still the one

Cool layout I created for a design team I work on. Love this picture. Definitely one of my favorites. Sterling says Craig has "Zac Efron" hair. ** click on to enlarge

Anxiously waiting for the arrival of all our company. Mom and dad will be here tomorrow and Jessica and Emma on Thursday. Can't wait to see everyone. It's going to be crazy here!

soccer, trampolining and earth day oh my!

Last day of soccer yesterday. "B" Finals. Unfortunately Kaedo's team got their butts kicked but were still thrilled to get medals, pop and donuts as a reward. They proudly hold 4th place for their age group. Kaedo is now hanging up his cleats until the Fall.

The trampoline made it's debut yesterday. Sterling was desperate to have it set up so he and Craig spent the afternoon and most of the early evening getting it set up. Sterling was so happy. He and Kaedo stayed in there, jumping and giggling well after dark. Don't know actually how they found their way out of the netting! Unfortunately, today it is pouring rain, so no trampoline for now. Sterling wanted to make sure it was set up for when Emma came. She will be here on Thursday! Ya!

Earth Hour was last night - 8:30-9:30pm. We participated by shutting off all the lights and pulled out every candle we could find and some board games and spent an hour laughing and having a great time. We played Disney Wheel of Fortune. I kicked ass, as usual! Ha! Yes, I do need to get a life.

The evening ended with us piled onto our bed watching Two and a Half Men, laughing our heads off. I'm sure the show is too old for the kids, but Sterling absolutely loves it and thinks Jake is hilarious.

Sad to report that my gramma fell on Friday and has been in the hospital since then. She was taken by ambulance on Friday evening and as of 11am this morning, she is still in emerg. She has a room, but has not yet been moved to a ward. I have visited her through the weekend, and while she is in pain, they are managing it with Morphine. I am hoping they get her into a ward soon, although I must say they are treating her well and her care has been excellent. My first visit with her was a little hard as she didn't know who I was and once I reminded her, she thought I was my cousin. A little heartbreaking, but totally understanding. She looks so tiny (heck, she is tiny). She is hoping to be out before mom and dad arrive on Wednesday, but I don't see that happening.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you all had a good weekend.

445

This is my (our) 445 post. Bored yet?
So, my life as a juror has come to an end. Yesterday, do to another juror, a Mistrial was called by the Judge. Sucks. I was enjoying myself and it was very interesting to see how the Court process works. One of my co-jurors was sick throughout the three days we were together and as I was sitting next to her, she coughed all over me repeatedly. Needless to say, I got home yesterday afternoon feeling none too good. Went to bed at 7pm. This morning I got up, got the kids to school and went to the doctor. Bronchitis. At least we know where Kaedo gets it from. So now I am off work today and tomorrow - Doctor's orders. I had to get a note for my job and guess what...$20. God! $20! For a note. Now I have no voice, can't kiss and hug my kids and am $20 poorer. Such is life. How's your week been?

Strange Names

While I have never been able to buy personalized items for my kids without special ordering them, I am happy to report that I would never go this far in my quest for the original - Jessica, take note!

Celebrity Off-spring Names:

Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q - Bono/U2
Jermajesty - Jermaine Jackson
Audio Science - Shannyn Sossaman - Actress/Knight's Tale
Fifi Trixibelle and Peaches Honeyblossom - Bob Geldof/Singer
Seven Sirius - Erykah Badu/Singer

Yikes!

I do remember a certain pregnant woman batting around the names Hamish and Lola Faloola. Craig is still hoping for Lola Faloola. Any chance???

(Jury) Duty Calls

First day of Jury selection -
picture this, if you can...100s of people packed into a cramped room all talking at once, the dull roar of indignance. People chattering on their cell phones, angry that they have to perform their civic duty.
After watching a hilarious video (propaganda) everyone is told the rules of the game. Having sat in the back of the room, I thought I could just blend in. No such luck. Quickly enough, myself and 99 of my closest friends were ushered into the courtroom. The court clerk stood up and welcomed the crowd and the judge explained the process. The first 30 were called, many of them excused. I however, was not one of them.

They now call me Juror #5

After being affirmed - I was the only one affirmed rather than swear on the Bible - I took my spot in seat 5. All was going well. I sat, watched the rest of the process and waited for the Jury to be presented.

