Nov
2017

Growing up!

I am really enjoying my Acro & Jazz Dance classes!

He said

The week started with getting Wolfie Too finally winterized and off to storage again – not to come out again until the new camping season next Spring. It was a little bittersweet but with the snow this week really cemented the notion that camping is over. We chose to pay someone to winterized the trailer because there is a lot more to this trailer and with having the extended warranty, I didn’t want any miss on our part to void our coverage. The fact that it was completed in a fraction of the time that it would have taken Danielle and I reaffirmed that decision.

Wednesday I was off work, so I was able to go with Danielle to watch Emelia’s Acro class. She was moved up to a different group than her friend from school is, but that didn’t deter her. She definitely has a bit of catching up to do, but there are definite areas where you can see the skills carryover from her competitive gymnastics. At one point when they were doing handstand walking several of the girls were visibly blown away by how far Emelia went with ease. It will probably be a few more weeks before she comes out of her shell and makes new friends, but it’s already great that she’s continuing on despite not being in the same class with her friend from school.

The rest of the week was really just the usual work, home, shuttle Emelia to her activities for us. With the clocks shifting an hour, its’ dark when we get up and by 5:00pm too so its hard to have the same energy we do in the summer. Emelia has spent much of her downtime this week crafting her Dear Santa list and that has been an exercise in seeing her grow up. We’ve gone from lists of many things and most of them being toys, to very few things and them to showing us clearly our little girl is growing up.

Saturday I managed to have another day off, so after a  glorious sleep-in and a bacon & egg brekkie, we were off to Emelia’s Jazz Dance class. Her school friend is in this one, but didn’t make it to practice this week. But Emelia did tell us after class that she made a new friend there! After she was done class, we spent the rest of the day letting Emelia pick out the things she wanted to do and us shuttling around to them. Since dance is a big thing on her radar, we went and check out new leo’s and got properly fitted for shoes for Jazz. We also went to the mall I don’t work at (thankfully) and worked diligently at the final touches on Emelia’s Christmas list.

The weather on Saturday was miserable—a mixture of cold and rainy all day long. It was the perfect kind of day to find indoors things to do. But the bummer of it was that the London Santa Claus parade was that evening. Given that the weather was still wet and cold around dinner time we threw in the white flag and decided to skip the parade this year in lieu of staying dry and more importantly warm at home. We love going to the parade every year but none of us wanted to brave the elements. We had a nice quiet evening at home which was a prefect end to a great day.

Today I was at work while Danielle and Emelia forged through the regular Sunday routines. However the biggest portion of the day wasn’t part of the routine but more proof that our daughter is really forging into tween’hood. She and Danielle worked on giving her bedroom a bit of a tidy and getting rid of a lot more of the ‘kid stuff’. I am about to get the walk-through by Emelia and as much as we realize she’s growing up faster than we’re ready for at times, it is also a delight seeing her identity really start to come out. And that little woman she is becoming makes me so proud to see.

 

She said

This week has been all about adjusting to our new routine and start the real planning for Christmas. Emelia is happily adjusting to her new activities. She is in classes with girls who have been taking Acro and Jazz for years so she has some catching up to do but both teachers from each class have been impressed how fast she is picking everything up. The biggest one will be Acro, she has been moved up to the more advanced class so she has more to learn there but her gymnastics training will help her a lot to catch up to the other girls.

What the new classes has given us is not only fuller weeks but much to look forward to for the upcoming holidays where there will be a lot of performances for the parents and parties for her new friends. She is super excited and we happy to see her take this new challenge head on. It certainly helps with the grey and long winters we have here that she has so much going on.

The next shift this week was really focusing on Christmas. We managed to get a fair bit of shopping done this week thanks to the Samko sale. I was able to take care of the daycare little ones as well as  the younger chilldren we buy for as a family. With a few other things purchased this weekend the to buy list is well under way. Emelia has spent much of this week tweaking her list and is pretty happy with what she has on there.

The big shift for us this year is seeing how much Emelia has grown up this year. Sadly our little girl is gone and our tween girl has arrived. There is not a single toy on her wish list this year. Her list is lean and carefully chosen to her favourite things. It will be interesting when we have to give people a want list because there isn’t a huge amount on the list she gave to us. This year though we are happy to say that she still has something she has asked for from Santa so our little girl is still in there. I know those days are quickly slipping through our fingers.

As John said, we spent a good portion of Saturday after her Jazz Dance class going around the White Oaks Mall so that Emelia could really make sure she has the things on her wish list she really wants and making her final changes accordingly. It gave us a chance to just be together as a family before the real holiday craziness takes off. These days off together so close to Christmas are such a great treat.

Next weekend is the American Thanksgiving so my hope is that we can really take advantage of the cyber sales that come this weekend and finish off much of our shopping because Deccember is so busy it would be nice if Christmas shopping wasn’t another thing on a long list of to dos.

That is it for me this week. Going to enjoy the last of this weekend with John and Emelia while it is still the weekend.

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