Today I got my first place medal from our competition last month!

He said

While Emelia’s first competition was just about a month ago, obviously with the current state of the world they had to do the awards in a different way. We had to wait until the Monday after competition to find out how the team placed via a web stream. And while it was awesome to hear the tea finished first overall, it wasn’t together as a team that they found this out. But, this weekend, with the medals and banners finally having arrived, CheerStrike organized a special way the team could come and celebrate the win.

So today at 2:30 there was an half-hour set aside for the team to come in individually today—every member of Allegiance (Emelia’s Team). Each of them were awarded their first place medal, sign the banner that will hang in the gym, and get a masked photo with their coaches as well as one of them on their own. They did it in a way that respected the current increased restrictions and kept everyone safe. We were so happy they did this, and for Emelia because despite starting well over a year a half ago, this was her first real competition, and what a way to start! Given the current state of restrictions, this was such a small thing with huge impact!

And more on the restrictions… As we expected this early this week the announcements finally officially rolled out: In person learning was paused until at least January 17th which more online learning for Emelia and big changes to Cheer practices which would also be going to online learning from home. None of this Emelia’s favourite for sure, but she understands and hopes that this round won’t be anywhere near as long as last year. As it is, it seems like her birthday plans will definitely need to be flexible and fluid, unfortunately.

While it was cool to at least complete one outdoor ride in January, the bike workouts have moved exclusively inside with the temps plummeting and snow staying. What that has given me is the time to focus on making the shift to clipless pedals. I had found a set of used ones on Facebook Marketplace so I put them on the spin bike. They’ve been on the bike for a few days and I already can see the advantage of them. The next step will be to get the brand new clipless pedals Danielle and Emelia got me for Christmas, onto my bike and get ready to try those when I am able to get back to outdoor rides.

The next few weeks will tell us what kind of fifteenth birthday we will plan for Emelia based on what restrictions we’re living in at that time. We’re assuming we will have a small one with just Danielle, Emelia & I on the 26th and plan a rain date version for her and her friends later. We’ re also assuming – but still haven’t heard – that her next competition that is supposed to be on Jan 22nd/23rd, will be canceled too. All of this feels like we’re headed to the same place we were a year ago with COVID, but the predictions are that will only need to last for the next few weeks because of the Omicron variant, but that because of the amount of population vaccinated, start to return to some degree of loosened restrictions. We’re hopeful that’s right. For now, we countdown to camping season!

She said

This was a very big week in our house. As John mentioned already we found out last week that Emelia would be moving back to online for school. This is her first time being in high school having to balance learning at home. She handled the first week like a champ. We hope this latest round of online learning will not last very long but we all assume that it will be extended longer but hoping it won’t be long past the end of January.

With the new restrictions we already know that likely Emelia’s birthday celebration plans with her best friends will have to be paused until at least February. She and her closest friends from school are all going out for a special dinner all dressed up, the 6 girls are very excited! This week they got to the mall the get ideas and shop for prospective dresses – they were excited with the ideas they came home with. Hopefully we won’t have to pause celebrating Emelia too long.

Today we got to celebrate Emelia a bit, Emelia’s cheer gym has been taking all the changes in the pandemic restrictions in stride and have taken all the safety protocols so seriously. But at the same time they have done everything to ensure the children stay connected and valued. They have done everything to make sure every moment is celebrated. Today was no different – a month ago Emelia’s team took first place in their first competition of the year. The gym took the time today to make half hour blocks per team to give the kids a change to receive their medals and have a chance to have some pictures taken. It was great to see the coaches and to see our smiling girl get her first place medal. Thank you CheerStrike for always putting the kids first.

This week was huge for me. This week I started my new career at Western University. So far I am beyond happy. Everyone has been so supportive I know I will be happy for a very long time there. There is a lot to learn but everyone has been amazing. I started on Tuesday getting my new office set up as well as worked with Western to start having me set up to seamlessly work from office or home as needed. They take the entire pandemic so seriously and all the COVID protocols are so refreshing. Seeing how much everyone worries and cares for the staff and the students is heartwarming.

I worked from office for the first few days and home on Friday. It has all gone so well and I cannot wait to see what the future at Western brings!