our travels

our friends recently moved to erie, pennsylvania and we thought we'd better go check things out, since it's only an hour or two away. we went to this fun, but slow service, restaurant. it used to be a firehouse. the food was lovely and the decor was great. all old firehouse stuff. we loved being with our friends and wish they were only 10 minutes away.

ryan and i decided to zip up to toronto, an hour and a half the other way for a belated 10th anniversary celebration. we were definitely the toast of the town, with ryan limping down the street with a newly frozen wart on the bottom of his foot, and my recently-biopsied self feeling a little tired! we stayed on the harbourfront in a great hotel, had a delicious dinner, visited a crazy art gallery, and did a little window shopping. it was nice to get away for a bit.

on the cancer front...the biopsy came back positive for more dcis. basically more malignant cells. so tuesday is the day to meet with the surgeon and make a plan of action! i'm sure it will include another surgery and probably radiation. so, we'll be hoping they get it all this time and then we can be done with it.

thanks again for your love and prayers. we're so grateful to all of our friends and family. i know we are able to stay positive because there are so many prayers being said in our behalf. we love you!

starting over...sort of

a quick update for all my fans... (hee, hee)

today ry and i went to this place

it's called roswell park cancer institute. in my estimation, it's a pretty great place. they have lovely volunteers who open the doors for you, volunteer pianists and musicians playing in the lobby, the nicest nurses and technicians, a place for kids to make get-well cards for patients, complimentary water, coffe and tea, tables covered in paper for you to write your thoughts, etc.

so, we went to hear results on a new mri i had done last week. after four hours, many mammograms and an ultrasound, it has been determined that we need another biopsy. they see more calcifications and the biopsy will determine if they are malignant. the biopsy will be tomorrow and results from pathology should be available by friday.

it feels a bit like starting over. but we know that whatever the results are, we'll be fine and get it all taken care of.

a gigantic thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. also, a gigantic thank you to all my local loves for the babysitting and flowers and kind thoughts and lovely gifts. how did i get so lucky? i really have the most wonderful friends!

isn't she lovely?

and no, i'm not talking about me. although...

here's what we've been up to

the peeps and i have been keeping busy. we've been producing and presenting puppet shows... we've been serving tea in the garden...(ok, that's really just lunch in the backyard)

we've been hanging out at the beach...

also we've been...

to the movies a few times

playing with friends

swimming at the pool

riding bikes

and a few other fun things.

it's been a good summer, but we're really anxious to get our letters from the school to tell us who we'll have for teachers this next school year! everyday we cross our fingers that we'll have a letter in the mailbox, but not so far. maybe tomorrow!

buffalo summer

my friend edon heard something like this on the radio...
"welcome to buffalo summer, august 10-12"

it's that time

my school time version of "christmas vacation" by mavis staples
(by the way, not my best work)

it's that time...school time is here.
everybody knows there's not a better time of year.
hear that bus, smell the exhaust
hip hip hooray, no more summer vacation!
gotta ton of stuff to monogram
(jing a ling a ling a ling ling)
folders, pens, notebooks, it's so grand,
(jang a lang a lang a lang lang)
gonna make this school year just as great as it can be
can't wait to be in heim elementary.

this old bag, sure is lookin' full.

got ourselves the cutest backpacks in the neighborhood

ain't it fun, summer's almost done

mom's out of fun ideas for summer vacation.

let's all buy supplies and lots of clothes

(jing a ling a ling a ling ling)

trim our hair and match new hairbows,

(jang a lang a lang a lang lang)
give the busdriver the biggest smile that he's ever had
we're so glad that school's in session!

and in the mornings when we are runnin;

we'll want to curl up and do our summer dreamin'

(jing a ling a ling a ling ling)

(jang a lang a lang a lang lang)

summer vacation (repeat)

we're so glad that school is in session!

happy 1st monday of august!

i'll bet you didn't know it was a holiday today...

well, i'm not sure exactly what the holiday is or where it is celebrated, but ry always gets this day off of work. so hooray for this holiday!

we celebrated this day by doing the following...

building a wall for our new shower area

eating lunch at red robin

visiting lowe's for a quick peek at bathroom stuff

laundry (always laundry)

a bit of family home evening

a little trip to the red lips store (that's what aftie used to call dairy queen when she was little, because of the red sign that sort of resembles the shape of lips)

some driveway tennis

a run with aftie as my coach, yelling "run faster old woman!"

a lot of laughing

(good thing i love her, or i would probably have to push her off her bike.)

hope your 1st monday of august was a great one!