Oh hai there. Yes, I’m still alive. Just out of the habit of telling you all what I’m doing.

So…what have I been doing? Well, taking lots of sunset photos, as usual.

Annalie has also been taking sunset photos. I’d show you the photos she took, but I haven’t downloaded photos off that camera in weeks. I love Instagram along with 100 million other people, but it’s made it way too easy for me to be lazy about taking pictures with my real camera.

Homeschooling is going really well lately. Annalie mostly does her daily lessons without complaint nowadays. It probably helps that she’s almost nine years old (!), and that she can do them in a blanket fort if she wants to. Also she’s not allowed to watch any TV or movies or play any computer games until she’s done with lessons and reading and her daily chores. (It’s all about knowing what exactly motivates your particular kid. If you’d told me I couldn’t watch TV till I’d done my chores and homework, I’d have shrugged and retreated to my room with a stack of books, content.)

A lot of art is going on lately, too. Annalie always loves to draw and paint and create, but she seems to go through occasional periods when she is creating more or less constantly. It’s like she wakes up in the morning with ideas, scenes, pictures she dreamed up and she can’t do anything else until she gets them down on paper or canvas.

And then sometimes, we’re eating dinner at a restaurant where the tables are covered with paper and Annalie picks up a couple of crayons and casually whips out a portrait of Lady Gaga before our food arrives.

Annalie’s Christmas-mermaid self-portrait. (What? “Christmas-mermaid” isn’t a thing?)

I love this beach scene. There are so many amazing things going on in it: the detailed sand castle, the far-away sailboat, the plumes of smoke billowing out of the cargo ship, the different colors of blue of the water and sky, and the huge crazy sun dominating everything else.

I thought the sun in the picture went rather well with the ceramic sun—purchased by Troy in some Mediterranean country while on a deployment years ago—that hangs in our front hallway. I’d tried several different paintings and photographs in that spot, but nothing looked quite right. I framed the drawing and hung it up, and it works perfectly.

My mom gave Annalie a stack of a dozen small canvases for Christmas, and I think it might have been Annalie’s favorite gift this year. She hasn’t been hoarding them, but—atypically for her, the kid who uses every sticker on the sheet in two minutes flat—she hasn’t blown through them, either. The first time she used them, Brenda and Bug were here visiting, and she generously and excitedly shared her gift. The two canvases on the left are Bug’s; the two on the right are Annalie’s. (Re: the canvas on the top right, Bug’s real name starts with H. Awwwww.)

I think this is my favorite thing Annalie has drawn recently. She made this awesome Narnia-themed birthday card for friends who had a Narnia-themed birthday party. Look at it! Aslan, Reepicheep, Susan’s bow and arrows! The Dawn Treader! The painting in the Scrubb family’s guest bedroom that drew them back into Narnia! What really impressed me about all of this is that it’s been probably a year or more since Annalie has seen any of the Narnia movies and even longer since we read the first book. (And can you tell that Annalie has recently discovered Cake Boss on Netflix?)

Why yes, I do have two children, now that you mention it. This one is just harder to get photos of these days, because she’s constantly in motion. She is something else, this kid. When we ask her how old she is, she tells us, “Six.” If we try to insist she’s two, she shakes her head and airily replies, “I’m not two. I six,” before wandering off to climb on something she shouldn’t be climbing on.

She flashes the ASL “I love you sign” two-handed, and tells us, “I love you too!” When someone is carrying her against her will, she demands, “PICK ME DOWN.” Troy has discovered that if he reminds her to use her manners when asking for something with the phrase, “Can I get a ‘please’ in there?” then Elliora will repeat her request for food or water or whatever and tack the phrase, “please in there?” onto the end. It makes us laugh every time. She makes us laugh a lot.

They both make us laugh a lot, these little geeklings of ours.

I think we’ll keep ‘em.

I’ve crocheted a few potholders recently. Some of them I’ve given away as gifts, but these two I’m keeping because the two crocheted potholders I’d been using for years both got burned on Thanksgiving.

Some star ornaments I crocheted for Brenda and Bekah, and a few crocheted balls. I’ve actually crocheted about 20 balls recently to give as gifts, but I haven’t take pictures of them all. Yes, I said “to give as gifts.” Only about three people got timely Christmas gifts from us this year, and that’s only because I ordered their gifts online and had them shipped directly. Everyone else probably thinks we suck and don’t love them anymore. And let’s just say I’m hoping to get our holiday cards mailed out before Valentine’s Day. I won’t even mention all the Christmas baking I didn’t do this year. Ironically, however, our Christmas tree is still up. (Was it just me, or was anyone else particularly unmotivated this past holiday season?)

