September Highlights

GOODNESS! What a blur. A literal blur. Here are more than a few highlights from the month that was September.

Thursday September 7th - Suzanne's birthday. And new window day. Kate's windows, Fiona's window, and the window in our bathroom were replaced today. Kate's window has had a crack in it for over a year. The new windows are so nice!

Saturday, September 9th - I'm feeling like a real human again! I went on a walk this morning with Ken and the dog and felt great. (My first real walk was with the dog and Fiona last night and that was great too.)

Sunday, September 10th - Lisa hosted a get together. Jenn was still in town and it was nice to all get together. I didn't think I would go - it was a last minute thing, but I'm feeling great so I joined in with the visiting.

Monday, September 11th - My first day back at school. It was good. It's so weird that I missed the first week of school. My laptop was waiting for me when I got back. (I spilled water on it on the way back from Utah... my screen was replaced.) The note was inside my computer. I might have giggled a little. (Still haven't removed the tiny puffy sticker on my computer.)

Tuesday September 12th - pretty walk with Fiona.

Wednesday, September 13th - pretty walk with Kate.

Thursday, September 14th - Ken got us all ready to go, drove the girls to school, walked the dog and then set off for "Time Out For Men" in Val-de-Bois, Quebec, at John and Janelle's cottage.

Friday September 15th - dinner photos, so Ken will miss us so much. LOL

Saturday September 16th - Walking with Fiona and Milo.

And Kate got her braces off!!!

A fun(?) trip to Walmart with children.

Dinner again, still no Ken - sad face!

Tuesday September 19th - Beautiful sunset pic with Kate.

Wednesday, September 20 - My new phone shirt made by one of my colleagues at school Lindsey Godfrey. I had so much fun wearing this one - so many great conversations with kids and so many "Oh I get it now" comments. My shirt says "Music Literacy Matters"  "I like to eat. I like puppies."

We had a joint Relief Society/Young Women's activity. It was supposed to be a karaoke night - it was more of a sing-a-long, but still lots of fun.

Friday, September 22 - I thought last year was it for Terry Fox, because I didn't realize they still did the Terry Fox walk in high school. So here they are, another year for Ally.

We went out to Boston Pizza with Mom aka Grandma and CJ. It was a bit of a gong show. The girls were all a bit grumpy - it was a Friday night. And Kate's gluten free pasta order was forgotten, and then when it did come it was served with a piece of garlic toast on top that wasn't gf so the whole order had to be made again. Mom had offered to take us out, but then wanted to split the bill, but then we just paid for it, because goodness, we just should already. Life is busy and getting together is tricky.

Saturday, September 23 - I'm always so happy when Ken and I get to go walk at Greenwood on a Saturday morning. I love our Greenwood walks!

We went to Tottenham to see the Tokarev's and this time the four grown-ups and Fiona all went for a walk to see the Fairy Forest. It was so fun and Fiona was so cute.

Fiona has no memory of playing at the Boulevard park. A place we played at so much. She had so much fun playing there for a bit on the way back to the Tokarev's from the fairy forest.

Marisol and Kate.

Alice and Amelie.

Wendy and Michelle.

Wednesday, September 27 - Alice and Fiona took the cutest pics walking home and Alice knows her Mama and sent them to me.

We made tie-dye shirts at our first staff meeting of the year. Mine turned out pretty well. I need to get a better pic of it.

Friday, September 29 - Temple time! The temple is closing in October and it will closed until June. We've got a few more temple visits planned and then we're thinking we'll go to Palmyra over Christmas. I love going to the temple with my sweet Ken. (Who am I kidding, what don't I love doing with my sweet Ken - oh yeah, I know, moving furniture.)

Elder Bates! He's in Buenos Aires now! So cool that he'll be serving in Argentina for two years. I will  always treasure being there in the temple when he received his own endowment this summer. I love my JOEY!!

Saturday, September 30 - I love fall, and Greenwood and Ken. But not in that order.

Getting treats at Choko-Mocko with Kate makes my heart happy and my tummy too!

It's conference weekend and this morning was all about how many errands can we get finished before conference starts. (Ken, Alice and Fiona went to Michael's, Home Sense, Canadian Tire and Bulk Barn) Kate and I went to the shoe store in Markham as well as Whole Foods and Choko-Mocko. We didn't make it home on time and started to listen to conference in the car. There was a part of one of the talks - Robert M. Daines told a story about face blindness. 

You may struggle to see God as a loving Father. You may look heavenward and see not the face of love and mercy but a thicket of rules through which you must wend your way. Perhaps you believe God rules in His heavens, speaks through His prophets, and loves your sister, but you secretly wonder whether He loves you. Perhaps you have felt the iron rod in your hand but not yet felt your Savior’s love to which it leads.

I suspect you know people like this because for a long time, I was someone like this—I was spiritually face-blind.

I thought my life was about following rules and measuring up to abstract standards. I knew God loved you perfectly but didn’t feel it myself. I’m afraid I thought more about getting into heaven than being with my Heavenly Father.

If you, like me, can sometimes only lip-synch but not “sing the song of redeeming love,” what can we do?

The answer, as President Russell M. Nelson reminds us, is always Jesus. And that is very good news.

It was a tender mercy for me to listen to these words and know that Kate was listening too and I hope that she felt the spirit in that moment. She doesn't make room for God's love in her life very often these days, but every so often if it can get in there, I'm grateful. I want her to know how much her Heavenly Parents love her, because they do.

For dinner we decided to go to Chik-fil-A at the Scarborough Town Centre, fast food we can all eat. Alice, Fiona and I ended our sugar challenge with drinks lol. I had a root beer, Alice a milkshake and Fiona lemonade. In the summer my sister suggested that we join her and Anna in September doing a sugar challenge. Alice, Fiona and I rocked it! It was so hard but we did it. I was really proud of us and also really happy to have sugary treats again.

Kidney Stone Lasers!

In January there was blood in my pee. There isn't supposed to be blood in your pee. I was able to get a requisition for a urine sample right away and so began the investigation. Multiple urine samples, ultra sounds, and finally an appointment with a urologist, a ct scan and a diagnosis - a kidney stone in the left urethra with a partial obstruction. The urologist said I had two options, wait and see if it comes out on it's own, or have it lasered. He put it this way, I could get a "hat" (a toilet insert) and constantly check my pee to see when and if it comes out, and then follow up down the road to make sure it did come out, and then possibly still have to have it removed because it would eventually cause long term kidney damage. I chose lasers.

I had to be at the hospital at 7:30 Saturday morning. My sweet Ken drove me to the Markham Stouffville Hospital. Having a surgical procedure on the weekend means lots of one on one attention. It was super quiet, as I was the only patient when I first got there. Ken gave me a blessing the night before that my surgery would be "flawless" and this was a great comfort to me.

Just before 9 I walked into the operating room and lay down on the table. And then it was lights out. I had a left urethroscopy, kidney stone ablation and stent insertion. Blech! I felt fine when I first woke up, I was able to pee right away, and I was out of there just around 11. 

The nausea hit pretty hard on the drive home - longest 30 minutes of my life, and I was really thankful for the pee/barf cup - use for either, that the nurse gave before I left. I barfed up the little cup of ginger ale that I had in recovery. Fun times. 

Ken dropped me off and then went to the pharmacy to get my prescription - pain meds and antibiotics, then he dropped Fiona off at a friend, and did grocery shopping. Kate stayed with me the whole time and held my cold hand in her warm hands. (Sadly I don't have a pic, I was too out of it.) I started to feel kind of yucky so I took one of the pain meds - eek - I felt weird, but no pain! After Ken was done his errands he sat with me.

Sunday I stayed home from church and watched zoom church with Kate. First thing in the morning I thought, I'm going to go walk the dog with Ken. I took about ten more steps after this pic, and then thought, nope, I'm going back home. I was three houses and a little bit north of home - so not far. I felt uncomfortable and slightly cranky but okay. 

Yesterday I felt a little better but still a little uncomfortable and cranky. I finally took a picture of my bruised right hand. The guy who did my IV in the OR blew up my hand. It was so swollen on Saturday. IVs are the worst! My heart breaks for people that have to live with tubes and things on the regular.

Today was stent removal day. I was not excited about this - I was actually dreading this. I was advised to take pain meds and remove the stent first thing Tuesday morning. I took two extra strength advil at 6:30 and went in the shower at 7:30. Everything was fine, just as it should have been, it felt weird, but didn't hurt at all.

It's 1:00 pm and I'm feeling a little weird. I'm not in pain, but my body doesn't feel completely normal. The question is, does it matter? Will I do harm to myself if I go back to school tomorrow... I don't think so? I really hate having to make decisions like this. 

It's 1:48 and the pain meds have definitely started to wear off. I'm still feeling okay though. I'm going to call the urology office and ask a follow up question and hopefully this is the end of the kidney stone laser story!!

First Day of School

Back to school day!

First a pic of the elementary girls. It's weird that they're at different schools again. They had been together for five years in the same school which was such a blessing.

Fiona is in grade 5 this year. Her homeroom teacher is Mrs. Hargrave and she will have Mme Legge for her French subjects - the same teachers that Alice had in grade 5. We think that Fiona is in a 4/5 split, which I'm hoping will be a good fit for her. 

This is Alice's "I'm an annoyed teenager" face, which I think she does exceptionally well!

Alice is in grade 7 this year and has Mr. Robertson has her homeroom teacher. She's hoping that the French counterpart is Mme Tang, because we all like her very much. Mr. Robertson was Kate's homeroom teacher in grade 7. Alice is in class with almost her entire friend group so that's pretty awesome. 

All three together! 

Kate starts high school this year! She's going to Ajax High School. In term one she has science in French, music, math and drama. Should be a good first term. Today is grade nine day, so only the grade 9s are at school having an orientation welcome day. I hope that she has fun and forgets to be a nervous wreck!

One of the Mom's shared this in the mommy chat on WhatsApp. This is their big huge friend group. It's a really nice group of kids! Back row: Zac, Kailey, Paige, Noraa, Alice, Caden, Leila, Ade Front row: kid? Emily, Heather

I don't usually ever take a back to school pic. I had Ken take one after I dropped Kate off at school. I should be at school but I'm not. See separate kidney post. But here I am! Hopefully ready to go back to school tomorrow.

Twas the night before school!

I'm currently sitting on the couch with a moaning Kate. She is wishing pretty hard that tomorrow will never come, but it will, and she will survive. I know she will. Hard days come and we get through them, one moment at a time. They do a pretty fun thing at Kate's high school. They have grade nine day. Only the grade nine students go tomorrow, they meet their teachers, figure out where the classrooms are and just have a little class meeting? (We're not exactly sure, but after looking at the schedule again, 20 minutes isn't enough time for a class!) There's a BBQ too and take your school photo and get your locker and a scavenger hunt. It sounds like they've tried to make it a really fun day with just the grade 9s, teachers and student council. I think it's such a great idea! I made Kate promise she would talk to people and not hide in a corner.

I'm still recovering from my kidney stone ablation on Saturday - that needs it's own post - so I won't be going to school tomorrow. All three girls will though. Kate, grade 9 at Ajax High School, Alice, grade 7 at Southwood Park P.S. and Fiona, grade 5 at Southwood Park P.S. In term one Kate has science first period in French, music second period, math is third period and last period she has drama. I hope she likes her teachers and that she makes new friends and has an awesome first term! Alice's homeroom teacher is Mr. Robertson who was Kate's grade 7 teacher. Fiona has Mrs. Hargrave for homeroom and Mme Legge for French subjects. Alice had them too - mixed reviews on Hargrave and positive reviews for Legge. 

After dinner, made by the amazing chef Ken, we did back to school Father's blessings and played cards against humanity. There were some anxious feelings last night but we had a good night. 

Blessing Notes: 
Alice
- be a great example look for ways to be an example
- be a good example for your family and community
- ability to make good decisions
- be healthy and strong
- ability to understand the consequences of your actions

Fiona
- mind will be sharp and that you will learn and retain all that you need to to do well in school
- find and keep friends
- be healthy
- a good example to friend and family
- manage your stress and anxiety
- integrate and feel a great deal of self esteem

Kate
- find your place and find your people
- feel great joy in your education
- excel in school
- help the students around you
- find solace and rest at home
- treat yourself and those in your family kindly
- bless you to make good decisions about your health
- see the blessings in your life
- be grateful for all you have

Wendy
- know how to help students - emotionally and in school
- balance work and family
- be a resource and an example to my colleagues
- health
- help my own kids and my students