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.

Twas the Night Before Christmas . . .

. . . when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Well, maybe a mouse, and a teddy bear too:





The last few days, the girls were in the Edmonton Festival Ballet production of Twas the Night Before Christmas. Even though they were the ones dancing multiple performances, I am the one that is exhausted.

98th Grey Cup 2010

Pete, Joel, the twins, and I went to the Grey Cup on Sunday. It was quite the experience. The energy of the Rider Nation was infectious. However, the drunken idiot behind me wasn't all that fun. He was putting popcorn in my hood, smoking cigarettes, swearing all the time, and he fell on me. At one point, we were all standing because they were throwing mini-footballs into the crowd. Drunken idiot dove for a ball (it was nowhere near him) and fell into me, causing me to smash my knee against the hard plastic seat. Jerk. Anyway, overall it was fun, but I think I like the regular season games better. Here are a bunch of pictures:

Pregame:


Opening Play:


Pete and the twins:


Joel, the twins, and me:


Halftime setup. I got a kick out of the lawnmowers towing the speakers:


Halftime was Bachmann and Turner from BTO:




A Rider fan:


(Rider) Elvis is in the building:


Gainer the Gopher (the Roughrider mascot):


Blitz (the Alouette mascot):


Some Melonheads: