Jul 26, 2008

Challenge reveal, trips here and there

A little over a month ago I was working on a secret FAB challenge that I could not show you. We knew that all the packages had arrived at their destinations and made arrangements to be on messenger last night at an arrived upon time with present and cameras in hand. So now we can share with bloggerland what we have been up to. I tell you, the hardest part for me was not sharing pictures with the non-receipients ahead of time!!

You see, Pam and Norma picked out a piece of running eights at Joann's went they met up earlier this summer for challenge purposes. Shortly thereafter Pam mailed out a section to Cher, Pat and I after names were pulled of who we sent a surprise to. Not only did we need to use a bit of all the fabrics in the half yard--each shade of purple--but were to make something that can be used. No quilts but wallhangings or table mats were okay.

Above you see what Pat made for me--isnt't it the coolest thing? She made her own gift tags and had the pieces wrapped up so prettily. I don't know that she knew it at the time but she used the same graphics that I do on my blog from Graphic Garden to make the tags--link in the sidebar. She made me a Wonder Wallet which I needed to replace my coin purse which is shot. a coin purse/zippered pouch with the purple on the inside of the bag, a cute tissue holder and adorable green purse trimmed with the purples from a placemat! There was also some cute kitten notecards and a tin of itty bitty cinnamon hearts thrown in the box along with some fabric she was returning to me from the quilts she had done and a nice big chunck of batting for filler. Thanks so much, Pat. I will treasure these items. Please visit the other blogs to see their reports and pictures--links above.

Below is what I made for Pam---Stitch Notes by Leslie D. Anderson of "My Time"--these were her Amish Sampler patterns, I believe. The kit had been hanging on my pegboard above the cutting/pressing table for years. Since foundation piecing is what brought Pam and I together way back in 98, I thought it was appropriate especially since we were working with a limited color palette. She keeps saying that they are too pretty to use! I know I made some Christmas foundation pieced cards one year and my sister-in-law wanted to frame hers. Pam might do the same, she said.



So what have I been doing since I last posted? I DID go up to my brother's home in TN last week as planned leaving at 0533 on Wednesday to go up and oddly, 0533 on Friday to come home. Pictured are we three siblings (there are three others) and the 13 and under crowd of nieces and nephews. My SIL and gracious hostess was taking the picture. I'm the oldest of the 6 so I think you know which one is ME. Sorry but the thing won't click bigger for some odd reason nor would the cards---Pam will post on hers if you have to see them bigger.

Later Jan's husband and my youngest brother and his wife ( and 4 of these kids' parents) would arrive from Illinois. My SIL Jan and I went out to lunch on Wednesday with my friend Cindy who lives in the next town over while the rest of the group went to the Nashville water park. I went back to Cindy's till late afternoon so we could visit a bit longer. Friday my brother took my sister and I out to lunch and on to see the Hermitage while SIL Jan took the kids to the pool. Other than that we hung out at the house and visited. And ate---well!

I look and WAS hot as I had just gotten back from walking the dog around Five Oaks golf course and up pretty good hill. At 10 something in the morning in 85 degree heat at least. I can walk the 2 plus miles easily as I normally go 3.3 miles 6 days out of 7 but that is on relatively flat land. I was panting almost as bad as Max by the time we hit the clubhouse area and sat down in the first spot of shade I spotted. A woman who worked at the course saw us and asked if we wanted a drink--her cart had broken down. She came with a big glass of water for us both and a big cup of ice for me. What a sweetie! My SIL said that she has talked with this same woman before when she was out walking. The picture above is at the Nickajack rest stop near Chattanooga on the way home. I would be getting off 1-24 and heading south to AL on I-59 not long after this was taken and through the worst of the steep grade road.

