As fast as Nationals is done we are already planning for next cheer season!
He said
We’re finally settled down from post Cheer season. That’s not to say that there still hasn’t been some practices and get-togethers to wrap up the season. And there is still lingering the assessment sessions to determine where they want to place athletes for next season. Emelia has decided she will put her name in the hat for the Open World’s Team and then, see how the cards fall with either Sov and Legacy for next season to determine where and what she wants to commit to. She knows where her heart lies, but, it also comes down to how and what the coaches are looking for in the teams they are fielding for next year.
The focus for Emelia really has shifted to rugby season and the big moments left in her school year: the grad formal, the grad trip and of course wrapping up their last year of high school. Thankfully Emelia’s last semester of high school ever has been a pretty manageable one in that her courses have been a lighter load. And she’s been very much on top of the school work and maintaining really great grades. It has allowed her to still have a social life and to plan a lot of fn things to do outside of school. As much as we want her to focus on school, we also want her to have fun in this final year of high school.
The other exciting news is that with a decline in the amount of shifts Emelia has been getting at theatre (she went from getting 2-3 a week to 1), she started to look for a second job for the summer to help her add more to the bank account for her upcoming university life. She managed to find a job through a Cheer bestie, at the gym that Emelia used to compete for when she did Gymnastics. She will be doing the summer camps and working classes on the weekends for the little kids. The even better news is that she gets to work with her Cheer bestie, and a former Gymnastics teammate of hers to boot! And given that she currently wants to pursue a career in teaching or working with kids, this is a perfect job for her!
Lastly with spring in full bloom it means we’re getting close to two things: 1) bike race season; and, 2) camping season. Next weekend, I am in my first bike race of the season in the one I have kicked it off in the last three years: Paris To Ancaster. I have been working on my fitness getting in a lot of equal distance and longer rides this past week and am feeling as ready as I’ll ever be. And then, as soon as that is wrapped up, the following week, Danielle & I have some time booked off work from May 1st forward in order to get up to the trailer and get it opened for the season. Both of those things mean we really have made it out of winter, into spring and summer is not far off!
She said
Although the cheer season is wrapping up there does not seem to be really any real break. When Emelia started cheer 5 years ago the atheles and their parents got the month of May off. Well it doesn’t feel like that anymore, there are athlete assessments, then there is levelled training, stunt camps, tumbling camps—it does not feel like they really get a real break anymore. Thankfully Emelia loves and breathes this sport so she really does not seem to mind. She is balancing everything so well, she is sitting at a strong A average, now holding down two jobs, two sports (soon to be three) and her social life. As we have said to her many times over the last year we are beyond proud of Emelia. A year ago she started to really come into her own, she decided that she was no longer going to let people in her life who ever made her feel like she didn’t have a seat at the table. Walking away was not easy, she risked a lot and it was worth it. She is now in the most incredible group of friends, she is more sure of herself, more vocal, and is balancing everything so well.
As her last year in high school is coming quickly to an end the kids are all excited but are becoming really nostalgic, this tight knit group is going in various was next year and are trying to live their best life while they are all still together. The shift now is preparing for prom, grad trips and even summer plans. Emelia and I went in a week or so ago to get her prom dress pinned to get altered and it is all becoming so real. This week the kids started planning the whole getting ready for prom plans. Emelia and her girls are hoping to all get ready here and a huge group of the kids are all going together to the actual prom. Emelia’s friend Ashley will take herself, her boyfriend, Emelia and her date (and guy bestie) Carter, their best friend Bri (her boyfriend will meet the kids there) and their other best friend Belle who is taking her childhood best friend Nick to prom. The kids are so excited. I was told by one of my close friends that high school goes by so fast and man they were not kidding. It seems like yesterday we were bringing Emelia to kindergarten, then high school and soon her graduation and off to university.
That was our week of planning but we had a lot more on our plate this week. The big event this weekend is Easter, for me it is a nice longer break from work. I have taken Easter Monday off for the last 10 years as a much needed break after a long winter. Emelia, John and I were off on Friday so we took full advantage of the holiday and celebrated Easter with most of John’s family. We did a potluck meal over at Helen’s nursing home and as always we had lots of laughs and a great time seeing everyone. With everything we have endured over the last 18 months as a family we always cherish these moments together.
This weekend was not all about relaxing however, as we have loosely talked about in the blog for the last little while we have been VERY slowly been picking away at the basement and changes in the house so we can covert the basement into a mini apartment for Emelia for her years in university. None of this has happened as fast as Emelia would like but I really felt we got a TON of headway this weekend. We were able to do a deep and aggressive purge of what is now the office. Since neither John and I do not use the office as an office we are converting the small room into a workout space for us. But to do this has meant making some hard choices and get rid of a TON of stuff in there. Now that much of that space is clearing out we really hope that we can start the flip of the space this coming week and get the trainer bike and other small work out items up there so we can purge more out of the basement and start working on a wall to give Emelia the privacy and make the open space a real room for her. That next step will be challenging but with some help from her friends we are hoping by camping season we will be in much better space to move Emelia in her new space.