Schroeder Newsletter: April 2011

Hi everyone!

Wow, what a good response. Thanks! This edition will include some never seen before pictures of our family that "Friesen" had hidden away in his old fart slides. Jody dug them up and converted them to this century. Jody thanks so much. The pictures will be at the end of the newsletter.

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JOAN AND GORDON:

This is much more fun than paying bills which I usually do on Sunday afternoons.

Normally a long blog like this would take me hours and hours to put together but fortunately "blogger" has come out of the dark ages and streamlined the way it accepts photo's and now it is a snap. Don't even remind me how hard it was to do in email.

So you are probably wondering how "retirement" is treating me. It was tough the first couple of months, I felt like I was on vacation and at some point I would have to go back to work. It took a long time to figure out I could do my laundry any damn day I wanted to .. not just on the weekends! Now I put a load in on let's say Monday and totally forget that I put it in ... I might remember take it out on Wednesday and have to rewash it again .... this goes on for weeks! Well I might be exaggerating. Poor Gord has to wear his shorts inside out by the time I get my act together. However, I still do my housework on Saturday afternoons ... I cannot break that habit. That is probably just as well, because if I spaced it out like the laundry this place would look like a pig sty.

Our new house is getting built slowly but surely ... mostly slowly. We weren't really prepared to sell the house and move until spring. Winter is too much of a hassle to move. So, they slowed down and are starting back up next week. I discovered that I am NOT a decorator after having to choose every damn thing for the house. So the decorator from Curtis Carpets took pity on us and is helping us through the maze of decisions we have to make in the house. I love her. She has been a great help and am grateful Dynasty Homes provides this service. Actually all the suppliers have been very helpful. Kitchen Craft spent a lot of time with us to make sure we got it right as did the others.

I am seriously going to miss this place and my neighbours. It's funny because when we moved here our street was full of young couples with kids and now they are all grown and gone. Now it looks like a seniors village ... and when we gather on the street to talk we compare how long it took the ambulance to get to the ER! Nice. Getting old is for suckers.

As most of you know Garry was in the HSC with a blood infection after getting a stent replacement. I just found out tonight that he will be coming home tomorrow. That is really good news, because as I was wheeling him around the HSC this afternoon and he was becoming a pain in the ass..LOL.. Okay... mostly my fault ... I kept on nailing him in the wall of the elevator...then I hit two doorways. By the time I got him to his room ... "he was all shook up." So, I will take all the credit for him coming home tomorrow because I knocked that infection out of him.. That is what a sista does...

Joan is still busy with fostering two little 3 month old babies with FAS. I really admire her for what she does for children with problems. Last year she had a "crack" baby .

This will be our forever home. A cottage in the woods ... yet still in the city. Perfect.

We will have a lot of wildlife here. I saw 12 deer sauntering past the house the other day. It's a good thing I don't like to garden.

Here we go ... and don't forget if you want to see a larger picture just click on it and then to get back to the original screen press the upper left hand corner "back" button.

TERRY AND EV:
Hope everyone is well and enjoying the fabulous spring in Winnipeg – it could be a lot worse – we could be in Japan. Give me the Great Canadian Shield any day. All is well with the Torwart family and actually not too much new – yes we are boring – I guess that statement is from Terry and I; not the boys! Terry is really enjoying the semi-retirement phase; best of both worlds. I am still working for at least 2 more years and then can enjoy life and do what I want to do. Because of my surgery last summer I had a lot of holidays that needed to be used up by March. In January my girlfriend and I went on sell-off vacation site for a lark and by gosh we got a deal. Off we went for 2 weeks to Maya Riveria in Mexico and had a grand time. We did a lot of sightseeing and relaxing on the beach. We stayed at all inclusive and the resort was lovely – hmmm maybe next year off to some place different. Brett and Ian are doing well. Both still working at the same jobs and seem to be content. Well that is short and sweet but there really isn’t much more to add. If you are in the neighborhood drop in. All the Best Terry and Ev

TED AND BECKY:
Ted and I are still working and doing well.

Adrian is in training for the Army Reserves, Fort Garry Horse, as a combat engineer. He will graduate on April 17th. He is really enjoying it.

