Well Christmas is over and the new year has begun! I'm still wondering where 2011 went, but that is getting older for you, the years keep coming and the blur just keeps getting stronger and stronger!
2012 was a difficult year, but it was a year of change and of learning to let go. Some friendships disappeared and some forged a stronger bond. It is the hard times that make you appreciate and to be thankful for the things that you have and I have never been more thankful of an amazing partner, two beautiful and ever so loving children and family and friends that live near and far that have been my rock and that have challenged me to be a better person and love me no matter what.
There were a couple of little highlights that I am more than a little proud of though and a couple that I could happily erase but what fun would that be, so just in case i forget here they are:
This was the first year that Amber went for her Royal Academy of Dance Exam, and I cannot tell you how nervous I was for her! Last year we were all geared up to do the exam and I mixed up the dates and we arrived a day later, to say I was devastated would be a slight understatement! Lucky my girl was ever so amazing about the whole thing and gave her mummy a big hug and told me that it is not the end of the world (famous last words she has heard countless times from me!) and that life will go on, and so it did!
Well I am so proud of my girl as she went in this year with such confidence and poise. She amazes me with her love and joy of performing and with her lack of nerves, she leaves me for dead in those stakes. We had too wait way to long for the results to come back from London but it was well worth the wait! I couldn't open up that envelope at first, things were running through my head about what would I say if she failed, how would I hide my disappointment, I should of had more faith in my daughters abilities because i couldn't have been prouder in the end. She always tries so hard in everything she does and on more than one occasion in the many things she has done she has learnt to be graceful in defeat! And that is such a hard lesson to learn. So in my eyes she is a winner because of her amazing attitude to life and for giving it a go and never giving up.
She ended up receiving a Distinction in her graded Exam and I have to laugh because every time she has told someone about her results she struggles with the pronunciation of the word, thankfully she knows what she is doing with her feet otherwise people might think that when she is referring to her results that she is actually a dinosaur and heading towards extinction not a distinction lol!
That wasn't her only achievement this year, she also earlier in the year won a trophy at Little Athletics for the most improved athlete for the under 7's and under 8's. There is that never give up attitude i was talking about, she is by no means perfect though and we do have tears sometimes over certain performances, but it is a wonderful lesson about life.
Amber is absolutely loving art at school and did very well on the arts and sports side of things on her report, she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up, so I guess she is on the right track. She loves reading and I can't believe how far that she has come since the beginning of Year 1 when she could only read a handful of words to full blown chapter books now.
Aidan is like a little sponge and enjoys trying to keep up with his big sister. We have just started him on Reading Eggs and he is loving every minute of it! Watch out Amber here comes Aidan! He is certainly an active little boy and is always on the search for a good looking stick or rock to poke things with or throw. He is such the little investigator and such the little mess maker while on his investigations. I guess we need to prepare ourselves for another busy year.
He loves telling everyone how bad they have been when they do something they shouldn't and that they are naughty! He so makes me laugh and to be ultra aware of what comes out of my mouth because you know he is going to redirect his newly aqquired opinions onto anyone that will listen, don't you just love little parrots!
Toilet training has not been too successful this year just past. He has the ability and has proven on many occasions that he is more than capable but, he is just so darn lazy. He will go and find a nappy and tell me that he has had enough now and would like me to put one on him. Going to the bathroom is such an inconvenience when you have sticks and stones to search for!!!!!
So as we head into the unknown future of 2012 I am excited and just a little bit nervous about what we are about to face. But isn't that what life is all about and truly I wouldn't want my life mapped out for me, because what kind of fun would that be any way. And just think of the adventures that you might miss out on. The beauty of life to me is the surprise element, the unknown, the excitement in what is hiding around the next corner.
So I wish everyone a 2012 full of love, surprises and maybe just a little sprinkle of fairy dust. DREAM BIG AND LOVE EVEN BIGGER, THAT CORNER IS AWAITING!
