the haircut

Some of you will be disappointed by this, others unspeakably relieved. Either way, here it is. Before and after of Athan's first haircut:

Thursday 4p:

Friday 8a:

Thanksgiving in Wilmore '09

breakfast with visiting friends

Just a few fun pics of breakfast this morning with some friends.

my gesture of solidarity

There is not much about Athan's experience that I can voluntarily adopt, but this one I can. Athan has been reluctant to keep his glasses on for long stretches, but we've discovered that he will keep glasses on his face if I have glasses on mine. SO.... I got "glasses." After a short trial run with some borrowed frames, I realized that the tactic worked and I needed something more permanent. I don't need any prescription, so reading glasses were out, as was borrowing Ryan's glasses (headache!). I eliminated the $$$$ options immediately, and finally found some $10 kids frames at the Vision Center in Wal-Mart. I just left in the plastic demo lenses. If I ever actually need glasses, I probably won't choose purple again! But for now, and for $10, and to help Athan, here's where I landed. And so far this morning, he hasn't taken his glasses off yet. :) I'm willing to look THAT dorky for a bit until he doesn't need it anymore. Ah, parenting - sucks the cool right out of you...

Yes, I was cooler once.

Was too!!

Shut up.

a query for my fellow parents:

Why does Athan only poop in the tub on tuesday nights - the only night of the week Ryan has class and it's just me here with the kids?

3 of 4 of us are leaking

Morgan, Athan, and I have colds. Nothing severe yet, but just the general drippy, coughy yuckiness.

Morgan has had the worst of it so far, running a fever of about 103 in the morning yesterday. It dropped back to about 99, then spiked up to 102 again after dinner. She missed school yesterday and today, but she's pretty perky already this morning. No fever, and not much cough, so maybe she's on the up-swing.

Athan and I haven't had a fever or anything. Just lots of snot. And then cough. Not so bad for me - I think I'll be over it soon. Athan, on the other hand, has always had a difficult time coughing effectively enough to clear everything out before it gets infected. So far so good, but we could use your prayers that he can fight it off before it gets worse.

(just a quick p.s.: We had our first adventure of being pet owners last night. Blue got outside the fence, and Ryan chased him for an hour or so. Then I took a turn. No luck. So we dejectedly gave up chase while we got the kids ready for and into bed. After about 3 hours of running his legs of, he apparently decided that this is, indeed, his home. So he came back. We didn't know if he'd do that or not, so we're super happy to have Blue back today. :)

a better walker video ('bout 3.5 min)

unprompted and unaided!! woo-hoo!! :)

Anyone else teary?! Kiddo just randomly volunteered himself to grab his "new toy" (his name for the walker), and take off. With minimal assistance he walked out of the kitchen, through the living room, and down the hall. Yeah Athan!! I'm walking around singing the doxology for some reason... :)

introducing...

Our new pooch. This sweet little guy was rescued by our friends Kelly and Tony this weekend as he was running for his life from all the traffic on the Bluegrass Parkway. Hence his name: Bluegrass (Blue for short). Morgan is so excited we can hardly keep her in the house at all. :) Athan is... warming up. I might be s happy as Morgan is about having a dog. Ryan is talking of building the dog a house, which I'm taking to be a gesture of welcome.

The Ballerina and Bob the Builder

Until just a few days ago, Morgan wanted to be Darby again. She changed her mind last minute and went with Ballerina instead. Good for us that Nana stocked the dress-up drawer with ballet clothes. ;) Athan, happy to just be a part of it all, let me zip him into a Bob the Builder constume I got at a consignment sale for a couple bucks.

ALL of this cuteness was gathered at our house before we walked over to Wilmore's wonderful Treats on Main event:


The ballerina gave us some live action before wearing the costume to school Friday:


And later that evening, built a huge pile of leaves, then plopped down in them an made a "leaf angel":