The kitty is really fitting in

Some pictures of our kitten, Mozart.

Meredith's Kimberley Hockey tournament

Here are a couple of pictures of Meredith playing in the Kimberley Jr. Novice tournament the beginning of March. She scored a goal in this tourney. Will post some video later....

Wine glasses

I made some wine glasses for my book club last summer. Here are two of them. The Blue one is supposed to look like a Monet painting. The green one is actually darker than the what the picture shows and the speckles are green and burgundy. They were fun to make and give! :)

Sometimes my knitting just doesn't turn out...ugh!

The purple/burgundy slippers are just awful. Ick! They don't look bad from this point of view because you are not up close and personal with them. I don't think its the pattern I chose...I think in this case it was the knitter.

I LOVE the little red/white/blue slipper. The pattern is called Knitted Moccasin Slipper and I did this one slipper in one evening! Too cute! Fits Vincent and Meredith so will be working on making them bigger/smaller to fit whoever...

The 5th Dwarf

Finished sleepy. Can't you see just how tired he is? OK...2 more to go...Doc and Happy, but am taking a small dwarf break and am planning painting something else!

Meredith played during intermission of a Kootenay Ice game

On January 9th Meredith got the privilege of playing during intermission of a Kootenay Ice game in Cranbrook. (I have video of this, too) The kids got to get all dressed up in special jerseys and go on the ice and have Shiver as a goalie (Shiver is their Sasquatch mascot). She had a blast. She was quite the performer out there! It was very special for us as the nurse that wouldn't leave her side when she had her tonsillectomy was there and got to see her skate. (see previous post about her tonsillectomy in July 2008) She also had her picture taken with their one foreign player for the Czech republic. It was a fun evening.

Neat pictures of Christina

I had this little digital camera for a while now but the battery went dead and I couldn't find the charger for the longest time. I finally found it, charged the battery and found out that I had pictures on there from the fall of 2007! The camera has some fun things on it that you can use to modify pictures. I just thought I'd post these pictures because they turned out so neat! So here is Christina laying in a pile of leaves in the fall of 2007.

Vincent the Ref?

In the last post I mentioned something about lightening striking Vincent because he was dressed as an angel? Well, here is another case where I thought lightening to strike. Our son dressed as a ref. This is the boy that has already been in a hockey fight...in the stands. He starts hockey in the fall...please pray for us and for my nerves. Don't know if I can handle his hot headed temper on the ice. HaHa!

Vincent's Nursery School Christmas Program

This year the 4 year old class of the Creston Valley Nursery school dressed as angels. With our dear Vincent (who is known to get into trouble) I thought lightening would strike with him dressed as an angel. LOL I also think that this was the first year he didn't throw a fit to sit on Santas lap! It was cute! I will hopefully have some video to post of this at a later time. (I'm happy just getting pictures up right now!)

4/7 of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

Over a year ago Meredith asked me if I would paint Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs in ceramics for her. So she batted her big green eyes, flashed her cute smile, and giggled. How was I suppose to say NO. So 15 months later I have finally finished my 4th dwarf and am currently working on the 5th (but will be taking a break so that I can paint something cool for the Family Reunion silent auction). So in the picture are Dopey, Bashful, Grumpy, and Sneezy. I am working on Sleepy now and have Happy yet to go. Snow White is finished already...will take a picture of her with all the dwarfs when they are ALL done!

Mom's new 'bad habit'

In January I started knitting. I wasn't going to, but my kids kinda forced me into it. :) Our church has a group called The Knit Wits. They knit/crochet for charities and do a prayer shawl ministry, too. The youth in our church decided that they wanted to do this, too. I said that I would help with the group but WOULD NOT learn to knit...I didn't need another 'bad habit'. (my other 'bad habits' are quilting and encaustic wax art) Well....I learned and I love it!! I have knitted 3 toques (hats), and poncho, and am halfway done with a pair of slippers. (I have also learned how to knit dishcloths) I'm getting there. I just find it so relaxing. I am excited to keep learning new stitches and working on different projects. Christina, Shayne, and Meredith (she also does the loom) are knitting with needles and Vincent knits with a loom. They all do a good job (sorry, no pictures of their work as they haven't finished anything) except Christina has a hard time following a pattern. For example, she got the hand of increasing on her dishcloth. She was supposed in increase until she had 45 stitches on her needle, the start to DECREASE. Well, she took her knitting with her on the ski bus, when she got home she had 103 stitches. She knew what DECREASING meant..but decided to do her own thing (that's our Christina!).