Declan is in grade 10 and doing very well. He is driving and will be able to get his licence in July. Ted and Declan plan to umpire baseball games again this year. They really enjoyed it last year. He is having a Japanese student for the last time this summer.

HAL AND MELISSA:

The last year has definitely been a crazy one in the Farrant household! I will start with Hal -

This time last year Hal was still working at Pacific Motors, as a business manager. In April, he was offered the same position at Pembina Chrysler, which was a BIG step up. We were thrilled, and he switched jobs, then we quickly realized this was not our dream job, but more of a nightmare. He was never home, never saw the kids, and we hated it! So, after 5 months, he quit, and decided to follow his passion of carpentry. He got a job quickly, but as construction work slows down in the winter, he was laid off. We spent a couple months in a pretty rocky situation, but right before Christmas, he got a great job at Prairie Grove Stair Manufacturing in Ile des Chenes. He is loving it there, and we are much happier now!

Because Hal's starting off a new career, I've had to start working part-time, so I went back to Olive Garden, where I've been a server in the past. Hopefully this will only be temporary though, because I miss staying home with my babies.

Teagan's had the roughest year out of all of us. About a year ago, she was diagnosed with (not using the technical terms) a "lazy eye" (I hate this term), her left eye basically stuck in the inner corner. She got glasses, and has to wear a patch on her good eye for two hours a day - this is a daily struggle, as she likes to rip it off. She has very regular visits with a specialist, and even had an MRI a couple months ago. Then last week, she had surgery to try to correct her eye. It looks like it has worked great, and we see a big improvement already.

Bad news is they found something on her MRI scan that they weren't looking for, and she now has to go for regular MRI's to monitor this "abnormality" No clue what it is yet, we are just praying it is benign. She is a very brave, tough girl, and we are so proud of how she's handling this all.

Kaedyn is three. enough said. :) Loves to torment his sister, and wants to be just like daddy. He loves spiderman, Lightning McQueen, and tractors. He's heading off to preschool in the fall.

Last of all, we sold our house a few weeks ago, and just bought another one out in Windsor Park, relocating to get closer to Hal's work. The whole house is original from the 60's, so our plan is to renovate the ENTIRE house, top to bottom. Because of Hal's new job, though, we can get a lot of the material really cheap. So that is our project for the next year!

That's all from us, hope every else had a great year!

Melissa, Halden, Kaedyn and Teagan Farrant

(The close up picture of Teagan is after her surgery, left eye turned out!)

AWWWW

LISA AND JORDAN:

We had a pretty good 2010. Keeping VERY busy with Kalem Jordan's almost 3 year old son (in June) doing respite for my mom and planning a social and a wedding!! We definitely ended 2010 with a bang! Jordan took me by total surprise when he popped the question on Christmas eve! We are in the middle stages of planning the social right now, and hopefully everything will come together in the end. The social is on June 18, 2011 for those of you who don't know and would like tickets. We also just had our food tasting for the wedding tonight, it was a lot of fun!

Kalem is getting very interested in the potty and seems to be taking a liking to it, so we are going with it and hopefully he will be potty trained before we know it! Woo Hoo! He is such a sweet boy and definitely a spitting image of his dad. He is very much in the "why" stage right now. Everything is "why dad?" "How come?". It's funny, whenever we ask him to do something we say "Kalem in 2 minutes it's time for bed" for example, and now his favourite thing to tell us is "OK in 2 minutes" lol damn kids pick up on everything. He's big into hockey too. Loves to go watch dad play hockey. We had him out on the ice this year on bob skates. He liked it but was more interested in the guy clearing the other rink. Ah well maybe next year!

Jordan changed jobs as of right before Christmas. He now works for Wawanesa Insurance on Broadway and Main, and is enjoying the break from working with the public. He is more behind the scenes now writing and changing policy across Canada for farm and home insurance . He is also taking some course upgrades through his work ironically at the MPI building downtown.

I'm still at Pan Am... Not much has changed there.

