And again, 3 months have passed since I last updated!  The new job is very busy so I have to use my own time to write now. Haha.

So here we go - a play by play on each of us, starting with the youngest…

Tyler

Hockey ended in late February for Tyler’s team.  They had a good season, but didn’t make it to the Semi-Finals. They were such a great bunch of kids.  They improved immensely and I think many of them developed a true love of the game that wasn’t really there at the beginning of the season.  We also just found out that they have been chosen to receive the Mayor’s award for the most sportsmanlike team – very exciting.  I’m so proud of all of them.

Tyler has chosen to play summer hockey again. (Even though I SWORE after last summer we would never do that again).  He’s playing on Sunday night, which, so far, is working out nicely.  He gets lots of playing time and is doing really well.  And I admit – I really enjoy watching!  J

He also just finished round two of Level 4 in swimming.  He didn’t pass…again.  The front crawl is just not happening for him.  He’s still really scared in deep water too.  He doesn’t realize that he can swim – or doesn’t trust himself yet.  He’s making progress though.  He went down the slide this week and he got up on the diving board (but didn’t go off – haha)

In other sports…Ty has been BEGGING to do Karate for almost three years now.  Not a huge supporter, I kind of put him off, but finally we decided we would let him give it a go.  He’s been going twice a week for two months now and apparently quite enjoys it.  We signed him up for three months so we’ll see how it goes by the end.  We aren’t even allowed to watch so I have no idea what they do, but he comes out sweaty and happy so I guess that’s all that matters.

School is finally over – today is the last day.  Ty had a rough spell at the beginning of the third term but if his report card is any indication he pulled his socks up by the end. His report was actually pretty good.  Off to Grade 3 next year!

That’s about it for Tyler.

Kelsey

Kelsey also just finished round two of Level Four in swimming and she actually got it this time.  She’s a decent swimmer and she’s not afraid at all anymore.  She’s not very strong physically so it’s building the strength and coordination but she’s getting there.

School is getting better for Kelsey.  After a HORRIBLE winter term where I thought my 9 year old was bordering on severe depression, we spoke with her teacher and said we were going to take her to see a psychologist because we were concerned that she is so unhappy and really underachieving at school.  The teacher suggested we have a psycho-educational assessment done as she suspects that Kelsey may have some type of learning disability.  So I researched this testing on the web and decided that it seemed worthwhile.  We found a neuro-psychologist in our area that performs such a test 4 sessions and $1400 later Kelsey has been diagnosed with a learning disability. She has a graphomotor dysfunction, which basically means she has a hard time with the fine motor control required for writing, and she has a visual processing and visual memory deficit. I won’t go into lengthy details about what this means, but essentially math is going to be really tough for her and she will need to learn to type this summer.  We met with the school and they aren’t really going to be all that useful.  It’s going to come down to the teacher that she has next year.  The one major result is that she will not go to French immersion next year.  The stress would be just too great and Kelsey isn’t equipped to handle a large failure at this point.

Right now, Kelsey is at camp for a whole week!  She’s been gone since Saturday and I can’t tell you how CRAZY it makes me to have no idea what she’s doing, or HOW she’s doing.  I’ve never been so completely cut off from either of my children for such a long period of time.  I look forward to hearing all about her experience.  I just hope she settled in ok and is having a fantastic time!

Tony

Still working.  For those who are counting it’s been more than a year now.  Yay Tony!

Tony is doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu these days, which he REALLY enjoys.  It suits his personality.  I watched once but decided it would be better for me if I didn’t watch.  It’s a bit too physical for my taste and I can’t really understand why anyone would WANT to do it, but to each his own.  Tony has a great time and it will help him to get in shape so who am I to say.  I do however wait for the inevitable injury – let’s just hope it’s not something big.  J

Tony turned 32 in May.  Hard to believe – I remember his 18^th birthday.

ME

So last time I checked in I was headed into crazy season.  It’s over now and I haven’t got a ton going on.  I finished skating for the summer. I also quit working for Weight Watchers as I found it was taking up too much time. I’m still going once a week as a member though.  The new job has been really tough on my eating habits.  There is always free food and it’s never healthy but always enticing.  The first 3 months I really let it get away on me.  Now I’m paying the piper, but it’s good to be back to eating properly.  I’ve started to hangout at the gym at lunchtime instead of the cafeteria too. Hehe. I’m playing baseball for 2 different teams this summer, which is great fun.  Tony plays with me on Thursdays with the Giffels team.  Maybe I’ll actually improve this year by playing twice a week – but probably not.

No hockey for me this summer.  I am taking a Trainers certification course in August and will serve as the trainer for whatever team Tyler ends up on next year.  There are basically two possibilities and I know both the coaches and both have said they would love to have me out if Tyler makes their team so it all depends on what level he ends up in.  I also somehow managed to find myself on the Board of Directors for our association – which basically means I attended a meeting. Hehe.  I’ll observe quietly this year and see what I think.  I don’t know if I want to be THAT involved but somebody has to do it…

Also last time I checked in I was lamenting the fact that I had tried 2 dance tests at the end of January –and failed them both.  Well I tried them again I March and I PASSED – yippee!  So now I’m working on my Gold dances.  Woohoo!  I learned 3 out of the 4 dances in Spring School and I was supposed to try the Quickstep and the Viennese but I somehow managed to not register for the session so the person running the school decided that I couldn’t try my tests.  The upside to that is that I may not have passed anyway and I didn’t end up paying full price for the spring school.  So I’m taking the summer off and will resume the dances in the fall.  My coach is headed for the Yukon for the summer anyway so the break will be good.

The new job is good.  I’ve been here 5 months and I’ve settled in.  It’s a good job.  Sometimes a bit on the busy side and therefore a wee stressful, but in general I don’t get stressed too easily so it’s fine.  I had the opportunity to spend a day in Montreal in April which was fun and I spent 4 days in Bromont, PQ and 4 days in Halifax at the end of May, beginning of June.  It’s nice to get to travel a bit, as long as it isn’t too often it’s fun.  May was a bit crazy because I went to Edmonton on the long weekend on a little personal trip. For my birthday Tony sent me to Edmonton for the long weekend.  A couple of my friends from skating moved out west and I went to visit! Nicolette – who lives in Edmonton – and I took a (very long) road trip to Regina to visit Tricia.  It was a very fun trip.  Good Job, Tony! I’d never been to Edmonton or anywhere in Saskatchewan so it was quite the adventure. 

I’m enjoying the summer at a slightly slower pace.  I’ve managed to get totally burnt twice already so I’m doing something right!  J

Baseball pics

Summer photo pages

Click here to read previous rants.

All about Tony …

All about Renee…

All about Kelsey…

All about Tyler…

Harley and Davidson (aka Davie)

The extended family…