O-ski's Preschool Open house

Self Portrait#1


His favorite little friends


With his teachers Ms. Kathleen and Miss Lara

Introducing Mel from #214

The following conversation happened this afternoon while the kids were swimming in the pool.

Mel: Oh, Em! I didn't recognize you.

E: I know, i dyed my hair dark.

Mel: Well, why'd you do that?

E: Just for a change, I guess.

Mel: Well you're beautiful either way.

E: Ah, thanks. You're sweet.

Mel: No, I'm not sweet. I'm trying to seduce you.

The Best Game Ever!

Saturday in the Fall means one thing in our house, soccer. Today was no different. We got up early, took doug to the airport and then came home to get ready for the game. Sophie had a chance to go to a children's concert at the disney concert hall today with her friend willa but the time conflicted with gametime so she passed on the invite. Before we left for the field sophie was nervous, she felt like she needed to go to the bathroom and eat and sleep all at once. Once she told me this i got really nervous for her. I remember quite vividly that pukey diarrhea feeling I'd get before cross country meets in high school. I think everybody gets jitters before something big, and this game was definitly considered big in her mind. Earlier this week, her coach told them they were playing the best team in our division. The undefeated Orange Crush was in the number one spot and i think we were ranked number five. We were just hoping for something competitive, at least one goal would be great.

Our friends Beth and Baby Tyler came out to the field despite the blazing hot sun.

We all sat on the sidelines and cheered for Sophie and the Star Kickers. (Owen absolutely LOVED this because baby T laughs and everything and thinks Owen is just so funny.)



Anyway, Sophie felt pretty special and they must have been our lucky charms because not only did we get one goal but we crushed the Orange Crush 2-1.



Our defense was incredible, which is good because their offense was really aggressive. Sophie, who plays forward, had her best game ever. Truly. She was competetive and smart about her plays. She scored both goals and each time she broke away from the pack, out ran all the defenders and kicked the ball right into the corner of the net. It was beautiful. I'm sure I sound monumentally biased, but you can ask Beth. It was an unbelieveable game.



>

On the way to school, Sophie commented. "Mom can you drop me off kind of far away from school?"

"What do you mean?

"We're driving in the most embarrassing car and listening to the most embarrasssing song, so I'd rather not have anybody see me."

"Are you serious?" (What are you in highschool? oh right, the 4th grade) "Come on, the Pink Nissan isn't that bad, plus it runs and it's paid off, which is a pretty big deal to parents." She humphs in the back seat as I check the radio to confirm my suspicions about the song that was playing. Ah, "I'll be there for you" by BonJovi.

Now, Bonjovi was my very first concert so i have a slight nostalgic based affinity for them. (I went with Kristin Gunnell when i was a just a year older than sophie. Wow, what was G'ma thinking?) But my fondness clearly only applies to the old stuff. "Have a nice day" of 2004ish could easily go down in history as the worst single ever released. I wash my hands of it. But those old school power ballads.....

Anyway, back to the most embarrassing car on earth. The one Sophie will groan about and apologize for everytime i roll up in pinky to pick up carpool. We chat a little about how a nicer car doesn't make you a nicer person and that it doesn't matter what people think and how we just don't need to worry about what others think. She's totally not buying it and then as if an exclamation point to undercut my argument, Jon Bon Jovi squealed out a screeching high note
" aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

She slumped down and hid under her back pack. I pull over about a block away and walk her to the sidewalk. She hurries away and jokingly says, ' thanks, strange person that i don't know."

Ready or not, Here she goes.

the trip

My glorious hosts standing in a scary alley on a snowy calgary night. Not long after this picture Jessica took off running because she saw a homeless man squating in a doorway and CJ blurted out "There's a Monkey in the Alley"



On the Calgary Tower with Eball.

















The Two E's looking way down.












The two of us hanging at Earls. one of our favs.

the marathon

It's 9:30pm in Calgary, ALB. Jessica, Cj and I have been watching the BBC version of The Office since 3pm. Give us another couple of hours we'll be done with the entire series. 2 seasons and the 2 hr Christmas special. I'm feeling good about it. What else are you gonna do with a sunday, right? Plus, it's freezing and will probably snow tonight. I'll post pictures. For now, these are some pics of a sandwich experience i've been craving since October 2004. When i was here 2 years ago, Jess introduced me to a sandwich people wait 45 min to and hour to eat. It's called Thi-Thi (Tee-tee) sub. Unparalleled Vietnamese fare. Chicken satay, cheese, cukes, carrots, some spicy sauce all toasted on a big ole fat sub roll. Truly Grand.

the ongoing saga of F.Sam vs. B.Rob (meaning ME)

Not to move on from the very dramatic hair change so quickly, but I thought you all should know my deposition has been postponed. I was getting pretty nervous so i'm relieved. Now, if F.Sam could just fall off a cliff somewhere i could postpone this sucker indefinitely.

whoa

I really should not post this until i've had a chance to wax my groucho marx eyebrows down to a normal size, but here it goes.

babies having babies

This photo is on a shelf at my mom's house. It was a christmas card pic that we sent out in 1998. We were living in AF with Doug's brother and sister while were all going to school. One night they came home from their dates just before midnight to find the whole living room set up as a studio. Lights and camera up on stands focusing on some green velvet couch and a giant black duva backdrop. And then there we are. All three of us dressed in church clothes and the baby has a big ole camera-ready smile on her face. We are taking our family portrait. Apparently, she didn't have a real strict bedtime back then. Everybody still teases us about that one.

Anyway, I stared at this photo for the longest time at my mom's. I just can't believe how young we look. It feels like a different lifetime and I feel like a totally different person than the woman in that picture. Woman, ha ha, that sounds so funny, I look like a kid. But i was 23 and D was 25 and Sophie was a year and a half. Another time, another world.

and the guys...

There is a pretty good surrounding this bird, but i'm too tired to tell it tonight. For tomorrow.







we had so much fun with the cousins! will have to do again very soon.

deposition

Today was the preparation meeting for the deposition that will take place next Wednesday. My supervisor came to my apartment and while we were waiting for the atty we got all of our information together. She had complaint letters dating back to 2003 and i have complaints starting september 2004 going about every month or two up until a few months ago when they decided to file the law suit. Apparently, the statute of limitations on slip-and-falls, which is what she's claiming, is one year. The "incident" happened in March of 05 and my supervisor told me they filed the paperwork in March of 06 to get in under the deadline but didn't send any information to our offices until 5 months later in August 06. I guess it took them that long to invent their lie. Anyway, back to the letters, the interesting thing is every letter had the exact same complaint. Very little deviation at all. Yelling, cursing, slamming doors, slamming people at all hours of the night. Midnight, 2 am people being jolted from their sleep and apartments shaking from all the rage and commotion coming from that one apartment. All this for the past 3 years. My soop thinks we have a pretty strong defense but I guess judges tend to side with the tenant. I pray every night whoever gets the case can see through all the crap. Oh, and then we got a phone call 30 minutes later from the atty saying he forgot to put our meeting on his calendar and we had to reschedule for friday at 9.

V-town pics--all the girlies