Growth

Summer check-in. We have worked, planted, traveled, knit, baked, read, laughed, cried, and more. Doodle is saying so many words now I can't possibly list them all. His favorite word is blue.

I have 4 projects that are in my knitting bag. My main priority is a gift so no details. It is a big project and I have a fast approaching deadline. Second up is Insouciant. I still have a bit to do and the short sleeves. Then a shawl called Rushing Tide. It was a project from a class that had the best information about fixing mistakes in lace! And the fourth item is also a gift. It is sad how long it has taken me. Summer time is not a productive knitting time for me. I spend 99% of my time outside. This picture is from a bit ago, I am almost half way through the next lace section. Just trucking along slowly...

So that 99% outside has all been for good. The garden is not looking too shabby. Some of the raspberries, strawberries, snap peas, and lettuce that I have already harvested. Carrots, potatoes, collard, blueberries, aparagus, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, pumpkins, and watermelons are all going strong. I cannot wait until we have everything ripe at the same time.

We have traveled north to my stomping grounds twice now. I love getting to visit with my gram and mom. Doodle does pretty good in the car even though it is a long drive. We have enjoyed pork chops, butterscotch malts, huckleberry smoothies, the best chai in the world at the Leaf & Bean, time for all of us at a really fun Children's Museum, and a much needed couple weekends of fun. And nothing beats the view of the Big Sky Mountains as you drive east on I-90 to Bozeman.

The 'hood is having a party this weekend. We decided that a ice cream social was in order. I am hoping to make maple ginger (the best recipe from Kate Zuckerman's The Sweet Life) and a double batch of milk chocolate (from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home) with mini marshmallows. We asked everyone to bring a pint and then we will have everything else. Candy, cookies, sprinkles, caramel, chocolate, everything! I am so excited!

Alan even made me these sweet acrylic cone stands for displaying treats. Totally DIY. $1.56 for a piece of acrylic and just drill holes to fit the cones. Then a heat gun to warm up and bend the edges. Sweet!

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

Wow, where does the time go?! I keep thinking I will get to 'that' tomorrow and well, weeks go by...

I have been up to just about everything. Knitting, baking, cooking, parties, visiting, road trippin', and loads of eating!

I started a sock class on Tuesday. It is an easy sock pattern and I decided on Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in the William Morris colorway. As Morris is my last name it only seemed appropriate! This picture does not do the colorway justice, it is a lovely red-brown with notes of lavender and teal. I realized I have been knitting for 10 years and not once have I made socks. Yep, in 2003 I met a nice lady at my first job out of college and she sort of taught me to knit. Knit badly and she didn't know how to 'stop' or bind off as I later learned. I ended up righting myself with books, other classes, and many scarves later. :)

I also took a class on magic loop and it really is magic! I am working on these socks two at a time!!! When I finish one, I will finish the other!!! Sorry, the magics have overwhelmed me.

So the majority of my time as of late has been taken up by my wittle baby sissy coming to visit. She is not like me. She hunts with bow and arrow (not for sport but for actual food), she fishes, and has gun(s). I asked her what she wanted for her birthday one year and she said "a new pistol." I sent her flowers. She is the mother of my wonderful nephews and married to the coolest guy (EB).

They came to Salt Lake all the way from Ranchester, Wyoming and then we all went in one car to St. George. It was a hoot! Hikes, ribs, ice cream, and sun. Then we came back to SL for some more food and fun. Corned beef and cabbage, the zoo, and yogurt. The food was tasty and tiny guy had all his cousins in one place.

Picture bomb now and more on Mardi Gras in March later...

Go Fish!

We just spent the afternoon at the Living Planet Aquarium and we loved it! For being land locked in Utah it was quite a set of exhibits. Alan and I used to go to the Newport Aquarium and now we have one here to visit. The price of admission isn't too expensive and membership is just about the price of going twice so we signed up as members so we could take smiler any time. He had so much fun! He kept going 'ooohh' and 'aaah' and signing fish. It was hilarious. They even have a petting tank and he got to touch a gray smoothhound shark and round sting ray.

Afterwards we stopped for a frosty at Wendy's. :)

Off the needles

I finished this a while ago but still don't have very good pictures. I took a class at Blazing Needles for this and it was really fun. The sweater turned out really great. I'm sad that little man won't be able to wear it long because he is growing so fast.

This picture was taken at Brighton. We wandered around and even got to see a baby porcupine wander around too. It was super cute. 

The sweater pattern is Baby Sophisticate. The yarn is superb and I'd knit everything with it if I could, Tosh Vintage by madelinetosh in the colorway Cove. This took a skein and another quarter of one and it is the large size.

We are here just trying to get over a rash of colds. And we are also packing. Little man is about to fly for the first time. Alan and I are excited and nervous. We are packing for warmer weather. Scotty watch out, here we come!

365

Can you believe I have a one year old?! I cannot.

I have two sets of pictures here. The first is from the last year. I tried to put together a collection of Frankie showing every month and got pretty close to having every picture from the day he turned the month. And of course there is a picture from when he was first born and a couple days later, when we were still in the hospital.



