It's been a while since our last post but we have been quite busy. Jen had her choir concert and competed at the Winnipeg Music Festival and Kris wrapped up his hockey season with one goal and numerous assists. Dad's just been working and driving us around.
Jen's choir was really happy to hear at the Festival that they are most likely going to Nationals (a recording not them physically) and they have been invited to sing at the Gala Concert that wraps up the Music Festival (first PTV choir ever invited!). She's also been busy with basketball. Though her team only won 2 games (grade 7's playing in a grade 8 league) in their season, they had lots of fun and really improved as the season progressed - the coach is looking forward to next year as they will be together again. Jen's also been busy with swimming lessons (passed level 7 last night).
Kris had a great hockey season with 2 special extra games at an outdoor rink one of his teammate's grandfathers built in his back yard (you might have seen it on TV). The big goal came in late February - a back hand through the five hole. Not to be outdone by his sister, Kris also passed his swimming level tonight, surviving 10 weeks in a class of all girls except him and the instructor.
Dad's big event was a trip to Calgary Airport for a 2 day meeting (yes just the airport hotel, not any more of Calgary!) Grandma came to stay with us and baked and cooked our favourite foods!
Last month was "I Love to Read Month" at the kids school. The theme was Reading Olympics and the school goal was to read enough minutes to get to Sochi and back. They exceeded the goal and the 2 classes with the highest minutes from grade 5 to 8 were Jen and Kris' classes - their prize is a bowling, pizza and pop party with the principal next week (or a BPPP as the principal calls it).
Tomorrow is the wind up for another season of curling. The wind up will have the special addition of meeting Kaitlyn Lawes and Jill Officer from Team Jennifer Jones, with their gold medals - should be exciting!
Other than that we've pretty much been staying inside out of the cold. We celebrated some warmth last weekend skating at The Forks and hope to get out and do some skiing soon! Spring break is almost upon us and then we'll switch to soccer, badminton, diving and a bunch of travel for choir and school trips in the spring.
Hope everyone has survived the winter and we'll talk to you soon
Love
Doug, Jen and Kris
Friday, March 14, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Return from Paradise
...Island that is, in the Bahamas.
We spent a week after Christmas enjoying the beach, water park and heat of Atlantis in the Bahamas only to return to the Manitoba deep freeze, which fortunately has started to thaw the last day or so.
But first we need to back up to mid-December and our last post.
We were busy with lots in December. We had our school Christmas concert, Jen's choir concert, curling with turkeys, Kris' hockey games and Jen's first basketball practice, not to mention shopping, baking and present wrapping.
Christmas eve was at our cousins', Christmas morn at home and Christmas dinner at Auntie Cathy`s. On Boxing Day we went on a sleigh ride with Liam`s family.
Before heading off to paradise we had a few errands to get done to wrap up the year...And for Jen and Dad a Jets game.(Jets won!)
With the cold temperatures here we got on a plane and headed south, via Toronto and fortunately our flights didn`t get cancelled. We spent a week over New Years in the Bahamas - we spent our time swimming - swimming in the ocean, in pools, with dolphins and on water slides and lazy rivers. We ate lots, saw some great New Year`s eve fireworks and most importantly got lots of R&R. (oh yeah and made a number of visits to Ben & Jerry`s). We had lots of fun and would definitely recommend you go. Despite looking at the Weather Network which told us the temps there and here were the same (except for that minus sign) we had to pack up and fly back home (again avoiding any travel problems) and were greeted by freezing cars and a snowy driveway.
It was good to see all our friends back at school (not so much the school work). Jen`s playing basketball, back to choir and yearbook. Kris is back to hockey (his team is 5-6-0, Kris hasn`t scored a goal yet) and they are both curling and taking swimming lessons. That should keep us busy til spring!!!!!!
Today was Lynelle`s funeral. Joel had told Kris not to miss his hockey game but to make a good play for Lynelle - he got an assist and blocked a shot. Jen and I went to the funeral - there were lots of people and the service was a great tribute to Lynelle. Jen got some ice cream this time. We`ll keep our friends in our thoughts and prayers in the coming days as things begin to settle down at their house.