An owly hot pad I crocheted for Brenda, at her request. It’s meant to look kind of like her book character, Little Hoo. I think it turned out pretty good, considering I was completely making it up as I went along.

I’ve painted some stuff, too. Have I taken pictures of most of it? Noooo. In fact, one person who had commissioned me to paint her a mug, oh, a couple of months ago sent me a very sweet note on FB, wondering if her mug had been fired. I have been very, very slow about shipping items to people lately. Lucky for me, people are mostly kind and understanding about this, but I hate the fact that I’ve been taking advantage of people’s good natures. If I have been slow about shipping something to you, please accept my humble, heartfelt apology and this reassurance: I’m so sorry I’m slow. It’s not just you. Everyone has been waiting forever for their pottery. I promise I will try to do better.

I hate to end a post on that slightly bummer note, so here! Please enjoy this photo of oranges wearing origami hats, folded by Annalie. She found a book and some paper that I had and has been folding all kinds of things entirely on her own. It’s kind of awesome to watch her figure something like that out without any help.

If you were here in my house, I would further brighten your day by feeding you a piece of rainbow cake, which I made on a random Tuesday because that’s how I roll. Here’s hoping you all had wonderful holiday seasons and that 2013 is full of random-Tuesday rainbow-cake goodness for everyone.

I’ve been crocheting like mad lately. Several friends have had babies recently, or will have them soon, and I’ve been making lots of baby blankets, including the spiral-squares nine-patch above for my friend Jill. She and her husband are expecting their first baby in a few weeks. They wanted the sex to be a surprise, so Jill asked me to use primary, Crayola-bright colors. That was music to my ears, because those are my favorite kind of colors to crochet with. I’m really happy with how it turned out, even though I almost ran out of one of the colors and had to fudge a couple of the squares. It’s barely noticeable, though.

This colorful hexagon blanket was made for my good friend Sonja‘s second baby and second son, Corbin.

For the hexagons, I used Attic24′s excellent Hexagon How-To pattern. She includes instructions for how to connect the hexagons as you go, which is awesome—so much easier than trying to sew a bunch of hexagons together at the end.

The first time I made a hexagon blanket, I didn’t really know what I was doing, and the end result was pretty but kind of lopsided.

This time I did a little research and realized that I could make half-hexagons for the sides of the blanket, and add a chevron border to the top and bottom for a more finished look. I’m glad I did, because I really liked how it all looked in the end.

The baby blanket I’m working on right now is for a baby who is, um, five months old already. Jen requested something with orange, and I happened to see these awesome giraffes in Jen’s photostream and loved the colors. So I used them as inspiration for Jen’s son’s blanket, which I am currently working on. It’s another spiral-square blanket. I never seem to get tired of that pattern. (The cat in the photo isn’t my cat, in case you’re wondering when we got a gray cat. It’s my friend Jen‘s not-her-cat, Hobo. [Not the same Jen. A different Jen.])

Three months ago (wow, time flies) I crocheted these stripey balls as a first-birthday gift for Elliora’s playgroup friend Emeline. (It’s the same basic pattern as my snowball/rainball pattern, just with different colors.) I got rather clever with the packaging for them:

We had a clear plastic tube package lying around from a travel pillow Annalie had gotten recently. It was the perfect size and shape to hold Emmy’s balls.

What are you all working on these days, craft-wise?

Day 1 – stay gold:

Yesterday evening, we went to a joint birthday party for our godson (this kid is SIX!) and his younger sister. It was in the town where we used to live in Southern Maryland, which is a three-hour round trip from where we live now. We spent a lot of time in the car, and after I finished crocheting this blanket:

for Sonja‘s Corbin, I played with the camera. Hello, golden hour.

Alternate Day 1 shot. I like all the layers in this one.

Day 2 – Ohhhh, I thought you said HANDscape:

Day 2′s theme was LANDSCAPE. I was feeling silly and couldn’t think of anything better to do. The “trees” are rosemary and dill from my container herb garden.

