Long Weekend/Fun with Fondue/Mark's Birthday

So apparently in Eastern Mass, the court systems had an "Evacuation Day" where they closed the courts and had a day off.  Here in Western Mass, they didn't close courts, but Mark was allowed to take a day off, but he got to choose which day to take.  His original plan was to take off today (Monday the 21st) because it's his birthday... Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!!... but he decided to take off Friday instead.  Why?

1) Because Canon and I went to Maryland for a couple days so that I could go to court as a character reference for my friend Theresa in her custody hearing.  We left on Tuesday afternoon and returned on Thursday afternoon, so we hadn't seen him for a couple days.  I wanted to be able to really spend some time with Mark instead of coming back home just to be alone with Canon all day again. (No offense, Canon!)

Fun with a camera on the plane to MD

Mom, let me take the picture!!

It's so nice to have the whole row to ourselves to let Canon play.

We didn't have a crib for Canon to sleep in, so it took a long time to get him to fall asleep at night.   I placed stuffed animals all around him so that he wouldn't roll too far and bump his head on the bed posts.

2) Mark is really into the NCAA March Madness Tournament right now, and he wanted to watch a game that he recorded and didn't get to yet.  He knew that he wouldn't be able to avoid all the news about the game if he went to work, so staying home would allow him to watch the game and not have it spoiled for him.

3) But the factor that somehow placed the most weight for Mark's decision was that the weather was absolutely beautiful.  It was so nice outside, so we took a family trip to the park!

Woo hoo! This is so fun, Mommy!

Daddy playing in the tubes with Canon

Look up here, Mom!

Fun with the Slide

Enjoying a lazy morning with Daddy

On Saturday we celebrated Mark's birthday with a fondue party with a couple families from our ward.  We spent pretty much the entire day preparing for the party, so I didn't get many pictures. But, he did open his presents that day.

Thanks for the new clothes, Mom and Dad Dahl!

Mark hasn't been able to wear his wedding ring for a few years now because it's too small.  Since it was all beat up and looked nothing like it did when he first got it, I got him a new one.  Of course, it's the wrong size, but at least he was able to open it, try it on, and then take it back to order the right size.

The Fondue Party that night was a success.  We had about 10 people total eating shrimp and beef cooked in oil; ham, crackers, and veggies dipped in cheese sauce; and cookies, pretzels, strawberries, and bananas in chocolate sauce.  So yummy!

Turns out that it was a fabulous idea that Mark took off Friday instead of Monday.  This was the view from my windows today.

So much for Springtime...snow = sad :(

The Finished Product

I think I forgot to show you all how the baby quilt turned out.  I gave it away at the baby shower a couple of weeks ago, but here is the finished product.  I kinda messed up the edging, but I don't call myself a professional quilter... so this was a good experience for me to learn from, and I think it still turned out pretty cute.

Daily Ritual

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

Glad as I can be.

He picks me up and holds me tight

And then counts One, Two, Three.

He then will spin me really fast

All the way around.

I grab on so I can't do what?

Fall to the ground.

After Mark gets home from work every day, they usually do something like this in the kitchen, although Canon seems to enjoy it more than he did in this video.  I guess he was camera shy this time!

A New Quilt

Mark was throwing out one of his old  button-up shirts because the elbows were getting worn, so I decided that I'd like to use it for something crafty.  I got an urge to do some sewing, so I set off for Joann's to make a baby blanket for a baby shower I'm going to this Saturday.  They just had a baby boy, so this is what I picked out.

You can't go wrong with puppies for a boy's blanket!

These stripes are a "sister fabric" of the puppies.

Just a little something that would make it "pop"!

Put them all together and I think it will be a cute combination!

 So then I had to design the quilt.  Afterall, I only had a week and a half until the baby shower.  I had a few ideas floating around in my head, so I thought I'd better get them down on paper before making a decision.

First was the simple blocks to incorporate all the fabrics evenly.

Then a more complicated, yet cuter design.

This is what I finally decided on though.

I got all my pieces cut out and ready to go.

This is the layout to give you an idea of how it will turn out.

Once I had sewn 6 of the 12 blocks, I found that I was running out of blue strips.  What?  I counted them and had the right amount cut.  I looked a little harder at my design and realized that I was sewing all the blocks the same, but that's not how it was actually designed per se.  Since the bottom and right edges of the blanket were lined with blue, I had to cut more blue and red to line the left and top too.  I think it turned out even cuter than I designed it originally, and I'm quite pleased with it.

I now only have to layer the blanket with the batting and the back, tie it with yarn, and then edge it with the red bias tape I got.  Hopefully this won't be very difficult or time consuming (which I don't really expect, but who knows what might come up?)  I was originally thinking of using some denim that I have left-over as the backing, but then I realized that it was just too heavy for this cotton blanket.  I have enough of the red fabric, so I'm going to use that as the back, but I was really hoping to use that for another quilt.  Oh well, I guess I'll have to go find something else for that one.  Finishing this quilt takes precedence. Wish me luck in getting it done before Saturday.  So far, I've made great progress, but it's not done yet... and I still have a baby and a house to take care of.  :-)

New Phone

Ok, so after that strange phone experience, confirming that our family plan DID have a phone available for an upgrade, I decided I needed to get a new phone. Since the store wasn't open when we got there, Canon and I walked over to the nearby CVS to get a couple essentials and to pass the time.  While there a nice older man bought Canon a large sucker.  Since it was a nice gesture, and he didn't ask before purchasing the candy, I said it was alright to give it to Canon. (In my mind I was thinking, "This is a sticky disaster waiting to happen!")  The sucker seemed to occupy Canon enough to not try to get out of the shopping cart, which was nice.  Then as we left I knew that I needed to take it back so that I could hold onto his hand to walk down the slippery sidewalk.  We ran into that man again (whose name was Eddy) where he tried to get Canon to give him a high-5, but to no avail.  We thanked him for the sucker and made our way back to the AT&T store.

Canon certainly had a blast exploring that place, and it was quite difficult for me to keep him out of things he wasn't supposed to be getting into.  At least everyone in the store kept saying that he was just so cute and didn't seem to mind his energy, but as his mom, I had a hard time trying to think- choosing a phone and everything that came along with it.  I showed the AT&T guy the video of what my phone was doing and he said that the water damage that my phone experienced would do that sort of thing.  *Note to self: DO NOT let Canon play with your new phone!  Drool is more destructive to a phone than dropping it into the toilet because when a baby sucks on a phone they force the water inside.  The water damage also affected the SIM card, which meant that I had to transfer over 1/2 of my contacts manually. UGH!  That's ok, now it's all fine and dandy. It's just a simple phone, the "free" one you can get with all the deals AT&T has nowadays.  (I say it's simple, but I still haven't figured out how to set my speed-dials yet!)

Yay for a new phone!!

Oh, remember that sucker?  Yeah, I let Canon have it a little more once we got home, but there was no way I would let him eat the whole thing...that's way too much sugar before a nap time. 

yummy sucker