Anyway, that`s about it for now. Things seem to be warming up so maybe we`ll be able to get out and enjoy winter for a while.
Love
Doug, Jen and Kris
We spent a week after Christmas enjoying the beach, water park and heat of Atlantis in the Bahamas only to return to the Manitoba deep freeze, which fortunately has started to thaw the last day or so.
But first we need to back up to mid-December and our last post.
We were busy with lots in December. We had our school Christmas concert, Jen's choir concert, curling with turkeys, Kris' hockey games and Jen's first basketball practice, not to mention shopping, baking and present wrapping.
Christmas eve was at our cousins', Christmas morn at home and Christmas dinner at Auntie Cathy`s. On Boxing Day we went on a sleigh ride with Liam`s family.
Before heading off to paradise we had a few errands to get done to wrap up the year...And for Jen and Dad a Jets game.(Jets won!)
With the cold temperatures here we got on a plane and headed south, via Toronto and fortunately our flights didn`t get cancelled. We spent a week over New Years in the Bahamas - we spent our time swimming - swimming in the ocean, in pools, with dolphins and on water slides and lazy rivers. We ate lots, saw some great New Year`s eve fireworks and most importantly got lots of R&R. (oh yeah and made a number of visits to Ben & Jerry`s). We had lots of fun and would definitely recommend you go. Despite looking at the Weather Network which told us the temps there and here were the same (except for that minus sign) we had to pack up and fly back home (again avoiding any travel problems) and were greeted by freezing cars and a snowy driveway.
It was good to see all our friends back at school (not so much the school work). Jen`s playing basketball, back to choir and yearbook. Kris is back to hockey (his team is 5-6-0, Kris hasn`t scored a goal yet) and they are both curling and taking swimming lessons. That should keep us busy til spring!!!!!!
Today was Lynelle`s funeral. Joel had told Kris not to miss his hockey game but to make a good play for Lynelle - he got an assist and blocked a shot. Jen and I went to the funeral - there were lots of people and the service was a great tribute to Lynelle. Jen got some ice cream this time. We`ll keep our friends in our thoughts and prayers in the coming days as things begin to settle down at their house.
Anyway, that`s about it for now. Things seem to be warming up so maybe we`ll be able to get out and enjoy winter for a while.
Love
Doug, Jen and Kris
Sunday, January 5, 2014
An angel friend
Today we learned that Karen's good friend Lynelle, who also battled cancer has joined Karen in heaven. Karen and Lynelle met when Jen and Jaden started kindergarten and shared many adventures and fun times. Please keep Joel, Caroline, Jaden and Katrina in your thoughts and prayers.
We've got some updates on our holiday adventures but those will wait for another post - today we think of Lynelle.
Love
Doug, Jen and Kris
We've got some updates on our holiday adventures but those will wait for another post - today we think of Lynelle.
Love
Doug, Jen and Kris
Sunday, December 8, 2013
The holidays are almost here!?!?
It's hard to believe that it's December and we started decorating the house for Christmas today....didn't school just start? Time seems to be flying by, certainly the last few months and the last year for that matter. We seem to be keeping ourselves busy, mostly good busy with some challenging stuff mixed in along the way, thus the lack of a posting for a while.
The fall has seen a lot happen - Jen's been to middle school camp and choir camp, I've been to Toronto for a week long conference, choir is in full swing with one concert behind us and another coming up, both kids are in the school choir and have been to Choralfest and are preparing for the school Christmas concert, Christmas piano recital was last week, we closed up the lake, curling has resumed for the kids and Kris has started hockey, I seem to have been taking a lot of training courses (that time of the year) and even presented part of one, Grandma's visited us each month for a few days each time (took in Grandparents chapel, hockey, curling and whatever else was happening) and will be back again soon, the kids joined me for the Recognition dinner when I received my FCA certificate, we spent a long weekend in Minneapolis (shopped and visited cousins), had cousins in to visit from Montreal and managed to make it to work and school on a regular basis (and based on the first term report cards and teacher conferences school is pretty normal and going well). Wow - no wonder why I'm tired!