Tuesday the Bama Belles and I (7 of us--3 others couldn't make it) took a field trip just over the state line into Georgia to Bowdon and Douglasville. Pat had offered to drive since she could take more folks in her van though we would have taken a car as well if the others had come. I had alerted the owner at Qwiltz that we were coming and she gave us a special sale of 25% off and if we took the end of the bolt on a stack of fabrics she had set aside then we got another 5% on top of that. I got 4 half yards of fall fabric and two fats of same as well as this Texas Trellis pattern. The shop owner designed the template set for Drunkard's Path and I knew that when I asked where they were in shop. She gave us all a quick demo and sold 3 more sets! Smart lady! Pretty slick way to make these things though it is done in a not conventional sewing manner--which works a lot better, I might say. The set came in 3, 4, 5 and 6 inch and she gave us the 2 inch one for our keyrings. (She had used that size for a santa nose wallhanging on view at the shop. Too clever)

From there we went to a Mexican restaurant near the quilt shop that they recommended and then took a vote whether we went to a fabric shop in nearby Carrolton (that might have two l's) or went on to Joann's in Douglasville. Joann's won since there were coupons burning holes in some of the lady's pockets, LOL. I got a stack of fasteners only because I wanted the container for DJ and a seam ripper and set of paper scissors since both of mine needed replacing. Got home about 6 in the rain--which we need badly.

Other than that I have basically been sewing on that fall project which I finished foundation piecing last night just before the FAB reveal. I had entertained the notion of doing turkeys--- this one in particular which I had re-drawn in EQ5 (6 wouldn't open but tech support got me straightened out--yahoo!) but changed my mind and picked another fall item that had not be added to the robin yet. The floor in here needs a rake and the dust and lint is flying, LOL! I still have one more to do--jailhouse rock theme with a deadline of 8-8 but not today. I need to clean up the mess from the last one first!! If I have any time left, I think I'll finish up that last snowman block. (oh, I could help the person who inquired about those in comments if they will give me their email address, please and thank you. No reply blogger is not a help in this case)

Have a great day in whatever you chose to do----

Jul 13, 2008

Sunday check in




It has been awhile since I posted again. Duh, that's obvious to anyone who regularly reads my journal. I CAN believe that 12 days have passed so I won't fall back on that old statement but what the heck did I do with the days since the 1st of July? HMMMMM

I finished a top secret project two days ago---a Christmas row that I can't show you till next month. Originally I planned on doing poinsettias for it but the quilt has become just one giant mass of red. An alternate plan came out of the nowhere and I went with that. It took a day of preparation counting the design time in EQ and then piecing for about 4 days time. The joining was a bit of a challenge but I was done with it on Friday evening (the 11th)

I am behind on working on these robins . Some of that is my fault, some was not. I finally had to give up the pretense of getting one of them moved along. That one's theme, Jailhouse Rock and any ideas I have involve (ugh!) appliqué. Not feeling it—sorry! BUT much to my dismay, I was holding not one but two people up. Oh, oh! I suggested that the group leader pick it up when she dropped off the one she had been working on. It was to go to her sister next anyway. I'll meet the deadline of August 8 but it buys me a little more time. I also have a fall/thanksgiving themed one to do. There too, my initial thought was something entirely different but my idea has been done and done well by another participant so I'll review some block options. A possible choice was spotted while I was checking on some book listing prices. I'll explore that a little further.

How boring! No pictures of any recent work and to top it off, I forgot to take my camera when the quilt group met on Tuesday. I'll throw in a Skyler picture in for some eye candy--taking over in one of Pippi's old hiding spots as you can see. I've done a little knitting on my ongoing cardigan sweater---from the neck down version and I am at the bottom ribbing with sleeves to go. Well, here is the link Knitting Pure and Simple Basic Cardigan #9725
I have also done a little stitching on the November Blue work snowman this week as it is my carry along project. I am working on what is supposed to be the corn stalks (I guess that is what those are anyway) with just the lettering to go after that. Well, the December block as well. The rest of the blocks are already done. I really want to stitch on the next project though (whine, whine, whine) which is Bird Brain Designs "Here Comes Santa" shown HERE. The snowmen were available on http://www.cvkey.com/htms/041.htm and my list had permission to use the drawings for handstitching while they sold a digitized version but it appears the whole site is inactive due the passing of Vicki.


As I said, the quilt group met on Tuesday still out of our meeting place but our friend Linda C had us over. We had a nice potluck lunch and enjoyed our time together. Nancy had finished her Fred Flintstone top that is going to a family member so Nancy, Beverly, Lois and Linda were able to pin that for Beverly to quilt up. Judy was quilting and up to the binding by the time we left. I was picking paper off the row quilt thing I am working on and then working on my bluework snowmen while Nancy pulled out her greenwork kitties. I have the same book and might have to try the kitties myself! Nancy J. Martin's Kitties to Stitch and Quilt. Lois was plugging away on what she calls an ugly quilt though we keep telling her that we like it, LOL. It goes perfectly with the fabric she chose but perhaps an odd combination? Beverly was removing some backing fabric from a top that had been made by a family member that will go to her daughter once completed. Linda was readying some more flying geese for a medallion quilt that she is working on--I showed a picture of the center of it on my last post actually. Just a relaxing day spent with friends. We are planning a field trip for our next meeting though rumor has it, the church MIGHT be available on the 22nd. LOL, any excuse to go shopping, right?

