Party Day!

Today was bittersweet. Joshua started throwing up in the middle of the night and continued into the morning. So, the decision was made that he would stay home from his party.

The party was originally going to be a shared party at Boston Pizza for pizza, cake, and presents. Then, we would walk across the street to West Edmonton Mall to Galaxyland. Once there, I would take the girls on the rides, and Joel would take the boys. We would then meet up at a set time. However, since Joel stayed at home with Joshua, I went solo.

At Boston Pizza, there were a total of 16 kids. On the walk to Galaxyland, a parent of one of the boys decided to stay and help me. I love her.

We had 14 boys and girls going on the rides, and we stayed together as a group.

To make sure Joshua was still a part of his birthday, we took along "Flat Josh". Here are the pictures of the day, including "Flat Josh".

At Boston Pizza:








































After Boston Pizza, we went to Galaxyland:



















Once Joshua is feeling better, I'm going to arrange to take the boys out to a movie. Plus, as a family, we'll go to Galaxyland again so the 3D version of Joshua can go on the rides, too.

Happy Birthday, Katerina & Josh!

Here they are on their birthday. We went to Montana's for dinner. Since their birthday fell during the week, we had the party on the weekend. Here are the pictures from Montana's:











Katerina got her ears pierced this summer at a tattoo & piercing place. She's been keen on maintaining her ears and they healed perfectly. For her birthday, she picked out her first pair of real earrings. The stone is opal, her birthstone, and the shape is a heart.

Cadbury has seen better times

Poor Cadbury. He's recovering from patella stabilization surgery. He went in on Wednesday morning for the laser surgery. He stayed overnight and came home yesterday afternoon. He's on painkillers for a few days, too.

Patella stabilization surgery was required because the groove in the knee was non-existent. He had a collision late summer with Isabella and I guess that stretched the ligaments/tendons holding the knee in place. After that injury, his knee slide out of alignment at the slightest touch. The condition is called Luxating Patella. Here is a good article describing the condition.

Luxating Patella Article

I had to take Cadbury to Petsmart today, though, to get him fitted with a cone. He started licking around the incision last night whilst we were asleep. This morning, the skin around his incision is all red and chapped. I got a different type of cone, though. This one is inflatable. The rigid plastic ones are miserable and they end up causing bruises to all the humans in the house from being ran into by Cadbury.

Hockey Teams

The twins are on different teams this year. If you want to follow their progress, I've posted the links to the teams' websites on the left side of the blog. Katerina's team is called the EMHA G-Force and Joshua's team is called the Confederation Ice Breakers.

First Day of School

Katerina's first competition ballet solo

Here is Katerina in her first competition ballet solo at the Alberta Dance Festival in May 2011. I don't know the piece of music, though. I am trying to find out what it is.

Mother's Day Tea

Today, I was invited to the school, twice, for Mother's Day Tea. We were treated to some iced tea and cake, and then a song (or two). The first sitting was from the Grade 2's. They sang 2 songs. The first one was "Over the Rainbow" and the second one was "Mom, You're the Best." The sound is very quiet so you will probably need to turn up your volume.







Here is a picture of Isabella and me:




The second sitting was from the Grade 4's. They sang one song and it was "Mom, You're the Best." They were a bit more confident so the sound is a little better.




Here is a picture of me and the twins:

2nd Place!

Katerina was in her first dance competition this morning. Her jazz group placed 2nd (out of 6 groups)! Yay! The group has one more competition in a couple of weeks. The song they danced to was Gloria Estefan's Rhythm is Gonna Get You.

O Canada!

The kids, with their theatre group, sang the national anthem at a hockey game tonight. The game was a junior (WHL) game between the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Oil Kings won in a shootout!

Their group is in the middle dressed in white. The minor hockey teams on the ice with them are there as "honour guards". The hockey teams didn't sing. I couldn't get any close-ups pictures.

Katerina's first ballet solo

On Saturday, Katerina had her first ballet solo. The school calls it a show but it was more like a stage dress rehearsal. She will be in one competition in May. She danced in classical ballet style to 2 minutes of Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers. Here she is in her costume.

Happy 7th Birthday, Isabella!

Today was the big day. Isabella turned 7 years old today. We had her party at a movie theatre. The movie we went and saw was Gnomeo and Juliet. All the kids loved it, and Joel and I did too. We had cake and pop in the party room. The kids played pin the tail on the donkey, the girls chased the boys, and Isabella opened her presents. Afterward, we saw the movie. It was a nice and easy party.

Here are the kids with fake, ugly teeth in their mouths. I did take a group shot with those teeth in, but when I resized it for the blog you couldn't see the teeth.




Group Hug:




Opening presents:




Cake:




Blowing out the candles:

Some hockey bonding time

Some of the twins' hockey team went to a Panda's game last night. The Pandas are the University of Alberta's women's hockey team. The Panda's are Number one in the Canada West conference. The had a shut out last night, winning 8-0 over the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Some cross-stitches I have recently completed

I took me a few years but I have finally finished Isabella's birth announcement:




I finished this one a few nights ago:




The above ladies are to go with the following ones:






Obviously, I still have to frame those, though. Next, I am doing a ballerina for Katerina.