Snow Day!

Finally - a snow day! The kids stayed home from school, and I stayed home from work. I wasn't home because of the weather - although I'm sure there were major delays and problems with the trains, but because I had booked it off weeks earlier for some dr's appointments.

Even though the kids couldn't walk 5 blocks to school, I was able to drive back and forth across town for appointments and tests. (It was pretty slippery though.)

It was an added bonus to spend time with the kids in between appointments. Leah played next door all morning, then played outside with the neighbours for an hour or so.


They were at our place in the afternoon, playing American Idol karaoke - after some mugs of hot chocolate.

Ev had a great day too! She had 3 friends over and they spent most of the day setting up and posing as Teen Vogue models. It seems we have enough clothes for 4 girls to model and pose in FOR A WHOLE DAY! Here they are in the front room looking at the shots on Ev's camera. Note the backdrop...and the outfits!



Tomorrow is a PA day for the girls. What a week! Rob is taking Ev & Leah skiing in Ellicotville where our friends are spending a mini vacation. I'll be slugging it out at work trying to get my project off the ground (well, actually, on the ground).
And C is on her own - maybe she can do baking with Omi. It must be winter, we are all craving chocolate and desserts.

Only 4 1/2 months till summer!

Another Sunday night

The Eagles DVD Hell Freezes Over is playing in the next room while Ev and I work in the den. Great music - even Ev likes it.

Leah and Rob are upstairs keeping each other company while playing DS (Rob) and doing homework (Leah).

C is at a friend's studying for a biology exam. At least that's what I've been told.

We had a relatively quiet weekend. Spent a lovely Friday evening at the home of one of the hockey parents - home made pizza, lots of wine and lots of laughs. Thank you Gina and Chris.

Hockey at 10:30 on Saturday. Great game, but we lost 3-2 to an undefeated team. It was a beautiful sunny day - cold too - but nice enough to head out for some exercise after getting the house vacuumed and in some semblance of order. Rob and I ran/walked for what felt like an hour, but apparently was only 22 minutes! I can feel it in my legs today - yesterday I just felt my chest burn. I spent the rest of the day resting. Ooh - we watched The Dark Knight - it was better than I expected. Heath Ledger really was fabulous as the Joker.

Lots of fitness for Rob, Ev & Leah today - they met Dwayne and his kids at Glen Eden for a day of skiing. They came back happy and in one piece - hooray!

Once they were out of the house this morning, I put together some crockpot chili, then headed to Hamilton to visit Loretta. We went to her local diner for lunch, then back to her house to catch up. What a great afternoon.

I guess that I had better go make lunches now, and call Dad to see what he is up to. And I have to get one more load of laundry in - I did not get much done yesterday. Ev is still working on a card for a friend who is in the hospital. Here she is at the desk right across from me:



Get well soon Kristen!

Sunday Night

Scrambling late Saturday afternoon at the Walmart SuperCentre to pull together a quick dinner before heading to a 7:00 p.m. exhibition game in Burlington, we also grab a blade roast to throw in the crockpot for Sunday.

"Lovin' the crockpot" - to paraphrase Marion - one of my favouritist peeps.

With Omi's help, we manage to put together a nice roast, mashed potatoes, bok choy, and squash. I left a voice message with dad earlier in the afternoon, inviting him to join us, but since we haven't heard back, I'm assuming his sister grabbed him for the day.

Knowing that we had a meal on the go made the busy Sunday chore day less stressful. (You think that for a gal who only had to cook 2 days a week, I would embrace this meal preparation thing, but I still manage to turn it into a bigger operation than it has to be.)

However, it is always a pleasant surprise when we can pull off a nice meal and have Omi and Opa join us. And tonight, while Omi cleaned up, I felt it vital that the evening be recorded visually - for posterity.

Post- dinner, here's where we found the family:

Reading in the front room:


Doing homework in the kitchen:


In the upstairs bathroom dressing up like Nancy Drew:


Doing dishes while the daughter-in-law takes pictures:


Trying to get the HD connection figured out:


Self-portrait into the dirty hall mirror:



Dad briefing the kids on how to work the new HD/BluRay hook-up (note mom is no where to be seen):


And the dining room waiting for the last bit of tidy up:


And now, most of the family are gathered in the family room watching Ghost Town - on
BluRay-whooooo! Time to refill my wine glass and join them.

Happy end of weekend to all!
(And best wishes to mom and aunties for a fabulous cruise!)

Homework blues - life is good!