Today is Sunday. Tomorrow will be a frenzy of laundry and packing. Tuesday, we head to Hawaii to meet up with Lauren! I can hardly wait.

Photo a Day – June 6 – Hat: One of my favorite books to read out loud.

Photo a Day – June 7 – Drink: Our cat Lily (the black one—the cat in the photo above is Katy) is over 16 years old. She’s in the very early stages of renal failure, but overall still quite healthy for such an elderly cat. We know this, because we’ve taken her to the vet several times in the past year to see if there are any physical reasons why she keeps peeing on every blanket and towel and piece of laundry that gets left on the floor, not to mention all our rugs. What we’ve been told, repeatedly, is that there aren’t any physical reasons. It’s behavioral. Also, she’s high-strung, so here, give her this Prozac. (Yes, really. Our cat is on Prozac. For the third time in her life, bless her anxious little heart.) Oh well. At least she mostly pees on things we can throw in the washing machine.

One of the things that is helpful for cats having problems with their kidneys is to make sure they drink lots of fresh water. Hence, the new fancy-pants cat drinking fountain. Both the cats seem to love it. And Elliora has developed a fun new habit of seeing what items she can sneak into the bubbling water without me noticing.

Photo a Day – June 8 – Six o’clock: I’m pretty good at making chocolate-chip cookies. But when I read Stella’s suggestions for making better chocolate-chip cookies, I definitely learned a thing or five. I incorporated suggestions 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10 into this batch, and the results were delicious. And pretty to look at, too!

Like everyone else with a smartphone and an Instagram account, I don’t use my DSLR camera much these days. Partly because it’s big and clunky to carry around all the time, and partly because I’m very, very behind on doing anything with my photos. I have almost two months’ worth of photos—including our trip to Omaha, Annalie’s birthday, my mom and Aurora’s visit to DC, a couple of friends’ birthday parties—waiting to be edited and uploaded to Flickr. I’m reluctant to add any more to that pile, so I take photos with my phone instead, and Instagram them.

I rolled my eyes at all the Instagram/Hipstamatic people for a long time, but I totally get it now. It’s so easy and immediately gratifying! I can upload photos to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook with just a few clicks! My only complaint is that there isn’t a way to upload photos from Instagram on Android (even though there is on iPhone) to Flickr. So I tend to forget about Flickr.

I’ve been remembering to upload my June Photo a Day shots to Flickr, but I have not kept up with the other ones, which is why I just bombed Flickr with a couple dozen photos today. Wanna see them? Keep reading.

This is what it looks like when Annalie voluntarily cleans her room, all by herself. She even cleaned off the top of her dresser! She dumped out all her dresser drawers and completely reorganized them, setting aside some outgrown clothes for Elliora and some to send to Bug. This has happened not once but twice since her birthday. So far, I love eight.

Elliora surprised us at dinner the other day when she picked up her fork and ate her rice with it instead of her hands.

One of a few self-portraits Elliora has taken with my phone lately. She’s pretty good! Think she should join 7 Days? (Just kidding.) And E’s first time eating (and loving) corn on the cob. Pinky raised, like a proper lady.

I love this drawing of our house that Annalie did. It’s fairly accurate, right down to the gel gems in the big picture window. Katy hasn’t been up on our roof lately, though.

Isn’t this tree pretty? This chestnut tree is the bane of my backyard. I call it Smelly McStinktree. Right at the time of year when the weather is the most gorgeous and we want to be outside on the deck all day, the chestnut trees blossom and smell so sickly sweet that I want to gag every time I catch a whiff. In the fall, the prickly chestnuts fall all over our backyard, like little landmines waiting to trip you up and make you twist your ankle. Sigh.

I squint in disapproval at your stink, tree.

Roasted broccoli thief.

Letting Sonja see what kind of progress I’m making on Baby Corbin’s hexagon blanket. And showing Rainbow that I was talking to her from the pay phone in our basement.

Elliora ate lunch at the little table with Annalie for the first time the other day. She was pretty excited about it. And Annalie was pretty excited about the arrival of the next Avatar: The Last Airbender comic.

I’m a sucker for big-sky shots, especially with lots of clouds.

We were out on the deck the other day, playing in the pool, when it suddenly started raining. Elliora was a bit freaked out, so Annalie just scooped her into her lap, wrapped them both up in a towel, and quietly reassured her. I think I’m still Elliora’s favorite person, just barely, but once we’re done breastfeeding I’m pretty sure Annalie is going to tie with Daddy for the top spot.