I did a fair bit of traveling in 2010. In February I went up to Kamloops B.C. to visit my cousin Chelsea(my moms oldest brothers daughter) who had a little girl just before Christmas. She is cute as pie and is going to be our flower girl her name is Camden. I also went on a spur of the moment trip to Las Vegas with 2 of my girlfriends for our 24th birthdays in June. It was a blast. We stayed on the old strip at the Golden Nugget Hotel. It was a great time but next time I think I would stay on the actual strip and maybe go with more then 2 days notice! We also found that 3 nights just wasn't enough time there. We visited the wax museum which was really cool, but also kind of creepy. In March of this year Jordan and I as well as 8 of our friends went to Mexico. We stayed in Playa Del Carmen. It was a great time with good friends. The weather was great except for one day when it rained, but it didn't bother us! Pool bar was open so we sat in the hot tub, all the Americans thought we were crazy and were taking pictures of us from their balcony's! It was pretty funny. We were the only ones outside all day! Stupid Canadians. We also went on a 2 and a half hour catamaran cruise into the ocean to snorkel (my first time) and then visited the Mayan Ruins in Tulum. The ruins were really neat to see, but not a fan of the snorkeling in the middle of nowhere!! Especially when they take you on this cruise feed you booze all morning and then dump you in the middle of the ocean and say "Ok stay with us, we know where the sharks are" AHHH!

Well thats it for now!

Lisa and Jordan

CHERI AND SHANE:

Hi everyone!

Well, it's been a pretty busy last couple months for us; with Dad in the hospital, switching jobs and fostering puppies. I'm definitely ready for summer!!

Dad is doing better. He's been in the hospital for about 18 days now, and he's good and ready to get out with or without their permission at this point! lol He hates the hospital food and all the poking and prodding. He's still on antibiotics for another couple days, and we'll see where it goes from there. He's still a little confused, but it seems to be clearing up. It's a little hard for him to motor around though. He still has some pain and stiffness, especially from being bedridden so long. So far so good...

I left Shaw and went to MTS, ironically enough, a couple weeks ago. Then word of Shaw's layoffs hit the news and I started feeling better about the decision! They've made a lot of changes that I don't agree with recently, so I'm glad I'm out. There are a few ex-Shaw employees and others from other call centres I've worked at in training with me, so I feel right at home. Plus Shane works there, so that's nice for carpooling and whatnot. Plus it's much much easier to bus to, and has actual stores near it. (Sadly, McDonalds is closest...I can hear my arteries in the future clogging from here!)

In between all this, Shane and I have been fostering puppies for a rescue group called Manitoba Mutts Pet Rescue. You can look them up under that on Facebook. We took two 3 month old black males, Max and Scooter. Smartest, sweetest little guys! Because of Shiloh, our adult dog, they were potty trained in two weeks, which was awesome because I was having nightmares about trying to control two mobile poop machines. We had them for a couple months before I kind of cracked and now we have Scooter on a permanent basis. He was too sweet to let go!!! Max was kept also by the foster family that took him after us, so I'm happy we'll be able to keep in touch somewhat. He was very sweet also, but we couldn't keep both! lol

Love to you all, that's all I can think of for now,
Cheri & Shane

TIM AND DARLENE:
Really nothing exciting was going on until the fall 2010. Tim and I decided to do some home renos. The way Tim put it was “we started with Kitchen cabinets and ended with a WHOLE LOT OF OTHER SHIT!!!

It was true we did start with updating our Kitchen cabinets, then flooring, then appliances, then new front and back door. Oh and while we are at it, knock down a few walls to make a more open concept. So then we of course needed more new flooring and more painting and new carpeting for the living and bedrooms. OH my and why stop there, we did new baseboards, window frames, doors and of course MORE PAINTING. So everything was redone except the bathroom. So you got it, we couldn’t leave out the bathroom so we added new flooring and vanity and MORE PAINTING.

We now have a new house. From start to finish it took 2 months. My brother-in-law Richard was my demo guy, Carpenter, plumber, painter and finisher. We bought all the cabinets and countertops from Norcraft where Tim works (very sweet deal). All the flooring was installed by a great company called “Image flooring” on McLeod Avenue. They have an interior designer on staff that is wonderful. We managed to put most of the house back about 2 days before Christmas, but I am still unpacking boxes. I think I am at the point if I haven’t used in the last 3 months DO I REALLY NEED IT? NOT SURE. We love our new home.

