October 8, 2007 Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m absolutely stuffed from dinner. It’s been a busy weekend. Saturday was John’s 5th birthday party at Timberlanes Bowling Alley. He had an absolute blast with his 11 friends! One was Kebbi who was a great sport about going to a little kid’s party. Kebbi is in grade 5 and John idolizes him. John’s a pretty decent little bowler and even managed to get a strike. He got way too many presents and seemed the most pleased with a solar system model he got from Mason Trudell. He’s been carting the planets around all weekend now. John had a “Cars” theme birthday party and the cake we got from Safeway’s was very cute too. The kids were a wee bit rangy at the party and I had to use my teacher voice a couple of times to settle them down. Yesterday we went to Wade and Cindy’s for a delicious dinner. They made shrimp, greek salad, chicken and baked potatoes. Yes, food has been the theme! John had lots of fun going for a walk and golfing with his uncle. Today I cooked Thanksgiving turkey for our family and the Hart’s. Still have tons of turkey left over, but I think it was one of the best turkey dinners I have ever cooked. John was pretty hyper all day long. It’s been raining a lot so we haven’t even been able to get outside to do anything. He’s enjoying school, although he told his uncle Wade he gets a lot of time out’s. On Friday he made apple sauce with his class. This week they are learning about leaves. Anything with science in it, is right up John’s alley. He also loves geography. He wants a map puzzle of the United States for Christmas. He wants to learn all the state names. He already knows the provinces and most of the key countries of the world. His favourite country in Africa is Togo because it is pink ! :P September 18, 2007 John has pink eye. I thought it was an allergy thing because he was stuffed up and snuffly, but I had to take him to the doctor because Best Start and school have a pink-eye quarantine policy. So Dr. Kargbo said that he has to stay home for two days. Mom is going to have John tomorrow and Dad on Thursday. He’s not feeling very sick or anything, just the eye issue. He hates having the drops put in them! That causes a lot of frustration for me and a lot of screaming from him. John had his heart check-up last Friday. Dr. Divekar said that he is fine and doesn’t have to be seen for two more years again. His pulmonary valve still leaks, but it will always do so. The traffic was bad in Winnipeg due to construction and we had to take a diversion. That led us to go to the Western Canada Aviation Museum. It wasn’t my idea of a cool place, but John and Derek liked it. You could also hang out and watch the planes take off from the Winnipeg airport. My back was not cooperating and we tried to shop at St. Vital. I had to sit down way too much because my pinched nerve kept tightening up. Dr. McLeod (chiropractor) saw me Monday and did an adjustment. He gave me a bunch of stabilizing exercises to do, which I hope really do help! We saw Marla at Moxie’s for dinner and then it was back to the hotel. John liked the kids suites at the Holiday Inn and especially the bunk bed. He didn’t want to sleep up top though. The car ride on the way back was gross. There was a lot of construction and we had to wait in a line for about an hour. John was very restless and definitely need practice calming down on car trips before we take him any place very far. John’s doing well at school. He’s sad about missing picture day tomorrow, but maybe they can call mom’s and let her know when the class picture is being done so he can step in for it. Sept. 9, 2007 Well, Labour Day weekend absolutely sucked. On Friday, I picked up John at Best Start and he was adamant that he was going to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. So I took them off and was helping him on Irene’s driveway. He fell once and cried. The second time, he was heading for the ditch and I tried to catch him when he fell. I felt my back pop! I made it into the house and then all hell broke lose. I couldn’t stand the pain. I phoned mom and sat on the couch as I felt my leg going numb. By the time mom arrived, I couldn’t walk. I had to phone the ambulance. John was so upset when it came to get mommy. He thought I was dead. I had to limp out of the house supported by a cop and 2 paramedics. I got to the hospital and there was no room for me so they stuck me in the cast room with no call bell or anything. Of course they don’t give you a shot of anything until the doctor has assessed you. I was really really bitchy and uncomfortable. I kept moaning and saying nobody cares. Derek arrived from work. I had a shot and x-rays (showed nothing) and then was told to go home, probably a pinched nerve due to the numbness symptom. I spent the weekend on painkillers and sleeping. I made it to work this week, but my back is still quite bothersome. I’m working up courage and going to the chiropractor tomorrow. John’s