Luke's Latest

Luke's talents at not-quite-8 months old:

-Luke can climb on, and as of yesterday, OFF of the file boxes and piano-hinge boxes we use to block the computer and grown up books.

-He has incorporated eyebrow-raising into his facial expression repertoire

-He clicks his tongue on purpose

-Jared taught him how to clap last week, and is immensely proud of it. Every morning Jared would say "Let's clap!" and clap Luke's hands together. Now when we say "Yay Luke!" Luke claps by himself.

-He plays peekaboo by ducking behind furniture

-He understands the sign language symbol for "eat" and will come crawling to me, laughing, when I ask him if he wants to eat. He also will help himself if given the opportunity.

-He has a renewed interest in the pacifier now that he can pick it up and put it in his mouth the right way.

-Yesterday he figured out that he could push his vintage wooden walker around and walk holding onto it

-He can turn the pages of a board book one by one

Chick-Fil-A Dress Like A Cow Day

I guess we'll do almost anything for FREE food! We dressed in black and white and cow spots, cow ears, cow bell, and baby cow-on-the-head to get free meals at Chick-Fil-A tonight. Greta dressed up too, but her spots were gone by the time the camera came out. The Professor wore that cow on his head as he ordered, until I reminded him that mama cows don't put their babies on their heads.

At first it was rather embarrassing, especially with the cow bell clanking around my neck, but the counter people smiled and other customers said, "Oh! They get free food! I wish I had done it!" Then other customers came in looking just as embarrassed as we felt. Misery (or embarrassment?) loves company, it seems.

Happy Independence Day!

We've been celebrating big here. Last night we, sans kids, saw a great fireworks display at a local mega church. We packed a picnic supper, table and chairs, and real dishes, and ate in the parking lot. Then we saw a musical program in their (air conditioned) sanctuary before the fireworks began at dark. Their fireworks display is as good as any put on by the municipalities around here.

Bright and early this morning we headed over to our town square to watch the parade. It was special this year because David marched in it. He and one drummer played for the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Imagine a Yankee playing for the Confederates! Usually we return to our town square for fireworks, but tonight we will be joining friends to watch fireworks in their community.

Luke

We got to babysit Luke last night when his mommy and daddy went to a wedding. We are really amazed at what he can do at 6 months old. Here he shows off his crawl ~ notice he doesn't use his knees. This way he can move very fast! When he went on patrol over most of our house, Nana and Papa discovered all sorts of things they need to move out of his reach.

Luke can pull himself up on furniture...

...and toss off all items within his reach. He can also get back down to a sitting position on the floor.See ya later!

Piping School

David joined the commuter world this week as he makes the daily trek down the interstate to piping school, held on a college campus near the airport. He reports that he is enjoying the Scottish instructors, and his small class (he's assigned to the top level with the professional grade players).

His teacher of almost six years told him this week that he needs to move on to a more advanced instructor for his weekly lessons; she has taken him as far as she can. He is looking into lessons with a transplanted Canadian, a professional grade player, who joined the band a few months ago.

Greenville Games

David and I had a chance to visit with the Baddorfs this weekend. We stayed with them Friday night, and then we all went to the Greenville, SC Games on Saturday. David competed in two solo events in the morning, winning second place in both.

The band had two competitions too. (That is unusual; bands usually have just one competition per game). The second competition was for the Southern Branch 2008 championship. The winning southern band gets to go to NY in Sept to compete against the other regional branch champs, all for the rights to a spot in the big Games in Scotland.

The weather didn't cooperate at all: The thermometer allegedly said 107 degrees by noon. The air was suffocating, even for those of us in lightweight shorts and tank tops. Imagine the band members in heavy wool kilts, wool caps, acrylic knee socks, long sleeve shirts, neck ties, and black polyester vests. Warm-ups take a full hour just before they march onto the field to compete. The tune sets are five minutes long, but not a note can be missed; not one error can be made in blowing, fingering, or squeezing the bag. Nine pipers must be playing as one instrument the entire time, and cut off at precisely the same instant. In 107 degrees. With no shade whatever. And water bottles must be left behind.

What seems to be impossible, they accomplished. They won first place! I was sooo proud of them! In talking to them after, one or the other musician pointed out a note error here, a drone noise there, but overall, they gave a fine performance. There were two casualties too; two pipers were overcome by heat at the last moment and couldn't compete (one in each competition).Playing the winning MSR in the competition circle.

Free Firewood

Our neighbor up the street had a huge Bradford pear tree that sort of imploded on itself last week. We heard through the grapevine that he didn't want the wood; he was offering it free to anyone who would cart it off. Being the only house on the street still with an old fashioned, wood-burning fireplace, we jumped at the chance to get some free firewood.

David and Mom carted several loads of the big stuff down the street and began a neat little pile on the side of the garage. Dad came home and carted several more loads down the street. Then the homeowner jumped in to help. He loaded his pickup truck with most of the rest of the tree and helped us stack it higher and higher. We think we're probably well set for firewood this winter.