May 14th/11

..... her endurance

She participated in a kickathon at taekwondo. It was awesome! Everyone did as many kicks as they could do in one hour, to raise money for BC Children's Hospital. Jaymi & Gina together, did over 2,000 kicks.  She was so exhausted afterwards.

The kickathon raised over $900!

May 16th/11

..... her dedication to her interests

Jaymi has been learning about cats (her favourite thing right now) by reading lots of cat fact books. She has read about how to train your cat to be walked with a harness and leash, and is determined to teach Cookie (our Savannah cat).

May 17th/11

..... her friends

It was Bring a Buddy Day at taekwondo class, so Jaymi brought Connor :)

May 18th/11

..... her ability to have fun in the midst of not-so-happy times

We stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver, for our one-night stay in Vancouver this week (Jaymi's first post-op MRI this year). She LOVED the house!

May 19th/11

..... her enthusiasm

Jaymi is such a great traveller. She loved walking around on the ferry deck (coming home from Victoria) and looking at the anchor, the ocean foam, the waves, and the dock. She was fascinated by everything.

May 20th/11

..... her carefree-ness

We had a fun downtown day (after a week of stress!) - Booster Juice & a Cobs treat, Value Village, and some playing outside in the sprinkler for the first time this season!

May 21st/11

..... her ideas

She has been doing a lot of reading up on how to train a cat to be walked on a leash, and we agreed that she could try to train Cookie. This picture is Cookie's first walk - she didn't do too badly!

May 22nd/11

..... her influence on me

Going for a walk with friends, from church to a restaurant for lunch. Jaymi suggested that we walk instead of drive.

I love it when she pushes me to do something that is good for me.

May 24th/11

..... her fitness

Practicing a form at taekwondo.

She is so strong and fit right now - I love seeing it.

May 25th/11

..... her unique tastes

Making a snack of graham crackers and almond butter.

May 26th/11

..... her generosity (sometimes)

We gave away some Canucks Jeans Day posters that were leftover from our fundraiser. The kids were thrilled to win these, especially with the Canucks doing so well in the Playoffs!

She is still learning to be generous, but sometimes it just pops out of her.  She was glad to make some kids at the school happy, by giving these away.

May 28th/11

..... how she's not afraid of healthy things in treats.

Jaymi loved these zucchini cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting and sprinkles :)

May 29th/11

..... her love for animals

We went to the Pet Expo on the weekend. It was so fun! Tons of cute pets to see (we SOOOO wanted to adopt a cute little Abysinnian kitten or a teeny Sphinx kitten), free stuff to get, draws to enter, and fun!

Jaymi's big love right now is animals...cats especially.  She just loves everything about them, and plans to work at an animal shelter when she grows up.

 

May 30th/11

..... her resilience

I have no idea (and neither does Jaymi) where she got this black eye. It's obviously half-healed by now, and it's funny - it looks like she has makeup on when I look at her.

A Week of Stress and Celebration!

May 16/11

..... I love Jaymi's interest in cats.

Her favourite interest lately is definitely cats.

At a garage sale recently, Jaymi picked up a fact book about cats and has been studying it closely.

She is learning all about their body language, what's good and bad for cats, and she has also been studying about how to train a cat to use a harness and leash (so she can walk the cat).

She wants so badly to walk Cookie.  So we said, if she wants to train her the way the book says, she can try.

Today was the first day - Cookie is wearing a new harness and just getting used to it.

Jaymi is awesome.  She pets her, reassures her, and she is just so good with Cookie!

May 17/11

..... her giggles

She took her friend Connor to taekwondo for Bring a Buddy Day, and they giggled the whole car ride there, playing a car game that Jaymi made up.

May 18/11

..... her ability to live in the moment

Even though I know she has had a bit of stress this week, leading up to her first post-operative MRI to see if the tumour is regrowing again, she is usually able to live in a moment, like when we arrived at the Ronald McDonald House.

