The Scotts

Kitties basically had the run of the house by the time October hit.

They really liked hopping around behind the books. Fortunately that seemed to die down by the end of the month. This is Hades.

We had decided to adopt three of the kittens by the point but weren't sure which. The initial plan was to keep Medusa, Aphrodite, and Hades so I took lots of pics of Persephone and Athena to send to people. This is Persephone.

Athena on left, Persephone on right.

Athena was such a doll. The kids were ecstatic to be adopting kittens but then everyone struggled with giving any up. Like I said, it wasn't like there were any duds in the bunch.

Look at how cute she is saying hi to Callie.

Juliet learned how to ride her bike! Nathan was a champ and taught her one morning while I was gone at tennis or something.

She picked it up pretty much instantly and biked all the way to the school!

Proud Patrick biking with her!

Then I drug everyone out to the pumpkin patch. They went somewhat willingly. Eleanor and I are always ready to eat our way through the Louisburg Cider Mill.

Eleanor is the tallest child in this photo.

Just Patrick and Juliet for the air pillow

Eleanor begging for treats in the shop

Meanwhile Patrick and Juliet enjoyed the corn crib

Eleanor and I discovered fried pies. Eleanor liked hers okay, I was pretty obsessed with mine.

So sweet, so tasty. I don't really care about candy but I would eat things like this forever.

So happy to get her donut and cider. And Nathan is such a good sport about going to this because he gets zero donuts.

Climbing around on hay bales.

Annoying that Eleanor is basically as tall as me in seated pictures. I got the shirt she's wearing in this photo from a thrift shop in Capitol Hill in Seattle in my early 20's. I would have been very impressed to hear that my daughter would someday wear it.

Being cute and playing with Juliet in the corn crib. Juliet was in heaven.

A willing picture before entering the corn maze! It ended up being a very nice outing.

Then we came home to kitties

The introduction of collars to help tell the kitties apart! Here is Aphrodite in the bookcase

Tired Aphrodite

Athena in the bookcase

Tired kitties cuddled on me

Girl Scouts in off to a great start! We've done a couple meetings and we're at 17 girls now. It feels a lot more manageable than 21 kindergarteners did. All the kids love it, we do interesting things and have fun.

Leaf impressions

I had to take Juliet out of school for an appointment and we decided it would be a good idea to stop by McLains for a treat before heading back to school

Juliet had her friend Nora over for a play date

It ended up being a very important play date because Nora absolutely loved the kitties and begged her mom to adopt one or two. Her mom couldn't adopt the kittens (the dad is allergic) but they shared pictures with family and Nora's aunt ended up adopting two of the kitties!! She has two boys and it's been an absolute love fest.

I ended up taking a lot of fancy pictures around this time in hopes of getting Athena adopted, even though she might have been my favorite if she stuck around.

Having five cats was definitely too much, I kept on walking around and counting cats to make sure no one was trapped in a closet or something. One day I couldn't find Medusa anywhere, until I happened to spot her in a cozy spot behind the lamp on Nathan's side table by the bed.

Five kittens are in this photo

It was easier to give up Hades. He was sweet but oh so wild. And it actually was perfect to have him and Athena go together, they had started pairing up quite a bit and playing together so it felt good to have them adopted together. Really that was the goal - to have two cats go together to a good family that would send us occasional updates.

So many cuddles with all the kitties. We had to wait for Persephone to make it to two pounds which took forever. Hades was probably at three pounds before Persephone was two pounds.

Medusa adores Callie and would love to cuddle and/or play with her. Callie is so excited and so afraid of the kitties.

Hades' glamor shot. He was a very sweet kitty. And handsome! But also very curious and wild.

Another pic of the adoptable duo.

Eleanor had a band concert! I can't ever hear her individually but the band sounds good.

We were in the front row and we were barely embarrassing, we're sure.

Eleanor with just a few kitties afterwards.

The majority of this blog post is of children with kittens

Poor scared Callie with Persephone

Athena and Hades may have also liked Callie the least of all of our kitties. Poor Callie.

