I decided to go outside and enjoy a popsicle and good news, I did not have to do it alone.

Patrick was home sick one day but he seemed pretty perky so I took the chance to play some favorite board games together. Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters is so good!

Juliet was a big fan when we showed her how to play. I'm still so happy to be done with the board game channel. It was such a fun thing to do but now it's great to relax and enjoy the games we know and love.

Eleanor had a special Girl Scout event at Charlie Hustle and I upended a bunch of family plans so I could spend about 5 hours with her in order for her to make it to this event.

She gets to design a shirt and then they pick a few designs to be voted on and the winning one they'll make and sell. Pretty cool!

They had a professional photographer there and she got this one of me giving Eleanor feedback on her design.

The group of girls who went to the event. Girl Scouts is so neat!

Then Eleanor and I decided we wanted empanadas for dinner and I parked under a bridge in a sketchy area of town to go to the area we thought might have them. We couldn't find any but we found yet another Mexican bakery and we got a big bag of goodies!

We also went to a really delicious Mexican restaurant and the lady helped us pick out something that gave us sort of an empanada feel. Eleanor was happy and I was happy.

Baked goods the next morning. Poor sleepy Eleanor was a good sport about taking a picture.

Nathan went to Patrick's baseball game and I stayed home with the other kids, but the weather was too perfect so I made everyone go out for a walk with me.

Evenings like this are perfection.

We stopped by the school playground to play for literally ten minutes and then the sun went down quite quickly and it was pretty dark by the time we got home. Whoops. And we could hear thunder in the distance. Outings are always better with a little bit of danger and excitement.

Juliet and Patrick had their fun run this week. It was so hot.

I loved getting to go and cheering on the kids.

Juliet had the first time slot of the day and it was already really hot, so it was sweltering by the time it got to Patrick's group.

Fortunately they made the kids take a lot of water breaks.

Blowing me a kiss

With his medal at the end

Nathan took Patrick to the batting cages and we think that helped his swing quite a bit. Nathan still has a strict no golf rule during the baseball season after the year Patrick played once and completely screwed up his swing for the rest of the season.

Patrick and Juliet are fort buddies whenever they get the chance

Eleanor got to make a bird house for Girl Scouts as part of her bronze award

And yet more pool time. We've all been pretty obsessed with volleyball. We play to try to get the highest number of hits on the ball, which is really the only way it works with the number of people we have playing at a time. With just one or two people on each side you can't cover too much of the pool.

I had a cozy reading afternoon which was a popular kitty decision.

More volleyball in the pool with friends!

Really glad Timmy Svab still gets to hang out with Patrick here and there.

We saw some very cute tiny turtles on a walk.

Juliet got to go to her friend Avery's birthday party. She has been living it up at all the fancy and fun kindergarten birthday parties she has gotten to go to this year. She had three in September and already has two scheduled for October.

Really happy that Addie gets to go to these too. They are such good buddies.

We did a parent info session for Girl Scouts and had the girls run around and do a few activities. These were the ones that agreed to stop moving long enough to take a picture at the end. We have 17 Girl Scouts in the troop now!

I finally got to make it to one of Bradley's cross country meets. The 7th grader insisted on hugs in public!

He ran so well, we're so proud of how well he's doing with cross country.

We're proud of Sookie too. For being so fluffy.

The younger two had a day off of school so Nathan and I took them too the zoo. Another Friday off for Nathan!

The zoo was decorated for its evening Glow Wild event and we appreciated the decor.

I got to ride the train by Patrick.

He tried to hold the map in front of his face for a picture so I lovingly threatened to punch him in the head and please note he has his best smile of the day here. Also the lady behind us was sort of amused but also definitely judging my parenting.

These two in the caboose didn't punch anyone at all and were just cute. Bun Bun accompanied us to the zoo.

Tram to Africa.

With their souvenir leaves. Souvenir leaves are my absolute favorite, they are the correct price and they live outside when we get home.

The new aquarium is pretty neat. The kids barely cared about any of the animals at most of the exhibits, although the polar bear was really impressive, but they love a good aquarium exhibit.

And that night the big kids had a youth group night out at Main Event. They got to bring friends!

I talked the boys into a bit of tennis the next day. We don't play all that often, which is really too bad because they naturally pretty good at the sport.

We also love badminton. Juliet has been getting into it as well!

Patrick and Juliet begged to have a sleepover and how could I say no to this cuteness?

We even got Bradley out there for a good round of pool volleyball one day.

And in sort of a meta picture, here is Nathan taking a picture of me sitting with a cuddly Callie while I was downloading pics from my phone for the blog.

We were very cozy

Dance party for Daddy and Juliet

It was warm enough to swim but chilly enough to get to sit by the firepit that evening. Perfection!

Here is cute Juliet with a picture she insisted I take of her after school one day. She had a special glow in the dark PE event because the school raised so much money for the fun run.

And finally, here is Juliet's amazing impression of Patrick. I showed Patrick this video and he wanted me to post it on the internet because he was sure it would go viral. I'm not sure it's that amazing unless you know Patrick.