Merry Christmas!

Dec. 1/11

..... her cuddliness

Yes, Socks is cuddly, but Jaymi is so cuddly as well.  She is always willing to give a good hug & kiss.

Dec. 3/11

..... how she never tires of interacting with Socks.

He has a reindeer hat and collar.

In fact, he has a few little cat outfits now.  Jaymi loves to have him choose something to wear.

He's not too bad with it either, compared to most cats.  He puts up with it...walks around and doesn't freeze and fall over like Cookie does if we put something on her.

Except hoods.  Socks does not like hoods.  If he has a hood on, he'll walk backwards to try to get out of it.

;)

Dec. 4/11

..... her interest in charities, especially for animals.

For a long time, Jaymi has wanted to be involved with the SPCA, especially as a job when she grows up.

Whenever the SPCA has a workshop, a camp, or an event, she wants to go.

So of course, we HAD to go to the SPCA Pet Photos with Santa!

Dec. 6/11

..... her interest in taking photos, like me. :)

She has decided to do a 365 Project of Socks.

She will take a photo every day for 1 year, of Socks, and we even have a website that she wanted to start.  I'll post when it's ready to go online.

Please be sure to give her photos comments, if you like them!

Dec. 8/11

..... her constantly changing style.

She generally wears pants right now.  She doesn't like skirts anymore.

But when we were trying to choose a Christmas outfit, she insisted that even though she doesn't like skirts anymore, she needed to get a skirt for Christmas events, because she always HAS worn a skirt for Christmas every year, she needed to keep the tradition.

Dec. 11/11

..... her patience

Usually I wouldn't say that Jaymi has patience, but at The Bethlehem Walk (an event where a church makes the whole interior to seem just like Bethlehem would have been in Jesus' time) and the wait to get in was about an hour long - maybe more!  She did wonderfully!

Dec. 14/11

..... her love for (most of) my baking.

She had fun helping me make fudge for the first time, and of course, tasting the ingredients and the finished product too.

:)

Nov. 12/11

I love ..... how she just feels like going to the piano and practicing, just because she loves it (for now, anyway).

Nov. 13/11

..... her desire that both cats get along with each other.

And they finally are.  Most of the time.

They were sleeping together when I woke up one morning - Socks lays flat on his back with his legs apart, while Cookie prefers to lay curled up.

It's cute.

Nov. 17/11

..... that she is trying different hair styles (well, for a bit of time, anyway)

She went for about a week or so, wanting this little braid in her hair.  It was a nice break from what she usually wants, which is either a ponytail or her hair straight down.

Nov. 21/11

..... her quirkiness

She decided, this day, to read upside-down.

That's not unusual for her...what's unusual is that she is not only upside-down, herself, but so is the book!

Nov. 26/11

..... how she looks beautiful in a white angel ballet costume. :)

Nov. 27/11

..... her stubbornness.

Even though she wouldn't let me teach her how to throw the ball properly, I know that this stubbornness will come in handy for her one day. ;)

Nov. 28/11

..... her playfulness

Nov. 29/11

..... her intelligence

Here, Jaymi was working on a school project.

Oct. 24/11

I love her ..... increasing compassion for others

Jaymi is finally reaching an age where she is beginning to think a lot more about other people's feelings.

She has been dealing with an issue with a friend, and has been trying hard to deal with this issue in a way that doesn't hurt the friend's feelings.  It's so nice to see her putting herself in someone else's shoes.

Oct. 25/11

..... her love of simple things

We studied eyeballs (eyesight, eyes, etc.) and had a lot of fun attaching eyes to everything, including food.

Jaymi had a kiwi snack with eyes,

a pumpkin milkshake with eyes,

a stuffie eyeball,

a piece of pumpkin pie with eyes as well as a vitamin with one eye (that's when she learned a new vocabulary word - cyclops)

Oct. 27/11

..... her dedication

Oct. 28/11

..... her generosity

At a friend's baking birthday party, Jaymi made tons of cookies and set aside quite a few, including the biggest heart cookie, for me! :)

Oct. 29/11

..... her role models

The people she looks up to right now, are awesome role models.  They are mostly taekwondo black belts, who are good students, hard workers, and people with great values and determination.

Isn't that awesome?

Oct. 30/11

..... her ability to get right into a holiday

We always go to a pumpkin patch and choose pumpkins, before Halloween.

We always carve or decorate our pumpkins to have them ready on the doorstep on Halloween night.

This year, Jaymi decorated Mark's pumpkin for him, and it included 'blood-dripping fangs' and a screwdriver right in the eye!  Ack!

