Peyton Valerie Dudgeon

I'm behind on blogging....again. Anyway, I had some posts started that I left and this was one of them, so I figured on a relaxing day like today I'd finish them all, so you will get to read multiple posts!

My sister Kaitlyn delivered a beautiful baby girl, Peyton Valerie on November 29, 2012 at 7:39am weighing 6 lbs 10 oz. She is just so sweet and we have been told very laid back and cuddly. Even better she looks just like my sister and God gave her red hair! Valerie is Kaitlyn's middle name and my Grandmother's first name. We are so looking forward to cuddling this sweet little girl in 5 days!! Here's a few pictures:

A Quick Update

Major busy/exciting points in our life right now consist of the following:


1. I'm practicing piano for a choir concert this coming Sunday. I'm accompanying a choir of about 25 adults in a musical that is 1 1/2 hours long. My wrists are holding up alright, but I've been busy alternating between heat and ice packs and just praying I can make it to the end of the concert.

2. Scott has started his Senior A hockey games, and I love them! They are the one thing that I will not book anything else at the same time and it's my enjoyment time. He has 2 games this coming weekend. He has also lost over 20 pounds. Yes I said 20 pounds, and they're still dropping off him! He will be shaking his head when he sees this, but I had to say it!

3. We are fostering (yes I said fostering and it will stay that way) a lab/collie puppy for the Humane Society named Simon. He is absolutely adorable and we love him, but we know that 3 dogs is just too many. A loving farm would be the perfect place for him so he has some "jobs" of his own to do. We've had him for 3 weeks and will keep him until somebody is approved for adoption.

4. We are going to be an Aunt and Uncle sometime this week! We're already counting down the days until Christmas so we'll be able to meet the new addition to the Dudgeon family. And see sweet Ellee, it's been a year!!

5. We did family pictures on Sunday and am so excited to see how they turned out!! We have some improvements happening in our house in the next couple of weeks and it will be a focal point.

6. I love Christmas season!!!! It is my most busiest time as a band teacher, but I absolutely love it. Even more, decorating the house for Christmas, ahhh I could spend a fortune. It doesn't help that Scott loves Christmas too and isn't always the best at saying no to more Christmas decor.

7. 17 days of school left and then we will be on the plane to Ontario. Can't believe it'll be a year since we were there, time is traveling by fast.

30 Days of School Left....

...yes I've started the countdown. I even have students who make sure the countdown is changed on my white board every morning. There is just something about when November hits that it feels that much closer to my favourite holiday of the year than in October.

Scott and I are REALLY looking forward to this coming weekend. We're head to Prince Albert for Friday and Saturday. Scott's coaching in a hockey tournament and it's this weekend that we've turned into a tradition of purchasing our Christmas decor for the year! Last year, we bought all the stuff for our Christmas tree with left over gift cards from our wedding, we were in a basement apartment and I was bound to make it beautiful. This year, we're headed for decor for the house.
Outdoor and indoor lights, garland and my most exciting things yet - shelves!
Scott is building this for the main entrance...

Yes it's from pinterest! We've also decided how to decorate the living room wall over the grand piano, so I'm just so excited!!! In Sask, Rememberance Day is a government holiday, we also get an extra day this weekend for the time we spend doing Parent/Teacher Interviews, so every November we have a 4 day weekend - it is wonderful! We're both looking forward to a fun couple of days out of Meadow Lake, and a couple of relaxing days at home.

 We don't have a lot of over exciting events happening in our life right now, but at the same time we enjoy that. This year is very much more relaxing than last year, and we know what to expect. Last year at this time we were both pulling our hair out with report cards. Yes it is still a busy and stressful time, but a little more relaxing when we know what to expect.  We are learning to treasure life moments and enjoy all that we have been blessed with.

Halloween Youth Night

Scott and I have the privilege of helping out with the youth group at our church every Wednesday night. Once a month, we are the leaders of a small group for Grades 7-10. We have enjoyed getting to know everyone, and every week someone brings a new friend, so our group is growing!

Last night we had all boys, yes 6 boys showed up! Scott led a Bible study on "The world" and talked a lot about practical situations that these boys face everyday, especially at school. After that it was pumpkin carving time - So. Much. Fun! Scott and I stood back and let them go, and it was funny to see the ideas they came up with. Needless to say, our pumpkins are ready to go for Wednesday evening!

One Crazy Day!

2 posts in one day, I'm starting to get caught up!

