Minor Snaffu and Big Roar

Ok, it's a yawn, not a roar, but who can tell. We hit a minor snafu in our countdown to costume. Our knitting coach came by today to show us how to bind off, fix dropped stitches, and attach the legs and such with a cast from her shoulder to finger tips. She has to have it on for three weeks. It is up to use to do the work by word instructions now and not watch and learn. One more day. Here is Link as a tiger with his Link belt. This costume is cute but has one negative thing with it. I heard someone say Tigger. No thank you.

Enjoyed pumpkin donuts from Pedretti's today.

Knitting vrs. the elephant

Knitting vrs. the elephant, originally uploaded by Shannon Marye.

Link's green hat is being sniffed by Linconephant. We acquired this elephant costume from Mason Durbin. I saw him last year in the outfit and I do not remember him swimming in it the way Link is here, but maybe I am wrong. Anyway, it is absolutely adorable.

Link is sleeping away today. Growing those big brain cells. Check out flickr for his latest new skill set. Imitating hand motions.

Knitting vrs. Purchased

Knitting vrs. the neckless giraffe, originally uploaded by Shannon Marye.

We are kitting Link's costume for Halloween. Nonetheless people have boughten us costumes because they don't think we are going to make the deadline or we have simply acquired them. I will post daily to show our progression on the costume and Link's other costumes and we will find out this Saturday what we go with.

Here is Link as a no neck giraffe. Sitting by the pants Bryce is knitting. This costume had a velcro tail which he is very much enjoying to suck on.

mini-makeover

Front of the House mini-makeover, originally uploaded by Shannon Marye.

We have yet to patch the whole in the screen, or weed the landscaping, power wash the siding, or rip up the rugged green turf material on the porch, but we did do some front of the house changes that I think make the house go from a D to B+. We painted our ugly blue pillar black, found another flag pole (this time on sale for $5 so it is ok if the school kids steal it), put in a seasonal flag, painted our door red, and set up a display for my photography in the big picture window of our living room. It is a perfect location being next to the school. Hopefully it will bring in some traffic.

Down to zero

We sold the malfunctioning Honda (bottom rusting off) to pay our midwife bill. We borrowed the van from my parents until it broke down (unknown, while they were driving it). We borrowed the Lumina until it broke down in Shell Rock (alternator, we were driving it). We came close to a break down in Wisconsin with it previously. Yesterday on my way to Cedar Rapids, I had to pull the blazer over and quickly get my son out of the back seat as smoke came billowing out from under the hood. The man behind me called the local fire department. The second person behind me put Link and the car seat in the backseat with her two occupied car seats and brought us to the neighboring house where we sat for a while why my car was towed and Amber came to pick me up. We are now down to zero. It sort of makes you feel like a bad a bad car caretaker, but I remind myself that I bought a used 1993 Tempo in 1996 and I had no problems with the car until 2004. (Minus the broken electronic seat belt from when a deer came plowing into the side of my car.)
We are thinking of either buying a conversion van or a truck with a extended cab (and later an rv insert for the back). We are itching to travel again and the timing feels right. But our vehicles are letting us know they are not the right cars for the job.

World's Cutest Baby Winner

World's Cutest Baby Winner, originally uploaded by Shannon Marye.

This was such a funny photo I had to post it. As you can see we are going through a gentian violet treatment. Used the cream, the olive and oregano oil, acidopholis, still nothing is working.

Link is really enjoying his oral fixations right now. He is making new noises, deep squaks and high yelps. He loves putting anything soft (skin and cloth) in his mouth. He loves watching people eat, drink, and talk on the phone. He is a thumb sucker, which I adore because I have seen very few babies actually do a real thumb suck. Sometimes he gets the pointer in there too and can't figure out what is gagging him.

there was a young lady

There was a young lady who saw so many animals in one day. I don't know why she saw all those animals in one day. Perhaps they'll go away.

1. Entryway ceiling is bearing the insects of harvest. Asian Beetles.
2. A gigantic spider with "wolf" like print (but not a wolf spider) on my rear view mirror. That was an unexpected fright while driving.
3. A dancing little snake, black with yellow stripes crossed our path
4. A member of the large cat family. That was a dosey.
While walking on Pony Hallow Trail we went to sit down at the bench at a mile marker. All of the sudden this large animal jumps from behind the bench and makes its way up the large limestone cliff. At first Bryce said "Cyote?" because of its size. Next I said "Fox?" because its tail was fluffed out and its coloring was turning while from a warm tone. Finally we both said "Large cat" by the way it moved with its big shoulder movements and jumps, but we were not sure what it was.
Made the walk home fairly interesting, looking over our shoulders often.
Bryce said "There are many scenarios I ave thought about what to do if Link was with me, but escaping from being attacked by a large cat was not one of them"

P.S.- We decided not to take our camera on this walk since the leaves have dropped. Big bummer.