Oct. 31/11

..... her ability to look pretty in a hamburger costume ;)

LOL

Nov. 1/11

..... her understanding of money and how to save it

She had $20 of birthday money and decided to spend it on some new stuffies.  At Carlton Cards, she knew (from buying a friend's birthday present recently) that these big-eyed stuffies were on sale for Buy One Get One Half-Off.  So, she calculated it all out and figured out that she could buy 3 of them (and we bought one more for a future birthday present for a friend).  Of course, she decided on 3 of the same husky stuffies.

Because, of course, 3 is even better than 1, you know!

Oh, and thanks Gramma & Papa John, by the way - that was the $20 that she received from you!

Nov. 2/11

..... her love of cats

Since Jaymi was little, she has loved cats.

She has almost always had a hoodie with cat ears.

:)

Nov. 3/11

..... how I can re-show her something that we used to do, after she has forgotten it, and she loves it all over again.

We used to play this game while we were inside Tim Horton's, at the window near the drive-through.

We watch the cars driving through, and interpret the logos, trying to see if we can figure out the make and model of each vehicle.

Nov. 4/11

..... her intensity

Last weekend was Training with Black Belts weekend.

It happens twice per year at Jaymi's taekwondo school, and she loves it.

This time, she had the opportunity to train for an hour on Friday night with the black belts, then for another two hours (one of taekwondo and one of grappling) on Saturday morning, then back in the early afternoon for another hour (weapons training) with the black belts, and finally she watched for two hours while they tested for their next belts/stripes.  Arriving on Saturday at 10am and being there until 4pm, she was all upset that it was over.  She wanted to stay longer!

Nov. 5/11

..... her love of literature

For her birthday, Jaymi received play tickets to "Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the The Wardrobe" from Granna & Grandad (thanks!), which was perfect, because Jaymi has read the book.

Seeing the play was great - she loved it!

Nov. 6/11

..... her 'good feeling' when she donated to the SPCA.

For her birthday this year, Jaymi insisted on her friends NOT giving her any gifts, but instead, bringing money and an item for the SPCA.  So we finally got around to bringing everything to the SPCA.

We brought tons of old towels, leashes, collars, cat & dog toys, and $33.

Jaymi said that she wished more kids would do this, and that her present was the good feeling she would get inside, from doing this.

She also loves visiting the cats when we go to the SPCA.  If she could take them all home with her, I think she would.

:)

Nov. 7/11

..... her spontaneous nature

After school one day recently, it was finally not wet outside, finally sunny, and we finally had no plans for the latter half of the day, so I decided to take Jaymi for our annual autumn photo shoot.  She was happy to do this and had lots of fun playing in the leaves.

Nov. 8/11

..... her continuing responsibility with Socks (her kitten)

Socks was neutered this week.

We allowed Jaymi to help bring Socks to the vet, and help pick him up as well.  She was fantastic with him.

Nov. 10/11

..... her new interest in piano

Jaymi has recently asked me to teach her piano.

Every time I have tried to teach her in the past, she hasn't been interested at all.

Now that she is older though, I am finding that she is picking up the basics sooo easily!

In two days, she has already learned the first three songs in the book, the C scale with both hands separately, and done a bunch of ear training perfectly and theory as well.

Hopefully, she stays interested!

Nov. 11/11

..... her age

Jaymi is 9 years old now.

Every year, I love her age and the things she can do.

I am loving 9 so far.

I wanted to start a "Pay It Forward" club with Jaymi, eventually maybe extending it to her school and making it a bigger club.

Having an only child especially, it's important to teach her to think of others, serve others, and do things for others, to make them feel good - not just ourselves.

So we had the first meeting of our very own club, at home.

We brainstormed ideas, made categories, found a bible quote to go with our club, and made a list of members.  And, of course, we made a dismissal routine too.

Birthday weekend!

Jaymi's birthday was this weekend - I can't believe she's 9 years old!

Oct. 22/11

I love ..... her generosity

Jaymi had her birthday party this weekend, and maintained her idea that she DID NOT want presents from her friends.  She only wanted them to bring a small monetary donation as well as an item, both for the SPCA.  She loved her party, loved that they brought lots of stuff for the SPCA, and didn't regret it at all! In fact, she can't wait until we get a chance to visit the SPCA and give the donated items and money to them.

Oct. 23/11

..... that she has friends she has known since she was very little.

Jaymi has three friends that she still considers very good friends, whom she has known for many years.

1 - when we first moved here, and started to get to the know our neighbours, she met Connor.  Although he is two years older than she is, they get along so well, and love to play the same activities.  She was about 2 when she first met him.  They are both quite busy with school and activities now, but they still love to get together when they have a chance.

2 - Before preschool began (when Jaymi was about 3 years old) we met a few people through a local internet site and Gareth was one of them.  They ended up being in the same preschool class together and he was the only one she would talk to.  They eventually both left the school and attended different schools for kindergarten and up, but we maintained a weekly playdate for them since.  She considers him her best friend (outside of school).

