No Elton

Well...the weekend has come and gone and no Elton for me! Mike was unable to get tickets...he had to work two functions at the time and was at the metro centre both days, but it was only the uppity ups who got the seats. Did get to hear the sound check though...Mike called me at work on Friday and we played it over the speaker phone...the piano was being played and Elton was singing and then talking to the people...kind of cool. Mike got to drop off some food to his dressing room. White plush carpets...40 pairs of the same type of shoes, in every color imaginable. There was a big wooden armoire with shelves for piles and piles of glasses. Sir Elton wasn't there but his dog dishes were...another time, another place!

Words no Parent wants to hear

..."I threw up"...yes, that was Graham last night. He was sitting on the toilet (thankfully), too bad his head wasn't in it though...he power puked all over the bathroom floor. As I am cleaning it, he feels a need to describe it...no thanks, don't need that please. I had been eating antipasto before it happened, needless to say, that was done.

Seemed like it was just a one timer, he went to school this morning, who knows?!

é

I finally got my revenge this weekend...you see my parents were kind enough to give my sister an accent in her name...Josée...growing up, I was soooo jealous of this...I use to practice writing my name Année, but those of you who know the pronunciation know it would not sound right...when mom got Josée's birthday cake, of course it had the accent. So before we gave it to Josée, I ate the accent off the cake!!

15 innings

Yes...that's right...I am a good mother, I sat through 15 innings of baseball to watch the Wildcats lose...in case you were wondering how long that takes...it's 5 freaking hours. I couldn't leave, Graham and his friend Connor were too into the game. It was midnight by the time we got home and it was about 5 degrees at that time as well...brr...half the crowd that was left was wrapped in sleeping bags. The only ones not bundled up were the teenagers and the rowdy crowd in the beer area (that area got noisier as the night went on, imagine that).

Yesterday we went to the Acadia men's soccer game, they ended up in a 2-2 draw with UCCB but it was a good game, the best they have played and it was getting pretty rough towards the end. Graham and Connor were quite into that as well. I am trying to convince Elysia to come to the games, it's quite different to watch a live game when the crowd is into it.

My nephew Connor (not friend, Connor) made the Valley AAA team for his age group...we were quite excited for him. Congrats Connor!

Mike has not been feeling well...I think he has the cold I had last week. He's like a little boy when he's sick...something like this...

Happy Birthday Josee

My oldest sister, Josee is 42 today...you've come a long way baby!!

Oh yeah, it was me who called your work to make sure everyone knew!

To top it all off, it was freaking cold this morning and I had to scrape off my windshield. That's not a good thing to wake up to.

Elysia got her IPOD back yesterday, it had been stolen out of her knapsack from her locker. A boy in her class is now suspended as a result. The VP had paged her to come to the office to ask her about it (see, it had gone through the washer this summer and had a water stain on the screen and the screen flickered so it was quite distinctive)...anyway, she said while she was walking to the office, she was really nervous because she thought they were calling her there because something had happened with Graham. Sometimes we forget how the fears we have for Graham are the same she has...I told her that deep down, she must love him, she said not to tell him.

Busy Weekend

Let's see...Friday night, Graham and I went to the Acadia soccer game. He really enjoyed it for a few reasons...it was under the lights...the crowd was really into it (I think half of them were drunk, but it made for entertainment on his end) and St FX scored a goal on themselves. Elysia had gone to her friend Taylor's house. She wanted to spend the night but mean old mom said no...I do not know her parents so it's a no for sure, she wasn't thrilled with my answer but my job as a parent does not include saying yes to everything. Mike was home by himself with Sofie...that's mom's little dog. We babysat Sofie for mom this weekend, she a good little dog and we can certainly wear her out.

Sat, Graham had his baseball tournament. They played two games...he did quite well. Did some pitching, hit he ball a couple of times, only got out once on a pop up and did some catching. Sat night, Mike, Graham and I went to watch the Kentville Wildcats play...they managed to squeak out a win to keep the series alive. Needless to say, Elysia was not up for a ball game. Graham's friend, Connor was suppose to come with us but as his father put it, he was "serving sanctions"...I think that's a polite was of saying he got in crap.

Sunday it was back to the ball diamond. Mike and I had volunteered our time in the canteen and on the BBQ...guess which part Mike did. Josee, Jeff and Connor came to watch. Sarah and Elysia spent some "cousin" time together. Graham was putting on the show for Auntie Josee and Uncle Jeff...he has picked up alot of the mannerisms from watching baseball on tv...like putting his hand up to the ump while he's "setting up" at the plate, and staring down the pitcher when he almost gets hit with the ball, I thought for a second he might charge the mound...just kidding but the look was menacing. He pitched the last inning and he had to hold them for a win or tie...Graham's team was only up by one and he manged to hold them off for a tie...and if anyone has watched much mosquito baseball, they know that's saying alot for a pitcher at that level. All in all I think he had a good tournament...oh yeah, to top it all off, we went and watched Acadia soccer again...they got their butts whooped.

