Shania Update

Two days before the Fun Fair Shania's parents were told the pain she was experiencing is that the cancer has returned - reading their blog - it's hard to imagine what these parents are going through - when her strength returns she will begin chemotherapy again.

The fair was an amazing experince to attend - it's nice to know that there is a community out there to support you when you may need it. Dana did amazing work - getting all those volunteer's - high school students, students parents & grandparents, neighbours, people who didn't even know Shania helped out - I think everyone rose to the challenge when asked - what more could you ask for.

Fun Fair

So it was only 4 nights ago that I had a long talk with Jason about my feelings toward where we live. I was feeling down and I'm not quite sure what started it, maybe I was tired. I had an awful sense that I had compromised who I was by moving to Markham 6 years ago. It wasn't the first time I had felt this way; having gone through high school here after living in a very small town, I had negative feelings toward a lot of the people here and the materialism that went along with this somewhat affluent town. It's sometimes hard not to get caught up in the buying game and having stuff that's as good as your friends and neighbours, and I was worried that maybe I didn't want to live here anymore. It's hard to believe that was only 4 nights ago.

Today was one of the most bitter-sweet days of my life and I know that I love where I live, not for it's homes or stores, but for it's people.

Shania's Sunflower of Hope Fun Fair was today and I expect we raised a lot of money for neuroblastoma research. Shania has not been doing so well lately and it was looking like she might not even make it to the Fun Fair that she had dreamed up.

It was during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that I was most humbled. Shania and her family and the mayor of Markham and our school principal stood on the stage before an audience of all our neighbours, co-workers and teachers, our crossing guard, our friends and families and welcomed everyone to the Fun Fair. And it was then that I realized that I was a part of something very special.

The Fun Fair was a huge success, as a fund raiser and as a community event and I was honoured to be a part of it.

Booty Stuff

So this fair is getting really big....Dana now has an army of 150+ volunteers from the community, high school students, parents, teachers, neighbours and friends. It's going to be a huge event and they are going to raise a lot of money for research which is great.

Dana has been slotting everyone a time to do a task - there are food tables, games, pony rides, prize tables and so much more so everyone is needed - if anyone is around that can help out to volunteer - she still needs a few hands!

There isn't too much new around here - the kids are good, busy with swimming lessons - Henry is in the pool by himself now - which is great and he loves it. Dana was putting him to sleep last night when he asked this question "Mommy...Is booty a bad word?" He is 3! Booty? Come on! I don't know what kind of music this kid has been listening to.

Fun Fair Update

Just heard that two Toronto Maple Leafs players will be at Shania's Fun Fair to sign autographs!!

Storm

Yesterday afternoon we had a weird wind storm here in Markham. It started to rain then the wind picked up and didn't stop - the patio chairs started to fly and the kids toys outside were all over, then the power went out. When it slowed down I went outside to check things out and a few pieces of siding were ripped off and now they are hanging by a nail - I'll have to fix it tonight when I get home from work. The barbecue is now officially garbage - it was hanging in there, but now it's in pieces. We got off lucky though - there are several trees around the neighbourhood that are completely uprooted, some landed on houses and cars. Our friends tree landed on the kids playhouse.

The power finally came back on in the middle of the night - I guess it woke up Dana and she had to get up to turn off all the lights and the radio - and set the alarm - whew.

There's going to be a lot of firewood in Markham available.

Fun Fair!

Just wanted to let everyone know about an upcoming event here in Markham on April 28th - a Fun Fair for kids.

Dana has been very busy volunteering her time for the past few weeks and is in charge of organizing all of the volunteers who are helping out.

The fair is for a little girl at our kids school named Shania. She has Neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer and she started raising money for more research by making and selling bracelets, and now has started to organize this Fun Fair - which has grown into a massive production with many people in the community involved.

Shania is in grade three, she was in Hannah's class at the start of this year. She was diagnosed in June 2006, has gone through Chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant and is currently in remission.

Click here if you want to read more about her, her family also has a blog about her on this site as well.

Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday, Mae!

Tax Time

So I'm a little late filing this year I was loading all my files into the car to go over and use my parents' software to file on-line. Hannah was asking what it all was. I explained about earning money and the government and what our taxes pay for and I was pretty proud of the child-friendly description I had given until Hannah said, "but we don't even take taxis".

Happy Easter (a little late)

Hope everyone had a good one!

Happy Birthday, Doug!

We'll see you soon!

Street Party

I haven't blogged in so long I couldn't remember the password....jeez.

Last night Dana and I went out with 75 other people from our street to a meet and greet party - a group of people on our street organized this so we could all get to know everyone on our little court. They hired a band, there was dancing, food, drinks - the works. It was a good time and everyone had name tags on with their house number - my first thought when we walked into the party was "who are these people"...it was a good way to get to know more people and to put a name to all the faces you see when you go for a walk. There is already talk of a summer corn roast on the street in the summer....we'll see what happens.

Work has been busy, not too much new there. I have been swimming a lot lately - steadily swimming on average 2500 m or so - 3 times a week - I'm sure I constantly smell like chlorine...
I am also putting together a beach volleyball team - should be fun, I have 8 people so far signed up and it starts in May - it's not actually on a beach, as there isn't one close by here, but I found this great sports facility that has 5 outdoor beach volleyball courts and I have a good bunch of people signed up so it should be interesting - especially because most of us don't play volleyball.

The kids are all good - growing up too quickly. I said to Dana the other day "do you know Hannah is closer to 20 than you are?" Didn't go over....I wasn't trying to say it any other way than just my disbelief that time is flying by so quickly.

Anyway that's it....hope to blog more....see ya - J

April Fools

Hannah at some point this morning realized it was April 1st. It got awfully quiet and just as I was wondering what the kids were up to, the doorbell rang...

Later I overheard Hannah telling the boys, "This is the first April Fool's Day that went just perfect!"