transition to SK was good. He seems very open to learning the French. Dad took him to SK on his first day and when I popped my head in he was printing his name on the nametag and putting it on the board. Mme Konkle sure has her hands full. There are 24 in John’s class. He got new teachers in Best Start too, which is too bad because he really really liked Glenda. He says he’s learned how to say Bonjour mes amis and Au revoir mes amis which he already knew hehe. This Friday we are off to Wpg for his cardiologist app’t. This time we got a kid’s room so John will have his own bed. August 30, 2007 We had a nice little vacation in Winnipeg, minus John’s obsession with knowing what time it is. Derek finally put a paper over the digital clock in the car because he got so tired of hearing about what time it is. We stopped at Tinkertown on the way in to Winnipeg. John didn’t like waiting in lines and to be perfectly honest, his favourite part was the slide area. He did go on the roller coaster and spinning cups with Derek. We also went to the zoo. John loved seeing all the different animals. I think his favourite part was the prairie dogs. He liked to watch them dig etc. We also went to the Manitoba Museum, Science Centre and Planetarium. John enjoyed all the hands-on experiments at the Science part. He was pretty bored at the museum. We have to go back to Winnipeg on Sept. 14 for John’s heart check-up. We’re going to take Marla out to supper as she is starting at the University of Manitoba. John is enjoying his back to Best Start. He went for the first time yesterday. Today they had a big long walk to McDonald’s for lunch and then to the waterfront as the cleaners are waxing the classroom. He really enjoys school and the constant activities. John also loved the Fall Fair. We went with Grandma. He was a ride junky and honestly made good use of the all-you-can-ride wristband. He even went down the really tall slide although I think he scared himself. I was scared even going up the stairs with him. He really didn’t want to go home. I wiped out on the way back to Mom’s van when I tripped over a rock. Did a number on my knee. Clumsy! August 11, 2007 This week John got to meet his Grandma Memory and Grandpa Ed. They came up to spend a couple of days with us. John was a wee bit shy initially, but then started talking to Grandpa about playdoh. He was absolutely thrilled that they brought him a scooter from Alberta. Memory and I went out and got him elbow and knee pads to try to prevent major injury. He’s very good at the scooter already. John was very fond of his Grandpa. He had him playing nearly every toy he could think of. Poor Ed must have been totally exhausted. Yesterday, we spent time at Natalie’s pool. The water was a bit on the coolish side, however, we were all refreshed. I cooked a nice BBQ dinner that everyone enjoyed. Today, Memory and I went shopping with John for some back-to-school items. She bought John a spiderman backpack and a cars lunchbox. He also got some new Hotwheels racecars. In the afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa had a nap, and John and I went swimming at Best Western. We also paid a visit to my mom’s house. We all had dinner at Dairy Queen and John slopped his sundae on his shirt and shorts big time. John was very sad to see his grandparents go. It’s very nice that he bonded with them so quickly. August 1, 2007 Happy Anniversary to Us! It's been 9 whole years since our wedding...hard to believe. Summer is half over now! It's just speeding at lightning speed lately. We've been doing a lot of swimming at Best Western because it is so hot outside, it's not all that pleasant to visit the beach. John is swimming like a fish now. He can go under water and dive for water darts. He's much more confident swimming without a life jacket. The only problem is that he doesn't want me to do my swimming now, because then he has to put on his life jacket. Last Friday we went to Rushing River Park for a picnic. John liked catching minnows, crayfish and frogs the most. He even got to hold the little frog in his hand. He thinks he is just able to tame every animal..that they are somehow controlled by him! He did drive us quite crazy in the car, however. He wanted to know every minute when we were going to get there! One funny thing was that Derek told him he had "verbal diarrhea." John said, "Purple diarrhea, yuck!" I got quite a chuckle out of it. He's into laughing this fakey laugh lately. It's enough to drive you mad. We're going to go to Winnipeg at the end of the month for our little get-away. We're going to use our airmile points to stay at the same hotel we stayed in when John had his teeth done. It's a nice family hotel with lots of activities. Grandma Memory and Grandpa Ed are coming next week. John is anticipating receiving a scooter! He also wants a 20 buck bill and a 50 buck bill for his buck bill collection. Of course, he wants a 100 buck bill too (not gonna get it). Top © 2007 Derek Kennedy