Crazy few days and a miracle cure!

It's been a crazy few days. After a stretch of 10 days of work (there was one day off in the middle somewhere) I finally had a few days off in a row...lovely. Of course, that meant lots of errands and a haircut, UFC on Saturday night at Boston Pizza...Willie Stout's is no longer showing the fights...:-( Crazy, Stupid, love on Sunday evening. Ryan Gosling...YUM does not adequately do him justice. The movie was very good. I raced home after. Even though I had to get up very early to meet Mad, Cat, and Mark's mom to take her to her eye surgery at St Michael's Hospital downtown by 6:15am, I couldn't not watch True blood. So I washed up, curled up in bed, watched the show and went to sleep around midnight. At 4:45 I woke up, got ready and met her at 5:35am. We got a great parking space on Bond st. (The street had exactly 1 parking space available at that time.) Her surgery went very well and by noon we were on our way back home. I stayed at their place until about 4pm. Then I went home to shower, wrap my two gifts and go back downtown to meet up with "the gang" for a joint birthday dinner at Terroni's on Adelaide. (Coincidentally it's 2 blocks from St. Michael's hospital)
Dinner was fantastic, delicious. Steve was back in town for a few days. Just enough time to celebrate his birthday and Greg's birthday is in a few days, but we decided to celebrate them together. After dinner, as we were outside chatting and saying our goodbyes, I could feel myself getting bitten by a mosquito...on the face! Left cheek just under my eye. In fact I was bitten there twice! By the time I got home, I washed up and could feel the heat on my face and the whole area was puffy...UGHHHHH! I applied a little Benadryl ointment and went to bed. I could feel it swelling and went to the kitchen for something cold to lessen the swelling. All I could find were some frozen cheese/potato perogies. I popped two in a double sandwich bag with a paper towel and wedged it between my pillow and my face. I woke up at 6:03am. Yikes, I was supposed to be at my aunt's at 6:15 to go to her post op appointment across the street from St Michael's. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, put on the first thing at hand and raced out. We had to go the scenic route because of the traffic at 6:30 in the morning (brutal) but we made it there by 7:03am. A couple of minutes before the doctor arrived. Everything went very well. The surgery was very smooth and she was doing very well. We got back home and I waited until Meredith arrived. Then I went to home to take an hour nap before I had to go to work on Tuesday.
After 9 hours of sleep last night I still feel tired. I have one more day before I can really sleep in on Friday. Can't wait.
As for the two mosquito bites on my cheek, when I woke up the next day I saw nothing and felt nothing. No swelling, no firmness, no desire to itch. Wow. Today I feel a little bump on one, the kind you feel days after when it's almost gone. I'll have to remember that for next time. Benadryl ointment and frozen cheese/potato perogies. It worked like a miracle!

Happy Birthday Nick!

After Stephanie and Jessica's birthday party, I headed downtown to Big Daddy's Crabshack for Nick's birthday dinner. The first question he asked on my arrival, was if I made him any of his favourite cookies. I told him yes. He absolutely loves my chocolate chunk cookies. Apparently he savours each one by slowly eating them, one a day with his coffee until he runs out. He told me they are like gold. Dinner was lovely. Good food, good friends, good conversation. You can't ask for more...maybe one more cookie. Happy birthday Nick.

Stephanie and Jessica's birthday bash.

Sunday was a beautiful day for a birthday party. 40ish family members convened at my aunt's place to celebrate Stephanie's 5th and Jessica's 14th birthdays. The food was good. I made the Winnie the Pooh birthday cake as well as the WS Vanilla bundt cake my family loves so much. Everyone had such a good time. After the party, Stephanie told her mom that she wished everyday could be like her birthday. I can't blame her :).

Winnie for Stephanie.

After watching the new Winnie the Pooh movie with Stephanie, she asked me to make the Winnie cake for her birthday. She wanted the balloon to be purple and the cake had to be chocolate. At least I got to use my Pooh pan again. I think it turned out even better than Elijah's cake for his 1st birthday.

Driving in a cocoon.

We stayed an extra day in Maryland to give the kids a little extra time to be together. Since we were planning a birthday party for Stephanie and Jessica for Sunday, that meant we had to drive back on Saturday. I woke up 4:10am to shower and finish loading up the car. By 5:10 we were on the road. We actually made fantastic time getting back into the city by 2pm. To say the car was full would be an understatement. Everything you see here, including 6 people and 2 reusable bags full of stuff I left by the car, a violin case and kids knapsacks, is everything we packed into the minivan. I started the drive in the middle seat (for the first nap). I felt like I was in a little cocoon. Miraculously, the kids were great on the drive. Considering they couldn't have been very comfortable, they were real troopers. (We even had a stop at Costco on the way. We had to carry things on our laps the final few kilometres home)

Memories from Maryland

There are so many fond memories I'm going to have from this trip to Maryland. Going to the pool with the kids and totally passing out after lunch, only to wake up just in time for dinner. Having a "special" day with Stephanie, where we went to California tortilla, then watched the new Winnie the Pooh movie. "Helping" Steph win her first game of Monopoly...she totally killed her brother Michael and Hosie. She was the "doubles" queen. Cheering for Gracie and Hosie during their swim meet. Laughing and just spending time together. The kids are growing up so fast. They are such good kids. Funny, smart, beautiful. I'm proud to be their aunt.

Trip to Washington.

One of the special things we did on our visit was a trip to the Department of the Treasury in Washington DC to check out how money was made. For obvious reasons, photography on the tour was prohibited...They were in the process of making $64000000 in $100 bills. Kind of awesome. It was another gorgeous hot day. Some incredible sights of the city. The kids were pretty cute too.

Hoseok in concert

Catherine and I took Gracie, Michael and Hoseok to an introductory guitar lesson. Basically, it was a 15 minute private lesson to get a sense if the guitar might be something they would be interested in pursuing. While in the car, after the lesson, Cat asks each kid how it was. The first thing the instructor asked each kid was "what kind of music is your favourite?" Gracie-"Pop music" Michael-"Classical" Hoseok-"Baroque...and 20th century impressionistic". Cat an I burst out laughing. Hoseok-"What's so funny?" Cat-"Nothing...that's great...what did you think about the guitar?"
While Hosie was waiting for his turn, he played this for me totally from memory...he played a few other songs too. It was like having my own personal concert. He is just amazing. Michael and Gracie too. They played music while they waited. They are all just like Stepford children...just too talented and amazing.

Swim meet

Early on Saturday morning, Hosie and Gracie had a swim meet. They have really improved over the summer. Hosie and Gracie competed in 3 events each. Gracie even won 3 "first place in the heat" ribbons. It was a gorgeous morning, not a cloud in the sky. You could feel the exciting energy. Congratulations to both Hoseok and Grace for new personal best times!

Congratulations Hosie!

I arrived in Baltimore, just in time to join Cat and Hoseok for his Maryland PTA awards dinner. Hoseok submitted a piano composition for this year's national Reflections contest. He won first place for the state of Maryland. Wow! It was amazing to see all the winners. These amazing children and their wonderful work. Congratulations Hosie!