Where's Brent??




That's not him!




Wait, what's this?




Oh, there he is!

Pictures AND a Thousand Words! (Well, maybe a couple hundred.)

So, Gigi and I are still decompressing from the June 11-15 trip to Estes Park, Colorado. The weather was amazing, though it did rain on us a few times this year. (Lightning in the Rocky Mountains is scary, y'all.) Gigi ran a lowgrade fever for a couple of days upon first getting back home -- airline plague? -- but is back to her ole self now. Brent seemed to miss us, was adorably happy to see us back, but his ole self is changing daily.



He is making some verbal/reasoning skill leaps as of late that just fascinate me. And make me giggle, too. Here are two from yesterday: First was the Mommy-can't-find-her-cellphone-AGAIN situation which had me wandering around pouting with the house phone in my hand, straining my ears for that muffled little ringtone. When I finally did find it, Brent's face lit up. "You did it! You not sadding, Mama? You happy?" (which is to say, he's starting to attempt verb conjugation, not without some blunders.)

And probably less monumental but much more entertaining was a classic cause-and-effect lesson he received thanks to Tyler, the gassiest beagle in the world.

"Mama, what that smell?! Where's the poop?"
"That's just Tyler. He farted."
"Farted?"
"He made a noise of the butt." (I didn't coin that phrase; Brent did.)
"Noise of the butt smell like poop?!"
"Yep."
Commence 3 yr old running in circles squealing, "Pbbt, EWW!! Pbbt, EWW!" punctuating with shrieking giggles.

Meanwhile, Gigi gets stronger and more mobile everyday. She can cruise, stand unsupported, and has been taking steps now and again, though they are still followed at this point by falls. (Isn't this picture pretty?? I miss Ana's camera.)



They're so cute when they play together.



I haven't really had any more time to knit lately, but I am stubborn, and squeeze in a few stitches whenever I can. I finished ONE sock! The second is already a few inches in, but I got exhausted with trying to keep up with the slip stitch cable pattern when my focus is so constantly pulled in 3 different directions, so the pair of socks will be fraternal twins, rather than identical. In other words, mindless 2x2 ribbing for me! As I mentioned to some friends, the second sock will always be jealous of her older sister's beautiful patterning, but will feel secretly smug that she is much less full of errors.



And I snuck in a new tattoo a week ago. (Don't tell Dad.)

Imported Friends

I've been hangin' with my Rav homies this week. Like mail order brides, they come to me! In the last few weeks, I've gotten to meet Ashley/ashpags, Hanna/mzell, and Sarah/sareeswfla. (On the odd chance you are not a Ravelry-person, those links aren't gonna work for you. Sorry.)

Here's me with Sarah and Hanna on Sunday 6/7, and of course Gigi, at Chez Zee. We were the Ladies Who Lunched. Then we invaded Gauge for a couple of hours.



I can't seem to steal the photo of me and Ashley in a format that works on my computer, so here's the Flickr link for now.

Brent's 1st movie: a bust. (+ "I'm there.")



So, we took Brent to the Tinseltown in Pflugerville for the 6:40 showing of Disney Pixar's UP. He is absolutely in love with the preview; has every word of it memorized and can even act it out. The theater was nearly empty and more than half the people there had small children with them. I figured it was a Can't Lose situation. Well, Brent thought "the humongous TV" was "too loud!", got very upset, and wouldn't be calmed down. Will took him home before the previews had even ended. I stayed and watched with Ana and Gigi. I cried 3 times, Gigi pooped all over herself and me, but it was a good movie and I enjoyed it. I think Brent just won't be going to see movies until he's quite a bit older.

A cute story: Have you seen those "I'm there" State Farm TV commercials? There's one with a woman draped backwards over an exercise ball (like this:



except she has her arms dangling loosely over her head.) Well, the other day, Brent climbed up on Will in his computer chair, draped himself like that over Will's shoulder with his legs over the back of the chair and his head and arms on Will's chest, and said, "Daddy? I'm there."

A Productive Day of Websurfing

Actually, a Rav/Twi-buddy of mine (MzEll) brought all this fun stuff to my attention. :D THANKS, babe!

I found (and placed a frantic Amazon order for) this fabulous book:



mostly because of this squee-worth lil pink sweater:



Innit CUTE? Gigi will look stunning in it. Stunning, I tell you.

Also, a JEWEL of a blog-find for moms with creative little minds in their homes: The Crafty Crow. Simple, fun, genius crafts ideas for children. (She even does fun giveaways. I'm entering the one for the "Crobots: 20 amigurumi robots to make" book. Squee!) Go check it out. Seriously, some cute stuff there.

Peaceful Times

(if only for a few moments between tantrums and diaper changes!)

Finished Quant #4, and received a Gift of Jaywalkers!


Knitting Buddy Emily gave me these FABULOUS Jaywalkers which I am totally thrilled with:


And another FO! Don't have a photo yet of the FO because I haven't seen Esther to get her to model it before she whisks it away but I liked this one. I almost like Quants better in the solids and semi-solids I've made them in, rather than the variegateds.