Juliet went to our neighborhood fall festival and came home covered in temporary tattoos. She modeled them for me before going upstairs to take her shower.

Marching band. WOW. We finally got to watch them perform their routine and it was amazing.

We were relieved when Athena and Hades got adopted because we needed them out of the house, the longer they stayed the more we bonded and the harder it was going to be to say goodbye.

Aphrodite with a smoothie faced Eleanor.

All five kitties!

I think this is Persephone. Why did I pick a litter of identical looking cats??

Juliet has been an absolute champ at rock climbing. She's making it to the top of the tall wall!

These cats are SO nice. Being grabbed around the neck by a 2nd grader while being sniffed in the bum by a dog and just accepting it as a matter of course. I think this is the day they were going in for surgery and Juliet was saying goodbye to Hades here.

And saying goodbye to Athena

My friend Corinn came over and helped me to take some witchy kitten photos. This is Athena

And here I have Aphrodite

It was weird to not have any kittens for one night. Callie got some extra loves.

We successfully adopted our three kittens and got the other two adopted by Nora's aunt! Although it was rather exciting - I didn't realize that after a cat got fixed it would be a bit loopy and hiss if it was near any other cat. The cats had to come home in three different carriers and slept in three different rooms their first night home. We were relived when they were back to liking each other the next day.

The surgery actually didn't go as smoothly as it could have gone. Apparently Athena almost died, they had to intubate her when she didn't react well to the anesthesia. And Medusa had some pain medication for us to give her the next day, they didn't give me details but said that she didn't do well with parts of the surgery either. She threw up a few times the next day and so did Katniss.

On that note, we had a series of family discussions after we decided to adopt and knew which kittens we were going to keep. Medusa kept her name, because it's obviously a cool name. Aphrodite became Katniss or Kit Kat, because Juliet was desperate to have a cat named Kit Kat and Eleanor was sure that was the stupidest name she had ever heard in her life, so the compromise was naming her Katniss and Juliet could call her Kit Kat if she liked. And then Persephone just seemed like a Mochi, Eleanor said she should have a food name and as soon as the idea of Mochi came up everyone liked it.

Another reason it's good we didn't keep Hades was we couldn't agree on a name for him. Bradley wanted to stick with Hades, Eleanor liked Romeo, Nathan liked something else, and I had formed a group with Patrick and Juliet voting for Shark. Naming with so many people involved is very difficult.

Bradley was very proud to have Medusa come find him for cuddles when she finally got full run of the house.

Eleanor set herself up in quite the position on my bed to do some schoolwork and cuddle cats. She actually fell asleep for about half an hour like this, which was very good because it was before her second performance as the White Witch for the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

She was so proud of her costume even though the kittens kept trying to attack the bottom of it when she first tried it on

Beautiful! She got this role after I tried to squash her theater dreams because I told her she was quiet and wouldn't get main roles and it takes up too much time. Oopsie. Maybe achieving your dream against adversity makes it more impressive?

Patrick was in the play too. He was a wood nymph. So cute!

This was after the first performance. I had to leave early to pick up Bradley from band practice, right after Eleanor killed Aslan. I told her that I thought it was actually the perfect time to leave, as far as I was concerned her character won and it was a happy ending!

She was SO GOOD as the white witch. She threw everything into it. I'm biased, but I'm also more inclined to judge my children more critically, and she was the best one in the play. She was amazing. So many people came up to me to talk to me about her.

Juliet got to bring along Stella as her buddy for the second night.

You can see both Eleanor and Patrick in this photo!

Deliciously evil

Oops, she's dead. She got carried offstage by a few kids and they almost dropped her both nights.

Patrick was so cute as a wood nymph. He bounced around with a goofy smile in-between scene changes, which is what he was supposed to do, but he was so hammy we all started laughing a bit in the audience. On the second night they had the lights down between scene changes, so weird.

Curtain call!

Juliet was just a little excited about her actor brother

He was so cute. I was proud of him.

Eleanor's friend Elise came just to watch her perform, she goes to a different middle school. And we love Ainsley, she was in the play and she and Eleanor have become really good friends.