After that, everything went to hell.

As we were being ushered out of the Jury Box, I neglected to watch for the stairs and quickly took a tumble, landing directly in front of the witness box. A collective "gasp" went through the courtroom and I jumped up proclaiming, "I'm fine". I then quickly walked out of the room and sank into a chair in the Jury Room.
After a 20 minute break, my ankle throbbing, we returned to the courtroom.

Luckily for me, the first thing the Judge said was,
"I should have mentioned it before, but watch your step!"

Thanks for that.

this is what Sundays are all about

A great afternoon spent walking the 3km Waterfront Trail at Hydro Park today. We had a terrific time. We walked, talked, had races, took pictures, played on the exercise equipment and had a great time just being together. We have made a pact to continue doing this. We are going to search out some other areas we can go to and look forward to those adventures as well.
In other news, Kaedo got his 3rd goal yesterday and it was awesome!
Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We sure did.

ahh, cute!

Tuesday night I had an 87 year old gentleman call me at work, here's how it went:

ME: "Good evening, thank you for calling ..., this is Shannon, how can I help you?"
HIM: "I have a joke for you"
ME: "Great, let hear it"
HIM: "Why did the M&Ms go to school?"
ME: "I don't know, why?"
HIM: "They wanted to be Smarties"

The Spring Break Report

Day 2 -
Today started early with haircuts for my two favorite people. They went to the "salon" and had Candace cut their hair - last time before she goes on maternity leave. How dare she have a baby! (ha). Was going to post pictures but they look like mugshots so I decided not to. They have played outside, played with their iPods, listened to music and watched TV. It is only 12:42pm. Craig is working on the stairs. I have been working. Not too much else is going on. We don't really have too many plans for the week. We might catch a movie sometime this week and that's about it.
Craig is threatening that I need to clean and re-organize my office. He has some ideas but has not yet been able to verbalize them and I refuse to pack up all my stuff until I know exactly what is going to happen. The "Big Clean" as I am calling it, may or may not happen. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.
Mom and dad went to Cape Canaveral on Sunday and watched the shuttle launch. I mention it only because I am always so impressed with my mom and dad. They truly are the coolest people out there. They will try almost anything and they just love life. How many people can say they saw a real live shuttle launch? Too cool!
OK - boring, I know. Will try to come up with something witty. But not today.

At last!

At last... I think were Sterling's first words when we arrived at the ski hill yesterday. For the last few weeks since snowboarding lessons ended he has been bugging me non-stop to go snowboarding with him. Granted, it was my fault for promising him that I would go night skiing (snowboarding) with him after lessons were done. Two weeks ago we were all set to go then he went and slammed his thumb in the car door thereby ending any hope for that weekend. Weather has been iffy but yesterday was pretty much our last chance at it. Although it has been warming up here, it has still been below zero for much of the week. Yesterday was the warmest yet at about +5 and sunny. I was concerned the snow would suck and we wouldn't be able to go (well concerned from the perspective that I would have to listen to Sterling complain about how we should have gone weeks ago). We drove to the hill and although the snow was granular it was nice out and not busy at all. Being that it was my first time out in three years, I was a little nervous that I would hold Sterling up, but to his credit he was very supportive and patient with me while I got my snowboarding legs back. He did awesome, kicked my butt going down the hill. By the end I was keeping up but he has really gotten good and he has no fear so that helps.
As it started to get dark and colder the areas that were turning slushy turned to ice so that was our cue to leave. We spent just a little over three hours there and were exhausted when we left but we both had a great time. It was really nice spending one-on-one time with him and he couldn't tell me enough how much fun he was having.

While Sterling and I were on the slopes, Shannon and Kaedo spent the afternoon with a trip to Bulk Barn for candy and then a trip to the movies followed with some Boston Pizza pizza. By the sounds of things, they had a nice time as well.

So the kids and I are on holidays this week and if it stays as nice as it is today (+10) they will be out riding bikes and scooters the whole time.

It's time now for me to sit down and relax as I am a little sore today. Sterling says he feels fine (bugger), but I guess that's the price of getting older.

