It's been a long time...

It's been a long time since my last post. I'll try to catch up on all the major events.

1. The band trip to California went very well. While the weather was a bit cooler than we'd all hoped for, it was a memorable trip. After we landed at LAX (some kids saw Keanu Reeves at the baggage area) we went to Venice Beach and then to Santa Monica Pier for some sightseeing and meals. It was at least 70 degrees that afternoon, so we watched the sunlight bounce of the ocean waves. Very nice. The next day, we took a long bus ride down to the San Diego Zoo (the bus driver was lost but we finally found the zoo) and saw a lot of the zoo in a short amount of time so we could leave early and beat the traffic to get to downtown LA and Hollywood for some more sightseeing. The tour guide was excellent. She took us to see the new Disney Theater and pointed out some of the arts attractions in that area. The first picture on this post is of Jason and me in front of a sculpture dedicated to Disney's wife who donated a ton of money for the theater. It's made of broken pieces of china (the blue and white kind....I don't know the name). After the downtown LA tour, we went off to Hollywood to the Chinese Theater where we saw all of the hand/footprints of the stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We also saw the entrance to the Ford Theater where the Academy Awards Ceremony is held. Some kids saw Tom Cruise going into the Chinese Theater. I didn't believe him, but the guy at the door said it was really him. One will never truly know. There are a lot of look-alikes in that area. The next day started with clinics at a local high school that was organized by Sal Lozano of the Gordon Goodwin Band the Dancing With the Stars Band. He had some guys from the Big Phat Band and other area studio players come in and do clinics with all of the kids, followed by a jazz clinic with the top jazz band. Excellent clinic. After another bus snafu, we finally arrived at Universal Studios and City Walk for the afternoon/evening. It was pretty cold but we still went on the Jurassic Park ride even at the risk of getting wet. The last day was spent at Disneyland. Both bands did a recording clinic and the jazz band played at Carnation Plaza with Sal Lozano as a guest soloist. It's always a magical day when at Disney. I laughed so hard on some of the rides and enjoyed spending time with Kathi and Sarah Campbell throughout the trip. We left for Milwaukee the next day and everyone made it back safe and sound.


2. While we were in California, Sarah spent the week with my folks in Iowa. They had a great time with her despite the fussiness due to cutting a molar. I did laundry and repacked when I got back from California and got down to Iowa as soon as I could since I missed her terribly. It felt so good to hug and kiss her when I saw her. I spent the rest of the week in Iowa where I met my girlfriend, Serena and her daughter, Michaela for lunch at the restaurant that Kenny (Serena's husband) opened on the west side of Iowa City this past December. He owns the Mid-Town Restaurant on the east side and decided to go in with some partners to open the Mid-Town 2. So if you're ever in Iowa City, check it out. Nice family restaurants with home-made mashed potatoes. :) It was great to see them. Kim, Cleo, and Jason made it down to my parents' house for Easter and to celebrate Kim and Cleo's upcoming marriage with my Grandpa Whitehead, my Great Aunt Gladys, and my Aunt Jan and Uncle Wayne. It was good family bonding time with absolutely no shortage of food. My mom completely outdid herself! Mom and Dad had huge news for us after the celebration for Kim and Cleo subsided. Dad is retiring! Yeah!!! They're very excited for this new chapter of their lives to begin and we're looking forward to seeing them more often. I already told Dad I have a long list of projects he could help with around our house. HA!!!


3. Mom rode back to Wisconsin with us to help Kim get ready for the big move to Richmond. We helped pack her kitchen and worked on some wedding planning. The big job came with move out day. My girlfriend, Andrea, watched Sarah all day while we went down to help pack and clean. Bless her!! I was worried about how Sarah would behave since she's reached the tantrum phase. I was thankful to hear that she had a 2 1/2 hour nap and did just fine with Andrea. Whew. Anyway, after we got the truck loaded and house cleaned, we scurried back to the house to clean up and go out for Mexican and Kim's favorite restaurant, La Perla. I'm sure it wasn't a very relaxing dinner for Kim since Sarah was pretty fussy and I looked stressed out. The margaritas tasted great, nonetheless. We celebrated Mom's birthday with a piece of flan which Sarah attempted to devour. It was hilarious! She wouldn't let Mom hold the spoon and she kept shoveling the flan into her mouth. She would've eaten the entire piece had I not grabbed her and handed her off to Jason to distract her in the other room. Too funny. The picture of Kim kissing Sarah and the picture of Kim and Cleo, and Sarah eating the flan are from our La Perla night. The pictures above those are of Easter and the stay at Mom and Dad's. (The last picture was taken by Andrea who has taken so many of our professional pictures. It's nice to have a friend who uses your daughter as a guinea pig to test out her new orange background. Too fun.) Kim and Cleo came back to our house for their last night in Wisconsin before the long drive to Richmond. We all put on a brave face and didn't get too emotional since we'll be seeing Kim the weekend of April 17th for her dress fitting and brunch shower,etc. I'm sure the tears will flow heavily when she leaves that weekend since she won't see Sarah until sometime this summer since Sarah isn't coming to Jamaica with us for the wedding. The fact that Kim has moved is starting to gradually sink in. It's now becoming real. I'm so happy to hear that her first two days of work have gone well, that her cat survived the traumatic trip, and that Cleo's family welcomed them when they arrived. Of course we'll continue to talk every day. That's the kind of close relationship we have and no amount of distance will ever change that.
4. We had a nice dinner out with Jason's sister, Meghan and husband, Bob on Saturday night. We met at the Texas Road House in Kenosha. Great hot rolls with cinnamon butter. We met to celebrate Meghan and Bob's February b-days. It was great to be out without the kids so that we could enjoy good conversation and laughs without interruptions. Meghan was a good sport to come out since she was still getting over being sick. She was also a good sport to get up on that saddle as the people around us all wished her happy birthday. Sorry about that by the way, Meghan. I really didn't know they made people get up on a saddle. :) Anyway, good times.


