2011, looking back!

2011 was a good year for me in many ways!
First off, my family. Gabi and I continued to settle into and adjust to the lifestyle changes that came with the new house in 2010, and I've got a little story to reflect how that's going.
When we first started dating, I had a window in my classroom slip open over the Christmas break, the same year Mel Lastman called in the army. I returned to school to find a snow bank in the middle of my classroom, and all my carefully nurtured plants frozen like bricks.
So, to help me recover my plants, Gabi sent me a ficus, which I thought was the sweetest thing any girl had ever done for me. I never took it to school, because it quickly graced our apartment, then our first house. It did well, stayed healthy, and we named it the love tree, cheesy but highly accurate.
However, in the new house, this tree has doubled in size, an unbelievable growth spurt for a tree that had been slowly growing with us for a decade. An apt metaphor, I think! We love life in this new neighborhood!
The girls are doing good, as well, Maya thriving in Grade three, and Chloe thriving at being three. Maya's doing well in school and with her friends, and makes us very proud. Chloe, while a more challenging, stubborn child than Maya ever was by far, is showing some encouraging signs lately. Watching a Dolphins Tale with her this week was a revelation, she got so upset by Winter being hurt. Chloe is a very smart, chatty, confident child, and seems very popular at her daycare, with both students and teachers, which I'll take as a good sign.
Our trip to Orlando was a definite highlight, as well as our WDW moments, repeated Small World rides and heat related meltdowns notwithstanding. Hollywood Studios at night without the kids was fun, and the Aerosmith themed Rock and Rollercoaster was just as fun as Everest in Animal Kingdom. The absolute highlight of the trip for me was, surprisingly enough, our Princess lunch in Cinderella's castle. The girls and Gabi were enthralled, and I absolutely loved the pic of the four of us with Cinderella, sweaty though we were.  I loved being down there with my parents and Ter and Jen and the boys, and all ten of us had a great time in our fantastic rental house, especially the pool.
The first part of July at the cottage was awesome - beautiful weather, and good times with family and friends. We're probably going to have to track down a new bunk bed for the 4 kids soon...
I took my first school trip as teacher in charge, and we had a fantastic time in Ottawa and Montreal, so good I'm repeating the experience. The ski trips were good too, although my first attempt at getting Maya on skis didnt work out so well. Hopefully this year will be better - we start lessons on the 16th!
Otherwise work was a mixed bag - I've had two fantastic groups of kids to work with, but admin changes are always interesting. I've wound up the year as co-chair, so we'll see how that goes.
Squash and baseball were good - another year with lots of minor injuries, including hamstrings, groin pulls and a mildly sprained ankle, as well as my current knee injury. I need to change something in my physical routine - to that end, I've joined both squash leagues to help me build up some strength Jan-April. That plus skiing on Sundays should really help...I hope. I struggled big time moving a pin into the house yesterday, and I'm a bit afraid of trying to get it into the basement. Haven't felt this weak in some time.
Cora's health finally improved, although she seems to have some kind of stomach bug right now, poor thing. 2011 was also the year we lost Jake, sadly. Probably the greatest catch and fetch dog ever, in his prime he probably could have played a mean centerfield, if you didn't mind a slobbery ball when he was done. He always loved to jump up on me and give me a big wet face wash. I'm going to miss those, but I sure love Lily, too, Ter and Jen's new pup.
I would be remiss without mentioning my new and rather obsessive hobby, pinball. However, I won't talk too much about it here, other than to say its something I enjoy very much, and have made some new friends through an awesome online community I've been made to feel at home in.
We're planning to possibly make 2012 the year of planning the kitchen, and hopefully make it a reality in 2013, although I think a vehicle purchase will probably be an inevitable budget line item in the next 2-3 years, and hopefully not sooner. I'm trying out Vera's Yaris now - we'll see what comes.
So, without any further rumblings, I'll sign off, hoping that everyone who takes the time to read this will have a good or better 2012!