It has continued to be pretty dry here in the state of Alabama. Often we have threats of rain and even thunderstorms passing over but then only get a tenth of an inch if that. Much of the state remains in a drought situation. My guess is that some fell at the right time for some of the girl's gardens. Beverly has been overrun with yellow squash to the point that she was joking about dropping bags at people's doors and running away before she was spotted. We helped her out with some, LOL and took it voluntarily. Pat F is swimming in tomatoes, I heard along with the other veggies taking up her time. Lois was covered up with peaches. DJ and I made a run out and took the last of them off her hands so she wouldn't have to spend another evening peeling and slicing peaches. The mushier ones made a wonderful smoothie, I can tell you but I filled up 3—4 cup storage containers for the freezer.

I would have tried the fresh peach pie recipe that my dad recently gave me but wouldn't you know, I had just made a peach cobbler with canned peaches the night before? Who knew that I would be sharing some of Nature's Bounty from Lois? Mabel was a cousin of ours so my guess is that it was served at a family reunion. Dad makes a delish strawberry pie himself though! Here goes if you want to give it a whirl.


Mabel Fink's Peach Pie


Cook together:


1 c sugar, 1 c water and 2 heaping tbsp. cornstarch


Stir in one box of orange or apricot jell-o (1/2 for one pie)


Cool, Stir in fresh peach slices to fill pie (about 8 peaches) Pour into a baked pie shell and top with whipped cream. Good with strawberries too but Dad doesn't like strawberry jell-o taste.


6 average sized peaches is about right for a regular sized shell--8 maybe for the deep dish.


I mentioned that we were going to be switching to Vonage phone service in my last post. Sure enough the phone adapter unit was delivered on 7-3. No 10 year old was included, LOL. I figured all the internet connection stuff out quite easily since I had recently switched over to my own cable modem rather than the leased one from the cable company. No problems there. I told DJ the phone part was probably the part where I would mess up since my phone was on a splitter. Well, we got MY phone to work but the others in the house still worked on the old number. I read through all the FAQS and printed out what HE needed to do with the outside phone wires. Still didn't work on the other three phones in spite of his disconnecting things. He thought about it for a bit and the solution came to him---that darned splitter on my phone was messing things up. It only took us 24 hours later and a ripped pair of pants for DJ for us to get the job done, LOL.


On Wednesday I once again had to have my eyes dilated for some further testing. Fortunately the reports were good---just a variant of normal limits and no disease process other than I have some early cataracts forming. Huge sigh of relief from the two of us. It took some time for the meds to wear off so the rest of Wednesday was a sort of lost day. No reading, sewing or it was hard to watch TV too unless I left my sunglasses on. The computer flicker thing was more obvious too so that was out. It just makes you realize just how precious one's sight really is.


I have also come down with some sort of bronchitis type thing with a croupy cough and very close to losing my voice in the past 3 or 4 days. Very sore throat that alternately feels like I have been swallowing broken glass or have a sweat sock stuffed in my throat. No energy or ambition either. This will pass. I just hope I feel better by midweek when I am supposed to go my brother's house in Lebanon, TN. One of my sisters from CO will be there with her youngest daughter and the youngest IL nieces and nephews are coming too. Plus I have more fabric from Mom and my found glasses to pick up. Not sure what the plans are for it should I not be able to go.


Other than working on listing a few more books and pricing what I have on the shelves so I know what their re-sale value is yesterday and today, that is about it for my little corner of the world------thanks for stopping by.



Jul 1, 2008

what's gone on this past week

Boy, this should teach me not to take so long to post. 3rd post in one day. Then I promise I will hush up, LOL.

As always when you return from a trip there are things to take care of on the home front--unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, errands and so forth. It was no exception at our house. I had books to list and fabric to put away on top of that. More on the fabric later.

