Nov. 17, 2009 I haven’t written for a long time again. Halloween has come and gone. This year, John dressed up as a white ninja. He had fun at the school Halloween Family Dance and a blast at trick-or-treating. It was a bit cool out, but not too much snow this year. In fact, we don’t have any on the ground as of yet. We covered muchos ground this year in the trick or treating department. I was the bag holder and John and his buddies just ran from house to house. They have figured it out and are now out for VOLUME! He didn’t want to go to the church Halloween party this year, which was fine with me. John’s going to classes at the church to make his first reconciliation and first communion this year. He’s starting to stress out about his first reconciliation which is Nov. 28. He says he’s getting a sore tummy about it. I told him we’ll just write things down and that will make it easier to know what to say. It was embarrassing, but hilarious at the last class. They were talking about the story the Prodigal’s Son and Father Al asked what the Prodigal’s son did. John raised his hand and proceeded to tell Father Al that he squandered his money on a bunch of “crap”. Well, the true story is worse – hookers and booze, so I guess it could have been worse. Father just let it go and kept on going. John was very upset when he realized what he’d done and said he was worried he was going to the devils (hell). I assured him that it was a mistake and God would forgive him! Tonight we put up new LED lights on the hedge outside for Christmas. They are multicoloured this year and look really nice actually. Those things are so expensive. We enjoyed a free bowling day on Sunday and John still enjoys his league bowling for the most part. School seems to have calmed down somewhat and he seems to be having more good days. Hopefully, he’s settling into the routines. Santa Claus parade is coming up soon and our school is dancing to “I’ve got a feeling”. I don’t know if John will want to go and dance behind the float or not. Could be interesting. My kindergarten kids are sure having fun with the dancing thing. We’re planning on going to an Ice Dog’s game this weekend. John’s never been to a live hockey game before and he’s really excited. It’s our local SIJHL team, but to him it will be like the NHL. He still likes watching NHL hockey games and we looked hard for Uncles Wade and Brad who were at the Toronto and Calgary game over the weekend. Derek got some new lighting equipment and a backdrop, so we have some new family portraits. My hair looks redder than it really is, I think. Derek says to write what an incredibly awesome guy he is. October 9, 2009 It’s early morning and still dark out. It’s windy and rainy and I feel like crawling back into bed except I have to work! Autumn is zooming by. John had a great 7th birthday party at Lazar Tag. This was a very expensive party though and I don’t think we’ll be doing that again! You don’t get much for your money these days. John had an oreo cookie cake this year that I made. At least that was reasonably priced. School has been off to a bit of a rough start. John’s class is very uncontrollable these days and John is right in the middle of it. He’s silly at times and calls out answers. We’re working to rectify this problem. His class got a smart board in their room, so maybe the kids might be motivated to listen if they get to use the smart board. Tonight I get to go to a First Communion Meeting. John will have First Communion and First Reconciliation this year. We’ll see how that goes! Hmmmm...what’s John into these days. Tech Decks. He brought 7 new ones to school without my permission (grandma was babysitting while I went to Fort Frances) and he convinced her that it would be ok to let him take them. John in his innocence left them on the bench outside his classroom. Of course, they were stolen! He also likes bakugans and other things he can collect. He’s bowling much better this year. Josh and Brooke are on his team and he’s had over 100 a couple of times. He’s moved on to one handed bowling instead of my granny style. August 18, 2009 Well, summer is rapidly coming to an end. It hasn’t been much of a summer at all, weather-wise. We had about two days of hot. On the first hot day, John and I went to Ghost Lake. All of the daycare children were there, so he had lots of friends to play with. He was quite obsessed with the toads and frogs that the kids were catching in the bush. He spent most of the day trying to catch one and when the daycare kids left, they gave him one of theirs. He wanted desperately to take it home, but being the meanest mother in the world, I said no. The toad would be miserable at home. John just wants to have more and more pets. On the second hot day, we went to Natalie and Evan’s to swim in the pool. The kids didn’t do that much swimming, but had fun nonetheless. We also went to Winnipeg for John’s cardiologist visit. On the way in, the weather was bleak, but the sun came out just in time for us