Yet another gratuitous video of my kids.

Unfortunately the mic picks me up more than them. Rest assured though, they are singing it all even when you can't hear them.

Don't worry, this has not become a totally video blog.

Today we went ice skating.

Both girls started out a little shaky, but by the end their balance had greatly improved. I really need to get them on the ice every week to build their confidence and skills.

This was Riley skating.

This was Sam skating.


Afterwards we all went to Starbucks and the girls had warm chocolate. Yep, that's how they ordered it themselves. They claimed they could not drink hot chocolate, it would hurt them. So smart those two.

Long lost Christmas post

Hey All,

I may finally be getting caught up on my blog and Flickr. What a way to start the new year, being behind. The day was great! That should be sufficient, but just in case it's not, here's a little more. ;)

We started the day out by going to mass with the girls. In general they were ok, but there was a bit of rambunctiousness on their part. We had reinforcements however, since my parents were there too. Gave us 5 adults to wrangle the girls. Anytime we can get more than a 2 to 1 ratio, life is good.

We came back home, Bill made a delicious breakfast(I was still in el slingo from da shoulda surgery), and then we settled down to the business of opening presents. I think Santa was good to everyone, but especially to me. I got a knife from Bill to add to my collection as well as some scrapbooking stuff (I really need to get those albums going)and a much needed new watch siince Disney claimed my old one. I also scored a very special hockey jersey and a new, sleek digital camera from the Aunties (the recent pics have been from this camera).

The girls got a play kitchen and puppet theater along with the appropriate accessories. Riley spends a good portion of every day playing in the kitchen while Sam prefers the puppet theater. It's so fun to see how different they really are each and every day.

After that we spent the rest of the day lounging, and instead of the big dinner we had planned we decided to get pizza instead. It was just perfect and gave Bill a bit of a break too.

Sharks vs. Blue Jackets game

Yep, we went to the game thanks to some friends who helped us out with tickets. It was a very nice night not only because the Sharks won (sorry Liz), but because Bill and I actually got to go out like grown ups, on a date, sans kids. It was kind of like the old days. Of course we had to take a goofy photo to document the event.

Apparently the Sharks universe couldn't see fit to reward us on our outing, but taunted us instead. Everytime the Sharks scored a power play goal someone in the stands won free gas from Union 76. I don't know how much, but it didn't matter. what did matter is that for the first goal the winner had my seat number as the row number and the row number as the seat number. The next goal was totally off, but the third one had the same row and seat number, just a different section, and the one after that had some other combination of my seat location (don't remember what.) Ah well, maybe next time.

So not me...

Thanks to Bubbles I just had to check it out.

Your Personality Is Like Alcohol

You're the life of the party, a total flirt, and probably a pretty big jokester. Sometimes your behavior gets you in trouble, but you still remain socially acceptable. You're a pretty bad driver, and you're dancing could also use a little work!

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

I hope they always want to help...

Today both girls put on their backpacks and said goodbye. When we asked them where they were going, they said, "take care of sick babies, mommy sick." Translated this means that because I can't go to work right now that they we're going to take care of the sick babies in the NICU.

So sweet.

The nearly last shoulder update

How's that for a title? I know I have some of you rolling your eyes over that one. In any case, I am very close to the end of the story for my shoulder.

On Friday, Dec. 22nd I went in for shoulder surgery. The plan was to repair the rotator cuff, debride the area (clean it up and suction out the excess fluid build up), and file down the bone spur responsible for the impingement.

I have to give kudos to the hospital. I was thinking that having to show up 2 hours before your surgery was a little excessive, but they really didn't have any extra time to spare. I got there, they admitted me, started an IV, did my nerve block (gift from heaven, more on that later), took me into surgery, did their thing, on to recovery, and home. Bing, bam, boom, done.

I also have to give kudos to my surgeon, Dr. Tim McAdams. He's been great through this whole process. He really knows his stuff. He worked really hard with me through various methods of testing, PT, etc. to avoid surgery, and when the time came that it was obvious surgery was needed, he still didn't push. He really left things in my hands which was rather empowering and reassuring. Definitely not the normal surgeon, but a better surgeon.

It's been nearly two weeks since my surgery now, and things are mostly going well. I'm still confined to a sling (when I'm following orders) and have been mostly pain free (except when I do silly things like take my sling off and clean house.) I start post-surgery PT tomorrow. Will keep you posted.