I had done most of the binding of this donation quilt in the car when I wasn't taking my turn driving. I have shown it some time back as a top but now it is quilted. I call it Pippi Memorial Garden to honor my kitty girl but the real name was Rose Garden or some such thing. I am just being too lazy to go link to the past post or the pattern site if it even said it on the pdf file. I took the last stitch on it Sunday evening.





Here is Skyler giving the quilt one last love. Somehow I feel like Pippi would be proud of him since she was a champion quilt tester. This was the last one to go in the box as it was heading out with the others for M2M. I mailed out 14 quilts yesterday morning.. Pat is kindly quilting 3 others and 3 of them have already been sent on so that makes 20 children that will receive a quilt from my mom and me with binding help from my quilt group.

Back to the fabric---it was in two boxes and then a smaller one with scraps, orphaned blocks and quilt "toys" and notions from the man who donated the fabric. It couldn't really stay in those? Or could it? There really is not a lot of surplus space around here to store it but I could make some room in the bedroom closet if I cleaned some stuff out. I did that first--tossed some clothes, donated some clothes to the thrift store. The few things I did keep went in the blanket chest. Then I separated the fabric stuff from the boxes into types--Christmas fabric, homespuns and plaids, tops that need remodeling. Boxed those up separately. The stuff that remained? I separated it by colors but that led to going through the existing stash stored under the pressing//cutting table plus a few bins on the shelving units. It all broke down basically into reds, blacks and grays, blues, greens, purples, pinks and yellows and yardage for quilt backs. Back into the bins when I was done. I don't have enough room to devote a whole bin to some of those---they is still some of the same colors in other spots---but it is better than it was.

By Friday night I should have cut out the fabric for the FABS challenge the next day. Problem was--I had lost my glasses that I need for distant driving when I was on my trip. I had made an appointment for an long overdue eye exam that day and had my eyes dilated. Who knew? I have some cataracts developing and some changes that needs some further testing in about an week. This might have been a blessing in disguise if there is indeed something that bears watching or further treatment. BUT my eyes remained fuzzy from the dilation and I didn't think I better be operating a rotary cutter. Instead I rewrote the EQ drawings and amended the document I had made for the cutting and such for our use the next day. If anyone wants the pdf file for this, email me and let me know and I'll be happy to share it with you.

I was kind of lagging behind Pam, Pat, Norma and Cher all day but here is my finished CGF ( Cher's Gym Floor for our acronym loving bunch)top. If you have seen how theirs turned out you see how different they look. Cher and Pat did the original version with 12 inch squares of focus fabric while I scaled mine to 8 inch. Pam did as well but she didn't flip the blocks as I had originally drawn it. Norma did something completely different and made the blocks half the size and used her scraps.

The focus fabric I used was another challenge piece from my mom called Jungle River Party. She sent the raspberry red back with me as it matches the elephant in the fabric so well. The lime green was unearthed in the fabric organization shift though I believe that I had used some as a quilt back in the past--I found the cutaways stuck in with the yardage. The gold is that favorite told tone on tone that WTIL participants will remember as "Kit fabric" Ellen sent me a roll of the yardage when more was donated. All from stash--if not my own, then someone else's originally but I work on the idea at that point that possession in 9/10ths of the law if it has resided at my house for more than a few months.

Here is what my Mom did with the same fabric. Pat generously shared her directions and a tutorial on how to make one of these HERE . You can see where she had raspberry red fabric to share. I may use the leftovers for binding---or more of that lime green??? Mom also used a bit of that ubiquitous gold TOT.

So what else? My printer died yesterday and had to be replaced as I had packing slip to print. That's is how I found out it would no longer feed. 4th one of my 11 year computer life. The heating grate on the grill disintegrated and by the time the food I was grilling yesterday was done it was sitting on the flame. I was trying to find the parts online last night but we have an ancient model number I guess and no parts. DJ talked to a humanoid today and he suggested some universal parts---I checked when I went to pick up my glasses and told DJ about it so we are back in business there.

We decided to switch to Vonage and are waiting for some sort of phone router to be delivered. The CSR assured DJ that a 10 yr old could install it. DJ asked, in effect, if the 10 yr old came with it. Turns out we know of one that will be headed this way in about two wks---we might need you, Ted, LOL.