The high school girls are in the midst of finishing big projects that are known in their world as Summatives. I promised both of them that I would help with formatting and editing and have done some. However, tonight was the night that Ev booked me to help proof and edit her final drafts. And of course, tonight I finally tore myself away from the office at 8:30 - having just finished my 5000 page summative - or as it is known in my world - an options paper. I was directed to write it yesterday afternoon and the first draft was to have been distributed for review by end of that day. Rather a challenge as I had barely researched one, let alone three options. By late this afternoon, I had some basic information and most importantly, clearer direction on what it was we weren't asking for, and was able to get a decent draft to our legal team, our subject matter experts and my boss and her boss. I'm sure that the final document will look dramatically different from the current version. That's fine with me - I need this option paper approved to get my project started.
And my girls just want to get their projects finished - so I am pleased to report that I was able to work with Ev on her project this evening. Now it just needs some minor adjustments before printing - to be done tomorrow morning and handed in a few hours later. C's projects need a bit more work - but with luck, I will be home in good time to help direct the final stage of her project. And luckier still, Rob will be home from his work trip to LA and he can keep Leah occupied.
Despite the fact that it is close to 1:00 am, and that I am dog tired, my eyes are burning and I need to be up in a few hours to help Ev get this project and herself out the door in time tomorrow, (and to prepare myself for an onslaught of constructive criticism on my paper) I am grateful that these are the biggest challenges in my life right now.
Life is good!

Grrr Trains

Left work early today (4:40) to catch the 5:02 that would get me home in time for a 6:00 pm dr's appointment. That was the plan, however GO Transit and its switches made sure that I was home at 7:00. (The last time I left work early, it took 4 hours to get home.)

The only good thing about this delay is that I quite unexpectedly met sis-in-law Yvonne on the crowded train platform and she travelled with me to Rob's office via the subway - passing by the stations we had just boarded only minutes ago to make our ways to the train.

Yvonne and I caught up on a lot of family and work chatter and Rob joined in on the drive home.

Dinner was ready at 8 but that's when I had to pick up Carson from work.

Finally - lunches made, dishes washed, half a sink clean, most of my stuff gathered up for tomorrow, et voila - another day is over.

And another 6:00 am practice tomorrow. This time its the cheerleaders' turn. Good thing I don't have to drive anymore!

Lost and Found Update - boots and DS still AWOL, but prescription and cheque orders have been confirmed and are in process.

OH CANADA!

Congrats boys - what a game!

Makes getting up early for our 6 a.m. practice tomorrow seem all worthwhile.

A new week, a new year.

Lunches are made. Kitchen is tidy. Most of our bags are unpacked.

Been thinking about new year's resolutions.

Yup - lots of thinking - not much action yet.

Know I need to change some things - likely more along the lines of doing fewer things - but doing those things better.

I like the hints and support in the FlyLady website http://www.flylady.net/ - it starts with shining your sink every night before bed. So that's what I'm going to do - put the rest of the dishes away, shine the sink, get my clothes and stuff (purse, books, ipod, palm pilot, bb) ready, check that I have a GO ticket, oh yes, and get out my runners. Time to start walking to the office from Union Station. Also need to make a list of things to do: find out where the cheques and prescription drugs are that I ordered by phone. It would also be nice to find the keys and sunglasses that I lost, the DS that Leah lost and my boots. Last time I saw them they were in a bag at my feet in the theatre where we watched the Sound of Music. I'm hoping that they are in my car. I need to remember to book an appointment to get my roots coloured, book Carson's surgery for her nose, get these fake nails shortened and re-done and, I really, really need to clean up my home desk. There amongst the piles of papers I will find passport and SIN forms that need to be completed and submitted ASAP.

And to think, it is all going to start with a shiny sink.

Hockey, karaoke and more hockey

Breakfast - hotel
Hockey - Civic arena
Lunch - Montana's
Back to hotel
Swimming - aquatic centre
Dinner - Kelsey's
Karaoke - Rec centre

While the girls were singing karaoke, most of the parents were watching the last period of the Junior World Cup semi-final match between Canada and Russia.

WHAT A GAME! Canada ties it with 4 seconds left in the game. Thankfully the karaoke was finished and we headed back to the hotel to catch the shootout. And Canada scores twice. Even Ev was cheering.

Oh yeah - our girls won their game 2-0 this morning.

It's 11 pm and we have our last game at 11 tomorrow morning. Time for lights out.

Weekend in Woodstock

10:22 PM
It's past curfew and Leah's still awake! We have the alarm set for 7:00 AM and a wake-up call for 7:30. Game time is 10 and we have to be at the arena 1 hour before the game.
The girls played against Hamilton today - we dominated for the first 2 periods but lost steam by the third and lost 5-3. Lots of family at the game: Gramma and Grandpa Bailey, Uncle Don and Aunt Mary and Margaret Elaine Potter. It was great to see her again.

Gonna be a busy day tomorrow. Game, luncheon, bowling, swimming and maybe karaoke. Fun, fun, fun. Carson is going to be so jealous!

Everyone is finally in bed and the lights are out. Time to sign off.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We spent a fun evening with friends - eating, drinking, playing Rumoli & some Wii games. I'm not a very good jouster it seems.
The kids danced and a few of us parental units joined in - right in the middle of our card game. Crazy!
The craziest event was saved for today though. Our Ev joined hundreds of other loonies and splashed into Lake Ontario for the annual Polar Bear Dip.



That's her in the pink. Doesn't she look like she is having fun?
Thanks to the wonderful Bassan family for inviting Ev. She really did have a blast.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. . .