Santa Hams

 It's almost Christmas!  We have a lot going on, and I'm admittedly feeling like I'm barely keeping it all together.  Joe has been a massive help, but I still feel bad that I didn't plan better and that I need this much help.  I'm looking forward to having more time to relax and enjoy Christmas Break with him next week.  Also, we decided to just do white lights this year instead of colored and I'm in love!!  We probably won't be going back to the others again because I like this look so much better!

Míriel was an absolute gem!  I couldn't believe how easy she was to photograph with the hat on.  Isn't just amazing??!?!  I love her so much even if her personality is sometimes too big for such a small body.

Elendil is such a little sweetheart!  I didn't have a hat that really fit him, but we kinda made it work by just balancing it on his head.  I absolutely just love this little guy so much!

Snuggly Hams

 December is flying by!  Joe and I have been touring Indiana as we deliver trophies and medals to various schools across the state who won in the middle school and Unified competitions with Indiana Esports Network.  It's been fun going on these road trips with hours of great conversation and jamming out to Christmas music (mostly Tommee Profitt and For King & Country).  We have one more trip to take today, and then we'll be done with our part.  Very soon I'll be switching my focus to making tons of Christmas cookies and getting ready to host lots of parties!  💗

Míriel is a sweet girl, even though she's a bit crazy.  I keep finding new things she's chewing on in her tank that I'd prefer if she left alone.  She has so many chew toys, but likes to destroy other things instead.  I know I've said this before, but she truly has such a giant personality smooshed into a tiny body.  Haha!

Elendil is very elusive.  He's so quiet unless I'm cleaning his tank.  Then he quite literally squeaks at me to explain to me how upset he is and how much he disapproves of my actions.  While I know he's not happy with me, I cannot get over how cute he is and his squeaks just make me giggle.  Poor guy will never be taken seriously because he's too cute!  Haha!

Grateful

 I wasn't sure what Thanksgiving would look like for us this year, and for a while, it looked like it would be super chill the whole weekend with us only going to my sister's house on Friday for a few hours to hang out with family.  But then last weekend, we made new plans and the ones we had changed.  So our new plans are that we will be having our friends over on Thanksgiving, Friday we will host my family instead of my sister hosting, and then Saturday we'll have Joe's brother and girlfriend over.  I'm excited and a bit nervous about getting all the extra things done and about fitting 17 extra people from my family in our house.  But I'm also feeling blessed that we have a house and can host those we love.

Míriel ate her pecan and then immediately tried to eat the pumpkin in front of her.  She clearly loves food.  Haha!

Elendil was more interested in exploring than posing for pictures.  He finally sat still for a minute so I could capture his cute little face.  He's just so tiny!

Míriel

 Happy Halloween!

I was most excited to do this costume because I love incorporating Tolkien whenever possible, and I thought it would be fun to show Míriel's namesake.  However, this is where I have a confession to make.  😬  Since Joe and I have kept up with The Rings of Power, I decided to use an iconic look from the character Míriel in the show to model the costume after.  I was sending progress pictures of this costume to my sister who then asked me a pivotal question of, "Who is Míriel again?".  I started writing out my answer out to her but found myself on LOTR wiki to check my spelling on a couple of names.  It was at this point that I slowly began to realize my mistake.  You see, I use LOTR wiki to help me pick names for my hamsters.  When I got Míriel, I researched who the character was and ultimately chose the name partly because of the qualities of the character.  As I explained in my intro post to this hamster, in Tolkien's writings, Míriel, an elf, was the queen of the Noldor and was known for her silver hair and skill with her hands.  Míriel means "jewel-daughter" which I thought was fitting for the dappled markings on my hamster.  But that's not who is depicted in The Rings of Power...  In other words, I literally didn't notice that there are basically 2 Míriels until last week when I tried to answer my sister's question.  😅  The reason I didn't notice sooner is because on LOTR wiki, the human Míriel who is featured in The Rings of Power is technically named Tar-Míriel and therefore isn't listed with the other Míriel who is an elf.  In The Rings of Power, the character Tar-Míriel is referred to as just "Míriel".  So because of watching the show, I managed to completely forget about the elf, and only thought of the human.  To be far, Tar-Míriel is pretty awesome too as she is the Queen Regnant of Numenor.  She and Elendil (the name of my other hamster) are a part of The Faithful who remain true to the elves/Valar.  

Anyways, regardless of my mistake, I'm ridiculously proud of how well this costume turned out.  It took quite a while to do all that bead work and make the headpiece.  After a bit, Míriel decided she was done wearing the headpiece and took it off herself.  In her defense, these were the last set of pictures I was taking that day with her and her cheeks were absolutely stuffed full of treats from the previous sets, so the headpiece was a bit tight on her.  I had so much fun doing these hamster costumes again and I hope you all enjoyed them!  I was thoroughly surprised by how well Míriel wore them and modeled for me.  She definitely proved to me that she is capable of being both crazy and good.  Haha!  ❤

Her dress began sliding off...

I got her reset with the dress and headpiece and she sat so pretty for me.  😊

And then she said "NO MORE" to wearing the headpiece.  😂

I love how she snuggled up to the book!  And with this pose, you can see the back of the costume really well to see the amount of detail in it.  😊❤

Katara

 I've had the idea of doing a Katara costume for a very long time; long before the new live action TV show was announced.  Joe introduced me to the animated series many years ago.  I'll admit, I knew he and his brother really liked it, but I didn't think I would.  I was thoroughly surprised because I truly enjoyed it a lot!  We also watched the new TV show when it came out, and we enjoyed that too.  Right around the same time as the live action was released, my nieces were introduced to the animated series and really enjoyed it which made me happy.  I think they'll be happy that I picked this costume to include this year.  

Míriel was the perfect model for this.  I thought it was so cute the way she stood up and showed off the costume so well.  She was being really sweet and not as crazy as she normally is.  ❤