Summer

It's been an incredibly chaotic Summer so far. My job situation was precarious, but it seems to be working out so far. Josh changed jobs, too. Dash has been in various camps and the scheduling has been insane. Plus I totaled my car (don't text and drive!). So here are some happy, quiet moments that I want to remember from this lovely season, too.

Making s'mores at the Babkes'.

More importantly, eating s'mores at the Babkes'.

Bartles & Jaymes.

I've started self-soothing by painting by numbers.

Dash learned how to play poker and then beat us both handily.

Dash & Ben ditched the last day of school and we took them to Magic Mountain. 

Dash was a bit nervous about riding some of the bigger roller coasters, so I promised him I would ride anything he wanted to try. I will never make that mistake again.

When all else fails, wine in a "Heroes of the Torah" glass.

'Murrica!

We celebrated our great nation's birthday with some nail polish, good friends, ugly cake and sparklers. It was an excellent time.

All Star

I don't know. This baseball thing. I will never stop being bewildered by it.

At the start of this season Dash announced that his goal was to win the Sportsmanship Award, which was a lofty and worthy goal indeed. Only one kid per team gets the award (vs. four All Stars per team), and it's the biggest trophy and the only one that's actually engraved with the kid's name. I love that so much about the league Dash plays in--that being a good sport and supporting your team is considered a higher achievement than just being really good at baseball. The only downside is that usually a kid can't be selected for both awards--they'll either be an All Star or get the Sportsmanship Award, not both.

Except...

...the kid got both.

All Star Game 2015 (they won!)

All stars! (One of our players was injured and couldn't play in the all star game, so the Coach's son filled in, which is why there are five kids in the pic).

Victory mugging!

Go North Young Man (and Old Lady)

As I mentioned in my last post, Dash & I  packed it up (poor Josh had to work so couldn't join us) and drove the distance from the Earth to the Moon to visit our beloved Grandma Sonja, Uncle Doron & Aunt Cheryl and Cousin Olivia. There were visits to the Jack London State Historic Park (what an inspiring and heartbreaking life. If you don't know much about his story, click that link and be get real sad for a while), the Luther Burbank House, AT&T Park to see the Giants and beautiful evenings at Grandma's and Doron & Cheryl's playing bocce ball and hanging out with the beautiful and delightful Miss Olivia.

So, a perfect way to kick off Summer.

Knitter with Attitude

This knitting thing is the jam. We recently went to visit Dash's Grandma Sonja, Uncle Doron & Aunt Cheryl in Santa Rosa/Sebastopol, and I wanted to make gifts to thanks for them for putting up with our lazy, unhelpful asses for three days.

Grandma moved to wine country, so when I found this pattern for a wrap called Grapevine, I knew it was kismet.

Pattern here.

For Aunt Cheryl I wanted something  more clean and modern to match her aesthetic.

I added the tassels and evil eye beads because there isn't a lily I won't gild.

  

Age of Brass and Steam pattern  here.

Uncle Doron is a die hard Giants fan, so Josh came up with the idea to knit him a hat in Giants colors. He even helped me pick out the perfect shade of orange, which was a pretty selfless act of love, considering how deeply Josh hates the Giants.

Action shot! (I had to call Josh to get permission to buy Dash that hat).

Also! I knitted this fox who is very cute but Jiminy Christmas, knitting dolls is a giant pain in the ass. He was supposed to be a gift but Dash took immediate possession.