We just got back from a quick trip to Kitimat - if you can call driving to Kitimat quck! Michael's mom had been diagnosed with cancer last fall and was in and out of hospital since then and passed away on April 17th. They came up to visit us in late summer and then we went up to Kitimat for Christmas and Michael was able to spend a week around Easter in Kitimat as well. I'm so glad we were able to spend so much time with them this past year, and especially that Michael (and his brother Corey) had the opportunity to be up there less than a week before she passed. We got the news on Friday and quickly made plans to leave on Monday evening. Although it's been frustrating for us that Michael has been laid off since he finished school, it was almost a blessing that we didn't have to worry about missing work! It was nice to be up visiting with the rest of the family and also to be there for the Memorial service. 
Grandpa having a visit with Keira while out at a restaurant.
We decided to try travelling overnight this time - something we'd only done once or twice with Aidan and never with both of them. Usually we break up the trip with a hotel in Prince George, but it takes 2 days and we thought we'd try to save some time - and money - by driving straight through. And if the kids freaked out, we could always stop and get a hotel anyways. We planned to leave at 8 (I had to babysit til 8, which was pushed to 8:30) but ended up pulling out at 9:30. Aidan directed all his attention to his new Leapster game (Cars: Supercharged) and that kept him busy for 2 hours - I LOVE that Leapster! - and Keira thought it would be fun to make me play fetch with both her soothers and voice her feelings on being made to stay up and then buckled into a car seat. (We outsmarted her on the way back by tying her soother to her carseat - HA!) Both the kids finally fell asleep around 11:30 and slept until about 7:30 (6:30BC), just in time to stop at the McDonalds in Smithers! Although the drive home did not go quite as smoothly as the drive down, it still went remarkably well. I'm not a huge fan of road trips and I am always super nervous about going on one with the kids so I usually make a much bigger deal of it than needs to be made. I think we'll definitely have to do this overnight thing again, and maybe I'll be able to help out a bit more next time. Michael did all the driving on the way down, but on the way back right before Chetwynd I took over until Dawson so he could rest. Thankfully I had gotten some sleep during the night so I wasn't too tired.
I improved my technique over time and experiemented with different patterns and colors.
This is the latest blanket I made for a little baby girl in my church. By now I think I have made 8 or 9 of these blankets - and am in the middle of another one with 3 more planned :) I've decided that it would be easier to keep making blankets so I have a few that are already made, instead of realizing that I need a blanket in 2 days and running out to buy fabric and sewing like crazy day and night.
I'm going to put the Spiderman fabric into the 1 blocks and since Aidan likes dark colors, I'll probably use black in the 2 or 3 blocks but I'm not sure what other colors to use. Any suggestions?
I didn't bother messing around with Adobe for this one. I like all the different blocks, and I'd probably put the characters whole bodies into them. Toodee in the upper left hand corner, Foofa in the large block below, Brobee in the rectangle in the bottom left hand corner, Plex beside Brobee and then make a tall rectangle immediately above Plex for Muno. Then I would have the middle and right corner squares as well as 2 small squares in the middle that I'm not sure what I would do with. I could move Toodee beside Foofa and put Keira's name across the top, either in blocks or without, but that's my only other idea for using up the blocks.
Friday afternoon, while Keira was sleeping, Aidan and I decorated Easter Eggs. He had made one at school on Thursday, and then we each made 3. I covered the table with newspaper, with extra by his spot because I figured he would spill a lot, but I was the one who made the biggest mess! We had a great time and made some really pretty eggs.
He had his egg on the floor and for some reason it was rolling around everywhere. His camera takes about 6 seconds to focus and take the picture and the egg was not making it easy for him! So I put the egg on a blanket on the couch and Aidan spent about 15 minutes taking pictures from every angle imaginable. This is another reason why I think he needs a better quality camera.
Keira has been having quite a bit of trouble sleeping lately. I'm not sure what the problem is, but she goes to bed around 7, but only falls asleep between 9 and 9:30 with multiple re-tucks (what Michael calls it when he goes in and has to tuck her in a second, third or fourth time). She's been doing a little better this past week and hopefully will improve even more once Michael is home from Kitimat. She really misses him when he's gone.
Aidan's class had ANOTHER party, this one for Easter. Aidan decided that he wanted to bring fruit, so I started thinking about what we could bring. I like to bring something that's not too messy and kind of contained into single servings. Last time we brought little dixie cups with salad dressing in the bottom and carrots, celery and broccoli sticks in each one. I came up with the idea of Fruit Skewers which Aidan heartily approved. They looked so bright and yummy on the plate I had to take a picture of them. In case you're wondering, each end has half a marshmallow, then a strawberry piece, a pineapple chunk, a grape (2, when I ran out of pineapple) and the middle is an apple chunk, dipped in lime juice to prevent browning. 
Keira's obessession with Yo Gabba Gabba continues, unabated. Since there are not too many YGG toys in the stores, and what there is is usually too expensive or too loud, I decided I would make something. The 
I have to be careful not to leave any of my supplies hanging around, because once she gets her hands on them, she gets VERY upset if I try to take them away.
...have pancakes with strawberries and hot chocolate for dinner...
...and attempt to make some casings for Keira's sausage legs :). I decided that making leggings for Keira might be less expensive than buying them, especially the ones with lace on the bottom that are so cute and like the ones I wore back in the 80s. Further, I thought that it wouldn't be that difficult to make a pattern...but the end result was not as I had imagined. They were skintight and very low, especially in the back. I had to laugh though, Keira looked so funny running around in them! 
Aidan took this picture of me and Keira and I think he did a pretty good job! He got a Little Tikes digital camera for Christmas in 2007 and he loves it, but I think a better option would have been to get him a cheap low mega pixel regular camera. He loves taking pictures of anything and everything, so I'm trying to find a cheap one on eBay for him.