Artist at work! Elliora seems to have finally figured out how to scribble, and she likes doing it. A lot.

We had dinner at a new restaurant tonight, a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place that specializes in healthy food. (There are big signs in the window proclaiming that they only cook with fresh vegetables and never use MSG.) Everything we tried was delicious, and the owner was super friendly. Elliora, as usual, ate the spicy tofu from Troy’s soup, rice, broccoli, chicken, onion, and lo mein noodles. The big surprise of the meal was when Miss “Just Egg Drop Soup And Steamed Rice For Me, Thanks” said, “Hey Mom, do you mind if I try some of your chicken lo mein? It looks good.” She ate about half of it before she was done, exclaiming over how delicious it was. And then we got to see a pretty sunset on our way home. It was a nice way to start the weekend.

As Brenda said, if you squint, the streetlight kind of looks like a tall palm tree!

How is it possible that I haven’t blogged any crocheting since October!? Oh, wait…I guess I did blog about some cup sleeves and crocheted golden snitches back at the end of February. But still! The lack of blogging about it certainly does not indicate a lack of crocheting. Let me show you.

This rainbow blanket is one of the most recent things I’ve crocheted, and I love it. It’s probably one of my favorite things I’ve ever crocheted. It was made it for my friend Joanna‘s sweet baby boy, but Elliora tried claiming it as her own. First she came over and plopped down on the blanket when I was trying to take photos. (That was only two months ago. Now she runs if I point a camera at her; forget her voluntarily inserting herself in a photo she wasn’t asked to pose for in the first place.)

Then she stood, gathered the blanket into her arms, and walked off with it. She climbed into the blue chair still holding the blanket, and hugged it, grinning at me, daring me to take it away from her. The goober.

A photo of the rainbow blanket before Elliora tried staking her claim.

Photo taken two months ago. It’s bigger now, since the blanket is one-third done!

Have I told you all about the sky blanket I’m crocheting? You might have seen the sky scarf on Pinterest. I liked the idea, but decided I wanted a blanket, and went with my trademark spiral squares instead of stripes. I started just after the first of the year. Each day, I look at the sky around noon (or whenever I remember; or unless it rains or snows anytime that day, in which case the day’s square is sparkly gray or sparkly white), and that evening I spend about 20 minutes crocheting one three-inch square out of the appropriate color yarn and then attach it to the blanket. I’ll end up with 360 squares arranged in 20 rows of 18, and maybe a six-round border for the last six days of the year, which will make a decent-size blanket in shades of blue, gray, and white. It’s a totally different color scheme than my usual palette of brights. I’m surprised by how much I like it and look forward to cuddling under it at the end of the year.

My sister-in-law Dana sent me this bag for my birthday. I love it.

These two little nine-patch blankets were made for our friends Lynette and Med’s twin girls.

I didn’t notice till after I’d started working on the purple one that the colors were very Mardi Gras. Good thing Lynette and Med appreciate (and throw!) a good party.

This photo was actually my Day 6 photo from 7 Days this past December. (You know, that 7 Days week I never finished blogging about because (1) it was Christmas, and (2) I got sick on Christmas Eve. Sigh.) Summer complimented a similar coffee-cup sleeve in Mandy’s Day 2 photo, so I offered to make her one.

Queta, another 7-Dayer, complimented the same coffee-cup sleeve. I made one for her too. (Apparently, all it takes is a compliment and I’m falling all over myself to make you stuff.)

Erin peeking over the blanket I crocheted for Indira Jane.

Two-month-old Indy, sleeping under her blanket. She’s EIGHT months old now, and I have not seen her since this picture was taken. That’s so sad. Once we’re back on the west coast, I think I’m gonna be visiting Oregon a lot more often. How else are Elliora and Indy going to become best friends?

Last but not least, some yarnballs! I’ve made a bunch of crocheted balls for my friend Rebekah’s kids over the years. Her husband Jason loves them (balls you can play with relatively safely IN THE HOUSE) and periodically puts in an order for more. Not long ago I made these three for them. And I just remembered, I need to make them a few more! I should add that to my crafting queue…

Mystery yarnballs! For the life of me, I cannot remember who I made these for. Was it more balls for Bekah’s kids? Did I make these for Jen‘s Preston? Did I perhaps make them for you? I honestly can’t recall.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get cracking on about three baby blankets, including one for a baby who is already several months old and another one for Sonja‘s baby who will be born any minute now. (ANY MINUTE, Sonja. I’m sure of it.)

