Life Lately!

Here's a little update on life in the Cameron house:

Hockey and ringette ended and power skating and lacrosse started!!  Along with the regular swimming lessons and dance classes :)

We are LOVING the awesome weather.  The kids and I usually spend 30 min - 1 1/2 hrs at the school playground every day after school.  It is so fabulous.  They typically play either baseball or soccer with school friends, the girls included!  I just love it and feel very happy that they are able to have this time.  I just know I will look back on these days and be thankful we had this time, it is worth all the material sacrifices + more.  On dance days and swimming days we play until it's time to leave.  On the other days we head home for homework and relax time (for the kids ... for me it's usually a last minute scramble to put supper together ;)).

Cal is very busy at work and has also taken on another part time job ;)  He is helping a friend coach two power skating sessions on Monday nights.  Blake is in the first session.  It's great for Blake because his school friends are also in the same power skating class.  During the hockey season they play for different clubs, so he was very excited to be on the ice with them!  And of course he's having fun, there's not a minute of hockey-related activity that kid doesn't like ;) 

Lacrosse is going great!  Blake's improved so much since the first practice!  He loves it and is looking forward to his tournament this weekend.  He had his first game on Tuesday evening.  It was a lot of fun to watch and cheer the kids on - much the same environment/intensity as hockey!!  And it didn't take long for the girls to find fellow lacrosse sisters to run the rink with!

Dance is getting to the fun part of the year - competition, picture and recital time!  The girls tried on their costumes last week and o.m.g. - to die for.  Cuteness factor overload ;)  In about February dance became a bit tedious, it's a lot of practice time for the first 5-6 months but when April hits, the fun factor raises!!  The costumes come in, the older groups enter competition season (Em competes in 1 competition), professional photo's are taken in full costume/makeup and the year end recital looms!  We're looking forward to Em's competition on May 10th (what better way to spend Mother's Day?!) and both the girls dancing in the year end recital at the end of May!  This will be Reese's 1st recital and I can't wait to see her on stage :)

I'm still busy with the Preschool Board.  It keeps me quite busy but will be winding down in June!!  School Council is also busy at the moment, with the planning of a Spring Pasta Dinner and Silent Auction.  It will hopefully be the 1st of many and I'm sure next year will be easier, after getting the first one under our belts.  I have stopped Cameron's Closet and a friend has taken it over.  I don't miss it one bit and have no idea how I would it it into my week, if I was still doing it!!

Cal is running in a 1/2 marathon soon and is still loving his November Project mornings!  He's met a lot of great people through NP and enjoys their weekly "Grumpy Old Men" coffee dates after NP, on Friday mornings!!

Blake and Em have a Spring Concert coming up and we're all looking forward to the return of my parents!!  They will be back from vacation soon and although on one hand it is hard to believe almost 2 months has passed, on the other hand is has flown by. 

Here's to the beginning of Spring and all the lovely things that follow!

xo
Tracy

What a Rush!!

Blake and some of his Wizards teammates had the opportunity to play during 1/2 time at the Edmonton Rush game.  And of course, take in the game! 

We had never been to a Rush game before.  We've heard the games were fun, that music is played throughout the game and it is loud.  But we weren't quite prepared for the party atmosphere it was!!!  It was A LOT of fun!!  Great time and very cool for Blake and teammates to play during the 1/2 time :)

Have I mentioned how much I love this game?!  Looooove it!!!  And Blake's loving it too ;)

Playing where the pro's play!

Wizard's Lacrosse!

After much consideration, Blake decided to give Lacrosse a try this Spring!!  He was going to play soccer and then thought about playing baseball and then finally decided on lacrosse!  Cal and I are happy he is trying something new.  I firmly believe in trying new sports and activities while they're young!  I don't want my kids to just stick to the same 2 sports and miss out on possibly falling in love with something else!  Plus, I mentioned to Blake that he plays soccer at school nearly every recess and Cal and I love playing baseball, so we can do that this summer, too!!  Blake's first weekend of lacrosse was evaluations, so he practiced on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (20, 21, 22)!  Monday evening they formed the teams.  He missed his first team practice due to his hockey wind up party but made the next one and soon we will get our regular season game schedule!  So far Blake is enjoying it but as I said to Cal, I'm pretty sure he'd love any sport he tried :)  He's the tallest on his team and his coach told him at the last practice that he should practice cradling the ball, as he will definitely have an advantage due to his size!  I also told him he needs to be a bit more aggressive ... lol.  He's like a gentle giant!!  Too used to taking it easy on his sisters!  Which isn't a bad thing :)

First day of lacrosse!

