Freezing Cold

Wow - winter blew in with a vengeance. We got to -42 last night with a wind chill. I can't remember it being that cold in many, many years. We got some snow but not a whole bunch. My folks came for a visit on Friday and were unable to go up to Edmonton this morning, nor could they head back to Saskatoon. But being the retired folks that they are, they can hang around another day, eat left overs and just plain chill out and I mean chill out! We had all the kids here for dinner last night, so it was a great time having them visit and get there Grandparents all caught up in their daily lives. Ryan brought Lauren over for everyone to meet - a very nice girl. She is attending U of C and is pursuing a medical degree just like her mother. Her parents and brother now live in Houston, Texas. Lauren and Breanne's boyfriend, Marc reminisce about Montreal as Marc is from there and Lauren went to McGill University there last year. It seems like they have experienced a lot of the same places.

I took my parents and we drove down to Vulcan on Saturday. We visited with my great Aunt Bertha. She talked a lot about being the last of the Alain kids. It took me a while to figure that out, but she is right. My grandfather died a few years ago and so she is the last surviving sibling. I guess that we just take it for granted that all family members are from the same side of the family and in fact there not. However, we did have the best visit with her and she is looking great for being 88. Her mind is very sharp and she could look through pictures and know everyone in there. Norbert & Shirley don't get back to Vulcan until April, so perhaps Jack and I will have to go down and have visit with her sometime soon - maybe when it warms up some.

January is moving right along

Where has time gone? It seems like just last week when we were in Saskatoon and now it's the middle of January. I managed to go back to work for three days the first week and 2 days the second week and then my head cold(the same one that I suffered with in December) managed to come back with even worse symptoms - I lost my voice! I know that everyone is thinking, that Jack must of been happy, but believe me he wasn't. Just ask him! I was off work for three days last week and ended up taking a really strong antibiotic to kill off this viral infection. By Sunday I was back to my old self and feeling 100% better. I did accomplish a lot with working on my scrapbooking so that it is good. Plus we bought a fitness machine for me and I have really enjoyed working out on it. Jack is looking at getting a gym membership for him.
The kids are all fine - just don't see them much and so with mom & dad hopefully coming up at the end of January they should all be re-adjusting there schedules to come for dinner one of the nights. Jack needs to get his grandpa duties set up with one of Jaelyn's girls as we promised a special outing with one of the girls at a time. Time is the problem between theirs and ours but this is a priority. Life is interesting and we need to make time for these priorities and schedule them. Till next time!

January 2008 - Back to Work

Christmas is officially done for another year and what a good Christmas it was. Jack and I drove back to Saskatoon to meet a new granddaughter and visit with both sides of the family. With so many people to visit with we split our time between a hotel and a furnished apartment. It was the perfect way to go. Louella, Steph & boys were in from New Jersey and so we got to relive Christmas excitement with the boys...doesn't seem like that many years ago and my kids were that small. We visited with both my brothers and families plus my folks. We visited with Todd, Michelle, Ireland and new granddaughter, Peyton. Michelle and I had fun putting Peyton into a Christmas stocking & hat for some great pictures. Then on Boxing Day, we met with Darin, Donna & girls and Todd's family at Fudruckers for dinner. What an interesting time. It was nice to see all the kids and see how much they have grown since our last visit. Time goes by so quickly that we must visit the girls more often...a must to work them into our busy schedules.
Back at home and Jack has become my fix it man! He was busy over the last 2 days of vacation putting up new blinds and taking the old ones out to the dump. We can't believe that we waited so long to get these old dusty blinds replaced. The only downside is that the house is much darker at night time...so we might have to be like my parents and use a flash light if you travel through the house at night - especially in the winter months.
I started to go through pictures for Mom & Dad's album (50th Anniversary) and some of the pictures are hilarious. I even had Lou looking through her older pictures to send to me. She was laughing at some of them and remembering all the funny times. However we have all grown a little in the years gone by and I don't just mean the kids. The nice thing about doing this job is that I can determine which pictures get in and which don't...so siblings be nice to me or you might not see a nice picture of yourself!
Must get some work done - Happy New Year to all and may God bring you health & happiness for 2008.