What kinds of crafty things have you been doing lately?

*I have never actually crocheted any ketchup. But now I kind of want to.

We very much enjoyed the long weekend last week. Did you? We didn’t do anything special, just relaxed, tried to catch up on housework and errands, all that stuff. Then on Tuesday, Troy turned 42. His birthday was rather meh, since he had to work late (as usual) and we didn’t get to have a birthday dinner. I made coffee cake in mugs, at his request, and we ate those while he opened a few presents after he got home from work. Then we did baths and put the girls to bed. Not exciting, but not a bad day.

Thursday afternoon, we had the house cleaned which was utterly wonderful. We decided it’s worth it to us to pay for a professional housecleaning about once a month. It makes such a difference and is worth every penny, and every movie we don’t see in a theater and every coffee we don’t buy at Starbucks.

Thursday evening, we picked up our friend Rebekah and her kids at the airport. They were flying back from visiting family, and since one of the kids had an appointment with her eye doctor just up the road from us (they live in the same small Southern Maryland town we used to live in, which often means going to D.C. for specialists) they stayed the night at our house! Bek said she couldn’t believe it took them two years before they finally got to stay the night with us. We’ve tried several times before but illness or weather or something always messed with our plans. Annalie was over the moon to have her friends stay the night.

Friday morning we enjoyed our friends’ company. The kids took advantage of the mild weather and played outside. After lunch Bekah and her kids headed home. Since it was raining, and I was in a good mood and Annalie was a little sad to say good-bye to her friends, we stopped at the bakery for cookies. That evening, it took Troy almost two hours to get home from work thanks to horrible traffic. I spent those two hours feeding the kids and getting them ready for bed, silently reciting to myself the list of reasons I am thankful that we aren’t leaving D.C. till August. If I remind myself often enough, think I’ll start to believe it?

I think I mentioned before that Elliora’s sleep habits had become atrocious since we were in Omaha. She was teething something fierce when we first got there, and being in a different place and a different bed was not okay with her. She spent about an hour or two in the middle of the night EVERY SINGLE NIGHT we were in Omaha and Texas, all 25 nights, letting us know how upset she was about it all. It was stressful and exhausting and it got so I dreaded nighttime. In Texas things were a little better because Troy was there to help out, but she was still awake and mad in the middle of the night. It suuuuuucked.

We thought things would improve sleep-wise when we got home, but they didn’t, not really. And nothing we tried helped—not back-patting, not singing, not cuddling, not nursing, not sitting in the room with her. After a few nights, we realized we were going to have to leave the room and let her cry. When she woke up in the middle of the night, we checked on her and reassured her and then gritted our teeth and left her alone. We’d go in and check on her every few minutes, but only stay a minute or two and then leave again. The first night, she cried for about an hour before going back to sleep. The second night it took about a half-hour. Every night since then, if she’s awakened, she’s gone back to sleep within a few minutes.

I’ll be honest: it’s a relief that she’s not up crying for hours anymore. I still hate listening to her cry knowing she’s in the room by herself, even for a few minutes, even though her crying is clearly pissed-off, not scared. For heaven’s sake, when we ask Elliora to pick up her applesauce pouch and take it to the trash can in the kitchen and throw it away, she does it. If she can follow three-step directions, I know that she understands us when we tell her that it’s nighttime, time to lie down, time to close her eyes and go to sleep. She’s 15 months old, not 15 weeks. Knowing all of that still doesn’t make the crying any easier to listen to, but I’ll live. It’s easier to live with guilt when you’re well-rested, apparently.

Free pattern for crocheted golden snitches. Thanks, Deborah!

You know that whole do what you love philosophy that I talk about from time to time? Apparently right now I love crocheting and cooking meals and taking photos and watching Downton Abbey with Troy more than I love blogging. I do miss blogging, though. I write posts in my head all the time. I look forward to having the time to actually type those posts out again someday, and then actually edit and Flickr photos on the same day I take them so they’re not three weeks old by the time I post them. Sigh.

How did it get to be almost March already? How is 2012 treating you all so far?

