Cannon is 3!

I had big plans for a monster themed third birthday party for Cannon, but with my dad's surgery and all that has been going on with that, time just got away from me.  Luckily, he really had no idea that the day was coming and was happy with how the day turned out anyway.

The weather was beautiful on Saturday so we thought it would be the perfect time to make a trip to the pumpkin patch.

 Charlie thinks corn angels are much more fun than snow angels.

Charlie wasn't very interested in picking his own pumpkin.  They were either too big or too dirty and he gave up pretty quickly.  Cannon of course was the complete opposite.  He was totally into it and was trying to pick up pumpkins bigger than him.  

We had the grandparents over for dinner and to do presents and cake.  The only thing I had put together for the party was the cake.  I copied it directly from this one.  I had the bottom made at a local bakery and then I made the cake pop eyeballs.

Cannon and GG had spent some time in the morning playing funny birthday songs on YouTube and he seemed to catch on pretty quickly that it was his special day. He was loving it.  He spent most of the day singing "Happy Birthday to MeeeeEEEeee" songs and once he saw the candles lit on the cake he was yelling "Birthday song! Birthday song!"

Happy Birthday Cannon!  We love you, dude.

By the way, this was my first time making cake pops.  My review:  a lot of work and way too sweet.  I don't think I will be making them again anytime soon.  Too bad because they are so stickin' cute.

please pray....

Just when I thought that life was ready to settle down again, we are once again thrown for a loop.

My dad has cancer.

You always hope and pray that you will never have to say those words about someone you love.  Someone that you have looked up to your whole life.  Someone that has loved you unconditionally from the moment you were born.

It has been tough to accept.  It is an emotional rollercoaster that at times doesn't feel real and at other times I feel like running far, far away so I can pretend it is not happening.

I don't know what the future holds for my dad.  It looks as though we have a long fight in front of us, but I am so grateful that we are back home and we can do it together.

You can follow my dad's journey here:  CaringBridge 

daily photos, week 2 &3....

I have managed to finish up 3 whole weeks of taking a picture a day.  I am so thrilled that I have stuck to it.  I haven't put them in the album yet.  I need to figure out a way to print them at home or find a local place that actually does a decent job.  I also realized that I need to be jotting down some notes for what to include in the album when I get time to work on it.  I would also like to include other details from the day besides just the photo. 

end of summer celebration.....

To stick with tradition, we took Charlie out for a special evening to say goodbye to summer.

He got to pick the dinner place, much to my dismay, and off to Burger King we went.

Burger King is not his favorite place to eat.  He just really, really wanted the flame guitar Paper Jamz kids meal toy.  After 4 different visits and lots of pleading with the BK employees, the flame guitar was just not meant to be.

The next stop was the mall.  We had spotted these LEGO shoes the week before and Charlie was pretty sure he needed them for school.  He was a little surprised that we were shopping on his special night, but we made sure to keep it quick. 

And then off to the big surprise, Spy Kids 4D.  Charlie talked about this movie all summer.  He is crazy about anything spy related and 3D, so this was a very big deal. 

Soda....check!

Popcorn....check!

Aromascope......check!

They actually ran out of the aromascope cards during the previous showing so they grabbed some used ones.  Crisis averted.

Charlie gives this night two thumbs up! 

project life....

I have finally jumped on the bandwagon and started project life.  I have been wanting to do it for a while, but just wasn't ready to commit.  Most people start it on the first of the year, but the truth is that the last thing I want to do right after Christmas is start a new project.  I was going to start this summer when I finally broke down and purchased the kit but I kept forgetting to take photos. 

Then, last week it just felt like the right time.  With the move and the new school year I feel like we have a new beginning and a new schedule.  What a perfect time to start documenting our everyday.

Here are last weeks photos.

9.5.2011

9.6.2011

9.7.2011

9.8.2011

9.9.2011

9.10.2011

9.11.2011

I am looking forward to getting them tucked away in the album this week.  Is it crazy that I am a little intimidated to dive back into my scrapbooking stuff again?  It has just been way too long.....

goodbye minnesota.....

Really all I can say about Minnesota is that it was an adventure.  Those nine months went by so, so quickly.

I can tell you that we won't miss this:

Or the humidity.   The weather in general was really not my favorite. 

We also won't miss the ticks.  We discovered a tick burrowed into Cannon's knee one evening at bathtime. Cannon kept pointing to it and saying "ladybug?"  Luckily, when I just wanted to panic, Eric took control and handled the situation.  We were itching our heads and were skeeved out for the rest of the night.  We told all of our coworkers our traumatic story the next morning and they laughed in our faces.  Apparantly, ticks are very common in Minnesota and you aren't truly livin' if you don't get at least one a year.  You better believe that didn't make me feel any better when I found one crawling on my shirt the very next day!

There are a lot of things we will miss about Minnesota though. Do you know how wonderful it is to live just 15 minutes away from the Mall of America? It is fabulous. A few days after we told Charlie that we were moving back to Idaho, he burst into tears when he realized that we wouldn't be able to visit the MOA anymore. The Nickelodeon Universe and LEGO store are important stuff to a 6 year old. So of course we had to make one last trip before we left to soak it all in.

The Science Museum of Minnesota was also a favorite place to go.

The local splash park was also a big hit.

This was as far in as Cannon would get.  He always acts like such a tough guy, so it is funny to see him being so timid.

And of course we had to grab one last Caniac combo from Cane's before we hit the road.

Good-bye Minnesota, it was fun while it lasted.  We just may be back one day, but probably only to visit next time.