The Beginnings of the Menagerie

Referring to my family as a menagerie began as a joke. It started last year at Christmas. My husband and I were traveling to Houston to spend a week with our families. We were bringing with us our 85 pound golden retriever named Hunter, and Gray our 18 pound cat. I was also 6 months pregnant. My father in law  jokingly referred to this caravan as a menagerie. The nickname stuck. Currently, my "menagerie" consists of my husband, our 7 month old baby girl, the dog, and the cat. This week we are hosting our first Thanksgiving at our home in Dallas. My parents and sister are coming, and my cousin Ashton will spend Thursday at our house. I've spent the last two months buying "fallish" items to decorate the house, much to my husband's chagrin. We've decided to skip the home cooked meal, which takes about 3 days to prepare, in favor of catering by Central Market. I will be making homemade pumpkin dip,  courtesy of my friend Bethany, as well as pumpkin bread. My family arrives on Wednesday, and we are all eagerly anticipating Sophie's first Thanksgiving. God willing it will be stress and illness free! Weather.com promises cool weather, which is not always a given here in Texas. I feel slightly sad that this year marks the end of the 100+ year rivalry football game between Texas and Texas A&M. I guess it will be up to me to tell Sophie the history of this rivalry as she gets older. Well, this is my first blog entry. Hopefully I will be able to come up with some interesting blog ideas! Happy Thanksgiving!