to enjoy the waterslides at Fun Mountain. It was great, minus the waiting in line part. John loved the slides, but had to go do with mom or dad. I just couldn’t convince him to go down by himself. The cardiologist visit was fine, but John was very shy with everyone and cried. I know the tests didn’t hurt, he just doesn’t want to be the focus. It’s ironic that his shyness and behaviour do make him the focus. He hasn’t figured this out yet. The cardiologist said that the pulmonary valve leak remained the same and that there was basically no way to predict if he’d need more surgery in the future. We’ll keep on monitoring him with occasional cardiologist visits. John enjoyed the ball pit and pool at Holiday Inn Airport West. We saw two digital 3D movies: “Ice Age 3” and “G-Force”. I had never seen this technology before and it was truly amazing. It’s hard to believe our boy is starting Grade 2 already. It seems like he was just born and already he’s turning 7. Top July 29, 2009 O.K. I know I haven’t written for a very very long time in John’s diary. Bad Wendy! I think the last time I wrote was in May so I’d better recap May, June and July too. Soccer season was cold and wet and rainy, much like this summer in general. John’s team got better and better as they played. We ended up having the year end event in the pouring rain in his coach’s van. The kids played Nintendo, ate hotdogs and popsicles. The bowling banquet was fun. John didn’t like the music much, but he did enjoy all the food and the bowling. They did a sort of glow-bowling thing. End of the year at school. John was in a play. He was the antelope. They had beach days and went to Blue Lake Park for a bird workshop. They also had a nice beach day when Madame Blackmon put out pools etc. I was very sick the second last week before school ended with what I think was swine flu. John had a very mild two day fever thing, but then I got ragingly ill. I was off work for four days. The first week of holidays, John went to camp Riverview (second week too). He basically had fun there, a couple of issues with him getting along with others and them calling him a suck. The first week was Water week and the second week was Summer Olympics. John sure likes to be busy. I’ve been working very hard to entertain him. Derek did a one week canoe trip to Quetico Park with Fr. Al and some teens from the church. He really enjoyed it and we were proud of his ability to rough it in the bush for a week. John and I set up a tent in the backyard and tried to sleep in it one night. It was far too noisy and we ended up coming inside about 10:30. We had a beach picnic at Blue Lake with grandma one day and also enjoyed the Teddy Bear Picnic. John was very sad to see daddy leave and also excited to have him come back. He would say goodnight to his dad every night and daddy said goodnight to him too. Brad, Cathy and Auntie Judy are down right now. It’s very cool though and unfortunate because the camp they rented on Eagle Lake is really nice. We are enjoying nice visits, good food, nice wine and lots of laughs, so that’s good. John likes bonfires as much as his mom, but has a lot to learn about campfire safety. He’s doing too much waving of fire pokers in the air. John got the WII Mario Cart game from Brad and Cathy and he just loves to play it. May 2, 2009 I haven’t written for a long time..busy, busy, busy. April absolutely spun by. Easter was really nice this year. We went out to the Sheep Farm on the Saturday and John loved seeing all the baby animals. We both were holding the baby goats and contemplated taking one home to mow the grass! We had a lovely brunch and enjoyed some of the day playing outside with John’s new spring toys. He got a bat and ball and some mini hockey sticks so he was enjoying that! Unfortunately, his scooter from Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy got stolen one night when he didn’t put them away. John is registered in soccer and it starts on Monday. He’s playing for the BMO Nighthawks this year (good team eh Brad?). He’s quite excited. This year it’s a boy’s only team because they were finding that the girls weren’t getting much time with the ball when the teams were mixed! We’re wrapping up bowling today and the bowling banquet is on May 27. We’re also busy working on John’s community project. We did research the other night and drove around the section of the town that John is representing. We’re doing the hospital and the yacht club area. He’s having fun making the water and the roads and now it will be on to the buildings. John was excellent in his class play of “Comment y aller?” He was Zozo the alien! We’re enjoying watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. Mom is cheering for the Penguins! They’re my team in the school hockey pool. John’s going to be spending two weeks at a summer day camp this year at Riverview school. The first week is all about water and the second week is a Summer Olympics. Maybe mom might get a day off? © 2009 Wendy/Derek Kennedy