3 - Jennica also attended the same preschool as Jaymi, but they didn't talk or play together back then.  When Jaymi showed up at the same school and kindergarten class as Jennica, they remembered each other and began to play together.  They were inseparable for years, and although they go back and forth with new friends, they are still very good friends.

Below is a picture of them in kindergarten (top left), Grade 2 (right), and this year - Grade 4 (bottom left).

Three of Jaymi's favourite things - school (& friends), cats, and taekwondo!

Oct. 12/11

..... her flexibility

She is so physically flexible and energetice, and fit.  It's awesome!

Although I really hate watching all of the new things she discovers she can do on the monkey bars with her friends.  It makes me nervous!

Oct. 13/11

..... her seriousness about schoolwork (while in school, anyway)

Jaymi takes her work seriously while she is in school.  When it's time to do schoolwork, she can always be seen with her head down, pencil working away.

Oct. 14/11

..... her braveness

She is putting her hand up in taekwondo to answer questions now.

She is speaking up when she wants to ask the teacher in school a question.

That's awesome - she is getting much braver now.

Oct. 15/11

..... the effort she puts into taekwondo

They are taught at taekwondo that you should always do your best.

They are taught that you should be "happy but not satisfied" with each accomplishment.

And Jaymi gives her all in the class, for sure.

She does what she is supposed to do, quickly and with as much strength and speed as she can.

She recently entered her first taekwondo tournament.

She entered in the sparring category, the forms, and the weapons category.

She had a fantastic time, and won three medals!

Oct. 16/11

..... her decision to grow her hair this year.

Mark and I have always liked her hair longer.

But in January she wanted it short and we finally said yes.

Now she is trying her hardest to grow it...very impatiently....and it is.... slowly.

Oct. 18/11

..... her nuturing nature.

She came out of her room one night and was worried that Socks had possibly swallowed something he shouldn't have, and was in pain.  She heard him crunching something, then she said his eyes were very wide.  She worried that he was hurting.

I checked him and he was totally fine.

I love that she worries about him like that.

Oct. 19/11

..... her imagination

Jaymi has begun writing a book of her own.  She is fascinated by the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, and has read almost all of the books, and recently she decided to write her own story, using the Warriors characters and history.  I just love the vocabulary she is using and the way her imagination comes out in the story.

Oct.20/11

..... her excitement about her birthday.

Jaymi is planning her birthday.  She isn't letting me do much on my own - it's all her!

It's a Warrior Cats birthday party.

And she DOES NOT want presents (from her friends).  She wants her friends to bring a $3 donation and an item for the SPCA.  None of the money will go to her - it's all for the SPCA.

I love her idea!

So we are making sure that she has a fantastic birthday party and gets presents, of course, from family members.

And we will go to the SPCA and give in the donation, visit the animals and 'tell' them about it, and Jaymi says that will be her present - the warm fuzzy feeling she'll get from making the animals happy.

Oct. 5/11

..... her unconditional love for Socks (her kitten)

We got Socks back in June, and Jaymi is still so in love him.

Every day when she gets home from school, she immediately looks for him in the house, cuddles him and says hello.

Oct. 6/11

..... her love for board games

It was hilarious watching Jaymi and her friend Zoe play Bedbugs together recently!

Oct. 7/11

..... that she's my kid!

Oct. 8/11

..... her changing style

I love watching her figure out her style, and what she likes to wear.

It frustrates me that she doesn't like dresses or skirts anymore (again!).

But oh well.  I do want her to be her own person, right?

She likes pants and shirts.

She loves shoes, especially flats.

She doesn't really like to wear pink that much.

She likes comfortable clothes..pants that stretch - no cords or jeans.

She likes her hair straight and smooth - no poofiness or waves or curls.

She still likes to mismatch her socks, most of the time.

Oct. 9/11

..... her curiosity

Jaymi helped me with the Thanksgiving turkey this year, and also made her own pumpkin pie.

I am always quick to help her learn new things, so when she asked me if she could see the giblets, and inspect them, I jumped at the chance to teach her something new.

We marvelled at how the heart looks just like ours would.

We cut open the heart and noticed the blood vessels and arteries.

We noticed how the liver looks the same on the inside and outside.

We cut apart the neck and saw that there were vertebrae just like ours.

Oct. 10/11

..... her long-standing friendship with Gareth

Jaymi has known Gareth since somewhere around age 3...before preschool!

They went to preschool together, and then when it was time to go to kindergarten, they went to separate schools.

Since that time, they have had a weekly playdate.

They have always been at each other's birthday parties as well.

Gareth turned 9 the other day, and Jaymi was happy to choose two Warriors books for him - she knew which ones he would enjoy.