It's also been challenging at times - November is one of the big months for remembering things over the last few years - between the 21st and the 24th we had the anniversaries of Karen's seizure and hospitalization last year and her initial diagnosis three years ago. Our trip to Minneapolis earlier that month was our first time back there since our last trip with Karen just before her diagnosis at a time when we were starting to begin to notice something was not quite right. Each of us deals with all of this differently and it's sometimes difficult to always be able to support each other the right way while dealing with your own emotions at the same time....we all try to remain patient with each other and find our way through.
Today we were the readers/candle lighters for the Advent candle at church and after a quick lunch we went to Chapel Lawn for Christmas cookie decorating and a Holiday memorial service - it was much smaller than the Mother's Day one we attended in May but we were glad we went none the less. I passed on the office Christmas party on Friday - not quite ready for that kind of event solo just yet.
I still follow the blog that inspired this one (a man with a brain tumour and his wife we met at CancerCare) - he passed away 2 years ago but like us, his wife maintains the blog. Her latest posting struck a familiar cord with me - she also experiences many milestones in the fall each year and wrote about her feelings - check it out at http://ramsyshannonunruh.blogspot.com. I also visited last week with another client/friend who lost her husband to a brain tumour last year. Both that visit and the blog posting helped me know my experiences this fall have been pretty "normal". It's good to have these supports and reference points as we find our way.
I need to thank all our friends who help out and check in regularly - whether it's helping get the kids off to school when I have an early meeting, chauffeuring from choir, going for lunch and letting me bend their ear, making a regular phone call to check on me, planning get togethers including the kids for a fun dinner/evening or just the check ins to see how we are doing - it's all appreciated more than you know.
The kids will likely have more to say so hopefully we'll get another posting up soon as the holiday season moves along
Thanks again for all the support and caring. I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and we'll see or talk to you soon!
Love
Doug and the gang
The fall has seen a lot happen - Jen's been to middle school camp and choir camp, I've been to Toronto for a week long conference, choir is in full swing with one concert behind us and another coming up, both kids are in the school choir and have been to Choralfest and are preparing for the school Christmas concert, Christmas piano recital was last week, we closed up the lake, curling has resumed for the kids and Kris has started hockey, I seem to have been taking a lot of training courses (that time of the year) and even presented part of one, Grandma's visited us each month for a few days each time (took in Grandparents chapel, hockey, curling and whatever else was happening) and will be back again soon, the kids joined me for the Recognition dinner when I received my FCA certificate, we spent a long weekend in Minneapolis (shopped and visited cousins), had cousins in to visit from Montreal and managed to make it to work and school on a regular basis (and based on the first term report cards and teacher conferences school is pretty normal and going well). Wow - no wonder why I'm tired!
It's also been challenging at times - November is one of the big months for remembering things over the last few years - between the 21st and the 24th we had the anniversaries of Karen's seizure and hospitalization last year and her initial diagnosis three years ago. Our trip to Minneapolis earlier that month was our first time back there since our last trip with Karen just before her diagnosis at a time when we were starting to begin to notice something was not quite right. Each of us deals with all of this differently and it's sometimes difficult to always be able to support each other the right way while dealing with your own emotions at the same time....we all try to remain patient with each other and find our way through.
Today we were the readers/candle lighters for the Advent candle at church and after a quick lunch we went to Chapel Lawn for Christmas cookie decorating and a Holiday memorial service - it was much smaller than the Mother's Day one we attended in May but we were glad we went none the less. I passed on the office Christmas party on Friday - not quite ready for that kind of event solo just yet.
I still follow the blog that inspired this one (a man with a brain tumour and his wife we met at CancerCare) - he passed away 2 years ago but like us, his wife maintains the blog. Her latest posting struck a familiar cord with me - she also experiences many milestones in the fall each year and wrote about her feelings - check it out at http://ramsyshannonunruh.blogspot.com. I also visited last week with another client/friend who lost her husband to a brain tumour last year. Both that visit and the blog posting helped me know my experiences this fall have been pretty "normal". It's good to have these supports and reference points as we find our way.
I need to thank all our friends who help out and check in regularly - whether it's helping get the kids off to school when I have an early meeting, chauffeuring from choir, going for lunch and letting me bend their ear, making a regular phone call to check on me, planning get togethers including the kids for a fun dinner/evening or just the check ins to see how we are doing - it's all appreciated more than you know.