The crocheting around here, it never ends! This batch of balls was a custom order. I was only asked to make nine, but I made a bonus black-and-white one, so there are ten. They’re listed in my Etsy shop whenever you’re ready, Karen.

These balls were a custom order for someone who was going to use them to make a baby mobile.

My mom was telling me a while back how my 20-month-old niece loves this metal butterfly ornament of my mom’s, but she doesn’t really like to let Aurora play with it because she’s afraid she might cut herself on it. So I offered to crochet her a butterfly toy. It was fun to figure out how to do it!

Of course when Annalie saw Aurora’s, she asked if I could make her one too. I was expecting the request so I just told her to pick out the colors she wanted and I’d get right on it. Aurora’s is the dark purple one; Annalie’s is the light purple.

I crocheted this green-and-gold baby blanket at my mom’s request, for her godson’s baby boy. They’re big Packers fans.

Would you say I’ve crocheted a PLETHORA of coffee-cup sleeves?

I crocheted this potholder a while back just for fun. Then when my friend Deborah came to visit rather unexpectedly, I knew it would be the perfect gift for her. Then I completely forgot to give it to her while she was here. I mailed it to her with the mug she painted while she was here.

Her first dottery! Didn’t it turn out nice? I love how every time I teach someone how to paint dottery, they run with it and make it entirely their own.

While we were in Oregon, Erin picked out the yarn I’m using to crochet Indira’s blanket. I used it to make a little sampler to give to her at the baby shower, which happened while we were there. And then I forgot to take a better photo of it. That’s okay, because I’ll take a better photo of the real blanket when I’m done with it.

Annalie is going to be a peacock for Halloween this year, and she was musing that none of her trick-or-treat bags will match her costume. She was delighted when I offered to crochet her a new bag (because it’s not like I have enough to crochet, what with the half-dozen baby blankets I’ll be working on in the coming months). We found this lovely peacock-colored wool on KnitPicks which should felt up nicely, but when it arrived I realized I don’t own a winder and swift, and it’s kind of a long trip to Jen‘s just to get her kids to wind my yarn into skeins for me. So I found another way to do it, using a paper-towel roll. I was pretty proud of my finished skein.

Now that it’s autumn and temperatures are falling, I expect I’ll find myself crocheting even more. Crocheting and knitting always seem like such fallish crafts to me. What about you? What are you working on these days? If you don’t craft, are you writing a novel? Perfecting your apple pie recipe? Training for a marathon?

You ready?

Here we go…

Where’s the baby?

Peek-a-boo, there she is!

Now repeat that sequence 47 times in a row. But you won’t mind, because your partner is so cute.

Yes, I crocheted that little blanket she’s playing with. It’s a work in progress, using scrap yarn.

I’ve been crocheting a LOT recently. I’ve been almost compulsive about it, and certainly a wee bit obsessive. In my rare free moments, I can usually be found sitting in the corner of the couch with my yarn and hooks and a caffeinated beverage, watching Drop Dead Diva on Netflix, crocheting away. That’s why I have not blogged lately, or uploaded any more of my Oregon photos. I haven’t even edited any of them. I’ve been too busy yarning.

Recently I’ve been working madly on a blanket for Erin and Rocco‘s sweet baby girl, Indira Jane. Indy surprised everyone by arriving on September 1st, a month ahead of schedule! Even though there’s not a desperate need for me to get the blanket done in a rush, I want to finish it quickly anyway. I only wish I could deliver it in person.

Before I started on Indy’s blanket, I finished up this modified Babette in pinks and browns for my friend Sarah’s first baby girl, who was born a few days ago.

These two balls I crocheted as big-brother gifts for Sarah’s two boys.

I crocheted these black and gold balls at my friend Bekah’s request. They’re actually cat toys. See?

Crocheting aside, we’ve been keeping busy.

Elliora has been hard at work standing. Standing by the couch like this is her new thing to do. I’d estimate she spends 50% of her waking hours standing right there.

Of course, about 48% of Elliora’s waking hours are spent eating. Here she is gobbling up some sausage, black olive and onion pizza.

And as you can see, my mom is in town for a visit! She was tentatively planning to come see us in early October, but then my niece’s mom got some time off work and it was easier for my mom to get away now (my mom watches Aurora while her parents are working). We’ll happily take her whenever we can get her!

