Happy New Year!

It was New Year for Robin at 9:00 this morning and I did try to phone. Honest I did but someone had already phoned and I needed to leave for church so Robin did not ge my 12:00 phone call. Too bad for her. It is the end of the Christmas season and things are winding down. We had Christmas at Valerie's house this year. The first Waddell family Christmas together. Everyone had a really good time and no one died. I think we even tried to enjoy our time with each other. After Christmas we went home to enjoy other people's company. Again a good time was had by all. Melissa and I planned on going swimming on Thursday but she went and ruined the plans. We welcome little Jo (Josiah Stanley) as our interruption, I guess. He is a good looking child (he is related after all) and a pain in the butt already. Ask Melissa how much trouble he has already caused and he is only a few days old. I will be back in clinicals this week and hopefully time will fly. I only have until Feb 9th. Hee, hee! We are more than excited.

I included a picture of Xavier, Niles and the cousins at Christmas. I tried to get a whole family picture but I couldn't do it from Chris' computer and I don't have a copy at home.

20 days until Christmas

I am almost finished my shopping. Just the silly little stuff left. You know chocolate and such. I don't even think that we need chocolate because there is so much food over the holidays. I did take it upon myself to make shortbread this year. It looks good. Nice and white (a couple of pieces got too brown but pretty good I think). Xavier is getting very excited. He decorated a Christmas tree for his own room. It is a branch off of our old tree and whatever decorations that he takes off the one in the livingroom. It makes him happy. One day he may have more space and maybe we can give him a space for his 'special' tree. Niles is learning the song Jesus our Brother. Mom reserved the book for him so we can sing it and look at pictures. This year we are going to spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning at Curtis and Val's in Regina and then go home because everyone works Boxing day. We will have family Christmas eve one day late. Sounds like fun.

Let it snow and snow and snow and snow and snow and ....

Snow. Isn't it wonderful. I love the stuff. It makes me remember how blessed I am that there is summer and I have heat. There has been over 20cm of that great white fluff this week. How I love to shovel. A workout without having to set everything up.(So sarcastic) But I am alright. The boys love the snow. Xavier says that snow is fun on the slide because it makes the slide woggily. Reason enough to like the snow. Here is a picture of warmer and happier times. Niles really liked camp this year. (You get camp pictures because I don't have winter pictures yet. It seems out of context for this blog but a good picture is hard to waste.)
On a different note CBC has gotten an FM band for Saskatoon. Now I can listen in my room with the lamp on and not get the horrible sounding interference. 94.1FM. This was Robert's original call number but it works so well for CBC. Roy is also very excited about it.
Christmas is coming. We are going to be in Regina for Xmas eve and morning and then we will head back to Saskatoon. This will be the first Xmas that all the Waddells will be together. Pray that we will live through the experience.(Ha ha). Maybe we will go to the IMAX. Some new movie looks like it will be really interesting will be there.
We went to the new James Bond movie. It is rated PG13. I think R or PG45 or something. It hit a new level of disturbing James Bond. The actor will do well though. He has blue eyes and is built nice to look at. Not his face. I liked it though but I follow the series so I am a aBond junkie. You can't skip one. We went with Dave, Reid and some of his friends.

How can things get so confusing?

I just started my labour and delivery placement. Today was my third of 18 days on the ward. So far so good. No one has died under my watch (very bad karma), but you would think that I would be able to work out my schedule but NOOOOoooooo. Honestly every day I write down what my schedule is and then I put it on my calendar and somehow it is not working out with my perceptors schedule that she wrote down. What I am saying is there is some sort of communication problem leading to pen mishaps. Somehow I will figure this out.
On a different note, Xavier is just like Roy. He creates self fulfilling prophesy. Robert agreed to drop the boys off at daycare because both Rob and I had to be at work before it opened. Xavier says, "Mom, I don't know what stairs I go in," and I just said, "the ones that you always go in in the morning," to which he replied, "I can't remember which ones those are!". You can see where this goes. Xavier takes Robert up the wrong steps this morning. This is from the child who races me up the steps, and is at his locker before I am up with Niles everyday. He couldn't remember.
Pray for strength and patience.

