June 14/11

..... how she loves to be girly but also isn't afraid to do 'non-girly' things

At a recent trip to the park, Jaymi found a ton of tent caterpillars and collected them to take home with her.  She took care of them for a while - made sure they had leaves to eat and sun, etc. and loved watching them crawl around.

June 15/11

..... her team spirit

This year the Vancouver Canucks not only got into the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they got right up to the Finals ... up to Game #7!  Unfortunately they lost that last game but Jaymi got right into cheering for them and watching some of the games with us.  She loved learning about how a hockey game works and  observing all of the Canuck fans in Victoria, everywhere we went.

June 16/11

..... her athleticism

I've never thought of Jaymi as an athlete.  She has never been interested in team sports.  She has always liked dancing and when she was little, gymnastics, but she is more of an academic - loves puzzles, reading, learning, etc., more than sports or hiking or things like that.

But when I think about it, she is a fantastic swimmer (always has been), and right now, her two extra-curricular activities are ballet (2 years now) and taekwondo (which she adores).  And when she was in the hospital we found out that her average heart rate runs lower than most kids, which the nurses said could very possibly be because she is athletic - her heart is in great shape.

Her school attended their annual track & field meet and Jaymi had so much fun.  She competed, this year, in four events:  long jump, 100 metre dash, 400 metre run, and ball throw.  She got 1 "participation" ribbon, 2 'third' ribbons, and 1 'second place' ribbon.

June 17/11

..... her ability to try something again, even after she was hurt

We have always tried to make sure that Jaymi tries something right away, if possible, after getting hurt.  Like, after falling off of a bike, getting her right back on it.  So that she doesn't get too scared to try it again.

We bought her this pogo stick 2 years ago and the first day she tried it, she whacked her chin on it and made her tooth bleed....she hasn't tried it since.

Last week, she tried it out again, and she has been loving it.  Now Mark and I are scared watching her try it, but she has no fear at all that she'll get hurt.

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.