The kids will likely have more to say so hopefully we'll get another posting up soon as the holiday season moves along
Thanks again for all the support and caring. I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and we'll see or talk to you soon!
Love
Doug and the gang
Thursday, September 5, 2013
School starting....again
Sorry we disappeared off the face of the earth....again. We've had a good, busy summer and just haven't had time to update you. We thought we'd share some of our highlights of the summer with you...so here goes:
First Kris:
- going to Montreal and going ziplining
- going to Camp Assiniboia
- paddle boarding on the lake at Mont Tremblant
- seeing many of my cousins
- trying to go wakeboarding (not for me this year)
- going to MiniU
- going to the Canada Day parade at the lake
- pier jumping
- playing soccer
- going to the science centre in Montreal
- going to the orthodontist...NOT!
Now Jen:
- bungee jumping
- art camp
- rock climbing (lots)
- swimming
- shopping
- everything at camp Assiniboia
- ziplining (also more than once)
- sleepovers
- water skiing
- seeing Les Mis
- my birthday!!!
And last but not least... Dad!!!!
- relaxing on the beach or by a pool
- visiting with family and friends
- eating the strawberry pies Jen and Kris both made
- getting out in the boat
- tending to the yards and gardens (sort of successfully?)
- BBQ's
- not having to make school lunches
- successfully avoiding the media when they camped out on our street (nothing else happy about that story)
- going ziplining
- eating bagels on a patio at a Montreal street fair
- finding out last week that I've been elected as an FCA (used to think only old CA's got those!)
So all in all not a bad summer - we had a lot of fun and saw a LOT of our family and friends which was great! Now the kids are back to school and all the activities will be starting up soon.
Thanks as always for all your thoughts and prayers - we appreciate it!
Love,
Kris, Jen and Doug
First Kris:
- going to Montreal and going ziplining
- going to Camp Assiniboia
- paddle boarding on the lake at Mont Tremblant
- seeing many of my cousins
- trying to go wakeboarding (not for me this year)
- going to MiniU
- going to the Canada Day parade at the lake
- pier jumping
- playing soccer
- going to the science centre in Montreal
- going to the orthodontist...NOT!
Now Jen:
- bungee jumping
- art camp
- rock climbing (lots)
- swimming
- shopping
- everything at camp Assiniboia
- ziplining (also more than once)
- sleepovers
- water skiing
- seeing Les Mis
- my birthday!!!
And last but not least... Dad!!!!
- relaxing on the beach or by a pool
- visiting with family and friends
- eating the strawberry pies Jen and Kris both made
- getting out in the boat
- tending to the yards and gardens (sort of successfully?)
- BBQ's
- not having to make school lunches
- successfully avoiding the media when they camped out on our street (nothing else happy about that story)
- going ziplining
- eating bagels on a patio at a Montreal street fair
- finding out last week that I've been elected as an FCA (used to think only old CA's got those!)
So all in all not a bad summer - we had a lot of fun and saw a LOT of our family and friends which was great! Now the kids are back to school and all the activities will be starting up soon.
Thanks as always for all your thoughts and prayers - we appreciate it!
Love,
Kris, Jen and Doug
Monday, July 8, 2013
It's summer!
We made it! School is out and we are back from a week at the lake, just the three of us for the most part.
We survived June and celebrated Jen's birthday with early dismissal on the last day of school. The report cards were good, especially considering all that happened in the last term. We will miss the daily interaction and support from everyone at school over the summer but we know where to find you all if we need you. We were also touched by some year end tributes to Karen that will make sure her spirit lives on in that place she loved and spent so much time.
We headed off to the lake for some R&R and took in the local Canada Day festivities and spent some time with friends and family (and celebrated Jen's birthday too). For the rest of the week we were mostly on our own, enjoying some great weather and spending lots of time in the water or out on the boat (remember it was last July that Karen made me turn around on the highway and go back and look at the boat she knew I wanted and then made sure I bought it). All in all the week was great and we enjoyed being at the lake but it was also the first time we'd really had a chance to spend an extended time together just the three of us without things to do and at times that took a bit of getting used to but I think we are finding our way.
