Hi my name is Emelia. I love Marshall! He’s my friend (cousin).

He said

What a fantastic week! Of course it started with my birthday which was great, but I also managed to have a lot of time to spend with Danielle and Emelia too. While Monday was a holiday, Tuesday was a short six to ten close shift for me at the store as I got back some of my commute time from a day spent down at our Conestoga store in Waterloo. Wednesday ironically enough was another short close shift but back down at our Conestoga store with my commute time factored in. Thursday and Friday were my scheduled off days. So a good portion of my week left me together with Emelia in the mornings and Danielle during the days. It also left me a lot of time to focus on the wood cabinet I have been working on for my Marantz stereo amp.

Having the later shift Wednesday meant I didn’t have to leave the house until after three-thirty and which meant I was able to watch our Special Event Keynote in its entirety to hear about all the new products we’re introducing this fall! Most exciting for me was the system upgrades to both iOS and the Watch OS, as well as the new iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil, but also the new version of tv that features deep Siri integration as well as long-awaited App store. Oh and there was also the new iPhone 6S. The Keynote was literally loaded with exciting new things for this fall and left me wanting pretty much all of it. In the case of the iPad Pro it completely changed my mind about getting a MacBook in lieu of having an iPad on steroids that I can use as a living canvas to illustrate on, with the Apple Pencil. It was a very exciting keynote and I still find myself amazed that I work for this amazing company that continually finds ways to reinvent itself. I am truly fortunate.

Saturday was my first, real regular day at work and it went by in a blur. And when it was all done I was heading straight to the Budweiser Gardens downtown to catch the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens game in the NHL Rookie Tournament that is going on over the weekend. The Gardens has been hosting this pre-training camp event where rookies vying for a shot at the NHL try to make the training camp roster in this four team showcase. It’s a great time to see some future stars as well as those trying to manufacture a career in professional ice hockey. I have been a couple other times and it is great to see – not necessarily the best ice hockey ever played – as there is a mix of cockiness and nerves as these players get their first taste of hockey at the next level. The Leafs ended up losing the game but it was exciting to watch nonetheless and there were a few players I expect to make names for themselves this year in the league.

Today was the first Sunday I had off (that I hadn’t requested) in a while. So I had the fortune of allowing Danielle to sleep in while I got up with Emelia and enjoyed my coffee while she whittled through her usual breakfast and Netflix routine. After about an hour or so of being up I figured it was time to wake Danielle up with some bacon and scrambled eggs. Normally I might have let her sleep as long as her body wanted to, but today with all of us off, we had something special lined up: A visit from Danielle’s sister Chantelle, Todd and Marshall!! We were all very excited about getting some time with them.

Shortly after we wrapped up breakfast and were started to get ready, we heard from Chantelle that they were almost here a little ahead of when we thought they might be which was wonderful news to us—ain’t no one gonna turn down more time with family. Once they got here and with us out of coffee we decided to walk down to Locomotive to pick up more coffee and have a drink and treat while we were there. The weather was beautifully crisp and fall like and it was great to be outside for the walk. After we got back from that, we spent the afternoon visiting and catching up. Marshall worked through all his new tricks for us and the entire time Emelia spent doting over her cousin. It was great to see her so excited and loving with him, even if a few times we had to have conversations about what smothering people is like… Danielle wrapped up the night with a wonderful dinner and then we got them on the road with full tummies shortly after. It was a great day with them and a perfect way to end the week.

Next week will a busy week at work what with back to school still in full swing, as well as answering all sorts of questions about the new products we have coming—very exciting times! But the week ends for me Thursday evening, and then we’re all off for the weekend down to Sandbanks Provincial Park for a trip out in Wolfie for the Sandbanks New Waves Music Festival! With the weather turning crisp and the lineup of this festival featuring Sarah Harmer in an outdoor venue, I couldn’t be more excited about this festival! Especially, considering it is also is our sixteenth wedding anniversary!

She said

It was a real rollercoaster week for Emelia. Through the night before the first day of school Emelia was up and restless. Although she wasn’t willing to admit it in the beginning she finally admitted how nervous she was about the first day of school.

