When Daddy Is Frustrated...

G said today, "When Daddy is frustrated, you call him Matt." {I never use his real name unless I am frustrated.}

Just wanted to share.

Daddy has a little helper. G said that he wants to be a plumber when he grows up, because plumbers help people. He was so proud that he fixed the leaky faucet (in reality, I'd coincidentally turned on another tap and the bathroom one stopped dripping)!

The Big Top

We went to the Shrine Circus yesterday and had a really great time. We even saw a side show! We were a little uncomfortable with the animal acts (there was someone poking the tigers with a stick to make them seem aggressive), but the human acts were terrific. Here are some photos.

Later, we went to the Checkwoods' for some pizza and Guitar Hero. The kids even played along, and G found himself a cape and became... ta-dah! Super Gabriel!

I Suck At Photoshop

I'm trying to learn Photoshop, and I decided to learn from "Donnie Hoyle," who I suspect is really Dane Cook. Here is where I found the tutorial.

Just in: Rebecca informs me that Dane Cook is not Donnie Hoyle. Oh well.

G wanted to do a photo shoot while we were shopping today, so we thought we'd share the photos with you:

And finally, safety isn't just for the bicycle, folks. Here's how G decided to watch TV this morning. And I must have zoned out, because I didn't realize it was Barney he was watching. I know, bad mom.

But later, I redeemed myself as a mommy. We had a creepy encounter at the park with a man who hugged and kissed our friend's son while she was bent over starting to nurse her younger son. I called the police, and I sincerely hope they scared the crap out of him so that he won't ever touch anyone's kid ever again... except his own, and even then, only appropriately. The lesson learned here is that it pays to be vigilant all the time, and also the thing mommies are best at is protecting their kids.

Less Artsy, More Fartsy

Here are some photos from last Saturday night, my kinda birthday party at Sips N Strokes with Skye, Rebecca, Kirk, and of course, my Matty.

We'll miss you, Bun Nut!

Matt's mom has been enjoying the Georgia weather here with us since Friday afternoon, and we've all had a really good time. There was landscaping to do, walks to be walked, strawberries to be picked, and and household chores to help with. We know Bun Nut does not like to be idle when she is on vacation! More importantly, there was plenty of hugging with the youngster and lots of time to bond. Gabriel couldn't be separated from her and they both loved it. She'll be leaving us in the morning, and we'll miss her. Gabriel was quite sad when she said good night to him tonight and we know the first time she calls he'll be clamoring to get the phone. Thanks for making the trip down, Mom P! Thanks for all of your help and we really had a great time while you were here. We will all miss you and will not be able to wait until we can see you again.

What Not To Crochet, Part II

At least his tail is free to wag a distress signal!

You can find this, along with the following yarn horror, here.

Happy Birthday, Patty!

Thirty-three years ago today, the woman who is so much to so many of us was born. There is not a more selfless and hard working woman on this planet. The world in which I (Matt) operate revolves smoothly because of her. The son that we have is the person he is because of her. The life that we live is in no small part due to her. We love her. We love her very much.

Happy birthday!

Knotty Birds

Please visit Patty and Rebecca's new web site, Knotty Birds!

We're Number Two! We're Number Two!

We had the annual (but our first) MINI scavenger hunt today, and it took us all over metro Atlanta. We went to Marietta, Buckhead, Midtown, Downtown, Cabbagetown, Little Five Points, Virginia Highlands, and back up to Marietta - all in 3 hours and 7 minutes (we were docked 10 points for the 7 minutes). Some of the items were scavenged, and some things we just needed in photos. Here are most of the photos we took. We came in SECOND PLACE! WOOHOO! We chose a $50 gift certificate toward work we need done on Otto as our prize.

A funny story about the one with #17: We were supposed to find a French landmark at Atlantic Station, and I (P) thought I'd heard that they put a little Eiffel Tower in there, so we drove around for about 15 minutes looking for La Tour D'Eiffel and couldn't figure out why it wasn't next to the Arc de Triumphe. Duh. The Arc de Triumphe, as in the gigantic French landmark? Well, thankfully M read the clue again and realized they didn't specify which landmark, so we took our photo and moved on.

Can you find the paramedic and the fireman in these photos? Can you find Gabriel wearing naughty clothing? Yep, we got in trouble in a few places, but we got second place!

But the best part of the day was that we got to see our friends Cindy (with child), Tim, and Dryden again. It's been far too long, and we had a great time with them!

Best Buds

G and Christopher got to spend a little time together today. After playgroup, we hung around the park, and then we went to C's house for lunch, playtime, and a movie. Here's some video:

What G is saying: "I'm sorry I didn't bring my computer for you to play with."

Also, do you hear anything funny in this one?

Monkeys Everywhere!

A local inflatable gym asked me if I would come up with a monkey toy to sell there, because a monkey is their logo. That's why I made the doll and finger puppet. As I'm trying to come up with the perfect monkey, I'm creating several prototypes. I think the finger puppet will be the way to go, but here's another one I made up just to see what it would look like.

I also visited my LYS (local yarn shop) to see what good yarn was all about and to seek inspiration. I want to try knitting again, because I really want to be good at knitting and crocheting, both. Well, I came home with a great project. As it is going to be part of Erica's and Raul's baby trousseau, I can not post here what it will be; I can, however, give a hint:

In other news, Gabriel wrote his own name today, unguided. I was in the kitchen and told him to write something on great-grandma's card so she would know whom it is from (surprise, Grandma Kranz, you are getting a card... just act surprised when you get it), and when I came back into the dining/craft room, he had written his own name! I have taken a photo and will post after she has gotten her card so I don't totally ruin the surprise, but I really wanted to share because this is a Big Deal for us!

Another G moment today: yesterday, I had found him in the bathroom dipping his hand into the toilet water (after he peed) because he had to "wash [his] belly," so today when he took too long in the bathroom I yelled up the stairs to check on him.
Me: "I just wanted to make sure you weren't drinking out of the toilet or something."
G: "Oh, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. I would never do that."

Monkeys Are Invading!

I made these last night as an experiment - one doll, one finger puppet...

Happy Little Starfish

I made a quick little starfish for the G Man. Here it is:

Word has trickled down to the southern states that Wally Bronner, of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, has gone to Santa's Great Workshop In The Sky. I remember seeing him standing at the front door when I was a kid and thinking he seemed like a nice old man (he was already old back then!). Mom K sent this article about him.

No More Late Emails!

Google, geniuses that they are, just introduced a great new concept. It's called Custom Time, and basically it just fudges with the date stamp of your e-mail so that you can prepare a message before the date it's due (think Birthday Card), or you can also have it show up in an inbox in the order it would be in if it were on time (think Belated Birthday Card). Of course, the ethics are a little iffy, but it's still such a neat idea!