This week the kids are off to MiniU and I'm back at work hoping to clean up some of the piles in my office and hopefully get some contractors back to work on our office renovations....do they know I'm not always as patient as I once was?
That's about it for now. We are hoping the nice weather keeps up and plan on making time to enjoy it. We also plan on spending time with friends and family so hopefully we'll see you soon!
Thanks as always for your kind thoughts and prayers
Love
Doug and the gang
We survived June and celebrated Jen's birthday with early dismissal on the last day of school. The report cards were good, especially considering all that happened in the last term. We will miss the daily interaction and support from everyone at school over the summer but we know where to find you all if we need you. We were also touched by some year end tributes to Karen that will make sure her spirit lives on in that place she loved and spent so much time.
We headed off to the lake for some R&R and took in the local Canada Day festivities and spent some time with friends and family (and celebrated Jen's birthday too). For the rest of the week we were mostly on our own, enjoying some great weather and spending lots of time in the water or out on the boat (remember it was last July that Karen made me turn around on the highway and go back and look at the boat she knew I wanted and then made sure I bought it). All in all the week was great and we enjoyed being at the lake but it was also the first time we'd really had a chance to spend an extended time together just the three of us without things to do and at times that took a bit of getting used to but I think we are finding our way.
This week the kids are off to MiniU and I'm back at work hoping to clean up some of the piles in my office and hopefully get some contractors back to work on our office renovations....do they know I'm not always as patient as I once was?
That's about it for now. We are hoping the nice weather keeps up and plan on making time to enjoy it. We also plan on spending time with friends and family so hopefully we'll see you soon!
Thanks as always for your kind thoughts and prayers
Love
Doug and the gang
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Almost summer
June seems to be flying by and we haven't had time to post an update...sorry about that.
This month has been birthday party month (5 down now I think) as it usually is and this weekend was our turn, Jen had her sleepover on Friday night and Kris had his pool party this evening. We seem to have survived and the kids had some fun but there was no mistaking someone was missing. Apparently Karen did teach us enough about organizing a party to make it work though. We have one more friend's party to go on Thursday for Jen, and her actual birthday as well then I think it will be summer.
On top of that we've had soccer (the Grizzlies made it to the win column this week and Kris got a couple more goals), school field trips, exams for the middle schooler and various other recitals and such. The kids both came home from their track and field day with ribbons and they made Father's Day special for me despite the challenges of the day. The trips to the lake have been brief ones to cut grass and plant flowers and we now have some flowers in the gardens at home too. There has also been lots to do at work but we seem to be getting there.
Thanks as always to everyone who helps out so we can do what we need to do and get where we need to go - I won't mention names so I don't miss anyone but you know who you are.
School wraps up on Friday along with a bunch of deadlines for the accountant at work so I think we'll be able to finally enjoy some quiet time and enjoy summer together soon.
Thanks to all who keep us in your thoughts and prayers - after two months we still face lots of challenges but knowing we have many people supporting us helps us along.
Love
Doug and the gang
This month has been birthday party month (5 down now I think) as it usually is and this weekend was our turn, Jen had her sleepover on Friday night and Kris had his pool party this evening. We seem to have survived and the kids had some fun but there was no mistaking someone was missing. Apparently Karen did teach us enough about organizing a party to make it work though. We have one more friend's party to go on Thursday for Jen, and her actual birthday as well then I think it will be summer.
On top of that we've had soccer (the Grizzlies made it to the win column this week and Kris got a couple more goals), school field trips, exams for the middle schooler and various other recitals and such. The kids both came home from their track and field day with ribbons and they made Father's Day special for me despite the challenges of the day. The trips to the lake have been brief ones to cut grass and plant flowers and we now have some flowers in the gardens at home too. There has also been lots to do at work but we seem to be getting there.
Thanks as always to everyone who helps out so we can do what we need to do and get where we need to go - I won't mention names so I don't miss anyone but you know who you are.
School wraps up on Friday along with a bunch of deadlines for the accountant at work so I think we'll be able to finally enjoy some quiet time and enjoy summer together soon.
Thanks to all who keep us in your thoughts and prayers - after two months we still face lots of challenges but knowing we have many people supporting us helps us along.
Love
Doug and the gang
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