Jennifer's not a Trainee Anymore!

Hey, its Jen here! As most of you know, I have been working at M&M Meat Shops for about 4 months. To work at M&Ms, there is a crazy amount of both online and in-store training that has to be done. You must know about all of the products, how to handle customers and they even give you tips on how to sell merchandise. It is interesting, yet long . . . very long.

I am finally finished all of my training. Yay! I finally am going to be getting my own name tag that says "Jen" instead of "Trainee." It is all very exciting! The other day Jocelyne (one of the owners) brought me in to the office and said, "I got a big envelope with your name on it." In it was this certificate and a letter saying congratulations and that I had finished my training. I also got a pin that said "M&Ms Commitment to Excellence." The whole thing made me really happy and excited. I love my job!

So, to celebrate I bought myself mini cream puffs . . . and the whole household ended up 'celebrating' with me. Oh well.

Mom's Note: I know that Jen would appreciate you sending her your congratulations! It will take some of the pressure off me; I've said it too many times already!

Jamie's First Week at School

Well, the first thing you should know - trying to get information from Jamie about the details of what goes on at school requires a lot of patience and the ability to choose the correct questions for him to answer. The following represents four days of questions. Since I received many "I don't knows", I will try to fill in the blanks as best I can.
First - He has a teacher that is new to the school this year, and last year this teacher taught Grade 2. Her name is Mrs. Folino. Jamie seems pleased with her - she hasn't yelled all week! She started out the week with everyone sitting in alphabetical order going in a Z pattern. He has about the same number of students in his class this year as last year - about 20ish (his words).
Second - The other major thing that I found out was that she presented her "Me Kit" on the first day - it was very original! Some of the things in her kit were a bunch of movies, a bunch of pictures, a pair of running shoes (because she likes shoes and sports), a purse (because she collects purses), and a lot of other stuff.
Jamie had to bring in a "Me Item" for the second day of school - that he was to present to the class. So . . . Jamie chose to wear his Karate sweatshirt - it seemed like the correct choice since it was cold that morning and he could wear it and then talk about it! He then told the class about karate and the fact that he doesn't like the cold - that's it.
Third - Mrs. Folino did another interesting activity on the first day. The class pushed their desks out of the way, sat in a circle on their chairs, and then one-by-one, told her their names, how long they'd been at St. John, and told her something about themselves that she should know. When I asked Jamie what he told the teacher, his response was - I like quiet! That was it - he didn't explain himself or anything. The teacher's response was simply - okay.
Fourth - Jamie does not have a locker this year - he has a cubby hole! Yeah! His classroom is on the top floor, and it has a small hallway at the back of the room that has coat hooks (each student gets two hooks) and cubby holes(only one of these).
Fifth - Since the province has implemented 20 minutes of continuous physical activity for each elementary school student, Jamie's class does their 20 min. at the end of the day. This activity is called DPA! So far . . . they went outside and did suicides (running), stayed inside, listened to a work out CD, and tried to do what the exercises (Jamie - It was boring!, and on Friday the class did the same thing, but with a different CD!
Finally - All in all - not a bad first week! but not really a good first week either! I think that he misses his teacher from last year - Mr. Charlesbois. He was so awesome (according to Jamie).

The Girls First Day of School

Well, the girls were awake before me this morning and ready to leave for the bus at least 15 minutes early! Their uniforms were on, school bags were packed, lunches were made, and hair was suitably styled. I hope this continues for the rest of the year - I know, I'm dreaming, but it's good to have dreams.
I know that I shouldn't say it, but . . . the girls looked so cute! in their neat, new Marymount uniforms! I took these pictures as they were leaving to catch the bus.

Jen's Tonsils - or lack there of

On August 21, Jennifer and I drove to the Memorial Hospital to finally have her tonsils removed by Dr. Daniela Filipone. Those of you who know the family - know that Jen struggled with tonsilitis most of last year - she missed school, band practices, karate practices, and lots of other friend and family stuff. When we went to see the surgeon the first time, Jen hadn't had enough infections yet! We went back in three months - she now had had the correct number of infections in the correct amount of time - yeah! In fact, the doctor said, "I suppose this is affecting your quality of life." As Jen and I thought, isn't that what we tried to tell you three months ago!
Anyhow, we arrived at the hospital at 9:15am and left about 12 hours later. Why, you might ask? Well - all day surgery patients must arrive 3hrs ahead of time to get the paperwork and other stuff done, then the surgery occurs, then about an hour in recovery, and then because of the anesthetic, the doctor wants her patients to stay in the hospital for about another 4hrs. Thankfully, Jen and I came prepared - books, sudokus, and coloring pages! plus she slept a lot of the time!
The actual surgery took about 15 minutes of the entire day!
The recovery takes about three weeks! Jen did really well during the surgery and recovered nicely, but she couldn't believe how painful it was! She claims she'd rather go through appendicitis and the appendix surgery again than go through a tonsilectomy again. She was on serious pain meds (codeine) for almost a week - and she was quiet, very quiet. In fact, I couldn't believe how quiet the house was with her not speaking.
Instead of talking, she wrote notes - in tiny, little letters - in short form - and filled up pages of paper - I mean "filled" pages with her tiny little notes. She even got Meghan to make phone calls for her. Jen writing notes that Meghan spoke to whoever was on the phone!
Eating was another problem! For six days, she drank water and Powerade and iced tea. She ate popsicles, ice cream, and jell-o. Thankfully, she is now eating regular food again, but it will take awhile for her to regain her strength and the weight that she lost.