They both have a love for "Warriors" by Erin Hunter.

They discuss the series endlessly, in detail.

They love to pretend they are warrior cats in a certain clan, and they act out whole scenarios.

Oct. 11/11

..... her interest in planning her own birthday party

Since about 2 years ago, Jaymi has wanted to be in on the plans for her birthday parties.

Here she is, planning her upcoming party (a cat party) while eating leftover pumpkin pie.

:)

Fun = cats, science, food, taekwondo, toys, and friends :)

Sep. 18/11

..... her ideas of places to go

Jaymi loves cat shows.  Every time she hears about one, we HAVE to go.

She was excited to learn that our cats can actually enter one, if we choose to do that.

And she won some raffle prizes from this one too!

Sep. 19/11

..... the things she learns from Mark.

Like pouring whipped cream directly into her mouth.

Yep...that must be a Daddy thing, right?

Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

:)

Sep. 20/11

..... her curiosity

We found this amazing science kit, where you get to use test tubes, beakers, droppers, etc., to make various concoctions to taste and drink.

Jaymi had so much fun with it.  We made things that foamed, things that crackled in your mouth, and things that blobbed together.  Fun!

Sep. 21/11

..... her ability to figure things out

Another great find - this circuit board kit.  She spent a loooong time putting together various designs of circuit boards, to light up a bulb, start a motor, etc.

She even tried a few of her own designs.

Sep. 22/11

..... her love for mango (right now)

She thinks it's hilarious that I don't like mango.  At all.

Yuck.

The reason it's hilarious is because since I always tell her that she has to try new things, and re-try things as well, when she insists that I should try mango over and over, I do (trying to show her that it is possible to eat something you don't like, and you WILL survive).

Yuck.

Sep. 23/11

..... her giggles during taekwondo

It was Bring-a-Buddy Day at taekwondo, for a Child Safety Seminar, so she brought Saegeas - one of her best friends right now.

Whenever she spars with another friend, she (and they) just smile and giggle the whole time.

:)

Sep. 24/11

..... her love

I love that she says, "I love you" all the time.

I love that she says, "I miss you" all the time.

I love that she loves me so much.

Sep. 25/11

..... her love for all things 'cute'

She likes little things because they're cute (like this cake pop).

She likes pathetic things because they're 'cute' (like the SPCA cat with one ear and the wilted deformed Christmas tree you see at the store).

Sep. 28/11

..... her dialogue.

I love listening to her conversations.

Jaymi: "Mommy, you HAVE to come and look at how cute Socks is right now! Mommy, Socks is just being so cute again. Mommy, I think Socks thinks he's in a cute war and he's winning. If he was in a cute show, he'd win. Oh, I can't resist you when you have your head down, Socks. Aw, Socks, you are one tired kitty, aren't you?"

"Mommy, I bet if you and were in a war together, and we brought Socks and the other people saw him and went, 'awwww' and said 'you win!'. It would be so funny if Socks won the war for us. And then if we went to the bathroom and Socks stood on the toilet and if he was toilet trained, and he peed in the toilet. That would be funny. And wouldn't it be funny if we left the bathroom and Socks was just following behind us, silently? And everyone said, 'where is Socks? I haven't seen him anywhere?' and he was right behind us. That would be so funny, wouldn't it?" ;)

Sep. 29/11

..... her love for massages and back scratches.

This massage chair demo at the mall is always a hit with her.

Oct. 1/11

..... her friendships

Jaymi and Saegeas had a fantastic playdate the other day.  They have been begging for a playdate together.

First Jaymi invited Saegeas to a Bring-a-Buddy night at taekwondo.

Then Saegeas invited Jaymi to Awana Bring-a-Friend night.

Then they had a 'real' playdate on a weekend.

They gave Socks TWO sponge baths,

rode down two steps on our main floor, sitting in plastic under-the-bed storage containers,

played cats and puppies,

and had so much fun!

Oct. 2/11

..... her awesomeness.

This is Jaymi's official Gr.4 photo.

I decided this year, to take one myself instead of spending the money on the ones through the school.

I think it turned out pretty good!

Oct. 3/11

..... her sense of humour with Socks.

She'll often be telling me a funny story about Socks, when he reaches up and places his paw over her mouth, as if to say, "Please stop talking about that".

She thinks it's so funny, and she'll just stand there, letting his paw stay there until he's done.

Oct. 4/11

..... her collection of 'germs' (stuffed microbes)

I found a new one for her (the one on the left - halitosis/bad breath).

So now her collection includes:

halitosis

tuberculosis

cholera

2 platelets

the flu

a red blood cell

polio

algae

the common cold

syphilis

strep throat

a brain cell

and a giant brain cell, not pictured here.