Shaylah: She has turned into such a big girl this past year. 2010 was the year she turned 4 and started her second year of pre-school. Shaylah continues to be the child that make friends easily and seems to be the centre of all activity amongst her friends. This year she discovered birthday parties and cupcake cakes; nail-polish and lip-gloss; the boy she wants to marry when she gets older; and shower-baths. She has become fearless in the water and has entered the much anticipated "sunfish" level for swimming, where she is learning to tread water and do the front crawl. With Daddy being away during the week, she has also discovered that it is much more fun to sleep with Mommy than alone in her own bed, much to Daddy's dismay when he is home. Shaylah continued on with her ballet lessons and has decided that the ballet bar is hard work! She also learned how to pump her legs on a swing to keep it going and has mastered how to ride her bike (with training wheels) all by herself. Shaylah's favorite color for the year is gold (to match Belle's dress), her favorite "food" is candy, although salmon, spaghetti and boiled eggs are also favorites, and she likes to wear dresses everyday.
Caelan: Turned 3 this year and has been given a excellent report by the many specialists that are following his growth and development. He officially gave up diapers, discovered hockey and finally agreed that clothes were OK to wear. Caelan started pre-school and has a best friend (Jake), although he still relies heavily on his sisters for most of his social interactions. Caelan started swimming lessons and has learned how to put his face under the water, although he still prefers to wear goggles when swimming for fun. Caelan will eat anything given to him, his favorite color is blue and he loves Diego, Cars and Spiderman. Caelan is a bit of a wild child and loves to make noise and silly sounds! He has had to return to speech therapy to improve the pronounciation of his words, although it is not hard to hear him, since he only has one volume....LOUD!
Ashlyn: She continues to be quiet and sweet one and was also given high praise by her developmental specialists. Ashlyn also turned 3 this year and started pre-school with her brother. She has two best friends (Abby and Alanah) at school and she loved school immediately. Ahslyn has discovered a new love for ballet and will often be seen showing off her moves whenever and wherever there is music. Ashlyn loves to be a princess and asks to wear a dress everyday, but mainly she just wants to be like her big sister. She will only wear pink and makes it clear that pink is the only color that matters in life. She was potty trained by the summer, developed a large vocabulary, learned how to run and jump and made huge gains in her confidence in the pool during her lessons. Her favorite foods are cucumbers and mandarine oranges, often eating 4 or 5 oranges at a time. She has not developed the sweet tooth of the rest of the family, chosing to eat her frutis and vegetables instead of sweets. She continues to be on the smaller side, following the 5th to 10th percentile curve, but she makes her presence known with her sweet personality.
Marsalie: Is very happy to be moving into 2011 without any children in diapers. She continues to work 2 days a week at Sunny Hill and still loves the job. At the end of 2010, she decided to join a gym and has begun a new adventure in running, hoping to run a 10km race in the very near future (thanks to Johnny for all the new running gadgets!). She once again donated her hair to children with cancer and is sporting a new shorter hair-do. Marsalie and Johnny managed to get away for one weekend this year without the kids and saw their first NFL football game in Seattle.
Johnny: Johnny remains busy at work and continues to travel to Victoria most weeks. He has joined Marsalie in her gym membership and is a great motivator on the treadmill when running beside her. He hopes to beat his personal best at more than one half marathon this year, with the ultimate goal of completing his first marathon. He is hands-on with the kids every moment he is home and loves to teach them about all of his favorite sports, read them stories before bed and take them to the playground. He proudly sported a moustache for the month of November to raise awareness for prostate cancer during their "Movember" campaign.