With the white witch! I got her this bouquet from Costco and she ran around and gave all her friends flowers and kept just one for herself, which I thought was a rather lovely thing to do.

Post play kitty cuddles

Nathan is happy about these kitties too, which is great because I definitely sprung this on him. My favorite part of this was me telling him I wanted to go pick up some foster kittens and him saying, "No, we're going to end up adopting them," and me telling him how foolish and wrong he was.

I'm just over the moon about how much the kittens like the kids. They'll climb up on Juliet for cuddles all the time and our original cats really didn't want to have anything to do with her.

And they love everyone, it's pretty equal opportunity loving so far.

So many cuddles all over the place

Medusa is so pretty. I looked it up and she's a marbled tabby.

I made a Facebook post about us adopting the kittens and Eleanor saw me doing it so she asked, "are you posting pictures of me on the internet without my permission?" I proudly handed over my phone so she could see the post in which I had purposefully not included her or Bradley because I don't post pictures of them unless it's a family photo or something along those lines. She then said, "Why am I being excluded? My feeeeelings!" and I have to say, it doesn't seem like I could win with this one.

Mochi likes licking noses. I try to not let the kids do it but unfortunately for me, they find it to be ridiculously cute.

Three sleepy kitties. It was amazing the difference when we just had three. It felt like we were finally doing real bonding with the kitties.

Mochi is a cute little witch!

Mochi loooooved it

Katniss insists on so many cuddles and will hunt down her favorite person of the moment and demand cuddles

They find Juliet and do this. She's so thrilled.

Mochi, Medusa, and Katniss from left to right

It has been something to teach them to not go on counters. It was so much easier with Layla, Meg, and Sookie in our little one bedroom condo.

I mean - it's ridiculous around here.

More Girl Scouts! We painted rocks. The girls had a blast. We're having such a good time this year.

Eleanor trying to pack her lunch and get ready for school. Barely difficult to do.

This is many mornings while I braid Juliet's hair. She generally has a buddy.

They really like to attack Juliet's braids. We're working on it.

A standard way one does homework

I teased Eleanor for sitting like this while doing her homework but then I tested it out and it was incredibly satisfying. A little stretch while sitting on the couch, I get it!

Nathan was ready to sit down on his comfy cushion spot for dinner and found that it had been claimed.

I went with Eleanor and a few other 8th grade Girl Scouts for a trip to Branson in order to use up troop funds! Mallory booked a very nice airbnb.

Me and Mallory and TTa hanging out on the main floor.

Silver Dollar City! TTa came even though her foot was in a boot, I couldn't believe it. She got a scooter to go around the park and was a tough cookie.

And then - surprise surprise - I actually ended up going on a bunch of the rides! I can still do roller coasters! Eleanor would have been more proud of me if I hadn't screamed a bunch and alternated between yelling, "Why? Why? and No no no!"

Screaming. On only one coaster did Eleanor try to gag me with her sweatshirt over her hand. Gross. I still screamed a lot.

We were so cute together! It was perfect weather, the day went better than I thought it could have. All five girls had a blast, even though a couple of them were very afraid of roller coasters at the beginning.

Turkey leg!

Me being fancy with a sword. Juliet DEEPLY wanted me to get this sword for her.

Even big girls like the princess store

All five girls on one of the water rides

The other water ride absolutely soaked us. The worst part was our wet shoes and socks. Those remained soaked for the rest of the day. But the girls loved this ride and went on it three times in a row, one of those times they talked me and Mallory into going on it with them.

This was a drying room that someone else paid for and then we hopped into after they were done. Drying our tushies!

More roller coasters!

Daisy, Maggie, Harper, Eleanor, and Aria. They had a good time together, it was pretty nice to be able to do something like this even though I was beyond exhausted by the time we got home. I can only be an extrovert for a few hours at a time and this was three days straight.

We found yummy treats in old town Branson. Eleanor was a delight, if I had done this with just her I would have been just fine.

We spent the final morning just wandering around downtown and the girls got yummy food and checked out shops. Then I drove us back home.

