Wow! What a week/weekend!

I can't believe all that has happened for us recently!

On Thursday:
We received the proof for my new book (also my first children's book) The Sailor and the Christmas Trees.

Me, with the proof of The Sailor and the Christmas Trees

Artist Catherine Folnovic with the proof

We look very happy because we are! The book came into being in a very short time (May to October!) and I am so thankful for Catherine's talent, patience and good humour (on this project and in general). She created the most beautiful drawings (including the cover art) to complement the true story of a Manitoba sailor who provided his crewmates and some small children with a special Christmas gift (evergreen trees from Newfoundland) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during the Second World War. You can read more details about the book here.

We'll be launching the book in Brandon, Manitoba on October 22 at 7 p.m. at Central United Church and in Regina, Saskatchewan on October 24 at 7 p.m. at NorthWest Leisure Centre. We'd love to see you at one of these launches.

(As an aside, Catherine's sister Erika created the beautiful cover and inside artwork for our funny book Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray. (That book is on sale on our web site - a steal of a deal considering the wonderful writing and humour in it!)

See excerpts and inside pages of all of our books here.



Also on Thursday:
We received our new book SuperMom and the Big Baby. The story was written by our son Dave as a 2011 Christmas gift to his wife Kelli. Once Dave realized that Kelli was talking in her sleep a lot, he started recording what she said. Then he turned those phrases into the basis of a funny story about an upset, overgrown baby whose mother saves the day. Everything that SuperMom says in the book is something that Kelli actually said in her sleep. We decided we wanted to turn the story into a great children's book and TA DA! This is the result!

Dave and Kelli and their oldest son Cooper see the book for the first time

Another happy author - this one happens to be our son

On Friday:
Dave Driver was interviewed on CTV News At Noon about his new book SuperMom and the Big Baby.

 

Dave Driver (left) with host J.C. Garden of CKTV in Regina, SK

The interview went very well and one woman told us she came to Saturday's book launch because she saw the interview. Nice! We have heard from many people over the years who've told us months later that they saw our author or me or something about one of our books on TV, in the paper or heard it on the radio. Thanks, media, for sharing our great stories.


On Friday evening:
Al and I were pleased to attend a surprise birthday party for eight-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner. The party was organized by Dionne's wingman, her husband Graham. Although Dionne was NOT happy with Graham for (supposedly) forgetting his wallet at home and having to turn around and go home to get it (making them late for a supposed Chamber of Commerce 1920's party), all was forgiven once the shock of the whole event wore off and she realized how many people had come out in style to help her celebrate another birthday.

 

Dionne was still in shock shortly after arriving at the party and seeing the beautiful ice sculpture created in her honour

 

Woo Hoo! The inspiring seven-time cancer survivor I wrote about in Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope has made it through another year! ... And even though she's battling liver cancer again, it's all good. She continues to fight the fight and bring hope and laughter to others. I wish I had taken more photos of this lady dancing up a storm that night with family and friends - celebrating and living life to the fullest - in sickness and in health. Once again, she outdanced most of us. We could all learn from her example... and many of us are striving to do that every day.

First, we hug everybody, then we DANCE!

 

I couldn't be bothered to find a flapper dress (in my own defence, I have been kinda busy), so I thought I'd fool them all with this gangster get-up, including my painted-on moustache. It worked! Even the people who knew me had to look twice to figure out who was with Al. What fun!

On Saturday morning:
We launched SuperMom and the Big Baby to a large group of adults and children. About 70 people in all - coming and going, enjoying coffee, cake, treat bags and a fish pond.... Oh... and they enjoyed the book, too, of course!

 All eyes are on Dave as he reads from the book

 

When SuperMom made a surprise appearance, the children smiled - and the adults cheered!

 

Time for cake - with SuperMom, the author and their sons

 

Colouring, cake ... and treat bags still to come. What a party!

Dave's sisters ham it up, pretending to be star-struck by their author brother. Silly girls.

Not quite as star-struck, these little ones were peeking over the Fish Pond barricade to see what prizes they might get.

Dave and Kelli Driver (author and SuperMom) with artist Guy Laird, who did a beautiful job of bringing Dave's wonderful story to life.

 

Al and I with our son Dave and our friend/artist Guy Laird

Whew! That was quite the weekend, wasn't it? And the amazing month of October has only begun....

Stay tuned.