Oh, the glasses? Mom just called and found them in her car. I had borrowed the car when I met Allison for lunch but didn't remember putting them in the car for night driving. Doesn't that figure? Well, the new ones are for distance and driving and not close up reading. Save me from buying a cheap pair of reading glasses anyway.

I didn't do a lick of sewing today again and I might not tonight either. Got some library books due tomorrow so I may just curl up with one of those after supper. And so it goes...............

Tuesday meeting wrap up 7/24

I just barely got home from our trip and the Bama Belles met the next day. I mentioned in an early post that we had gotten bumped from our meeting site at the church with no warning from the staff. Judy offered her space for the next meeting time we met. So you will see a little different background on the pictures and quilts wearing tennis shoes, LOL.

Judy's has a wonderful pinning area that her husband rigged up from a large door. I was a little late getting there but this time I didn't have to be the door keeper. The girls were pinning a top of Lois' when arrived so I didnt get a picture of that one. But here is Beverly with a patriotic themed one that she made for a young family member. If I remember correctly, one or more of the parents were in the military??

Linda C had just complete this wallhanging top. Not sure about the pattern source but she has taken quite a few classes at the local quilt shop in Oxford so it might be from there.




This top was designed by the staff at the quilt shop and is the one we helped her lay out when we were at her house earlier in the month. Good pattern for a large focus piece of fabric. It WAS a bit confusing on the layout though. I know when I first saw it, I thought it was a straight set---and it could have been designed that way. Nope, it is on point and that was what was making it difficult for her to figure out. This way it keeps the large focus piece intact whilei n a straight set, the floral piece would have been chopped up into large half square triangles. I keep thinking this would work for some of that donation fabric Mom and I were playing with.

Here is Lois with her completed challenge quilt for this year---ALREADY!! It is not due till December. The piece is that green print and Lois had said it was an "ugly" one this time. One of the contrasting prints is a 30 year old Dan Rivers plaid that once belonged to her MIL. It works! What really sets it off though is the lovely embroidered blocks that she did up on her machine. She could pick the thread colors from the fabrics and they match wonderfully. The rust sashing really sets it off as well.

Judy and I worked on rolling up the batting that had come stuffed in a giant box onto a roll like we are used to using dividing it up into thirds. That will make it easier to transport to the meeting and take up less space while in use. Since the basement goes the entire length of the house, we had plenty of room to spread it out and roll.

The night before the meeting I had gone through the books Mom had sent with me and pulled out the ones that were selling at give away prices. (I'm not a big volume seller after all--just trying to make a few bucks so I can go on my dream trip to Oregon next year, for pete's sake.) I took those with me to share with the Bama Belles. Judy brought a few she had to share along with some magazines. We had fun looking through those. Linda C found one she really, really wanted and had kept checking out of the local library, for example. Nancy is a neighbor to the woman who heads up the Friends of the Library sale so she took the leftovers with her and saved me a trip to the library or the thrift store. Worked out well all the way around then.

We also helped Linda C lay out another top she had planned that used Jelly Roll strips. Judy's design wall came in handy for that as we laid out the medallion styled strip pattern. I don't know what book she was working out of off hand though but it was a Victorian type medley with pinks, purples and greens basically. Like last time, we pinned it to a sheet so she could transport it and then pick up the pieces to sew it.

Lunch was a potluck--sandwiches and salads which was good on a hot summer day. Next week we will head out to Linda's again. Doubt we will be able to pin anything but we'll find something to do and enjoy each other's company. We could always field trip somewhere on the 2nd meeting date. Maybe by August we will back at a more "normal" routine though it might be time to seriously consider an alternate meeting spot.

vacation wrapup

I have been back from my trip to visit with family in Illinois for week now and up there for one day shy of a week so it has been a bit since I posted. But, no matter---I'm doing it now, LOL. It was good to get away but we are happy to be home.

DJ put me on the plane out of Atlanta on Tuesday and I arrived at the Central Illinois Regional Airport right at the stroke of 1056 a.m. Funny thing is, the flight time is equal to the drive time to Hartsfield Airport so DJ got home about the same time I landed in Bloomington-Normal.

I arrived up at my folks with this view in the family room. The bins were piled up since they normally sit under my mom's cutting/pinning table. She had already told me she needed my help in pinning the 15 tops she had been piecing over the last couple months. BUT a local gentleman had called them to come out to get some fabric that had belonged to his wife who had been admitted to a care facility with Alzheimers. He wanted it to be used for Mom's donation quilt work. She told him she would share with me as I was also involved with the same work. The woman was quite a collector but her husband said she had never made a quilt.

