Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - 10:32

Oh my goodness.  I can't believe my little girl is now 9 years old.  As Chris is fond of saying, we're halfway there!  Only 9 more years to go until we've (hopefully) raised a successful adult.

I've just gotten the rest of the May and June pictures put up on the site as well as the pictures from our annual Birthday Pool Party.  Jazz had a great time this year and it's so fun to look back and realize that she has been friends with the same group of kids almost all her life.  We realized that same day that she and our neighbor's daughter have basically grown up together as Jazz was 2 when we moved in and MK was 6.  So much fun to know that we are in a stable place that is hopefully providing good, lasting friendships.

In other news, summer homeschooling is going well.  We are a bit more laid back this year and since I took a second summer job there seems to be more sleeping-in happening all the way around but that's okay - it's what's Summer is for!  I'll be posting the end of the year write up here when I get it done, but for now Jazz is still reading at a 6th grade level and above and is doing 6th grade language arts work.  Her Math skills are on target for her age and we are working our way through history lessons with Story of the World.  The rest we are doing as we go - learning the art of spinning Poi, traveling to New York and maybe some other trips over the summer, spending time with our friends from Girl Scouts and making sure there is plenty of time to be a kid and play.

I hope that you all enjoy the pictures, and that you are having great summers yourselves!

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Thursday, February 24, 2011 - 15:48

Jazz is working on descriptive paragraphs every day as part of our homeschooling  journey.  She's really struggled with writing, and making up stories.  Slowly but surely, things have gotten better and easier for her and she's finally letting loose with her silly, creative side. This is a paragraph that she wrote yesterday for class.

I woke up this morning to hear the bubbly sounds of the coffee pot.  I hopped up on the countertop only to see a creamy muddy mess in the pot.  I sat there for a second and stared before runing [sic] back upstars [sic] to tell my Mom.  I ran into their room.  Me and my dog both jumped on her at the same time.  I brought her back down and when I told her about the nasty stuff she just looked at me, grabbed a cup, filled it with coffee and gave it to me.  I dipped my finger in.  Hot!  Then I tasted it.  It was bitter and sweet.  Yum! I yelled.  My Mom looked at me, then went upstares [sic] and back to bed.

 

The paragraph absolutely cracked me up.  She nailed my love of coffee and sleep perfectly.  :D

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Thursday, February 3, 2011 - 17:24

So I'm sitting here next to Jazz on the couch. She's got the flu (the actual Influenza type B kind of flu). She's been on medication since Monday night and is finally starting to feel better. She hasn't spiked a fever in 18 hours or so now which is also a first since Sunday night.

I've used the down time to chill on the couch with her, watch movies, play Wii and read. I've gotten caught up on stuff for Ride for Kids as well as some company things that needed to be taken care of as well. Being "stuck" on the couch and in semi-quarantine demands that you be a bit productive or you will go out of your mind.

I've updated Jazzy's gallery with photos from December through this past weekend. There aren't much in the way of pictures from Christmas this year but plenty of others including our great snow storm of 2011 (nothing compared to what Midwest and Northeast are getting right now. Still 7" of snow followed by an ice storm in GA is nothing to take lightly.

We're all looking forward to spring down here, it's almost motorcycle season and triathlon season so we are all about to be very busy once it warms up!

I'm finally fiddling around a bit with the themes on the page.  The pink was getting a bit old so we're moving on to something that represents Jazz a bit more.  You'll notice the gallery link is at the top of the page now.  If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email.

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Monday, October 4, 2010 - 22:38

I managed to pull off a great surprise for Chris' birthday this year.

Several month ago I was having lunch with a friend, and he mentioned that Rush was playing at Verizon on September 29th. I started thinking that since this was the day after Chris' birthday, maybe I could pull off surprise tickets. BJ was in on it with me as well and we bought the tickets, hid them and tried to forget about it so Jazzy wouldn't go crazy with excitement.