The night before school Emelia carefully planned her outfit, triple checked her backpack and assured she had everything in order, she even helped me pack her lunch for the first day. By the time morning came Emelia was a ball of nervous energy. After a few texts from her best friend’s mom we had the twins at our door and were off for the first day. The group of parents all waited outside until we were to head into the gym to find out which class the children were going to be in. That is when Emelia’s nerves really started to kick in, her friends all came up happily to see her and the more that did the deeper she buried her face in my hip, she clung to me and she wouldn’t let go. So needless to say a first day of school picture was not in the cards.

Just then a light rain started so all the parents and children rushed into the gym where the grade 1-4s were to gather to find their teachers. Emelia’s school isn’t a big school so there were only two teachers for grade 3. Anna finally got Emelia to leave my side and they went to the one teacher to see if they were on that class list, well that is when the tears really started. Anna was in the class with Miss Bere and well Emelia wasn’t. She was devastated, not because she cared which of the teachers she had but that she was separated from her absolute best friend. She was heartbroken and she just fell into a puddle of tears. Her other closest friend Grace who is Anna’s twin sister came to Emelia as they were going to be in class together to offer her comfort. Emelia at the time wanted nothing to do with it, she wanted more than anything that I do something, anything to get her switched to Anna’s class. Finally after guiding her hand reluctantly from my hand to Grace’s the girls went off with Emelia still in tears.

The rest of the day was a day of worry for me on how Emelia was handling the first day. But by the end of the day she came out of class full of smiles, still quite bothered that she wasn’t with Anna but loving her new teacher Miss Brouwer and meeting some new children in class that she and never been with before. The rest of the night was focusing on letting her catch up and play with Anna and Grace before we had to head home so John could get to work. That evening we even squeezed in a bike trip with the girls and all was right in the world again.

The rest of the week was much smoother, Emelia was still very disappointed but in the end we have used this as a way of really talking things through with her about dealing with change and pushing herself beyond her comfort zone. She and Anna will still be best friends and we will try as much as we can to assure the girls get together as much as possible after school. But that this would be a good year for her to learn to stand even more on her own socially and to meet new friends.

Before we knew it the weekend was upon us and it was a busy one to say the least. Saturday we were back in thick of the weekend activities. First was the return of her weekly swim classes, although Emelia loves the water, loves to swim and loves her classes while she is there. She does however fight me tooth and nail every time before we go to swim class. Again once she was there she loved her class and has an instructor she has had before and she loves. After swim it was a mad dash to do a couple errands, home for some lunch and then to her Saturday gymnastics training. I spent those two hours getting all my weekly errands done and then back to get her before the mad rush downtown to get her to one of her good friends birthday parties.

Saturday was our friend Leanne’s daughter Hannah’s 10th birthday. Hannah and Emelia get along so well and love all the same things so a pamper spa party was right up both of the girls alley. Emelia got her nails done and had a great time. She loved it so much I have tentatively booked this place for her birthday in January.

Once we were done there we finished some errands for the next week for the daycare and got all the learning materials for the next week’s lesson plans. Emelia loves being my little school helper and helped me get the new bulletin board set up, cut out all the learning crafts for the week and even too the evening to reorganize and rearrange the daycare play/classroom.

Finally today, John and I both had the day off so he got up with Emelia and I took the chance to get a bit more sleep. I woke to a full breakfast waiting for me. It was incredible. Once breakfast was done we got the house in order to prepare for our visit with Charlie, Todd and Marshall.

Today was perfect! My sister and I are very close but we just don’t get a chance to see each other nearly as much as either of us would like. They arrived this morning and we spent the next 8 or so hours catching up and watching our kids play together. Emelia really adores her aunt, uncle and cousin. She is over the moon excited that Uncle Todd and Aunt Charlie have invited her down for a sleepover at their place soon. It was so hard to say good-bye again to them tonight but know that our next visit will be very soon!

And that was the week that was, this week will prove again to be another busy one as we have a shortened work week because we are going away for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary in the best way we know how, with the three of us, camping and at a music festival. Cannot wait!