So here are a few pictures of what I have knitted.

Merry Christmas

Thank your for all the gifts that gave the kids this year. They loved them!

Christmas Eve Service 2008 "The Christmas Presence"

The youth at our church did the little play "The Christmas Presence". Yes, we did the same play in Wishek in 2006. The kids did a great job. The performance was wonderful. Catherine was our 'special angel' and promptly yelled out to all of us that she could see and then started to jump up and down and had to then be taken off stage...it went better than we expected. ;) The bottom is picture is the bulletin board in 0ur church basement that the older kids did. They wanted something 3-D...I think they did a great job!

Meredith and her Spinoza Bear

The end of February Meredith was lucky to recieve a Spinoza Bear from the Creston Eastern Star and the Canadian Legion. Some of you don't know what a Spinoza Bear is...he is a large fuzzy bear with a CD player inside of him. He comes with 2 CDs that sing songs and tell stories that help children that are going through difficult times handle what is happening to them. He came with the CD player, 2 CDs, headphones, a book with the story of Spinoza, and a tote bag to carry him in. It was a very special day when she got her bear and we have had fun sharing Spinoza and his story with all of her friends. (I know the clip from the paper isn't a good one...but wanted to share it with my humble followers)

I also know that I have a lot of catching up to do on here...I finally have unloaded my cameras and will slowly start adding to the site. First the still pictures and then videos as they take longer to do! So, please, be patient with me. :)

Home from Calgary with GREAT news!

We got to Calgary at about 6pm Monday night. Checked into our hotel and promptly left to go find Boston Pizza and a movie theater. With the help of Google maps, we found both without problem! So sat down and had a wonderful quiet supper and then went and saw the Jonas Brothers 3-D concert movie. We were the only 2 in the theater! After that is was back to the hotel room and off to bed.

We got up early the next morning to have a fabulous breakfast at Denny's and met a friend of mine (and Shawn's) Liz. Had a nice visit. Then it was time for check out and head to the hospital.

First off Meredith went for her echocardiogram. The tech said that all looked o.k. as far as she saw. So now, to find her friend Travis.

We had a nice visit with Travis and his mom. They seem to be doing well. Meredith and Travis just kinda giggled at the eachother the entire time we were there. It was cute. Then we went to the cafeteria for a little lunch before her appointment with Dr. Midgley.

Dr. Midgley looked at all her lab numbers, her blood pressures, her height (she grown 3cm since September), her weight (still the same as September), her echo she had this morning, and said to keep doing what we are doing and see her again in a year! WOW!!! So she still has to take her pills every morning, and check her blood pressure every day, and have her labs drawn every 3 months, but hey! That's a good thing! So in one year it will be back to Calgary for the once over...another echocardiogram, an ultrasound of her kidneys/liver/pancreas/spleen, twenty four hour blood pressure monitor, and appointment with Dr. Midgley. (we'll have her yearly labs drawn at home before we go).

So please understand that she still has Polycystic Kidney Disease, its just that right now all things are very stable.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. They are working!

Love,
Renelle and family

Heading to Calgary tomorrow

Meredith and I will be leaving for Calgary tomorrow to go and see her doctor again. He wants her to have and echocardiogram and an appointment then to see him. So we will be off after dinner on Monday, and will be home Tuesday night. Nothing to worry about, he just wants to check things out. Her last echo in August was fine, so this one will hopefully be, too. So thoughts and prayers are appreciated. (Shawn is taking Monday afternoon off, and Tuesday, too, and will be home with the kids.)

While we are there we will be visiting one of Meredith's little hockey buddies that is in the hospital. His name is Travis Steed and was just diagnosed last week with Leukemia. His family appreciates all prayers. He has started chemo and is doing well.

Will keep you updated by email, blog,and facebook, too.

Love,
Renelle