The day of the show arrived and Chris sent me an email around 11 to let me know that his IT meeting had been moved to 3pm and he wouldn't even be leaving the office until 4:00 or 4:30. This just wouldn't work with my plans so I took matters into my own hands and called his boss in Ohio. Once he heard why I needed Chris out of the office, he was more than happy to help.

Chris got home and met with Mel and BJ then headed down to dinner at a local hibachi restaurant. We had a couple of cocktails and had a great time. Our chef was amazing - witty and charming and we all had such a good time. At the end of dinner I handed Chris a birthday card. Inside was the printout from Verizon's website with the info on the Rush show that evening, and our tickets. He was actually surprised. I couldn't believe it!

We headed over to the show and met up with some friends. My friend Rob, grabbed Jazz by the hand and told us they would be back in a few minutes. About 20 minutes later, they come back and Jazz hands Chris two more tickets saying, "Happy Birthday Daddy, Front Row!" Rob had gone and gotten us upgraded tickets. Chris and I headed down and spent the first half of the show in the front row. At intermission I went and swapped with BJ so that he could spend some time down there as well.

We had a great time and it was one of the best shows I've ever been to. None of us even minded that it was raining for the last 20 minutes or so. We were tired when we got home. Jazz had fallen asleep for a few minutes on the bed and crashed in her car seat before we even made it to 400 North.

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - 17:57

Jazz had her 8 year check-up today. She is, of course, in perfect health.

At 8 years, 3 months old she is 52" tall (which puts her just below the 75th percentile for height) and weighs 54 pounds which puts her somewhere between 25-50% for weight (normal for her). She's got her Daddy's "tall and skinny" gene all right.

There are some changes taking place at Chris' work which will likely include several trips out of the country in the future. Because of that, we decided that it was prudent to discuss renewing Jazzy's vaccination schedule with her Pediatrician. Today she received her Polio shot (won't need it again until she's 10) and her Tetnus (also won't be needed again until she's 10). She handled it like a trooper, listened to Dr. Papciak when he told her it wouldn't hurt if she held her arm limp and loose and did a wonderful job. I'm so proud of her! Treated her to a slice of pizza at Mia's and some frozen yogurt at Minchies after the appointment.

We also went to the Girl Scout Badge and Sash store today to pick out her vest and patches for her Junior Girl Scout uniform. Jazz will be bridging to Juniors at our meeting this Thursday. She's incredibly excited to be moving into this new phase of Scouting.

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Friday, September 3, 2010 - 13:51

How is it that another month has gone by since I uploaded pictures and updated the website?  This has to have been the fastest August on record.

Jazz was amazing over the last couple of months, helping me to plan the Steve Hitt Memorial Ride.  She sat in on meetings with me, went to visit local businesses to solicit donations and helped to keep all of the other kids entertained during the actual ride.  She's got a life of charity and non-profit work head of her!

We've begun Jazzy's 3rd grade school year.  Third grade?  How on earth did *that* happen?  We are still working on wrapping up a few things from last year, but only because my OCD says, "we must do all of the pages in this workbook before we move on to another."  She knows this stuff and is a little bored by some of it, but the writing and copy work is good for her.  There is already a marked improvement in her handwriting since last year.  Jazzy's favorite subjects right now are Math and Science.  Math because she takes after her father and is just so darn good at it.  Her mind works just like his (which is to say, nothing like mine) and so I have difficulty trying to explain the concepts to her but we are working our way through it and I'm learning some new things too!  We ordered our caterpillers for her butterfly garden a few weeks back.  They are currently on the counter and have entered the pupal stage.  Jazz is keeping a Butterfly Journal noting the changes each day.  I can't wait to look back on this stuff one day.

Our lives are going to be full of school work and more school work this fall.  We have a lot to cover for third grade and Jazz and I are both looking forward to it.

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Sunday, July 4, 2010 - 07:57

I've been up since 3:45 this morning. Everyone is fine. I chose to get up this early. Actually my alarm was set for 4:15 but I couldn't sleep.

I was up thinking.

