Peekaboo Baby

I am the Muffin Man!

Luka has a fascination with the Muffin Man. I sang this song to him months and months ago. His dad eats a New Morning Bakery carrot bran muffin about once a week. He LOVES to pull the top of the muffins off and eat only that part. He LOVES to walk around the house with a pillow or a book or a box on his head singing *I am the Muffin Man!* at the top of his lungs. The box works well for peekaboo baby too.

The Backstroke Boy

Noah swims with the Corvallis Aquatic Team. He has been doing this since February. He is really enjoying himself. His body (while still very slender) is developing quite a abdominal six pack!

Noah was in his first swim meet today. He swims backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. He did much better than I thought he would do. (This kid is constantly amazing me!!) As he was still just 8 years old he was able to swim the short(est) course.

His 25M backstroke time was 29.52. He DQd in 25M breaststroke but had a time of 39.56. I beleive he didn't touch the wall with both hands at the same time.


His 25M freestyle time was 59.48. When he dove into the water his goggles slid down his face to his neck. He popped up and swiped his eye and kept swimming. He stopped again(!) and caught his breath and finished the race. He said later that he *just couldn't breathe* and I suppose he was a bit reaked out. HE FINISHED THE RACE!! I am so proud of him for doing that!!


I am just so amazed and proud of this guy! He really is a great kid ... kind, helpful, thoughtful, funny, warm and caring, smart. He gives good hus too. I am so lucky to be in his life.

Nursing a baby

Luka Boy nurses his baby. This boy just LOVES his milky!! He is a loving daddy/mommy. He carries the baby dolls around and tucks them in and tells them stories and sings to them. 

The Boys Get Their Haircuts

Here is Noah getting his hair cut. The barber is Bob of the Orange O in Corvallis. Bob cut Andy's hair when Andy was in high school and college. Andy fell right back into getting his hair cut with Bob once we moved back to Corvallis.

Bob is a get down to business guy with lots of great stories and information to share.
This is the start of Luka Baby's transformation into Luka Boy. It is happening late. By that I mean all of my kids have gottentheir first hari cut when they turned two years old. Not Luka. We took him to several haircuts for Andy and Noah to show him how it is done. We talked to him about getting his hair cut when he turned two. We asked him if he wanted toget a haircut. He said *No!*. Of course. The other kids were thrilled. He was less so. This day he finally said *Yes!!*. We called Bob.


Bob works incredibley fast and efficiently. I am always amazed at what a great job he does while seemingly expending so little energy. He is a true artisan. He makes it look easy. I know it isn't easy. Especially with 35 poundsof squirming, thrashing, kicking, mewling Luka Baby in the chair.

Despite the handy little chair and railing attachment for the capture and stilling of squirming little ones Luka needed to be held firmly in place. One would have thought each little starnd of hair was shreiking as it was cut!

The finished product. Bob could cut the will to nose pick out of him. Tada! Luka Boy!

Now he walks around proudly telling everyone how he is *No baby. I'm a big boy with a haircut!*

I just love this kid. He is so yummy when he isn't picking his nose.

The Baby in the Crate

These are the rolling crates I use to move my books around. Luka Baby has climbed into one for some rolling fun. This is right before his haircut and transformation into Luka Boy.

Three Little Birds

Here they are my three little birds. We've caught them in the act of eating chocolate doughnuts. I suspect they aren't completely awake yet. The scowls aren't normally part of the demeanor.

Today is the day ...

of lots of snow on the ground when we woke up. Notice my daffodils in the left foreground? They are blooming and dying in the snow. The vivid pink and yellow primroses are no where to be found. They were so lovely and promising. Now they are virtually erased. Rats!

Meet *Snowy*. He came for a short visit but melted away as soon as he could escape the madness at our house. Notice the cute orange nose? Melissa was sure it was important that a 2 foot snowman have one!

Noah had a blast making snowballs to toss around the yard.

It is DONE!! Here is a picture of the front (L) and the back (R). It was a perfect day to sit curled up on the sofa to finish my Knitting Olympics project. I used a generic tank top pattern and modified it with the cable panel of my owndesign (though I picked the elements out from Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns). I added a small section of the cable panel to the back of the tank to provide detail and make the tank a bit more fitted.

Here is your intrepid knitter wearing her creation. Michele down at my LYS took this picture of me. It was one of the only pictures without me doing my interprtation of the Wilson Family Slow Blink. You know the look. The one that makes me appear totally droopy eyed and stoned.

Happy, happy, happy day!

Melissa is an Inventor

Noah drew this picture of Melissa. She signed her name. Andy wrote is an inventor at Melissa's direction. She wants to use this drawing as a poster for her new business. She is an inventor and is welcoming business.

She has already invented:
the metal machine - makes metal come out of a slot when you pull on a lever.

the kid car - a driveable kid sized car that gives you the kind of food you really want to eat when you push on a button in the car.

the bending machine - bends metal.

the bad dream take awayer - takes away your bad dreams.

the squiggely scooter - it won't work on the web. You really won't be interested in it. I invented this for me. (A really cool scooter that uses office chair wheels. A sure fire way to end up in the ER with much use. - mom)

You can contact Melissa to hire her, through her mother, at the email link below.