Gilmour has been having some health issues. We went through a week of antibiotics to get rid of an infection. He was still having lots of trouble with walking, and he wouldn`t go down stairs or run. He loved to go for walks, but as soon as we got on the street, he would limp and move at a snail`s pace. Scott took him into the vet's yesterday, but Gilmour was too excited to stay still enough to have his legs checked. It was decided since he hadn't been neutered yet, that they would do it today as well as x-ray him while he was sedated.

On Tuesday nights I teach piano for 1.5 hours, once I'm done, Scott usually takes off to coach hockey and then to his own practice. After teaching, Scott appeared from the basement with a large swollen cheek, in a lot of pain, and said he wasn't going to hockey. I knew if he wasn't going to hockey, something was really wrong. His wisdom tooth that had already came through his gum was infected. He called our dentist who told him he could pull it at 7am. So this morning, I drove Scott to the dentist for 7am, and took Gilmour to the vet for the day; all before going to work.

When I picked Gilmour up this afternoon I received the prognosis. He has panosteitis which is a bone disease. He may have it the rest of his life, or it may spontaneously go away. It is incredibly painful however, so for the next 2 weeks he's on a strong pain killer and will be re evaluated after that. It also means no long walks. After all of the scares we've had with him the last few weeks, we are incredibly relieved to hear this, as we'll be able to help him out without bursting our bank account!

To top it all off, I have a wonderful husband who wrote me this, this evening:

From the day I said I do

I always knew,

There would come a day

That I would say,

I love you

From a different point of view.

Now I know we've had ups and downs,

We've had smiles and we've had frowns.

But, today I have found,

My heart beating a new sound.

You did everything for me,
And still took care of Gilly.

I really don't know how,
To say thank you now.

All the things you have done
Not many of them fun.
To take care of me,
I must really be lucky.

From way before the day I said I do,
I have loved you.

Thanksgiving

Scott's Grandma Reatta decided she would like to come visit, and Thanksgiving weekend worked out perfectly. Mom and Dad Fransky came with her, and we had a great weekend! Best of all, we had a full turkey supper. It is my plan one day to learn how to cook a turkey, but for now, I'm okay with letting those that enjoy making it do it for us. We had the full supper, stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, pie....Everything! It was fantastic!



We were so happy to have Grandma here, and feel blessed that she chose to come visit us. Time travels so quickly, and often we overlook some things in our life that we can be thankful for. It`s hard to believe that we are already well into our second year of work/living in Meadow Lake. God has given us so much to be thankful for!
 

He hears everything

In all honesty, I woke up last Sunday in tears.  It was one of those mornings where you just plain miss all of your family. We LOVE it here, and by 'LOVE,' we'd be content to live here the rest of our lives, but there are those days that it's sad to know that our closest loved ones are 3 provinces away. We headed to church, and had a great rest of the day relaxing before Monday came. Sunday night we received a phone call, Ken and Lucy Turgeon were out west and wanted a visit. We used to go to church with them at Farrand Street Bible Chapel in Thunder Bay - I was so excited! We can't say thank you enough to them, it made our week fantastic, and we loved seeing them. Even more, they came with spiritual encouragement for us, which is invaluable. Thank you so much for coming to see us!!

 I had my first supervision of this year done last Thursday as well. The superintendent of our school comes in to watch us teach 3 times during the year of all first and second year teachers on a permanent position. It went awesome, and only 2 left to go this year! Scott has his first one for the  year the first week of October. Always a bit nerve wracking, but really nice to hear a good report after you're done.

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving this year as well, Scott's parents are coming out with Grandma Reatta. We are so excited to know that she is coming to visit - we are so blessed with the family we have!

This week is another busy one too. We say that every time, but every week seems to get busier and busier. My concert band starts rehearsals this week, fundraising for the trip begins Friday, I'm loving teaching piano, hockey coaching has started, hockey practices start this week or next and curling starts in 3 weeks! I love fall though and am really stretching ahead, but looking forward to decorating for Christmas in the next couple of months. Since we leave for Ontario for all of Christmas, it's my excuse to have a tree and decorate in November!! Scott has been fighting a really bad cold since Thursday, moving from his head to his chest. Of course, he won't stay still, so he's not feeling much better. I'm waiting for him to crash, and hoping that I do not get it!

Here's a peak at what we put up yesterday in our bedroom! Solitude is a store in town that specializes in framing and decals, Stacey did a phenomenal job for us as we've been working on this project for over a month now - we absolutely love it!

I have to get some tape to get the bottom row of pictures to hang perfectly straight, but otherwise, we absolutely love it!