Melody's first tooth!

Melody felt her wiggly tooth, she tried to pull it out because it felt strange. She got a tissue, wiggled it back and forth and pulled it out! As blood streamed down her chin, she was very excited about it all. Unfortunately, Melody had bad dreams about the tooth fairy. She saw millions of tiny sparkles in her room and thought the tooth fairy was there to take her tooth even though she had written instructions not to. Malcolm's first tooth had to be extracted due to an abscess, which happened when he was six as well. Here are some pictures of the milestone.

On and on...

The good news is that there hasn't been and re-occurrence of any cancer. Roger and Tracey are both happy about that. Eating is good, elimination is good, and even demeanor is quite normal. I think Roger feels bad that a full yawn cannot be achieved, but overall knowing the prognosis, we have to feel happy about our current condition. We'll have to wait and see what happens next.

In other news, Melody passed her belt test. She's now a yellow stripe, one more away from orange belt. She managed to perform her pattern well and break her board on the first try (push-kick). Last week, Roger was able to accompany Melody's class on a field trip to Science World. Apparently, all 5 girls under Roger's supervision were quite good. They explored, played and even managed to learn a few things along the way.

Malcolm is progressing with baseball, but it's been tough. I guess the bottom line is that he's enjoying it, but truth be told we're not sure he's actually getting it? He's yet to overcome his fear of the ball when it comes to batting and catching. It's paralyzing for him. The fear is so great that it truly affect the way her interacts. Roger has tried his best to help him, but ultimately he'll have to do it on his own. Uncle Bill provided some hopeful words mentioning that Ty was also scared last year (his first year of minors) and perhaps Malcolm would come along next year when it came to his fear. In fact, this year Ty was even pitching and making plays at shortstop.

It looks like a busy summer coming up with lots of camping, summer camps and even a week away with friends in Kelowna. We're all looking forward to a great summer filled with sunshine and good times. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks, including some from a day at the ballet with Ballet BC (Roger got to go to the dress rehearsal and take some pictures at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre).

Christmas concerts

We had to split the Christmas concert viewing this year into two, as Melody did the primary one and Malcolm now being in grade 4 was in the intermediate one. It's always such a frenzy at the primary concert with parents jockeying for position to get their best shots with their phones and tablets! Both kids did really well, it's hard to imagine next year that Malcolm will be leading the school as a fifth grader because next year his school will be moving to a middle school system. The kids did well in their performances. Grandma even continued the tradition and went to both concerts!

Conder family Christmas party 2015

A fun time was had by all at the annual Conder family Christmas Party. It was a fun gift exchange, yummy treats and good company as always. Here are some pictures from the event.

Malcolm's Birthday

Malcolm's birthday was a hit, on thursday the family went out to White Spot to celebrate. It was grandma, Roger, Tracey, Carol, Grandpa Harry and Annis for dinner. He got to enjoy his favourite mac and cheese. On Saturday, we had a small party with a number of his friends and classmates at the house. Tracey and Roger had put together a movie theme for his party, with four kinds of popcorn, candy and lot of kid favourites to satisfy the group. Best of all his best friend from school was able to join. Here are some pictures of Malcolm's birthday.

Stubborn as a mule? Stubborn as a 5 year old....

When Melody sets her mind to something, there's pretty much no going back. In many ways it can be positive, but from time to time, it's not fun. She's been unbelievably stubborn ever since she was 2 and a half. When she doesn't want to do something, it's woefully clear that there's no changing her mind. This time the annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch was the victim. Luckily Malcolm, Roger and Tracey enjoyed themselves. In other news, the surgery was a total success. Also, the teeth cleaning only resulted in one extraction. All in all the recovery process has been great, bouncing back quite well. As for the growth, the Vet believes it to be some sort of Melanoma. I don't think Roger and Tracey feel like it has to get tested, especially since it's now been removed. The eyelid will take about 10 days to heal, when the sutures have to be removed. Anyway, here are some recent pictures from the Pumpkin Patch: Malcolm appreciated it.

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.

Summer is winding down.

It's sure been a long summer. We're winding down to the last week with Labour Day long weekend upon us. There are so many highlights from the summer, but one to really remember will be the hot, dry weather in Vancouver. Records were broken, water restrictions were implemented and Roger even came pretty close to buying a portable air conditioner. For Melody, she's been able to really swim, not quite yet confident to jump in the deep end and swim herself out of it, but she can seriously go underwater and propel herself a good 15 to 20 feet. Oh, and she's also mastered the backwards, underwater somersault (something her brother can't do yet). As for Malcolm, it's been a jam packed summer with camps, bike camp, camping and a couple of mini vacations to keep busy. Literally the last weekend before school starts. New backpacks are ready, school supplies and bought and all there is to do is for school to actually start on Tuesday. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks including the family's annual outing to the PNE, uncle Calvin's birthday, and our trip to the Aquarium on our last DaddyDayCare day of the summer. Now the first day of school......