Ninja and PopPop!

Ninja (or, as Rose says, "Nee-Nee") and PopPop came to visit this weekend. It was so much fun that Rose wouldn't sleep - she was just so excited to see her grandparents! Here are the highlights:

Can't wait for them to show up!

A tackle hug!

Wow, the 14th floor of the hotel is high up!

We're going swimming!

Television!

Running FAST down the hotel hallway!

Doing the puzzle from Grandma Roles while holding the purse from Ms. Marcy!

Yay!

TWO ponies!

Whee!

Reading Baby Bug from Ms. Margaret!

Reading the comics!

We also drank lots of great wine (everyone except Rose) and ate lots of yummy food (including Rose). Hope your weekend was as great as ours! :)

date night and zoo trip

Mike and I had "date night" last Saturday for the annual Carleton trivia tournament. Basically, alumni groups across the country gather for countdown trivia at local bars/restaurants and the highest team scores from each city in each round are tallied up to determine the winner. The Twin Cities group had won the last two years, which was not through any contribution of ours, but rather because there was one alum who got a perfect score for almost every round. Unfortunately she was at a funeral this year, so the TC group had to rely on the likes of us. Our team managed to come in first (in the TC) in one round (woo-hoo!), but overall we were pretty mediocre (averaging 16th of the 20-some teams that were there). Nevertheless, it was a fun night out on the town! (Huge thanks to Grandma Roles for babysitting!)

Then on Sunday/Monday I came down with another cold, a sure-fire indication that I've been working too hard. I'm determined to find balance in my life somehow, because I'm sure tired of catching to many winter bugs.

By yesterday I was almost fully recovered, so we spent some time at an indoor park so Rose could burn off some energy. It takes her a little while to warm up, but she eventually loves climbing on the equipment and going down the slides.

The exciting news for the weekend is that Rose has pooped on the potty for two days in a row! Yay! She is also starting to enjoy taking off her pants, just to show that she can.

Finally, today we went to the zoo. It always takes Little Miss some time to warm up to new(ish) experiences, and in the end she really enjoyed seeing all the animals!

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

#16

Last August I started working on a tenth anniversary quilt for Mike. My goal was just to finish it before our 11th anniversary. :)  Here's to 10 years!


NUMBER ONE
7/07 - Fractured Pinwheels (for the Burmen)

NUMBER TWO
12/07 - Roman Fence (for Gramma Larson)

NUMBER THREE
5/08 - Log Cabin (for my parents)

NUMBER FOUR
9/08 - 30s throw (for my friend Ryan's baby)

NUMBER FIVE
12/08 - Stars and Stripes (for Jack and Marsha)

NUMBER SIX
12/09 - scrap quilt (for our living room)

NUMBER SEVEN
5/10 - Hug and Kiss (for the Failors)

NUMBER EIGHT
12/10 - Amish quilt (for Anne)

NUMBER NINE
12/10 - Corner Stars (for my boss Joan)

NUMBER TEN
1/11 - another 30s throw (for my friend Megan's baby)

NUMBER ELEVEN
9/11 -Nature Studies Nine Patch (for Mitra)

NUMBER TWELVE
3/12 - I don't remember the name of the design! (for Rose's crib)

NUMBER THIRTEEN
7/13 - Christmas Cactus (for my office at work)

NUMBER FOURTEEN
8/13 - Moda Charms Toddler Quilt (for my friend Aryn's baby)

NUMBER FIFTEEN
12/13 - another Moda Charms Toddler Quilt (for Rose to have at school)

NUMBER SIXTEEN
1/14 - Checkerboard Plaids (for Mike)
Note that I didn't choose a simple plaid fabric, but I instead picked a ridiculously challenging directional fabric! The pattern turned to be so much harder to make than I expected, but also much more rewarding and beautiful in the end - kind of like a metaphor for our first 10 years together!

If I can ever wrestle it out of Mike's hands, I'll take a full picture of the finished product! :)

"official" 21 months photos

We (finally) took a couple (slightly belated) 21-month photos yesterday while Mike was snowblowing.

In other news, our little grown-up girl is:

1. forward-facing in her carseat! (please no judgments for doing it "early"!)

2.starting to potty train herself! (I know it's too early to dream about an end to diapers, but I can't help but be excited about that vision in the distance!!)

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Quilts: #14 and #15

It feels so great to have time for hobbies again! I've really been enjoying quilting for the past few months. I really pushed myself with these latest quilts, by picking colors and fabric patterns that are NOT typical for me. But #14 just screamed ARYN (the recipient's name) to me, so I took the risk. I think it's a good sign that I seriously debated keeping it for myself, even though it would have clashed with our decor. :)  And I was so inspired that I ended up using the same pattern and bold new fabrics again as I made a quilt for Rose to have at daycare!


NUMBER ONE
7/07 - Fractured Pinwheels (for the Burmen)

NUMBER TWO
12/07 - Roman Fence (for Gramma Larson)

NUMBER THREE
5/08 - Log Cabin (for my parents)

NUMBER FOUR
9/08 - 30s throw (for my friend Ryan's baby)

NUMBER FIVE
12/08 - Stars and Stripes (for Jack and Marsha)

NUMBER SIX
12/09 - scrap quilt (for our living room)

NUMBER SEVEN
5/10 - Hug and Kiss (for the Failors)

NUMBER EIGHT
12/10 - Amish quilt (for Anne)

NUMBER NINE
12/10 - Corner Stars (for my boss Joan)

NUMBER TEN
1/11 - another 30s throw (for my friend Megan's baby)

NUMBER ELEVEN
9/11 -Nature Studies Nine Patch (for Mitra)

NUMBER TWELVE
3/12 - I don't remember the name of the design! (for Rose's crib)

NUMBER THIRTEEN
7/13 - Christmas Cactus (for my office at work)

NUMBER FOURTEEN
8/13 - Moda Charms Toddler Quilt (for my friend Aryn's baby)

NUMBER FIFTEEN
12/13 - Moda Charms Toddler Quilt (for Rose to have at school)

P.S. If you're reading this blog, you're most likely still on my list of people to give a quilt to! :)