5. I started my babysititing job today. I'm watching a 3 month old named, Jacob, two days a week until the end of the school year. Jacob was adopted by friends of ours from our small group at church. Silvia had to return to her teaching position after being on adoption leave so she needed help on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Jacob was lovely. It's Sarah that may be a problem for awhile. She wanted to sit in the bouncy seat, his swing, take his socks and bib off. Of course she wanted to be held when I was holding him. She never wants to be held...she always wants to be on the go. This will be good for her since she's been the center of attention up until now. We're hoping to try for baby #2 soon so this will be good training for her. Wish me luck. :)

I'm sure there's more to tell you, but I need to hang it up for tonight. Keep in touch!

The injury

An update for our loyal blog readers.

Jason beat the high school kid that bet that he could beat Jason at a game of one-on-one basketball. If Jason would've lost the game, he would've been made to shave his beard and wear a Kenny G shirt to school. It was a close game, but Jason won. Some kids lifted him up and carried him off the court while the crowd was cheering. Evidently, it was a glorious moment. It would've been nice if he would've ended it on a high note. Instead, he decided to keep playing in a two-on-two tournament. He and another kid went up for a loose ball and Jason came down and twisted his ankle. He spent some time (early in the morning) in the emergency room with our friend and band parent/chaperone, Bruce Campbell, to get an x-ray. I didn't know any of this had happened until he comes walking in the house on crutches. Thank God he didn't break it since we're leaving for the band trip to California soon.

I've been the dutiful wife. Getting him his meals and giving him his medicine and ice packs. The swelling has started to go down but he's still in some pain. Poor guy.

On another note, we just got done watching the movie, "Gone, Baby Gone" with Casey Affleck. Very well done. It made us want to wake Sarah up just so we could hold her.

First hair cut

Sarah got her first hair cut today. The top picture is the "before picture". The salon had quite the set-up. It wasn't fancy, but they had all sorts of toys, Dora on the t.v. in front of her, and stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling. She did really well and didn't want to stop playing with the toys when she was finished. I went ahead and had the lady give her bangs since her hair is pretty whispy in the front and always hangs down over her eyes unless I pulled it back. As you can see in the last picture, they put her hair up in a little barrette and put a boa around her. Most of you know that I'm hoping my daughter doesn't become one of those "princess-obsessed" little girls, but it was pretty adorable.

We went to Jason's concert tonight. It was the first concert she's attended and she made it through until the last piece. We went off to the side and walked up and down the hallway while the jazz band finished up their set. It was a late night, but she seemed to enjoy the music and the crowd. Jason said something about her in the middle of the concert so everyone turned to look at her. When she saw them turn around she waved to everyone right on cue. What a performer.

After the concert was over, kids helped clean up so they could get on with their overnight band lock-in. Jason had a bet with one of his students over winning a game of one-on-one basketball. If he loses, he has to shave his beard and wear a Brewers or a Packers hat for a day. I'm not sure Jason realizes he's 35 years old. I'm sure he'll be hurting a little tomorrow as he tries to catch up on some sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I better get some.

3 generations on the Whitehead side

Here's a picture of 3 generations of Whitehead girls at about the same age. The first one is my Grandma, Isabelle Whitehead. The second one is of me and the third is Sarah. It's crazy how we all look so much alike. I swear that Sarah and my grandma have the same teeth and smile. Dad, Sarah, and I looked alike as newborns, as well.

February 17th

I just have to say that I'm incredibly sick of this weather! Enough already! We had flooded areas today since it was raining on top of melting snow. The worst part is that some of this flooding actually seeped into our basement on the "finished side". Jason noticed it when working at the computer and his socks were getting wet. Ugh!! There was too much snow up against the house from our driveway and it seeped down into the basement. Many wet towels later, it's still damp. We have fans and the dehumidfier going. Jason is going to borrow a machine from school tomorrow that sucks up the water and has a cleaning solution that will help. The water is clear so there's no staining, I just worry about mold.

We had a nice day yesterday as we celebrated Meghan and Bob's birthdays at Jason's parents' house. We had a great time watching Sean and Sarah play together. Sean is crawling now and is quite the chatty little guy. Sarah looks pretty funny in the above pictures since she was so tired. We had to try to bribe her with a book and toys to get her to sit still on Grandpa's lap since she had hit that fussy time of night. The time flew by, but we had a fun time with the family.