We had a ball going through it and pairing things up for this quilt and that. We had at least 13 stacks that would go for this or that pattern pulling only a few pieces from her stash to go with. Warm Wishes, Naptime, Prairie Stroll, Log Cabin, some new ones we had seen on the internet recently......you name it. We printed patterns off, I worked something up in EQ and all those were labeled with what went where in the scheme of things till she could cut them out. Some of the fabric came home with me already but we will also divide up the leftovers once she cuts the kits out so more will be coming by way.


2 1/2 days later we decided that maybe we better start pinning at least a few of those tops! 11 of the 15 were tended to over the next few days--I was going to DJ's son's house by Saturday afternoon so we had to make good use of the time we had.

I want to share a few of her tops with you. Not sure where the labels will land though. (Obviously I don't have anything of my own to share) Click on the pictures to see them bigger, as usual.

This 1st one is BQ 2 from Maple Island Quilts--cute with novelty prints.



Warm Wishes--free pattern online at the quiltmaker/quilter's newsletter sites. This used the same print I had used in my 9 Patch Pizzazz recently and was a challenge piece between the two of us. Pat showed a bit of it on her blog post a few days ago. She was kind enough to quilt this one for me and will mail it on to M2M.

This was one of two Orange Crush Mystery quilts from Bonnie Hunters recent mystery quilt. Mom had quilted both of them so I could bring them back and mail them off with the others we had teamed up on.

We do love those scrappy quilts especially the ones that use up the strings and crumbs! Here is Mom's version of one that she saw on Jeanne's blog recently. Very striking, isn't it?

Okay, back to the narrative. I got to see my niece/god"child" Allison and my sister who lives in the area mid week so it was not all quilting, all the time. Next time up if I have time, I will definitely try to see my brother in the Kankakee-Bourbonnais area. It just didn't work out this trip.

DJ drove up in the car and stayed a night in southern IL so arrived at my folks late morning on Friday. We went down to B-N for lunch (Schooner's for onion rings and a big fat juicy cheeseburger---yummmy!) Then we drove past some of our old haunts and residences. His golfing buddy came by the restaurant and they got their tee time for Sunday before we headed back to my parents as we had an appointment with someone on the cemetary board.

This might sound a little morbid but one thing we needed to do this trip was arrange for our burial site. Originally we thought we were going to look in Bloomington and DJ had called the three sites so knew how much they were asking for them. For grins and giggles, I asked my dad what the going rate was in their small town---let's just say we got both plots for about 1/3 of the cost of one in Bloomington at the cheapest of the three cemetaries. The spot we have is about 10 feet away from my parents too.

DJ was staying at his son's on Friday and they were off to a basketball tournament near Kankakee on Saturday---see, I should have gone with them and had my brother come get me but it's too late now!! Mom knew I was selling some of my books on Amazon and took the opportunity to go through some of hers. Dad helped bundle the ones she up that she didn't want anymore and loaded them up in the car along with two boxes of fabric. See why I needed the car more than DJ did??



I had made plans to see my brother and his family Saturday evening. They had been at baseball games much of the day while the oldest nephew had a scouting event in town. My sister-in-law invited me to stay for supper and one of my niece's set up the appetizers and entertained us as we dined outside. They have a new puppy to love up on. No pictures though as I left the camera at Tracy's with my luggage on the way over to my brother's house. The kids are growing up, that's for sure!



Sunday the golfers went off to play so I read and caught up with my email, ran into town on an errand. Our grandson Joshua had a double header at his high school so we went in to watch that after lunch. Then back to their house to watch more baseball---this time the professional kind. Go Cards! Josh had plans that evening with friends and we ate in B-N at Buffalo Wild Wings that evening.



By Monday morning the whole household was up and at it early--back to work for Tracy & LuAnn and Joshua is on a summer workout program with all the sports he is involved in. No need for us to wait to get on the road. DJ got the IL and TN driving while I did the KY and AL legs of the trip and we hit the place where Skyler was being boarded a little after 5. I had forgotten to enter their number in the cell phone and we took a chance that they would still be open. Hurray, he got to go home with us too. What a sweet baby he was being last week!



Good to see our families take a break from our routine but good to be back home too.