Roy's truck revisited

Gerry called sometime before Halloween. "Do you want a mattress?", came his rough and abrupt voice. Huh? This is not the way a normal phone conversation begins. "The hotel has a fairly new, free mattress that is just sitting outside waiting for someone to take it. Everyone is taking too long. If you take it tonight it's yours". How could I refuse? Granted my bed is only a double but things can be arranged. And then I remembered that Joyce was saying that Rayhay wanted her queen mattress, something about being too tall for a double (wah, wah). Eureka! My solution had arrived. Rob would get the mattress, we would store it somewhere and then get it to Regina. We were going to get Chris and Shelley to bring it down but it happened that Joyce would not be home on that day so plans changed, Joyce came up. She was coming for Jon and Jenn's memorial. She was here, the mattress was here and Roy left his truck. Everything was coming together. Joyce and Rob packed up the truck and Joyce drove to Regina, unpacked and went to Gravelbourg, just for an evening. This is not the end of the story. Joyce also hates Roy's truck (maybe hates is too harsh a word but it is not like her car) so she wanted her car back SOON. "I have an idea," she says on the phone. "We'll meet in Davidson after church, have onion rings, trade vehicles, and be home in time for the game (like it really mattered, sigh)". Rob was going out with his Dad so I got the job. There was a little angst on my part. So that is the story about the truck. We can't find one of Roy's clips now. I wonder what happeded. Did it want onion rings too?

Roy's truck sucks!

I did just fine driving Joyce's car to Davidson. No problems. That's right I rocked the standard world, but Roy's truck was a different matter. I stalled it with 5 people behind me at a light. How embarrassing.
On a different note. I am finished my last class, like class class. Only clinical left. As a small celebration some of my class went out to the Samurai the other weekend. We had a lot of fun and it would totally be worth going back. They cook the food in front of you! And they flip their knives. Entertainment and food at the same time.
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Fireworks!

I got the kids up early today because I had lots of work to do. So it is still dark outside, around 7:00. Xavier and I are in the kitchen making breakfast and Niles went to the back room and was looking out the window. "Look Mom. Like fireworks!", he said. I looked and the light on the snow that was falling was so bright that I could see Niles' fireworks. We went to the front room to see if it would work there but no only in the back. Give it to a child to ignore the ugliness around him (the back room is terrible) to see the beauty of 'fireworks'. It is still snowing but the risen sun has taken away my fireworks. Sometimes only when you are in the dark can you really see the beauty that is all around you. Keep Jon and Jenn in your prayers.
The picture was taken by Dave when he was geocashing with the boys.

One Day to Go!

Tomorrow is my last day of class ever, or at least until I change my mind. Just two more sessions of clinicals and then I really will be finished. On a sadder note, please pray for my friends John and Jen Wallace. My heart aches for them and I am sure that life seems very bleak for them at this time. Check back soon. I will add pictures in the near future.

Go Riders!

Riders Game
We went to the game on Sunday. There were good moments, like the last 5 mins of the game when it went into overtime and there were bad moments, 5 interceptions. It is amazing we managed to hang on for the win. We have won the last 3 games against BC! Ha, ha. Poor Paul. Had to kick into the wind. Taylor Field (Mosaic Stadium) just isn't good to him. Niles slept through the first half, but he didn't miss a thing. I kind of wish I had slept too. He does have terrible timing, he had to pee in overtime so I missed the touchdown. All we heard was the crowd cheering and I couldn't see a thing. Peeing was good though. The bathroom was nice and empty. I wonder why?

my first post

This is really for Robin who is too far away to always be in the know. It's my little way of helping her get pictures and keep up