I am sure most of you have heard our great news that happened Christmas morning. Kelly and Steve (Harris) are engaged! They have set their wedding date for September, 2012. It’s a good thing they have given us a bit of time; we need revive our money tree in the backyard from re-doing the house. Tim and I think the world of Steve. His is a really great guy and they are very very happy together. Tim and I couldn’t be happier.

My Mom’s reaction to Kelly and Steve’s news was “Thank goodness a wedding in Winnipeg, I don’t have to get on an airplane”. My Mom will be 92 this October and is enjoying very good health. She still manages to beat Kelly at Scrabble after Sunday dinner (LOL).

Kelly is continuing with her distance education and is hoping to finish all of her courses this year to get her certification as a Recreational Facilitator. She is still at Donwood Manor and loves the works she does. She is so good at it.

Tim and I are going to Arizona for a week in March. My Sister and Brother-in-law have rented a condo for the month of March in Phoenix so we are going down to see them. We can’t remember that last time we took an actual holiday. Most of our vacations for the last number of years have been around my nieces or nephews getting married out of town. So having an actual vacation in warm temps is going to be a real treat for us.

Tim and I are enjoying good health and are very happy our little family is growing. I have attached a couple of family pictures from a family wedding last year. Kelly, Steve with my Mom, Kelly and me, and a group picture.

Love and good health to everyone from Kelly, Steve Tim and Darlene.

FRANCES AND MURRAY:

Everything for me and for Murray is pretty much the same. The only new thing I can think of is that Murray moved last October. His apartment is lovely and welcoming. Other than that, everything is the same. I’m still in a book club, in Spirit’s Call Choir, pottery, yoga and walking my dog every day and enjoying my friends. Murray also likes to do a lot of walking, and he enjoys his cats and his friends. Hello and lots of hugs to all my cousins; first and first once removed.

Frances included some news from Scott and Sharmaine:

In January Sharmaine and Scott went to India for Sharmaine to have the M.S. surgery. She has noticed some difference, but not a lot. Another blockage has now been found in one of her veins, so they will be returning to India this month to have this vein treated.

RON AND LINDA:

Hello cousins,

Here is the update from the West Coast Cravens. Ron and I have had another happy year of retirement, and feel very lucky that we continue to be healthy. We know that life can change in a heartbeat, so we are trying to enjoy every day.

We continue to be active with golf and hiking, and have now added cycling to our repertoire. Although Glen was grossed out by the thought of us wearing those tight biking shorts!

Our garden also keeps us busy, just keeping the weeds and moss at bay is a full time job in our pesticide free community. We had loads of blueberries and strawberries last year, and even some grapes. Although I am not sure if we ate as many as the birds did!

Last summer we decided after 5 years here, we should explore our island, and some of the lower mainland B.C with our friends. We went up North West to Gold River and Tahsis, and down South to Lake Cowichan and Duncan for great scenery, golfing and hiking. We also went to Whistler to golf and hike in July and to Fernie in September, where Ron went fly fishing while I hiked and golfed.

We were in Winnipeg last June and with Ron off fishing in Minaki with Don, it didn't leave us enough time for visiting everybody. We did get to help celebrate Paige's 4th birthday and were lucky that Colin and Robyn were there too, as it had been too long since we last saw them.

The Edmonton branch of the family came here for a visit in July and we did lots of interesting activities with them including going spelunking at Horn Lake Caves, and going to "Wild Play an Aerial Tree Adventure park and Zip Line in Nanaimo. Jenna and Jeremy are at a great age for adventures! I think they both really enjoyed practising golf with Grandpa Ron too.

We once again went to Arizona November 1st for 6 weeks. We do love it there and even after 4 years there we continue find new places to explore. We came home for a quiet Christmas at home, with Glen and family being in Winnipeg. We had "Orphans Christmas" here with 12 of our friends so it was very nice.

