A concert and a disaster

This is what can happen in the space of 10 minutes, when Mom has unwisely fallen asleep on the couch.

The plethora of straws is apparently so that lots of people can share the same cup.

Maddie's been on a recent laundry kick, so she helped me unload the baskets of clean clothes.

She even said, "Mom, you were sleeping so I was trying to be quiet." How thoughtful.

We got to go to a GREAT concert last night. Sarah Harmer has been a favourite of ours since we were first married. In our little first floor apartment, we discovered her song, "Basement Apartment." (Click on the link for the song)

Here we are, partially frozen after waiting outside to get in.

She is SO talented!

Here are couple of other songs that we love:

Lodestar (Ryan's favourite)

Captive (A new favourite)

Pendulums (One of my favourites)

Weakened State (A...favourite!)

Her new album came out last summer and there are some great songs on it. It's refreshing to see someone live who is incredibly talented and fun to watch!

We've been chugging along at life, working hard, trying to find time to play. Luckily Ryan's back is doing much better. He got a lecture from his chiropractor about how we all lead lives that are too sedentary and that our bodies are built to stand all day, in keeping with a hunter/gatherer tradition. In response, he has been trying to avoid sitting to help his disc repair itself. So now I can ask him how his hunting(slash)gathering is going.

We had an appointment for Claire this week with the neurologist who found that she was missing a gene (FOXG1). Along with news of more tests to rule out potential problems (EKG for heart monitoring, back x-rays for scoliosis, genetic counseling for possible future problems, a sleep study to monitor seizure activity during the night, etc.) we got the news that the discovery of Claire's missing gene has actually helped many other people come to the same diagnosis. Hopefully with the awareness generated by multiple occurrences, this can become a more researched gene. I'm not sure if we'll see any results of that, in regards to helping Claire somehow, but it's nice to know that people who come after us might have more options for treatment.

I'll be interested to see what happens with all the snow as we're supposed to have a week of "plus" weather. I'm not sure if it will be good or bad!

Newsflash

Recent events have warranted another blog post. :)

Thursday was a busy day. We said hello to Noah Steven (Congratulations Greg & Stephanie!):

And goodbye to Auntie Mel who will be serving a mission in Scotland/Ireland for the next 18 months.

Otiosity

Otiose: words serving no useful purpose; an unavailing attempt to convey meaning; superfluous.

I shall try to make my blog posts less of...that. So let's get down to business.

With many things happening simultaneously, we've been a bit anxious and emotionally worn lately.

Our hearts are with Steph and Brandon as they miss his father.

Our hearts are with Stephanie and Greg who will welcome their little baby on Thursday.

Our hearts will be with Melanie as she travels to England for her mission preparations.

Our hearts are with Natalie as she prepares for surgery and the after effects.

Ryan's overcoming a bout with Internal Disc Disruption that's had him out of commission for quite a few days. Luckily he was able to go back to work today and feels as though he is on the mend. However, I was a bit disappointed with the coincidence of this coupled with the massive amounts of snow we received! Since Ryan always shovels, it was finally my turn to step up and carve a path for us to get out of the house.

Before:

After:

Before:

I was running out of places to put the snow!

Because of the weather, we were stuck at home for a few days and had to miss Mel's farewell talk, Greg's birthday celebration and Rob's jazz concert. Talk about crummy timing for a blizzard.

Dancing, tea parties, movies, music, games and the like have been easing our cabin fever.

Miss Claire loves playing the piano for us.

Miss Madeline's dancing interests have increased due to the new Kinect Dance Central (so much fun!). She's got a whole new repertoire of moves now.

Fun fact: I was reintroduced to the world of sushi by Kathy on our girl's night out. I had it once, about 9 years ago in Las Vegas, didn't like it and have avoided it ever since. Now I feel sophisticated. :)