In case anyone’s curious, the crib thing is going much better. We had a few rough days at first, but I think that was partly because of jet lag. Now, Elliora sleeps as well or better in the crib than she did in the Amby. Unless she’s teething—then all bets are off.

As long as I’m uploading a bunch of photos out of order (which I kind of hate doing, but when I have not blogged for a week drastic measures are called for), here is my new favorite photo of Annalie and Elliora. I think this one might be a framer.

A few days ago I did the mean parent thing of offering a lemon slice to Elliora, expecting her to pucker up and make hilarious faces.

When will I learn my kids don’t ever seem to do the thing I expect them to do? She loved the lemon of course, and got mad when I took it away from her.

Troy likes to eat the lemon slices from his drinks, actually. And Annalie doesn’t care for them now, but when she was a baby she used to suck on lemons with gusto.

I think mostly Elliora is still in that fun phase where every kind of food is something new and wonderful to her. Today we went to lunch at a place with a salad bar, and Elliora ate an amazing variety and amount—applesauce, bits of hamburger, fries, beets, black olives, cheese, cucumber, edamame, peas, and bacon—and seemed genuinely pleased with every bite.

Earlier this week we spent the night in Southern Maryland, hanging out with old friends. I love this photo of Annalie and Christa each holding her little sister, and how Ashland is looking over at Elliora.

We got the chance to hang out with Angela and her girls for a little while, which was so lovely. I enjoyed getting to know Miss Katie (who is seven months older than Elliora) a bit better.

I hadn’t seen our friends’ dog Daisy in almost two years, but she remembered me immediately, wagging her tail and shoving her head under my hand.

A bunch of balls I crocheted for my godson and his sister. I actually crocheted the red, white and blue one and the rainbow-striped one first as birthday gifts for the two of them, but their dad liked them so much he asked if I could make a few more for them to have around.

The night we stayed at Rebekah and Jason’s, neither Ashland nor Elliora could not be convinced to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Bekah and I wanted to visit with each other, so we gave in and let the babies play on the floor, figuring they’d soon be tired enough that we could get them to sleep. They played contentedly for the better part of an hour. Woohoo, late-night baby playtime party!

It’s both surreal and awesome that a friend in Maryland (Rebekah) was able to check Attachments out from the local library and read this book that a friend of mine from high school wrote.

Vintage Muppets glass from 1981 (haaa, I accidentally typed “1891″ at first) is a total WIN. I loved the Great Muppet Caper as a kid, and I still love it as an adult. You all have heard about the new Muppets movie coming out this November, right? I’m super-excited about it. The trailers look incredibly promising, and I can’t think of a better person than Jason “Vampire Puppet Rock Opera” Segel to write and star in it.

Playgroup friends! Several of our old playgroup‘s families have recently moved back to the town where we used to live, so anytime we go back down to visit now it’s like a mini-reunion. Not everyone is there—Sarah and her family still live in Texas—but it’s still good to get together with old friends, and their new siblings.

Whoooaaaa, trippy.

As we were leaving lunch with to-go cups of soda, I offered one of the million coffee-cup sleeves I carry around in my purse to Bekah for her cup. She’s not a coffee drinker, and she said it had never occurred to her to use a sleeve for her cold drinks. I happened to have a few finished coffee-cup sleeves with me in a bag of crocheting, and I told her she could pick one out. She liked a pink-and-white striped one, but it was a little small for a typical soda cup. I added the blue at Bek’s request and I really love how it turned out. You’ll probably be seeing this pattern again.

One afternoon this week we had thunderstorms with crazy heavy rain. Jennifer commented on Flickr that this photo of Annalie looks like she’s peering into an aquarium, and it kind of does.

“See, Ellie V? This is how you make the picture TWIRLY.”

I wasn’t able to make it to the Ladies’ Night at my usual pottery studio tonight as planned. With me and Elliora both getting over colds, I wasn’t sure we were up for the 90-minute round trip, especially so late in the evening, so I reluctantly decided to stay here. Troy suggested I just go to the local pottery studio for some painting therapy by myself, so I did. When I picked up my fired pieces from the last time I painted there, the girl working said, “Oh, you’re Bethany Actually? I love your stuff!” Then when I got home, Elliora was asleep! She only stayed asleep for a half-hour or so, but hey, it was an extra half-hour. Extra half-hours are in short supply around here these days.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go cough another thousand times or so. Have a good rest-of-the-weekend!