I made Allegiance U17 All-Star Competitive Cheer! And with my bestie, Olivia!!
He said
Well, it is official I am going to have to change my name to Karen… I am now officially a Cheer Mom. But, in all seriousness, we’re super proud of Emelia for making the Cheer team she wanted to, and with her best friend Olivia alongside her! When she told us she wanted to retire from competitive gymnastics a little piece of me was sad and worried if she would find that something that made her feel like something. And then COVID came along and she was pulled away from pretty much everything and talked less about her new interest, Cheer.
For the past two or three weeks the tension has been building for Emelia as Cheer Strike Royals, announced they were having their competitive team tryouts – of course with all the COVID precautions in place this past Thursday night. It was time for her finally to dip her foot in the Cheer waters and find her new thing. Parents weren’t allowed in for the tryouts and I was actually at work when it all got started. Emelia was definitely quieter and more stressed leading up to the day, but the moment she came out of the gym, Danielle knew it went well as Emelia was beaming with a smile ear-to-ear.
All that was left was the waiting to find out.
The other big bit of news happened Tuesday. The Teeter family grew by another – and the best part was it was another girl. My brother Greg and sister-in-law Testza welcomed to the world, their beautiful new girl Abigail Rose and our niece Zoe and nephew Vaughan became big sister and brother respectively. And Emelia was over the moon. It also meant we got to have a special over night visit with our niece while her Mother and Father were in the hospital figuring out newborn life like champs. Big congrats to Greg, Testza, Vaughan and Zoe. We cannot wait to officially meet Abi when COVID allows.
With all that was going on and that I ended the week with Friday and Saturday off, we made off to the trailer Thursday evening as soon as I was home for work. Even with a forecast that included a fair bit of rain and that the Sherwood’s would not be there at the same time, we used the escape from the city to the trailer to relax and hopefully take Emelia’s mind off the waiting to find out which was to come Sunday. Saturday evening I headed back but the Sherwood’s were up there to keep Emelia and Danielle company for the night and today before I could come collect my lady friends and return back home.
The second I pulled into the campground, Emelia came running up to the truck to tell me her good news. She was so over the moon and it was so great to see her having so much joy. And the best part was Olivia is right there with her on this team. The last few months have been very challenging for kids all over, but especially for Emelia as her main tenents of socialization (school, dance, the end of her gymnastics season and a possible Cheer season) were ripped away from her. This little piece of something she really wanted in her life made me so happy to see her getting. What a brilliant way to end a week!
So, I guess from here on in, you can call me Karen. Time for me to get the Can I Speak to the Manager frosted tips hairdo, I guess?
She said
What a week!!! The biggest event of the week was the birth of our newest family member. For the last few weeks we have been on baby watch as John and I were the people who were taking our niece Zoe while her mama was in the hospital having her new baby. So there has been lots of talks over the last few weeks waiting for the big day to arrive. Well, this week the day finally arrived.
Tuesday morning I got a text from my sister-in-law that the day had finally arrived and that she was in the early stages of active labour, we chatted and decided that they would bring Zoe here on their way to the hospital. Around 11am Zoe arrived and off Greg and Testza went to the hospital. With the pandemic we have barely been able to see Zoe—a big change from seeing her every single day. She was so excited to know that she could finally give me a huge hug and was going to be staying with us until her new baby arrived and mommy was coming home. We had a very fun day planned so we were off on our adventure while Greg and Testza were off to theirs.
As a great distraction for the day I took Zoe with me to Ipperwash Beach to join Emelia and her best friends for a swim in Lake Huron. Zoe was so thrilled to finally see Emelia face to face and loved being able to splash in the lake with her. The girls spent the afternoon cooling down in the lake and playing in the sand. The day was just about perfect. We waited for updates from Greg as they came in the day but Zoe was so busy the day flew by.
As we were driving back home just ahead of dinner we finally got the big news! Abigail Rose Teeter was born, and she is so beautiful and the whole family is already in love. With Covid it has made it hard and we haven’t been able to meet her face to face but we have been loving all the pictures and even got to be with Zoe when she got to meet her baby sister for the first time via FaceTime. We are hoping we can finally meet the baby soon and we are so excited to add another girl to the family. Emelia, Amy and Zoe are thrilled because the girls now outnumber the boys for Teeter grandchildren!
With the baby news making a big dent in our week, we were still waiting for some other very big news for Emelia. Emelia chose to retire from gymnastics this past season, but she still loved dance and tumbling. For years Emelia has wanted to try cheer—everything about it plays into her athletic strengths and passions. So this year we are moving from gymnastics parents to cheer parents.
This week Olivia and Emelia went to their placement assessments, the girls were both nervous, with the pandemic other than their trampolines they have had very little tumbling practice, they were both worried that they were going to be very rusty. The entire couple days leading up Emelia was quiet and you could tell worried. When the day of the tryouts came, she was very nervous. The girls went off together while Stephanie, Justin and I waited outside for them. A half an hour later Emelia came out beaming from ear to ear – she was so happy how she did. She finally admitted she was so nervous that she wasnt going to do well, that she was going to be so rusty she wouldn’t be able to do anything. She said once she got in there and pulled off her first tumbling line she said she felt amazing and was right back in her zone. She was proud of how she did and was nervous to see how she would be placed.
So today was the day we found out, all day the girls were both asking us on repeat if we got any messages, the whole day they talked about where they thought they would be placed. The longer the day went on the more they worried. Around 6:30 tonight they found out! Both girls have been placed on an all-star competitive team on the level that Emelia was really hoping for. So like that we are Cheer Strike Royal parents! We are so proud of Emelia and Olivia. Emelia has had a rough few weeks and this boost in confidence is exactly what she needed.
The training starts soon, they will be doing things very differently this year due to Covid, lots of protocol and changes to training policies. The girls are excited and we are for them. We cannot wait to see what this next adventure brings!