Friday the 13th

This is the beautiful face I saw first thing this morning. He is so damn gorgeous. I think the big smile had something to do with the fact that his long promised snowboarding trip with his dad is on for tomorrow night. He can't wait. It might also have something to do with today being Friday and the last day of school before a week off for Spring Break.

This beautiful guy is home sick from school - again. He was off a couple of days last month as well. I can't take any chances with him. He is prone to Bronchitis/Pneumonia and so sending him to school isn't an option. The one day of lots of activity or being outside just puts him over the edge. So, he slept in, had some breakfast and now is beating Darth Vader in a world class battle on his PSP.

Craig starts his holidays today as well. He has been working his butt off this week. He has worked from home four days this week trying to get a major project completed. I am hoping he gets it done today so he doesn't have to take out his computer next week. He'll get a chance to sleep in, hang out with the boys and as a special bonus, get his teeth cleaned! Gotta love the dentist!

random

Jury Duty was postponed, again.

The weather has been great here and the boys have been out on their bikes and scooters.

The neighbor's kids have had a fun time with the boys turning over the furniture in the basement and making forts.

Craig is working from home 3 days this week. Nice to have him here.

Tomorrow is payday. Love that!

I have absolutely no food in the house for the kid's lunches tomorrow so I will be grocery shopping before school tomorrow morning. Nice that Craig will be home tomorrow, too.

Jessica and the baby are doing great.

Just got some pictures of my cutie nephews and they are adorable!

Emma is confirming and re-confirming with her mom that Anti is in fact getting her a scooter for her birthday. (She is, I mean, I am)

Mom and dad are going to see the Space Shuttle Launch at the Kennedy Space Centre today - how cool is that???

Craig and the boys start their spring holidays on Friday. Hurray!

Ok - that's it. Back to work.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to the greatest dad in the world!

We all love you so much and can't wait to celebrate with you next month.

Have a wonderful day!

wednesday already?

Man - the week goes fast. Wednesday today and I'm just getting ready to head to "the office". Or should I say "the cubicle?" Looking forward to it as always. I've probably jinxed myself now, but so far so good.
I know you have read here many times how happy I am about the school my kids go to. And I am. Really. I do have one complaint. The damn fundraising. I'll tell you - it feels like every time I turn around, the kids are fundraising for something else. Here's the latest - the school is having a "dance-a-thon" - whatever the hell that is. The kids don't even know.
I get these envelopes last week telling me that the school is having this event (tomorrow) and that the kids should be fundraising. They actually request $25. Are you kidding me? It goes on to say not to go door to door, but the envelope goes so far as to have a script the children should read when hitting up family and friends. Don't get me wrong - the kids benefit from these types of activities, but I think what bothers me about this one is that they don't even tell you what they are fundraising for. In the past they have said for literacy, Smartboards in the classroom, etc, but this time just a very vague description. I like to know where my money is going. Wouldn't you?
So, I sponsored them each $10. That's all I can do. We no longer ask our family and friends - it's too much for everyone. I do look forward to the days when my nephews and niece(s) call me asking for pledges but my kids are done asking. They have been sponsored more than enough. I don't know how many times their Anti said to them "get your other pledges and call me back and let me know how much more you need". So I vow to sponsor when my time comes - and I know it will. Jacob, Caleb, Emma and baby - if you're reading this - (which I know you are - it's riveting entertainment) - you remember to call me - Anti's got your back.

a new reason to go to Baby Gap...

Just thrilled to be able to announce that I AM GOING TO BE AN ANTI AGAIN!!!!
To a baby girl no less.
Jessica and Ken are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their baby daughter who will come kicking and screaming into this world sometime in July.
Emma has already made room for the new babe in her room and is thrilled to be getting a baby sister.
Congratualtions Jessica, Ken and Emma. We are so very happy for you!

Soccer Saturday

For the first post in March I thought I would show some video of Kaedo playing soccer. I let him pick the music and after the skiing video he wanted me to end this one with a shot of David Beckham. Here are some highlights from his game yesterday. He played great as always and considering he usually plays defense there are a couple of good rushes. Enjoy!

Next thing you know Sterling will want me to do a bowling montage. Yikes, might be tough to make that look cool :)

Craig