About how this time last year I was so excited and nervous to be running my first Peachtree Road Race. I didn't sleep the night before that race either, because I was plagued with doubts about whether or not I would be able to finish. If I would feel okay. Last July 4th would only be the second time I'd run more than 6 miles. In fact, since I'd gotten hurt that March I hadn't run more than 3 miles until the Thursday before the race when I went and struggled through 4 at Central Park. I knew in my head, if I could do four then I could do six. LOL. The mind of the runner.

Today I am getting up and doing "just" another 6 mile run. I regularly run 5 miles a couple of times a week. Did y'all hear that? Did that really come out of my mouth?

I have lost almost 70 pounds. And kept it off for over 2 years now. Last year I wore a pair of size XL running shorts and a size XL jog bra (that had almost no support) to the race. LOL. This year I'm in a pair of New Balance running shorts (size Large) and a Medium Jog bra. My Peachtree Road Race t-shirt from last year was a Large. This year it will be a Medium. In fact, I regularly buy size Medium tops now. I haven't been able to do that since High School. And if I could loose these runners thighs I'd be in a Medium in bottoms too. ;)

So thank you Peachtree Road Race for being an Atlanta tradition. That you for being there to motivate women like me. Thank you, for "just" being another 6 mile run this morning.

:D

Happy 4th y'all.

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Saturday, June 12, 2010 - 23:40

I can't believe that Jazz will be 8 years old tomorrow. I'm working a double so we had her annual pool party today at the house. It was a much more scaled down version than usual due to some scheduling conflicts, but overall we had a great time. The kids swam for almost 4 hours straight. There was pizza, cake and ice cream, and of course presents.

And now, the usual

Jazzmine's first Dragon*Con - about 2 months old.  She was small enough to fit inside of the helmet.  Otherwise titled "The Spoils of War." This is still probably one of my all-time favorite pictures of her.

About 6 months old -- in the car headed somewhere

She's a geek like her Daddy -- even at 9 months old

First Birthday -- It's a tradition to take her picture on her birthday with this bear since Daddy bought it for her the day she was born.

Second Birthday -- We moved into our new house that weekend so we had her party at Gymboree.  You've all seen those so this is a cute picture with Jazz and her Daddy

Third Birthday - It took until she was 3 years old, but this is the first time she ever fell asleep with her Uncle BJ holding her.

Fourth Birthday - This is seriously one of my all time favorite pictures.  It is SO much Jazz I can't hardly stand it

I love this one too

Fifth Birthday - On our way to dinner the night of her birthday

Sixth Birthday -- Unfortunately she wasn't feeling very well for her birthday this particular year so we didn't get a lot of good pictures.  But I still think she's adorable

Seventh Birthday -- Probably my favorite picture from her 7th Birthday party

Year 7 was a year for climbing trees

Motorcycle Rides

And exploring the past

We lost one of our very best friends

And gained one as well

Jazz even learned how to kick butt and take names

And then, somehow along the way, she became this beautiful eight-year old little girl that she is today.

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Thursday, April 29, 2010 - 14:07

We had a bit of a surprise yesterday. Went in for Jazzy's Orthodontist appointment that we thought was just going to be impressions and x-rays. Turns out Jazz got her first set of braces! It's just two on the top and four on the bottom but she took it like a champ. She has different colored elastics on each one and is a bit sore today but is adjusting very well.

braces

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Saturday, April 17, 2010 - 17:21

We've spent the last couple of weeks working on some fairly intense remodeling projects on the house. Something about springtime makes me want to paint.

We've re-painted the master bedroom and bath, installed new granite countertops in the kitchen and built our first raised garden bed.

Jazz is almost done with our second full year of Homeschooling and thing are going very well. She amazes me daily with her intelligence and common sense.

She's gotten to be such a big kid. There are no more princess movies and pretty songs, instead it's Weird Al Videos and Green Day. At least she's good good taste.

Since we adopted Jubilee a few months back, Jazz has been sleeping in her own room (someone has to keep Jubilee company) and admitted to me the other day that she likes it better than sleeping in our bed. So don't ever let anyone tell you that if you co-sleep with your baby you'll "NEVER" get them out of your bed. You will eventually, it may just take some time. :)

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