January 31st we went on an amazing trip to New Zealand and Australia for 7 weeks. We were not near Christchurch when they had the second of two devastating earthquakes thank goodness. New Zealand is a beautiful country and small enough to drive from one end to the other, with lots of geographical changes within a short drive. We just got back here last week in time for all the spring bulbs to be bursting into blossom. When I look over the year I realize how fortunate we are to be healthy enough to have all these wonderful experiences at our stage in life.

We think about family often and must admit that it is still hard to be away from family especially when they are celebrating new babies or marriages, and when they are hurting or ill. Our best wishes for good health and happiness to all the Branches of our ever growing Schroeder Family Tree.

Love,

Linda and Ron

Sunset over Qualicum Beach- please come and visit-it's beautiful!

Jenna and Jeremy at the Aerial Tree Adventure Park-Nanaimo

-Hiking at Lake Cowichan

On board the Sea Finn-overnight cruise in Doubtful Sound New Zealand

DON & CHRIS

Howdie Schroeder clan. Yes, I know it's a shock to hear from us since I've never made a contribution before. So here I go.

Not too many changes in our family. Don still is working for himself doing property management year round and has a snow plowing operation in the winter months and as for myself I'm still substitute teaching. Jody is extremely busy with her massage therapy practise and as of September converted her practise to a home-based business. One weekend a month she takes her massage therapy practise up north to Gillam Mb. and is sponsored by Manitoba Hydro who covers all her expenses. At least this way she gets to visit with her bro Colin more often. Colin's been happily working for Manitoba Hydro as a Mobile Crane Operator and has been stationed in Gillam for the past 3 1/2 years.

Life is not usually too exciting around here and usually everything's the same old routine. However, that suddenly changed in late Dec. when on Christmas Eve Don took a bit of a tumble on his way to bed and suffered a nasty injury. He had dislocated his left ankle 90% and fractured his tibia and phibula (hope I spelled that right) in the process. He underwent emergency surgery on Christmas Day at the Grace Hospital. It was quite a memorble Christmas or maybe I should say one we'd like to forget. He finally dismissed himself early from hospital and arrived back home on Dec. 29. It's been a long road of recovery over these past several months. The week before last, he began a course of physiotherapy which they say wil probably be at least 2-3 months. In the past week he's made some great improvements and is now able to move about slowly and surely with the aide of only one crutch. Don was thankful it was his left angle that was injured and not his right, at least he was still able to drive occasionally. Things are beginning to look up and he's looking forward to hpefully doing some golf and fishing this summer.

The excitement in our lives is surrounded by spending time with our kids and grandkids. We don't get to see Colin and Robin often, but really look forward to their visits to Wpg. They came home for Christmas this year and had just arrived 2 hours before Don's injury and luckily for us, Colin was there to give us a helping hand. Colin's stay in Wpg. at X'mas extended longer than was originally anticipated. Robin flew back to Gillam to relieve her family from sitting with their 2 babies, Striker (an English/Bull Mastif cross) and Shilo (a cute little Pug). Meanwhile Colin stayed in Wpg. longer to help out the first week Don came home from hospital. All the kids were awesome helping out!!! It was a really strange feeling to rely on others for help - we're used to it being the other way around - helping the kids out. I think I'd rather it be that way - is this a sign of what we have to look forward to in our old age!! Yikes - I think the kids got a glimpse of what it might be like - and I'm not so sure they liked what they saw!!! They're hoping we stay reeeaaaallllyyy healthy for a really long time!

As for our pride and joy - the grandkids- they are amazing to watch!! It's hard to believe Cooper's already 6 (as of Jan.) and in Kindergarten this year, attending the Mennonite Elementary School. Paige goes to pre-school 3 mornings a week this year. She'll be 5 in June, and will be attending Kindergarten in September at the same school as Cooper. Cooper really loves going to school and is such a 'sponge'! He is so quick and witty - just hilarious!! Paige is a girly-girl. Her favorite colors are pink mostly and sometimes purple. I get a chuckle out of that fact, because Jody always said she'd never dress her daughter up like a 'girly-girl in pink dresses. Ha, ha, so much for that - it's the kids who decide who and what they want!! Both Cooper and Paige are busy guys - nothing's boring when they're around. They're add spice to life that's for sure. We're so lucky to live nearby them and get to see them often.