Back coloring in the stands :)

From hockey sisters, to Lacrosse sisters! 

Busy Saturday!!

Today was the Storm wind up party at Laser Quest and Blake played in the Edges 24 hr classic for the Matt Cook Foundation.  We went from the party to the rink!

Laser Quest was a lot of fun!  The girls played too and loved it!!  The whole team, some siblings and some parents played and had a blast!  It was a great wind up party, we'll miss some of our friends and Blake will be asking for play dates soon, I'm sure!!  And thankfully, we will see a lot of them at 3 on 3 this summer!

The Edges game was great.  This is the second year Blake has participated in this event!  This year the Edges team raised $28,000.00!!  Thank you to everyone who donated to Blake, we greatly appreciate it :)

Storm wind up party at Laser Quest!

Edges 24 hr Charity Challenge for the Matt Cook Foundation!

Cabane Sucre @ Ecole Bishop Savaryn!

This year our school's Cabane Sucre celebrations spanned 3 days(March 18, 19 and 20)!!  First up was horse and wagon rides, followed by hot chocolate!  The next morning, the kids participated in traditional French games in the great outdoors!  And the third and final grande finale day, brought the Les Bucherons to our school to help the kids make la tire and teach each separate grade a role that was then played in a final performance in the gymnasium :)  This is one of the funnest days of the year at Ecole Bishop Savaryn!  All the kids dress as lumberjacks and everyone has an absolute blast!  The girls and I took in the grande finale and it was so much fun.  Blake's class square danced and everyone sang!!  On Wednesday morning I volunteered to make hot chocolate and had a lot of fun with the other moms and grandmas!!  I love helping out at the school!  Here's a few photo's from the Cabane Sucre fun:

Blake and his best buds, enjoying their hot chocolate after their sleigh ride!

Emerson in her class, enjoying her hot chocolate with her friends :)

Em's class, making la tire!

Em and Blake, with one of the performers of the Les Bucheron group!

Demonstration of Learning

On Thursday afternoon I spent time in Blake and Emerson's classrooms for Demonstration of Learning.  I always love these days, seeing what the kids are working on, hearing how they are doing in the classroom and experiencing their joy and pride as they show me around their work spaces and classrooms!

I visited Emerson's kindergarten classroom first.  I spend a bit of time in Em's class, so I have a really good idea of what she does in her day and how she is doing.  Mme Sina has also started an Instagram account, which I LOVE!  It is so cool to see what the class is doing on a day to day basis, I love checking Instagram and seeing peeks of Em ;)  Em is doing really well in kindergarten.  Since the beginning of Sept, her teacher has told me how responsible she is and what a joy it is to have her in the class.  Apparently she is a model student ... I've questioned this a few times and am always told the same thing!  I'm very glad she is so well-behaved and helpful at school but have to admit I almost feel embarrassed at times because she is a normal kid and at times I feel like a shitty parent and for some reason I have a hard time accepting a compliment ... I guess.  I guess that's really what it boils down to?!  I felt the same way in preschool, like the teachers were gawking at me like I was some sort of rock star parent but really not feeling all that great about my parenting!!!  lol!  But back to Em, she is excelling in Kindergarten, doing well in French and especially Religion.  A kid in a Catholic school, who attends a United Church faithfully, answering every single Religion question her teacher asks and telling stories from the bible.  Blake is in the same boat!  His Religion teacher tells me the exact same thing!!  It's awesome :)  Mme Sina did say that Em is obviously the older student in class and that she needs to be challenged more and that she is really ready for grade 1!  I don't regret not putting her in to Kindergarten when she was 4, as I know (or so I've heard) that 'holding her back' will only benefit her in her later school years.  BUT ... it is so obvious she is ready for grade one!!!  I really have to keep her busy when she is not in school, even just asking her to help with dishes, laundry, etc or asking her to do worksheets/workbooks.  Anything!  She needs to be busy and is not tired (mentally or physically) at all after school!

