You always hear the adage "the days are long but the years are short." Boy, did 2018 fly by with so many fun, hectic activities but also moments of family stillness that we've come to relish so much.
It has been almost three years in our new (is it still so new anymore?) home and neighbourhood and the love affair still continues. We enjoy our summers in the backyard, our fall staring at all the foliage and our winters enjoying the river view.
We are taking our time with projects bit by bit as our time and budget permits and loving the uniqueness of our property. Our neighbours have become friends and family. We love our neighbourhood summer happy hours, book clubs, music parties and our inaugural carolling adventure but more than that all the little kindnesses we experience from Susan bringing free run eggs for us bi-weekly, Karen babysitting on a very last minute basis and Frania sending little treats for the girls.
C is now in Grade 4 and officially a 'junior' in elementary school. This year she wrote her EQAO exams and really rocked them, confirming what we knew all along- girlfriend can do all that she sets her mind too. She is in her second year of competitive swimming and she has continued to improve on her personal times through the year. She loves her swim team and is one of the last ones to emerge from the locker room most days enjoying all the chatter and antics.
This year, she also did skiing, soccer and dance until the summer, replacing them with karate (twice weekly) come fall. She continues with her violin and piano and will be judged at her first festival next year (eeek!). She also did an engineering camp where she learnt some basics of coding. She, and by extension me, is so busy. She moved into her new room this year and it's never as neat as we'd like it to be! She is a bookworm, brave, strong and level headed and is slowly and ably navigating all the girl politics that come with the fourth grade... and all you girl mamas there know how complicated it can be in the elementary battle-ground playground. This year she did her first neighbourhood food drive and amassed 503 pounds of necessities for our community.
A completed Casa 3 at the Montessori and after 5 years at this school, I bawled my eyes out in the last parent teacher interview. We love her CASA teachers and the strong foundation that she had to enter Grade 1.
We were nervous about the start to Grade 1 as it was such a new experience for her but once again, this kid surprised me by transitioning with unexpected aplomb. She has made so many friends and regales us with stories every single day about her little friends. Always learning and growing, this little one's report card is the stuff that parent's dreams are made of! As I sit writing this, she is practising tying bows, a very important skill I am told as she now wants lace up shoes. She did Kindermusik this year, dance and lacrosse until summer and gymnastics (her very favourite ) since the fall. Since C moved out of her room, it is as neat as a pin, her handwriting is beautiful and her tears come easily... She is strong, too sassy at times, stubborn but so kind with elders and little ones.
D and I continue to laugh at our little ones and life way into the night. We do not have the same shows in common anymore (I think he used to humour me when we first got married) but we watch movies ever so often with his comment ever so often being: that was the longest two hours of my life. We enjoy quiet evenings and the very occasional adult night out. In April/May of this year, we started to very carefully watch the carbs and the sugars in our diet and we more or less have stuck to it for the majority of the year with the exception of some holidays and vacations. We've seen some wonderful results(losing almost 40 lbs collectively) and feel better with all those veggies in our bodies.
This was a year for some big purchases with both of us getting new cars and me saying good bye to my beloved Lexus of eight wonderful years. We also went to Greece.... sans kids! We had the best time and my kids loved all the screen time, sugar and toys only given to them by grandparents... A even accidentally got bangs.... maybe I'll be able to laugh at that one day!
We also had many other little and big travel adventures this year. I went to NY five times this year! In February for my mom's birthday, in July to drop off the kids and head to Greece, in August for my parents' anniversary celebrations, in August sadly again for my great aunt's funeral and in October to a family wedding- phew and thank goodness for Nexus! We also headed to Rochester with our framily in February and Mexico in March for a little time away from the cold.
Apart from the hectic nature of our lives, we've also come to really appreciate the beautiful moments when it's just the four of us hanging out, playing, laughing or watching Little House on the Prairie! I made a whole hearted effort this year and especially this holiday season, to really enjoy the little things and not overschedule our social calendar. This year was about bringing more joy into our lives and surrounding ourselves with people and things that made us happy.
We are so thankful for all the visitors we get during the year. Special mention to our parents who come to visit for birthdays or around the holidays and to my cousin Chad who makes it a priority to come visit or to call us weekly... I think our antics are his entertainment! I am also so grateful for my tribe and besties D, Priya and Jenn who are sources of laughter in those happy moments and solace when the going gets tough. In such a tough, triumphant, fascinating time we are living in, we feel so very blessed.
I hope that everyone is enjoying this holiday season and that 2019 brings so much joy and love into your lives. I'm so blessed that after almost 6 years of blogging, I still have so many beautiful moments and adventures to write about and so thankful for you guys coming back to read. Happy New Year, friends!