We stayed there for one night, and she was able to enjoy the playroom, as well as meeting another little girl.

She had so much fun there, that she actually didn't want to go home the next day!

May 19/11

..... how fantastic of a traveler she is!

Jaymi loves to travel and is so good at it (most of the time).

She has her moments, but she loves flying the best, loves the train, and although she wasn't thrilled about taking the ferry (the playroom is too young for her now and she says the ferry is boring), we were lucky enough to have a warm, sunny day to travel.  This meant that we could walk around the deck outside, enjoy the weather, and most of all, learn all about the ferry.

She looked at the waves below, learned about the suction and the propellors, loved the foam, learned about the buoys, counted the life boats, learned that it gets windy the higher you go, watched the boat leave the dock, learned her way around the ferry, met a HUGE dog, had fun balancing when the boat rocked, and had a lot of fun.

May 20/11

..... how she still likes to have fun with me.

After a week of stress, and some good news (MRI is clear for now), it was nice to have a day off (it was a no-school day) and have fun together.

We went to Booster Juice first and got a yummy smoothie.

Then we went next door to Cobs Bakery and got an apple scone. The lady also gave us a coupon for some free scones!

Then we sat on a curb to enjoy our smoothies and scones, and were given another coupon ($1 off of Cobs bread) and a free sample of a raspberry scone!

We bought a harness and leash for Cookie, then headed downtown.

Our destination was Value Village, and we found lots of treasures!

Jaymi chose 3 t-shirts, I chose 2 shirts and a dress, we found a cute stuffie that the kindergarten class at Jaymi's school would like, and I got a bathroom scale that we have been wanting.

Then we went to the book section, where we were thrilled to find something that is NEVER found second-hand - Warriors books!!!!!  Jaymi was so happy.  She actually got 6 Warriors books that she didn't have yet, and they were 99 cents each.  Actually, one was free, because when you buy 4 kids books you get the next one free.

Then we headed home and Jaymi had fun outside playing in the sprinkler and getting soaked, before going to a Dodgeball Tournament at her taekwondo school.

Back to Taekwondo - and a Green Belt now!!

May 16th/11

..... I love her unwavering support and passion.

Jaymi had to take three months off of taekwondo classes, and it was the hardest thing for her.

She insisted on attending every class she could, even though she could only watch.  She kept learning the moves, practicing at home, and loved to be there, although it pained her sometimes, to not be active with the group.

For the last month, she was allowed to do private lessons.

She is finally back in the class, and is loving it.

She got her green belt on Friday, and attended a BC Children's Hospital fundraiser that we organized at her taekwondo school - a Kickathon.

Her and her partner did over 2,000 kicks, and the school raised $900 that day!

She was a great help with all of our fundraising.

Random Stuff

May 10/11

..... her likeability :)

May 11/11

..... her love for life

I love how Jaymi lives and loves life to the fullest, even while not believing that there may ever be a cure for her brain tumour. 

May 12/11

..... her emotional growth

There are activities (like flying a kite and doing Spirograph patterns) that were too frustrating for my little perfectionist to do a while ago.  I love that now she is older and can handle those activities enough not to break down when they don't go perfectly. 

May 13/11

..... her eyes

I have always loved the fact that Jaymi has these big, beautiful eyes, and they have stayed like that. 

The things she does for me!

May 7/11

I love ..... the way she inspires me to have fun and be a kid.

After a loooooong day for me, of fundraising (charity sale) and then picking her up from a birthday party, and after HER long day of ballet, selling books with me, taekwondo, and a birthday party, Jaymi wanted to go outside as soon as we got home, and fly a kite that she received in her goodie bag.

So we did.

Just like that.

:)

May 8/11

..... the fact that I get to be this awesome kid's mommy!

This Mother's Day, I woke up to a sign on my doorknob saying "Happy Mother's Day", a set-up of LED candles, a stuffie heart, and a LOVE sign outside my door, and a Jaymi-made breakfast of Rice Krispies with two of her Easter jellybeans in the bowl, and a coupon for orange juice on the top.

