You say it's your birthday?!

It is hard to believe that my oldest girl, who was once so small she could sleep in a laundry basket, is now ELEVEN years old! Where the heck has the time gone? Cassandra celebrated her birthday on May 4th by going shopping with her Aunt. Because of the amount of extended family we have, birthdays in this house are usually week long affairs, LOL. She went out on the Wednesday with one Aunt, on the Friday (her actual birthday), out again Saturday morning with Papa, Sunday evening we had dinner with my in-laws ... lots of shopping, dining out, and pressies!

Some Pics...

Another Competition...

Note: The above picture is of the entire Competitive Dance Troupe in their Production costumes (all the 80-something girls are in Production!). They took this group pic to send to the younger sister of one of the dancers who is battling a cancerous brain tumour. She is only 4 years old, and the girls/studio/parents have done various fundraising activites to help support her family at this time. Cassie is in the bottom row, under the Double-L.

April 20-22 we went to Niagra Falls for the CDMA (Canadian Dance Masters of America) Competition which is considered our "big" competition. It is large in that it involves several days, several other studios, workshops, etc. We always turn this weekend into a mini-vacation for the family. We stayed at a Best Western with a really great pool area, and did some of the typical tourist-y stuff. Cassie danced well, although they didn't place as high as they did in the last competition, in part due to some "turmoil" within our studio, which I really don't want to get into here. The girls still did pretty good, scoring a High Gold (94 & up)for Production, and she got 3 High Silvers (85 - 88.9) for her other dances.

On Friday afternoon, we went shopping at the Outlet Mall down the road from the hotel and were able to score a few deals, and couldn't just pass by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory without buying a sampling of a few things! We made sure to go down to the Falls and check out some of shops on Saturday (the Hershey and Coke stores are always on our list of "must-sees"!), and we scoped out some off the attractions. Sunday morning, the kids had a blast posing with celebs at Louis Taussaud's Wax Museum, and checking out all the weirdness at Ripley's Believe it or Not.

The best "line" of the weekend was from Noah (who else?!) after Cassie finished dancing Production on Sunday afternoon. For those not in the know, comps are broken into sections and adjudication occurs at various points in the day after each section. As soon as Cassie's group left the stage, Noah turned to our friends' son, who was seated behind us, and says rather loudly: "I can't believe Cassie didn't win AGAIN! Well, at least she got a High Silver for 'Lucy' [her Jazz number] yesterday." Hehe! At least we know he supports his big sis...even though the scores weren't even in yet!

Our Easter Picture...

HAPPY EASTER!!!

It is Easter time again...why the heck is it SNOWING?! (My dad sent me this pic of himself yesterday hehe!) Despite the freezing temperatures, the Easter Bunny still made an appearance. The kids had a great time searching for eggs...even though Sneaky Noah came downstairs before everyone was up to scout them all out! On Good Friday we went for our annual lunch at the Mandarin and it was soooo yummy. Cassie tried sushi for the first time and really liked it. Now, if I can just keep the kids (and myself!) out of the chocolates so they don't get too hyped up on sugar!

I haven't had a chance to post the results, etc. from Cassie's first competition last weekend in Hamilton, so I'll add them now! The weekend went off with no glitches (whew!) and she danced really well! All the girls danced their Production number REALLY great, and, much to the surprise of everyone, received an Emerald award (90-95) and 1st Place! Her Tap and Musical Theater (MT from here on out) both did well with High Gold Awards (mid-high 80's). Her Jazz number also got a High Gold Award, but they also received 3rd Overall - Group Number for their age group which is awesome! In two weeks, we are off to the big competition in Niagra Falls. The kids are all excited, as it is like a mini-vacation for us: we stay in a hotel with a pool and do some sight-seeing and shopping. Stay Tuned!

And here they are!!!

If I didn't think I was bad mom before...

...I do now. :( It's a long, kinda complicated story, but I'll lay it out and hopefully anyone who actually reads this blog can follow it.

Before Cassie started school, I thought it would be best to get her eyes tested, just in case. I thought it would be better to catch any problems with her vision early so it wouldn't hinder her learning. At that time (approx. age 4.5 yrs old), the optomistrist said she was a bit near-sighted, but that it was normal for her age as the eyes are not fully developed until around age 6. Every year, the schools have vision screening and Cassie has never had a problem. She has never complained about problems reading, seeing the board, etc. Because of her height, she has always sat at the back of the class without any complaint. Her grades are average (about equal B's and C's), although she doesn't really enjoy reading and has never been a strong reader.

I need to mention that about two years ago, a friend's 7.5 yr old daughter was found to have a "Lazy Eye", which had gone undetected until then. About two weeks ago, Cassie came to me and said that there was "something weird going on" with her eyes: if she covered her left eye, everything was clear, but if she covered her right eye everything was "blurry". I thought maybe she was tired or something, but because of what my friend and her daughter had gone through, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have her eyes checked out to be on the safe side.

So...it turns out that the vision in her left eye is "extremely bad" and is a "Lazy Eye". The optomistrist told us that if it had been detected before the age of six, they may have been able to correct it. Now it is too late, and my baby girl has to wear glasses all the time. :(

I feel bad that it wasn't caught sooner, as I wasn't very diligent in getting her eyes tested. I took her when she was small and they found NOTHING wrong! I don't understand how this could have slipped by the other optomitrist at that time, considering how bad her vision is in that eye. According to her new doctor, she has had this since birth.

On the bright side, at least we caught this now instead of when she is in highschool. Maybe now her reading and marks in school will improve, and perhaps she will discover a love of reading now that she won't have to struggle to make out the words. Not to mention, she looks darn cute in her new glasses! :) I'll post pics as soon as she picks up her glasses (on Saturday!), as well as results from the competition this weekend in Hamilton!!!