This summer Jody, Ken and kids have secured a seasonal camping site at Falcon Lake again. They bought a Jayco trailer last season and enjoyed their time at Falcon Lake so much they really wanted to be able to go back again for the season. As luck would have it, their names were drawn again for this season and they've been awarded a full service site for the entire season. Hopefully Don is in fine form by then and we can meet up with them and take the kids boating and fishing over the summer.

It's been a long winter and we're looking forward to an enjoyable summer. Hope you're all doing well and are healthy. We wish you all the best and hope you enjoy a wonderful summer and the rest of the year ahead. Take care.

GLEN AND MICHELLE:
I am working at Calmont Leasing, just finished my first year. It's a good place to work, as long as you are productive. Many many trucks are leased and sold by us, mostly white trucks leased by companies, cities and counties/MD's. Michelle is working at the same clinic she went to when we moved here, enjoys her colleagues, very friendly laid back atmosphere.

Jeremy is grade 3 and doing French Immersion, Jenna is finishing grade 6 this year and will be in French Immersion junior high this fall. We did the tour of the shools available and she already knew which one she wanted to go to.

We had alot of hockey again this winter, it has just ended which is good and bad not too sure which- enjoyed it immensely but its nice to know every weekend day is tied up at some point with hockey. He is also trying Tae Kwan Do, he likes it alot, but there is at least 2 nights per week needed for it.

Jenna plays guitar, and has joined some tennis lessons as her sport/exercise choice. Tennis?? Oh well, hard to find places in winter here to play!

We have a new state of the art rec centre near the house with pool, waterslide, wave pool etc and full gym and 4 hockey rinks 2 minutes from home. The kids take swimming lessons, Jenna dances and Michelle has a membership there, so it has made it easier to be physically active without having to trave across the city in this long loust winter we have had.

Our summer will be spent weekending on the best lake in Alberta, Slave Lake (yes we used to live there) on a lake front seasonal site. Fishing is great there! It's about the same distance as Winnipeg-Kenora so I am used to that length. We will go away for holidays, likely take a little over one week in Winnipeg around August long weekend. My folks will use the site with the kids for at least a few days in July too. They are also driving here to spend Easter with us, we are looking forward to that too, and will hear all about the New Zealand/Australia tour they were on.

TONY AND BONNIE:

All is good. Been a. Blur since costa rica. Bonnie still working hard in the gym and looking good. From costa rica to ohio for thanksgiving then to scottsdale for a month then rented a place in goodyear 4 a month. Went back to winnipeg where we got to welcome our 5th grandchild and second grandson. Bastien Jai. Maeghan Jason portia Jewel and Bastien were all here for 9 days up to march 31. Jason and I did some bike riding. We all spent a lot of time in the pOol. Lots of shopping and playing.

The temp hit 100 yesterday witch is unseasonaly high. Met a lot of new motorcycle friends here and a lot of manitobans are in our complex. Bonnies sister Laurie visited for a week and is trying to buy a place here. Tim and Darlene say they will visit when they do arizona.....sometime soon I think.

Our sweet Jewel broke her arm today when she got run over by one of the dogs.......

Baby Teagan had eye surgury and is doing well.

I quit drinking 11 months ago and lost over 25 lbs.....been running and was hoping to do manitoba marathon but not in good enough shape since riding a harley doesn't qualify as training.

We will be driving back home in a few weeks. If we get our druthers we will sell oir house and move to winnipeg but didn't work last year. We have 5 grandkids who prob would rather we stay at the lake.

I'm still doing some car biz and trying to be a poker player. Won a toirnament here a month ago.

I'm jamming here at the last minute but hope that gives u a glimps of what we've been up to.

Happy summer

Tony and bonnie

Editors note: Tony? what in the hell is that? I hope you didn't drop your cell phone.

IN THE OLDEN DAYS: in no particular order....thanks to Jody and Don

Most pictures are from the Grande sector of the family but if you guys have a bunch of pic's to share of your family and or all of us together I would love to have them.