:)

May 9/11

..... that she exposes me to new things.

Her sparring gear (the rest of it) finally arrived today.  She is so excited to start using it.

Recycling & Creativity

May 5th/11

..... her friendships

This is a picture of Jaymi with her class, on a recent field trip to the recycling centre.

They were recycling milk bottles.

I love that she has different relationships with different kids.  She gets something different out of each friendship, and a different part of her gets to emerge more with each relationship.

May 6th/11

..... her ideas

She was waiting for me outside, while I was doing a charity book sale, and she decided to make a GIANT drawing in the gravel.  Of a cat, of course.

:)

an election, a royal wedding, a fundraiser, and a run!

Yes, I'm still doing my 365 photo project of Jaymi.

Just a little reminder - this year's project is focused on the things I appreciate about my daughter.

So, here we go with some more photos.

Apr. 23rd/11

..... her youthful optimism and eagerness

I have been teaching Jaymi a bit about politics and voting, because we have been gearing up for an election here.

I have, very simply, educated her on the basic system of political parties, the voting process, and the difficulties of choosing one party.

She came up with the brilliant idea that the next person who becomes the prime minister of Canada should immediately make it illegal for any politician to break a campaign promise. I love it!

She, of course, being the eternal environmentalist, wanted us to vote for the Green Party. :)

Apr. 24th/11

..... her sense of humour

"What can jump higher than a house?  Nothing...a house can't jump!"

Apr. 26th/11

..... her genetics

I love that some of her is from Mark, some is from myself, and some is just HER.

The curling of the tongue - that's a Mark thing.  The two of them also share a chin, the ability to grab things with their feet, and perfectionism.

Her and I share a love of reading, shyness, and a dislike for public speaking.

Apr. 27th/11

..... her athleticism

Her taekwondo skills have improved during this 3 months when she wasn't allowed to be in the full class.  She had to take two months off, and she did private lessons for the third month, because of her surgery, of course.  She never stopped attending classes, even though she could only watch.  And she practiced during class (on the sidelines) as well as at home.

Her strength is just as good as ever, her balance is almost back to normal, and her memory of all of the moves is perfect.

Apr. 28th/11

..... sympathy

She likes to pretend sometimes, that a stuffie is hurt, or has to have surgery, and she will take care of it and reassure it.  This particular stuffie cat had a 'broken leg' and had to go under anaesthetic, get a cast, and recover. ;)

Apr. 29th/11

..... her fantasy

We recorded the Royal Wedding and watched it together.

I don't really care much about the whole thing, but Jaymi loved the concept that there was a REAL prince marrying a woman who was about to become a REAL princess.

And it was so much fun to explain things to her, as we watched.

I explained about the tradition of the bride's dress being a secret, what the job of the maid of honour is, and who Prince William and Prince Charles were.

She "ooohed" and "aaaahed" at the bride's wedding dress, we laughed at all of the fun hats the ladies wore, and she marvelled at the size of the palace.

And we ate popcorn together while we watched.

Apr. 30th/11

..... her growing understanding of the good that can come out of her tumour.

Saturday was our second annual Jeans Day fundraiser for BC Children's Hospital.

We had a fantastic time, and hopefully raised a lot of money for the hospital.

Jaymi had the idea that if she was there for a large part of the fundraiser, people might see her and know how good the hospital was. LOL ;)

May 1st/11

..... her recovery

I can't believe that my little girl, who just had her second brain surgery less than 3 months ago, ran in a 1.5K!

I'm so in awe of her.

May 2nd/11

..... her patience

Not that she had a choice, but she handled not being able to be in a taekwondo class VERY well for 3 months.

She is finally back in class and I am so surprised that she attended every single week (usually 4 days a week, sometimes 5) even though she could only watch.

She missed it so much and was often frustrated that she could only watch the kids do what she loved to do.  But she never wavered from wanting to be there.  And she never fell behind either!