Blake is doing great as well!  I love being in his classroom, it's like a dream come true.  lol!  Super organized, pretty and bright and damn, it smells good too.  Blake showed me many, many projects, workbooks, movies on the classroom iPads, science, social studies, English language arts, French, Religion, and Art work to name a few!!  I'm very proud of his studious nature and how well he is doing in school.  I do worry that he may not be challenged as much as he should be but since reading his report card, we've found some ways to improve.  Which is always a good thing!  Blake can be just a tad distracted and so that is something we can help him work on.  It's so funny because as he was showing me the different stations at his Demo of Learning, he would get sidetracked by a friend explaining something to their parent and I would say, "Blake!  Blake, concentrate on what you're doing!"  And man oh man, did he ever remind me of Cal!!!  He is the type of person that really needs quiet to fully concentrate and we have definitely found that when doing his homework.  He needs a quiet space, no distractions!  And with a class of 26, I imagine he may get distracted from time to time!  Blake loves school and for that I am very grateful.  He really likes Mlle Melissa (I have a feeling she may be his first crush!) and I think he tries his absolute hardest for her :)  So far he is doing extremely well and I hope we can keep that up!  I keep hearing rumblings that French Immersion kids often experience trouble, or things change, in Grade 3 ... we shall see.

After Demo of Learning we made our way to the music classroom, as Blake wanted to show Emerson and I some of the things they were doing in Music.  We have such an awesome music teacher, I am very much looking forward to the Spring concert and what she has planned!!

After the music class, we had to take in the Scholastic Book Fair and pick out books!  We also bought a book for Reese (who was working with Cal, as Cal could not get the afternoon off and Reese would have been a distraction at school!).  I love these book fairs and we have two to look forward to - this was the English book fair and in a few weeks we will have a French book fair!

Demo of Learning is always a great day, super proud of our two big kids and wondering how we will juggle three Demo of Learning's next year?!

xo
Tracy

Beginning of March

Our first few weeks of March were great!  Our ringette season ended on the 7th.  We had a fun last ice time, playing a few games and scrimmaging.  The girls improved so much over the course of the season and both say they will play again next year!  We're so proud of them :)  I think the highlight of the ringette season would be the Beaumont Jamboree!!  It was such a great time and very well organized, with fun activities between games and great loot bags ;) 

Blake played a few more playoff games at the beginning of March and wrapped up the season with a tough one!  It was a poorly officiated game and I really hate to say that but it was essentially terrible.  It was a close game but could have certainly gone the other way with a more fairly officiated game.  Quite a few of the boys were upset after the game, Blake included.  He was silently sobbing and did not want consoling!  In my mind, it doesn't hurt to be upset.  Shows his heart is in the game and he's dedicated.  I think everyone needs to learn how to be a good loser, you can't win them all (and you don't learn anything from winning them all!) but you don't have to accept losing ... if that makes sense?! Blake's team had a great season.  Started the year off rocky, came together and learned how to play as a team, practiced hard (and of course, I think Cal had a huge role in them improving with his awesome practices!!), improved tremendously, won silver in the Confederation tournament, silver in Minor Hockey Week (there are many men that you talk to who played EMHL for years and have never even made it to a final!!), were the only Novice team in our hockey club to be moved up a tier, won bronze in the Stan Gantar tournament and made many new friends and had a lot of fun along the way :)  As a head Coach, Cal learned a ton and had fun too!!  All the boys and the coaches, should be proud of themselves!

The beginning of March also brought play dates and dinner dates!  We had our weekly library Pokemon meeting (we try to meet most early dismissal Thursdays!), Reese and I had Erin and her Mom over one Tuesday morning, Reese and I went to another preschool friend's house for a play date and the Parenteaus came over for dinner on a Saturday night.  Oh, and throw a field trip in there :)  I accompanied Reese's class to the Jubilee for a Shumka performance!!  It was wonderful and made me miss my Ukrainian dancing days!  Reese also enjoyed it!  The kids and I also had a fun afternoon with Connor.  Lindsay brought him over while she took Mason to a Dr. appointment.  We walked to the park and met Berlyn.  The kids ran and held hands and had fun :)  It was a beautiful day!!  Of course we've had more snow since then but at least we know it isn't sticking around for long now!  Our first hockey-free Saturday, we headed to Totem Outfitters to buy Blake's lacrosse equipment and stopped for a walk in the river valley on our way home.  It was another beautiful day out and we were trying to catch a glimpse of the Red Bull Crashed Ice track!! 

Great ringette season, Emerson and Reese!

Last KC 054 Storm huddle of the season

Walking with Connor to the park :)