"Friday Afternoon/Saturday Morning....."

Benjamin came to visit last Friday afternoon and was sooooo sleepy! He is such a good little guy and will sit on my lap and drift off to sleep. (Of course, there is a "large pillow" for him to lean against!)


Krista also came to visit, bringing along some knitting to work on while chatting.....


Saturday morning Benjamin and Mom Angela came to visit when the "boys", Rob and Andy, left to go canoeing on the Wisconsin River. Isn't Benjamin photogenic?


Amanda stopped by with son Joey and dog Pudl to chat.......Benjamin was VERY interested in Pudl.


Joey is around 16 months old and is MOBILE! Another photogenic child in the "hood". :)

"Erica's Birthday Continued...."

Andy, holding Benjamin, Angela, and Todd.


Rob with his sisters, Laura and Julie.


Todd, with Julie's husband, Dan.


Geoff trying the birthday cake. (washed down with beer???? UGH!)

"Erica's Birthday Celebration....."

Last Friday's happy hour was a gathering to also celebrate Erica's birthday and included: Rob, Laura (Rob's sister), Peter and Linda (Erica's parents), Dan, and Erica. Of course, Copper gave her best to the celebration, too.


More celebrants are: Angela, holding Benjamin, Todd (Rob's brother), Andy, Rob, and Laura.


The cake cometh!


A happy birthday girl.....


Tracie and Bridget also came over with their well wishes.


More tomorrow.......

"Our Proud Marathon Runners!!!"

Our neighbors, Charlie and Lonny, ran Madison's Memorial Day Marathon on Sunday. Here is a GREAT photo of them as they came home from completing their challenge.


I surprised them with a carrot cake in honor of their accomplishment. (I did have to borrow the eggs from them, although not telling them what they were for.....)


Did you know that cake......according to Charlie, is Lonny's number 1 food group? ;)


I guess that it shows here, eh? :)


Don's photo of this beautiful Iris which is blooming in their yard. The various Iris planted around our yard do not seem to be in any hurry to blossom.....actually, I have not seen 1 bud yet. I hope they are just "late bloomers", as Iris are my favorite flowers.

"Simon's Singing Debut......"

Our photos come from North Dakota this morning, courtesy again of Maniphone and Jonathan. :)

Simon's pre-school put on a musical "end of the year" performance earlier this week and Maniphone was kind enough to send me photos. I'm having a hard time getting my mind around the fact that Simon will start Kindergarten in the Fall!!!! It seems such a short time ago when the neighbors all gathered at Maniphone and Jonathan's to celebrate Simon's 1st birthday!!!

Simon is 4th from the left in the back row.......


I don't know how long the students practiced for the performance, but from the sounds of it, things went smoothly. :)


A "close up" of Simon. Mom and Dad took some GREAT photos!


Now if he will only remember to do this at home at Maniphone's request........ LOL


An "oh so serious moment" on stage.......


Grandma's give a WONDERFUL reward for a GREAT performance!!!! :)

"Becky's Cake...."

Becky, who visited last weekend, had gotten a new job at "A Piece Of Cake" in East Lansing, MI. Her first cake assignment was to bake a "dog cake" for a graduating veterinarian. This was the result........the people were EXTREMELY happy with it. :) Cute, eh? :)

"Maniphone and Her Surprise Purses!"

Maniphone mentioned to me one time that she LOVES purses. So.......I knitted and felted her a couple more for her "collection". Here she is modeling her new accessories. All photos are compliments of Maniphone. :)


When she first received her surprise package in the mail, Jonathan wasn't home to take any photos of her with her gifts, so she asked Henry to model them for her. He was kind enough to do so......Talk about a cute model, eh? ;)

This is the "Lucy Bag", a pattern from "Two Old Bags", using Cascade 220 yarn.


This pattern is called "Amanda's Squatty Sidekick", by Amanda Berka, also using Cascade 220 yarn.


Another photo in which I thought Henry looked cute.........kind of a hesitant/tentative/like this? look......

"Becky's Visit...."

Sean's friend Becky, was in Madison visiting a friend from her hometown last Saturday. They didn't live too far from us, so she got on the bike path and jogged over to visit us. We wanted her to have breakfast with us, but they'd already made plans to go to Mickey's Dairy Bar, which I think is a VERY good reason not to eat with us. :) I think everyone should have the Mickey's Dairy Bar experience.

As you can tell, this was taken pre-shower. Don does have the knack of getting me at my "best". ;)


Rob came over to say hi as well.


I finished felting a few more wine cozies, plus 11 more beer cozies. We now have a dozen beer cozies available for Happy Hours. :)

"Don's Sister Bonnie......"

Bonnie just had a "significant" birthday and I knitted her this vest. She was kind enough to send me a photo of her modeling it. Yes, she is a painter.......and an excellent one at that!


Bonnie just received an Honorable Mention for one of her paintings........


This is her winning painting..........

Here she is with Don's brother Bob's family........sister in law, Sandra, his niece, Jennifer, and nephew David.

"Cozies, Plants, and Lilacs....."

Here are the 2 beer cozies that I experimented with......I decided to go with the blue one, which has a smaller number of stitches.


Here is Rob trying out a beer cozy.


Benjamin and me.


The Aero garden with our new crop of Romaine Lettuce, last years Amaryllis from Don's sister Bonnie and husband Eugene, and the start from Don's grandmothers Christmas Cactus that we were given when we attended his family reunion last summer.


The lilacs outside our window on the side of the house......

"And Yet More......."

Charlie chose the wine cozy that I had in mind for her when I was knitting it. The girl LOVES her blue!


Angela holding son Benjamin.......with "Da" Andy in the background.


Another good photo of Angela and Benjamin. Benjamin had tubes put in his ears yesterday and the surgery went very well. We saw them later in the day and he seemed happier than usual. Hopefully, he has found relief because of them.


Our friend Woody went with Don to the Garrison Keeler Benefit Show earlier in the week. I am not a fan, so opted to stay home.

"More from last Thursday....."

A nice photo of Bridget and Tracie.......


Erica debating on which wine cozy to choose.......


"Da" Andy holding Benjamin, who is getting tubes put into his ears this morning. He has been having so many ear infections.......hopefully the tubes will alleviate them.


Rob using the wine cozy for his beer. He now has a beer cozy that I knitted/felted. :) (Photo to follow soon)


Made' and his choice of wine cozy.