Soccer registration for the kiddies is this week...I find September such an expensive month...gotta go, my husband informed that So You Think You Can Dance Canada is on...not that he watches it of course.

Morning Visitor

This morning after my shower, I thought I would check to see if it rained on the clothes I had hung out the night before...imagine my surprise when I saw our visitor. A lovely skunk was sniffing around our back yard. Quite honestly I have only ever seen them squashed on the side of the road. Graham got out of bed to take a peak. I checked to see if Mike had left yet so he wouldn't freak it out...anyway, Mike threw a rotten pear at it and it kind of looked at him like "ah, you throw like a girl..." so I yelled out and told it to go home...off he scampered into the woods...hope he's not there tomorrow...I'm not much of one for wildlife in the yard.

The kiddies headed back to school last week. It's their last year "ever" (as Elysia informed me) in the same school. I think the school gods were laughing when they assigned them the same lunch hour, so they are both in the cafeteria at the same time..."shoot me now" is how Elysia voiced her opinion of it...she seemed to have no problem sending her lunch container home with him though, so I informed her that Graham was not her mule and I discussed respecting each other's spaces...yeah, right, good in theory, I am sure I will hear more of it as the year goes on.

They both seemed happy with their new teachers and the kids in their classes.

We went to Heart Talk on the weekend. It's a conference put on by the Heart Centre at the IWK. There are programs for the kids during the day (Graham's group went on the Harbour Hopper) and then they have lectures, etc for the parents. We learned a great deal, they talked alot about transitioning from a children's facility to adult care and how alot of times, men in particular don't take proper care of their condition, so they gave us ideas of how to prepare them for that...I said that I cannot imagine the day Graham goes to the cardiologist and I am not allowed in the room and I ask him how it went and I get a simple "fine"...AGH! The Heart Talk can get to you though because I find it's a little of the "my kids was sicker than your kid"...some parents tend to dominate any discussion with what went on in their case. They had a few younger people talk to the parents, adults and one teenager to discuss what it is like from their perspective, they were really good.

On Friday night we went up to stay with Patti and Tim so we didn't have to leave so early for the Heart Talk. It was alot of fun. It gave Elysia an opportunity to visit some of her Halifax friends. Mike, Graham and I had a nice visit with Patti, Tim and the boys. Keegan and Hayden are getting big and they seemed to enjoy having Graham there. Mike and I had a good laugh when we went to bed. Patti had been so worried about us being cold sleeping downstairs, we had to tell her not to turn on the electric stove and then we realized there were polar fleece sheets on the bed (Mike cannot stand them)...I think Patti and Mike are on complete opposite ends of the hot/cold scale! Wish our visit had been longer, I think we will have to do that again.

We hustled back to get ready for the big storm on Sunday, made sure we had propane and there was water in the cooler...anyway, the storm was a bit of a dud down here, sure we had some rain and thunder but nothing near what they had predicted. I was more worried about my sunflowers getting knocked down than anything. I have grown alot of sunflowers this year, some are as high as the gutters on the house (see the picture).


Mike hates them, he thinks they are too tall for the front of the house, I love them. Maybe next year I won't grow them as high out front but I will sure plant more varieties, I think they are like a ray of sunshine.

Work is still the same...YUCK! Aw well, it makes me laugh so that's a good thing!

2 More Sleeps

2 more sleeps and then the teachers get them! It's time for my kiddies to go back, they are tired of looking at each other. Elysia has been up for 5 minutes and I have yelled at them twice. They cannot be in the same room together. Good luck to the teachers! Of course, they are in different grades so they won't see each other much.

Graham went to the Berwick Gala Days last night with Connor and his family. They went on the Tilt a Whirl (otherwise known as the Hurl a Whirl) and the Zipper (otherwise known as the Squasher)...they had a great time and watched the fireworks, which according to Graham were "awesome" and lasted, like, half an hour...most likely 10 minutes but it made them happy.

We had great hopes of spending the day at Blomidon, but Mother Nature has other plans. She apparently wants me to spend one of my only 5 statutory holidays indoors...kids, you better get the rain coats out! I think we may still go after lunch. High tide is around 2:30 so we may go after that. Rain, rain...go away! I have some clothes out on the line and trust me, they are well rinsed. Lots of thunder rolled through yesterday, lots of noise and rain.

We had mom out for supper the other night...nice pan fried haddock, I love it. Mom brought Sofie out and we wore her out. Graham took her for a walk and of course, she did a number 2 and Graham did not have a bag with him, so we had to retrace his steps afterwards and pick it up. Always said I would not do it...I am a sucker! We have offered to keep her while mom is in BC this year, the kids are looking quite forward to it (I am a little too).

Friday at work we were quite short handed. The owner was not happy because people were taking time off at the end of the month, imagine the nerve of tying in vacation time with a holiday...how dare they?! Now the policy is that he has to check every single vacation request. Way to micromanage! Still hoping for something else, have been sending out resumes, don't know what bothers me more, being stuck there or no one else calling me! Boohoo! Well, lets see who makes it through this week.