An update on what's been going on

I'm so far behind on what we've been up to, so I'll do my best to catch up.

Alexandra
Alex's big news is that at the end of March she got glasses!

We've known for over a year that she was farsighted but our optometrist had opted not to prescribe glasses because of her age (she was only 3 at the time). But, because the prescription is different in each eye, she was at risk of developing a lazy eye and has been going for rechecks every few months. She has now developed a lazy eye and the hope is that the glasses will correct them.

The good news is that she loves wearing them, and I honestly believe it's because she really can see better with them on. The world is suddenly clear for her for the first time. She was a little nervous about wearing them to school though -- because she's the only kid in her class with glasses. But now, several of her friends have told their mother's that they want glasses just like Alexandra!

In other news, Alex is doing well at school and is still very much enjoying it. This week, I'll be registering her for the French Immersion school for September (the same school as Austin goes to). As it's only going to be half-day Kindergarten again, she's also registered at a nearby Montessori school for the other half-day.

Back in January, I took her to an afternoon all-girls dance party (she was the only kid there, but she didn't care) and afterwards, we walked across the street to the fire station where she got to sit in every, single fire truck and even ring the siren. 

And as an early birthday present, her Auntie Krista came to Toronto for the weekend and took her to see Pinkalicious, the play. For which, of course, she had to get all dressed up for!

Over the winter, she took both swimming lessons, ballet and (for the first time) skating lessons. She enjoyed both and this spring is in swimming lessons and ballet. In June, she'll be having her first ballet recital. And she's already registered for soccer this summer.

Austin

Austin is still playing hockey, with his final tournament coming up next weekend. He loved playing hockey this winter and is already asking to sign up for next season. This year, he was in a learn-to-play league, which was basically learning skills, although as the season progressed, they started playing short games. Next year, he'll be playing on a house league team. 

Austin is also doing very well at school as well and got all As and Bs on his last report card.

In January, Ryan took him to Monster Jam at the Rogers Centre. They had pit passes so that before the show, they got to go down to the floor and check out all the monster trucks and bikes. Austin even got to write his name on all of the wreck cars. Oh, and he loved the show.

In February, his Auntie Krista came to Toronto for the weekend to take him to a Marlies game for his birthday (yes, the same weekend Alex went to Pinkalicious). It was his first hockey game and he had a great time!

For his 7th birthday, we went to an indoor beach volleyball place where he and his friends had a beach party. They ran around and played games in the sand for an hour or so, wolfed down the Star Wars cake I made and then went on a treasure hunt in the sand for their loot bags. He (and his friends) had a blast.

This past winter, Austin also took swimming lessons and of course hockey. This spring, it's more swimming lessons and he's already registered for soccer in the summer.

On March 1, his school did a dance-a-thon to raise money for the school. He was really into the idea of the fundraiser, and I dropped by the school on the morning of the dance-a-thon and saw that he had a blast (he's the kid in the black shirt and brown pants):

And here's a fun video of the kids from January. After some snow and then some rain and then another deep freeze (story of this past winter, I think), we were left with a sheet of ice at the park:

Mom and dad

There isn't as much to say about us as there is the kids -- after all, everything they do is what keeps us busy. But here's us in a nutshell. Work is going well for me and keeping me busy while the kids are at school during the day. I'm also signed up to run my first race of the seasons -- a 10K -- on May 12. Ryan's signed up to do the Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart on June 2 -- it's a 50K bike ride up and down the DVP. And work kept him insanely busy through January and February as the building he's doing was to be turned over on March 3. They made their deadline and although he's still busy now, it's back down to regular levels of busy.

I think that's all for now.

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