miranda

november portrait

I need to remember to take a photo of Aidan every month.  When I Skyped with my little sister today, she reminded me of how much he's grown since we were all together last in late summer.  So here is his November 2009 portrait.  He is still mischievous, sweet, funny, and obsessed with trains.  (Some things don't change!)

as promised

Hope you had a spooky Halloween!

home day

At home today, sick.  Swinging by the clinic after we pick Daddy up from work and crossing our fingers all day long that it's not swine-related. 

Here are my bat-kids, by the way, all dressed up for Trunk & Treat at the church on Sunday.  I made Aidan's costume very simply, it's no-fuss.  He's wearing $4 sweat pants and a $10 fleece-lined hoodie from WalMart, $5 black dress shoes that I picked up at Dittos For Kiddos earlier this month, and his regular unders (t-shirt, briefs, socks).  I hot-glued the biggest googly-eyes I could find at Michael's to the hood, they were about $1, and cut the fangs from an 8.5x11 piece of soft white felt, also from Michael's and around or under $1, also hot-glued.  The wings are cut from 4 of the larger felt rectangles (11x20?), another couple of dollars.  I cut the first shape freehand and copied it for the other three pieces, hand-sewed them most of the way and then stuffed them with poly-fil before stitching them closed.  I sewed the base of the wings to the mid-back of the hoodie, and sewed another section of them to the shoulders for more sturdiness, since they are a bit heavy and would have fallen back.  And that was it.  Without counting the shoes, which he will wear to church throughout the winter, his costume was about $20, and it's exactly what he wanted to be.  Betsy's wings are cut from the leftover black felt and hot glued to a hand-sewn black elastic loop.  She tolerates them pretty well, and both costumes received rave reviews.

I think Halloween is Aidan's favorite holiday, because he loves creepy stuff and suspense like I do- I hope he's feeling better by Saturday.  It's cold in the house and I feel like it would be a good environment for painting furniture, but I'm still wavering.  Once I start, I won't be able to stop, and it may not be the best time.  Decisions...

pumpkin patch

This little guy...oye.  I love him so much it makes my heart hurt.  We took him to the pumpkin patch today at Disability Resources, Inc. (great organization) here in Abilene, and had a fun time.  Went on a hayride, picked out some good jack-o-lantern material, and reassured Betsy endlessly that the wind was not going to pluck her up and blow her out to the prairie.  She didn't believe us.  Can't really blame her, you do get the odd coyote out there.

Lots of work ahead of me tonight- finishing the wings on Aidan's bat costume in time for "Trunk-n-Treat," possibly carving a pumpkin, possibly priming some furniture for painting, possibly baking...possibly sleeping.

bat dog

I'm a fan of bats, primarily for their mosquito-eating skillz. But other reasons, too- one being the cute factor. You may disagree with me on that count (you say potato, I say potahto...), but it's the truth. In grade school I did a science fair project all about bats and their many contributions to society- my dad made me a bat house and several hours of National Geographic for PBS were logged. I've been fond of them ever since.

All that is to say, this particular puppy is the closest a dog has ever gotten to looking like a bat for me. So I brought her home. Her name is Betsy, she's a solid black teacup chihuahua (not really AKC standards to be so small) and we all like her a lot.  Except when she does her business inside. Then Aidan wonders aloud, "Will she ever learn?"

last fall

This morning, Aidan and I were happy to babysit for a one year-old friend of ours. She was super sweet and the whole thing -holding her, watching Aidan entertain her, etc.- made my ovaries leap. LOL. Too much information? Sorry. I'm getting up there in years and my filter doesn't work like it used to. :P

I haven't gotten out much with Aidan this year to take pictures, for one reason or another, and I need to do that soon. But I've never posted this shot that I like from last fall/winter. He doesn't fit on that trike anymore, he's on a real bike with training wheels, now. It goes by really fast. It has since the beginning.

Spending a quiet (wishful thinking) day at home with a nearly-finished bat costume and an enthusiastic train engineer...

saddle up

Aidan got his first real taste of Texas livin' last Saturday, at a schoolmate's birthday party. I was proud of the way he climbed right up onto the horse with no help and no fear, and even though I could see some concern on his face at first (look how little there is to hold onto when you've got small arms and hands), he circled around on Cotton-Eye Joe like a seasoned pro. I was also pretty stunned by his sudden confidence in feeding goats and donkeys by hand. Where'd my baby go? I'm in no real hurry for any other milestones just yet.