We went to this seminar at church this afternoon called, "Walk Thru the Old Testament". The guy really got you involved in learning the books and major events of the Old Testament. He had us doing motions in order to help memorize the order of events. We left before it was over since Sarah had been in the nursery for 3 hours and was ready to get home. It was a worthwhile seminar and I'm glad we made the time for it.

I have to vote in the primary here on Tuesday and I'm still uncertain who I will vote for. Just an aside....I'm reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" right now. As screwed up as I feel our country and government can be, I'm thankful we live here. I can't imagine living in a country where women have little or no opportunity. I'm thankful to have the choice to stay home with my child instead of it being my only choice. That being said, I am really looking forward to a change in the oval office!

Snow Day

Today was a snow day so it was nice to have Jason home. He took the snowblower to the driveway 3 times already and may do another time before heading to bed. We are soooooo sick of snow! I guess it makes us appreciate the warmer weather and change of seasons, right?

I don't have a lot to report since my last post. I just thought these pictures were awfully cute and wanted to share them. I think she was pretty proud to show Aunt Kim where her belly button was located. The other picture was taken by Jason, of course. He's trying to instill the love for the Cubs early on. We made an agreement when Sarah was born that he could have Sarah cheer for the Cubs instead of the Brewers. In return, she will cheer for the Packers over the Bears. It's hard to keep a hat on her for more than a couple of seconds so we were glad to get this picture today. I think I need to cave in and schedule a haircut for her.

Off to the treadmill. (ugh!)

It's Superbowl Sunday and I don't really have a desire to watch the game so I'll write a quick post since it's been awhile. First of all, I've had trouble uploading video, so I'll try to figure that out and get some more video on the blog. We've captured some fun stuff lately.

We had a really nice weekend since my parents were here visiting to celebrate my sister's birthday. They got here Friday night. We woke Sarah up so she could play with them. You should've seen her excitement when she saw them. She didn't really know what to do with herself. I think they worry that she'll forget them since we don't get to see them very often. After her initial reaction in seeing them Friday, they have absolutely nothing to worry about. Kim came out Saturday and we had a nice day hanging out with the family. Sarah loves being the center of attention and was constantly wanting Grandpa to follow her around the house and play. After Sarah went to bed, we watched the movie, "Licensed to Wed" with Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and the tall guy from "The Office". It was a good renter. We enjoyed it. Mom and Dad left after a late breakfast this morning only to run into terrible weather once they hit Iowa. We had no idea they were struggling to get home until I called and found out they had just walked in the door of their house and were so thankful to be there. We're soaking up the family time as Kim will be moving out to Richmond by May and we treasure every minute with her.

My grandfather isn't doing so well right now. He's in a nursing home in Mom and Dad's town so it's great that they're nearby to watch over his care. The doctors know he will eventually have heart failure so some of these issues he's having could be all leading up to that. I wish I could snap my fingers and make him feel better. He's pretty miserable and he's getting more and more confused. Sarah and I are going down in a couple of weeks to spend some time with him and we'll go down for Easter, too.

Jason is in full-swing band director mode right now. His head is constantly swimming with band trip details, concert details, fundraising details, jazz trip to New Trier details, etc., etc. He handles it all very well but I can tell when he's "gone away" in his head thinking about all of that stuff. I guess it keeps him out of trouble and all of those experiences are so rewarding for the kids and for him. I'm looking forward to going on the band trip in March even though I'll be away from Sarah for over a week since we'll probably have her stay with my folks in Iowa. I know she'll be just fine....I'll just miss her. :)

I just agreed to be on the nomination committee for church council. It's good for me to take risks since it's something I'm definitely not comfortable with. I'm not one that likes to call people and ask them to volunteer their time. It will help me grow so I'll get over my insecurities. I figure since we're not able to give a lot more money at this time since I'm staying home, I can give of my time to the church.

Sarah turned 14 months last week and is keeping us on the go. She's playing a lot with her blocks, riding on her little bus around the house, walking a lot, always wanting to eat, and still not drinking as much milk as I'd like her to. She'll drink milk out of a bottle, but not the same amount out of a sippy cup. She'll drink water or juice, but not the milk. Ugh! She'll get it eventually. We started a new music class last week. The class isn't big, but I think she'll have a lot of fun with the instructor. The other moms and toddlers seem very nice, too. I'm really getting ready for it to warm up since I feel like both Sarah and I are getting cabin fever. I try to get out during the day to break up the day and to get Sarah around other kids and people. It would be real easy to just be lazy and stay home. I think I'd go crazy. I did get to work with some former students at Central M.S. in Waukesha the other day. I volunteered to help out the band director since I know she gets swamped this time of year. I hadn't taught for 1 1/2 years so it felt good to dust off the teaching chops. I'd like to keep doing some of those things to keep my resume' updated when I'm ready to go back to work.

Better go. I think Jason needs the computer. Bye for now.