I thought I would be fine to take Juliet to this, but I was pretty wrecked so Nathan took her to the cute Girl Scout fall festival I had signed her up for. She had a blast!

Such easy and fun activities on a beautiful afternoon.

Mabel is in this photo! Julie Monahan planned and organized the whole thing.

Cute girl with her wonderful daddy

Then cuddles and books at home

I talked Bradley into playing Unmatched with me. He won, probably because he had a special helper.

Patrick was at basketball and managed to sprain his ankle. I saw the video, it looked like nothing, but he howled a bunch and refused to put any weight on it so we knew it was something reasonable. Quite frankly I'm kind of tired of Patrick getting hurt. The sympathy is gone, I would rather he just took care of himself.

Our new church had a trunk or treat and Nathan the champion took Juliet and crutches boy. I kept falling asleep at home as I tried to read my book. So so tired.

Both kids got plenty of candy, they were very cute.

We watched a show together when they got home, if only Katniss liked cuddles.

Patrick and Juliet went on a perler beads kick!

They had a helper

All the kitties in a basket!

And a Halloween puppy!

Juliet still runs over to Charleigh's house from time to time. She got to make slime with her and Bella!

We got a new blanket from Costco and the kitties are big fans. It's incredibly warm!

Poor Callie. The kitties like to try to play with her and sometimes even try to cuddle with her and she gets so jumpy over it.

She'll get up and move and kitties will follow her. At least I don't have to worry about her being bored!

Working on some children's stories with some assistance

More Unmatched with kitties!

Nathan was gone on a work trip for a few nights and Juliet took advantage of the opportunity to have some sleepovers with me. She lost a tooth in my bed the first night and we had to deal with some blood and then she turned sideways in the night and kicked me a bunch so I would be okay if we didn't do this again for a while. She also sits completely upright out of nowhere in the middle of the night and it's quite disconcerting. However, as much as I don't appreciate the bed buddy, Juliet loves it more than anything. I do toss a blanket on her when she's kicked them all off and it's cozy to have someone in the room with you when you sleep. So there were a number of complaints when her dad came home. Yet another reason I probably shouldn't have these cozy sleepovers with the cute girl.

Medusa trying to cuddle with a sleepy doggy. Callie still runs away from the kitties when they try to cuddle her, even when she's so tired.

We lured the cats upstairs with kitty treats and I believe it's Mochi trying to climb inside the treat bag here.

Most mornings Katniss ends up on Juliet's lap and she greatly enjoys me having to fetch her breakfast because everyone knows you can't move when you have a kitty.

Naughty kitties in the bookcases. They're lucky they're so sweet.

The kitties are desperate to cuddle at the table even when it's a tight squeeze.

Playing games with a Medusa

Both of us had kitties for a while while playing games at the island

A ridiculous way to do dishes

I sat down to read one day while the kids were at school and I had quite the cozy crew.

An example why Juliet is a ridiculous human to share a bed with. I went in to check on her and she was upside down in the bed with no covers.

We've experimented a lot with a collar for Mochi. We tried a bunch of colors before eventually settling on pink, even though that was originally Athena's color.

They are very good lap cats. We may have overdone the lap cat training.

They also want to be hat cats. I'm less enthusiastic about this.

They were underfoot and yelling at me the entire time I was in the kitchen baking one morning. Immediately after this photo was taken Katniss (the one looking up at me) attempted to jump into my arms. I screamed, because it was basically like an attack. Nothing spilled, both me and the cat survived, and I hurried and finished baking so the cats could get their cuddles.

Katniss is a bit ridiculous. Just rubbing up on a delighted Bradley here.

And helping Eleanor text

Green collar phase for Mochi!

This was the day Medusa was playing with and even chewing on Callie's favorite bone. Poor Callie had to be so brave and gently lean forward in order to grab the bone and pull it away from the kitty.

Juliet's class Halloween party! I didn't get to attend because I didn't sign up in time but a friend sent me some pictures. They do so many fun things for their class parties.

Eleanor went to a Fright Night at Worlds of Fun with her friend Elise. It was rainy and cold and haunted and Eleanor somehow made it from 7-11PM. I was very impressed.