Baseball.

Malcolm is playing his first year of Minors this year. He's having some difficulty adjusting, fingers crossed things will improve. It comes down to his fear of getting hit by the ball when playing catch. I've been trying to help him, but he's very unmotivated and extremely stubborn. Roger would like him to continue to play little league, at least until he's 12, but we'll have to see if he continues to have fun. Here are a few shots from his first game. He went 0/2, but hopefully things will improve as the season goes on.





On Thursday we had some bad news on Thursday afternoon. A visit to the vet was due after Roger found some growths in my mouth. They were removed on Friday and biopsy results should come in on Monday. If the tumors are malignant, then we'll have to decide whether or not to start treatment. Good news is that there's a very effective vaccine on the market that has been working well.

First day of school.

Melody started grade one and Malcolm is now in grade four. It's been a long and eventful summer and Roger and Tracey are more than happy to see the kids start the school year. All in all, they've been pretty great the last two days. They even started Tae Kwon Do on Tuesday! Here are their first day of school pics. Elsa and Batman are on their way to school.

Busy, busy....

Summer is on the horizon which means the kids are going to be out of school. There is a mix of activities planned including camps, mommy days, daddy days, Carol days and grandma days. We don't really know how other parents manage to arrange full-time care for 11 weeks!

The weather in May has been absolutely fabulous, with very little precipitation and apparently a record for dry weather. In fact, Roger's old student from Korea who has been in Canada visiting has been able to take advantage of some very good weather. It's hard to believe a whole month has flown by for them, they're on their way back to Korea in a few days. Tonight Roger and Tracey were able to have them over for a bbq dinner at the house. The kids played together so well, despite a pretty significant language barrier. They told Roger that Malcolm tried to take his time in enunciating and slowing down his speech so they could understand, but Melody on the other had talked so fast that they didn't catch many of the things she said. It's fantastic to see how well the kids got along. Here are some pictures from their visit and a quick trip to the park before dinner. The number 1 thing I observed between cultures is how reserved and quiet Korean kids are, or perhaps it's an indication how loud and crazy Malcolm is.

Easter and stuff...

No one said that parenting was easy and for what ever reason it's been extra tough on Tracey and Roger these days. Forget those wistful thoughts of the kids getting easier as they get older. The fighting, complaining and whining can be so exhausting! The silver lining in all this came last week when the kid's report cards came home. Honestly, they couldn't have been better. There were so many kind words, words that would make anyone proud. There were things written by their teachers that literally brought tears to Tracey's eyes. The good and bad of it all is that they know the kids can be extra great and for what ever reason at home it's a different story. We're all keeping our fingers and paws crossed that things will get better soon. For the most part it's a maturity issue coupled with some typical sibling rivalry.

Last Friday, we had some friends over for brunch and a little Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Fun was had by all. It was nice seeing everyone. In our midst, some of the friends are going through a lot. Roger and Tracey find themselves in a situation where many of their friend's parents are getting older and even some dealing with some pretty serious illnesses across the board. I guess as we go on there will be more of this happening.

Last week Malcolm was experiencing some serious leg pain, just above his knee. He actually stayed home for a day. He couldn't walk, he couldn't even move. Roger went so far as to get him a pair of crutches. The ultrasound and x-rays came back this week and the doctor said that he has some calcium deposits near his knee. From the sound of things, it's quite typical and no cause for concern. It's lucky cause baseball season is just starting. Roger decided to keep him back a year and play Rookies again this year. He figured that he wasn't quite ready for Minors yet. This year's rule change with Little League actually cheated him out of a year.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks, including ones from Sierra's 4th birthday.

Happy Birthday Tracey

Another year another birthday, this year may not be a milestone year, but certainly we're all getting older.  This year Tracey's birthday coincided with a professional development day with the kids. So much for having a relaxing day! They did manage to get Carol's help to watch the kids for a few hours so they could get away to a movie. They quite enjoyed "The Imitation Game", but it was such a sad story. After the movie the family enjoyed a dinner out at the Match Eatery in New Westminster. The food was great, but unfortunately the food took a really long time to come out.











Melody also started her skating lessons from school this past week too.





2015 will mark the big "10" for me too! It's hard to believe.

Summer is winding down...

The sad news is that the kids are still not back in school. As every day passes there seems to be less and less hope that a negotiated settlement will happen. Melody has officially missed what would have been her first week of school and Malcolm's summer vacation just keeps going. It has been a good summer for the whole family, with trips, swimming, bike rides, food truck festivals, kite flying and the usual end of summer visit to the PNE. The family is actually headed out for one last camping trip this weekend before the cooler temperatures settle in. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. Our apologies for the late update.

Life goes on...

Sad news, Papa is still in the hospital. Now he's just shy of four months. It's hard to imagine that he's been out of the house for that long. Grandma still goes up to visit him everyday, most days are good, but in truth the family is really just playing this long waiting game with no end in sight. The recent bout with pneumonia seems under control, but now there's word of another infection. We need him to get stronger, eat more and eventually move around so he can regain some of that strength.

In other news the kids are well, they still fight like cats and dogs, but from the sound of things that's pretty normal. Most days Roger and Tracey have to referee and keep them separated in order to have some peace and quiet in the house.

Now that it's May the school year is winding down. Malcolm is doing well in most subjects, especially his writing and reading. Roger and Tracey have been trying to work on improving his math, but most days are a struggle to get the extra work in. I think through their efforts there has been some improvement, albeit incremental.

 We're coming up on Mother's Day this Sunday. I'm not sure what's planned, but again with Papa in the hospital things have been difficult. Here are some pictures from Malcolm's baseball games and some film shots Roger has taken during March and April. He loves that Mamiya RZ67 camera.