Beastie Nuts

My life has recently been taken over by Beasties. My friends have noticed that my response time to emails has grown longer. My husband is actually complaining that he's had too much free time to play video games. And last, but not least, I haven't written a proper blog post in two weeks. TWO WEEKS! There is a lot of catching up to do.

The madness started when my dear friend Lisa agreed to let me borrow her sewing machine. After a quick tutorial at her place, I was off and sewing up a storm.

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Benjamin was very curious about the shiny, whirring new toy, but I wouldn't let him play with it, so he decided to play with my case filled with spools of colored thread instead. Better that than my sewing shears, I suppose.

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The first Beastie to be born from Lisa's machine was Boo Beastie, followed by Nolan Beastie. Soon after, Beasties based on my friends Deb and Yvonne were born, as well as a set Beasties based on those creepy Grady twins from the Shining.

And of course, there were Beasties based on the first little Beastie to ever win over my heart.

The pug-based Beasties have been the most popular ones so far! They receive the highest number of views in my online shop, and they have also sold the most quickly. Both Oliver Beastie and the Claude and Maude Beastie set sold within hours of being posted. This only confirms what I've always known: pug lovers are an obsessed bunch!

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Beastie-making hasn't been the only thing I've been doing these past few weeks. We had a playdate with new friends Novella and Max at mom Jennie's house. Buddy Kayla and mom Sheila were also there. Benjamin made himself right at home by relieving himself in Max's blue potty.

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We caught up with old friends, too. Benjamin and I met Lucy Catherine at our favorite coffee spot. Afterwards, we hung out at the park, where Lucy wowed us with her amazingly advanced verbal skills. I had to pick my jaw up off of the ground when she very clearly articulated the words "Thank you" to me when I handed her something she'd dropped. It's one thing to be able to understand your own toddler when he he says "da-de" which you know means "na ge" which means "that" in Chinese. (Confused yet?) It's something else when you can understand another person's toddler. I don't know what mom Cath is feeding Lucy, but I want some of it!

In addition to hanging out with friends, we spent quality time with family, too. The boys enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in my sister-in-law Adele's backyard. We discovered that Benjamin somehow inherited my neurosis about sitting on grass. Every time we put him down on it, he'd grimace and try to pull his legs up. We wound up picking him up, which was fine with his cousins, because it meant that they'd a larger share of Easter eggs!

And in the midst of all the sewing and playdates and Easter egg hunts, Vince and I were able to get away for a double date - a Clippers game with good friends Julie and Shawn . It was fantastic to be able to take a break from parenthood and enjoy a game with friends. It was even more fantastic that we got to enjoy the game from a suite in the Staples center. Sweet! The evening wasn't entirely free of kiddy antics, though. A boy in the adjacent suite kept whipping off his shirt and then gyrating his bare torso in a desperate attempt to get on the jumbotron. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him when his efforts failed to yield him any screentime.

Kid, there's a lesson to be learned in there: nudity doesn't pay.