Then we have pictures from his birthday party. He is so amazing. He laughs and smiles, waves, claps, now he even blows (he watched dad trying to light the fire). He has 5 1/2 teeth. He is wearing 12-18 month clothes. He will wear the soft sole shoes. He likes to put on Grandpa's and Scott's sunglasses. He walks really well now, it is crazy how good his balance is for his age. He will dance to music. He loves the slide in the yard and his little red car. He likes marshmallows and green beans, he likes beans in general. He can finish a whole squeeze pack of baby food now and then some. He had his one year check up and his is still a lightweight, tall, and a normal head size. He is a social little bug. We are just enjoying every minute of this!

Happy birthday Frankie Doodle!


 

The start of fall

We finally made it up a canyon, Millcreek. The leaves are changing color! YAY!

Happy eater

 He is definitely a Plum baby food fan!

11 months and counting

Tiny guy turned 11 months old a couple days ago. He is almost a year! Wow. He was a bit sick but the doctors are working with us on getting him better. We have another scan this week. We love our pediatrician, she has really been great through all of this. Recovery is slow but sure.

He is definitely a walker. He will hardly crawl any more. He is getting really good at walking around with two toys, usually a floss container and Wii remote (with the floss parts removed and no batteries in the remote).

He loves to play peek-a-boo and squish Ro cat. He even tried to catch her tongue when she was sticking it out (we got it on video). He had an orange balloon that lasted for weeks that he enjoyed walking around the house.

He has been swimming at the pirate pool in Bountiful and loves the water. He likes all kinds of food (except bananas) and even tried a corn dog! He now has 5 teeth. He loves cheese and his maple poofs. He even eats peas (thanks Shirley!).

He has been working on words and he now clearly says 'hi,' 'bye,' and 'yeah.' Sometimes he even adds in a wave to emphasize the hi and bye. He also loves music. He will dance when he hears something he likes. He still likes to tickle the ivories too when he is at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We had the chance to hang with Scotty recently and the boys managed a couple games of badminton. Tiny loves the racquet! We try to take him to the zoo once a week to see the animals. He loves to ride the carousel and the train. We are sad to see the train go since we just got the membership!

Also, our little cuddler now has a cool tricycle courtesy of a nice woman at a garage sale. Score!

Better days...

Little man is down for a bit but we are working on it. Thanks for all your support and messages, we'll keep everyone updated.

Daily activities

A sprinkle of this and that

How is it August?! And it is Friday! Hanging out with family and baking. That is the plan this weekend.

Happy 10 months Smiley!

Frankie turned 10 months old! I cannot believe it. He has been out longer than in now. He is a light weight, the doctor told us to lay on the butter, literally. He eats what we eat for the most part AND then has ice cream after every meal.

He loves grilled cheese sandwiches. He screams for whole milk yogurt (Liberte brand). He noms up Plum Organics baby food (blueberry, pear, and purple carrots is his favorite flavor). He screams for our water bottles and loves drinking out of a straw. He self feeds everything, including avocado. He squishes it in his hands, eyebrows, nose, and sometimes in his mouth!

He loves to eat his maple cinnamon poofs and I think they make him smell like french toast. He enjoys cheerios, just like his dad. He loves pasta noodles with butter. He recognizes a Tillamoo square of cheese. He brushes his teeth (thanks Aunt Chris). He sometimes waves, smiles a lot, points and gestures for things he wants. We are working on clapping. He says a lot of dadadada and other nonsense but no words yet. We are still working on signing with him.

His sleeping is not consistent but neither is mine! He sort of plays ball. He isn't patient enough to get through many books, he wants to skip pages to get to the end. He almost has 4 teeth! He will bounce while standing when music is playing. He loves when dad plays the piano. I'm working on teaching him body parts and animal sounds. He is working on what sounds Ro Cat makes when he pulls on or squishes various body parts.

And as of Friday night, he walks!

Helping out mom and dad

Ok, here it is the end of the weekend and I wonder, where did the time go? How does one get anything done with a young one? Oh, wait. You don't.

Bits and pieces, here and there, hectic... Some days are better than others. Some days 3 hours of sleep is just not enough.

Slowly I am trying to figure out how to do things around the house with little guy (when Alan is working/busy). The backpack works but only if you keep moving. I've tried baking with one hand and I got burned (literally).

Babies AND cats love yarn so knitting is not as frequent. But I'm more comfortable going to the store alone with him now so I can at least get groceries. Frankie enjoys lounging in the carts and fiddling with the seat buckles as I shop. He chats up everyone with his smiles and waves.

Alan was using ear covers for something and tiny found them fun. He wore them for a while.

Sweet Swirls

Decided to try the Meringue Swirls from the May 2012 Martha Stewart magazine. They looked pretty but didn't taste so good. I tried the recipe TWICE and wasted all that vanilla bean.

:(

I will try again but with a different recipe.

The little man is keeping us on our toes. Not sleeping through the night anymore so now we look like the exhausted parents of a (almost) 10 month old. He is crawling all over, standing up and sitting down and standing again, and he did take one and a half steps. Not really 'walking' but dang close! He enjoys brushing his one tooth and at his last appointment the doctor told us to 'lay on the butter.' He gets ice cream after every meal now. YAY!

Bucket baby and cousin

Somehow they wore matching shirts that day.

What do you mean...

Hee, hee.

Sugar.

Wait. What?

There are no more Girl Scout Cookies?!

These are a few of my favorite things

Ro Cat

Singing

Bucket rides