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.

Sat., Jan. 12th

We had a great time a week ago with a post-Christmas gathering with Jason's side of the family at Aunt Ellen and Uncle Dick's house. Dick took some great pictures of the cousins, Sarah, Sean, and Gabriel (Jason and Meghan's cousin, Steve's son). It's fun to see the kids start to notice each other more and interact. Jason also had a fun time putting on a puppet show for Gabe who was a captive audience.

Not much else is new our way. Jason is working hard to get all the details lined up for the band trip to California in March. He's arranged some clinics with the members of the Gordon Goodwin Big Band which I'm sure will be amazing. If you've never heard the band before, check them out at http://www.gordongoodwin.com/. The guys in the band are major studio players and are great clinicians. Anyway, it will be exciting for the students. I'm excited to go along and see it all take place.

Kim and I went wedding dress shopping for the first time. We have another stop or two to make this week. It's exciting to be a part of this time in her life. She's under a bit of stress with the wedding, the eventual move to Virginia, and finding a job, etc. She seems to be handling it all very well. All the details for the Jamaica wedding are coming together and will be a blast. How romantic...married by an ocean view. Of course, I'm still in denial about her moving. Any time I really think about it, I want to cry. While I'm sooooo happy for her that she's marrying the man she loves and moving forward, I'm going to miss her terribly. She and Sarah are quite attached to one another, as well. You should see Sarah light up and barely be able to contain herself when Kim walks in the house. Luckily, cell phones and computer webcams will keep the connection going and we'll always look forward to the next visit. Now I'm crying. See...I should just keep repressing it until it's actually here. :)

I had a lovely outing with my girlfriend, Susan, today. We met for lunch at Panera and then went to see a "chick flick", "P.S. I Love You". I enjoyed it, but I'm a sap. I'm always a sucker for a movie like that. It was great to see Susan and get caught up on one another's lives.

Jason and I just watched the movie, "Running With Scissors". Very messed up. I can't believe it was a true story. I didn't even recognize Joseph Feinnes (sp?) as one of the characters.

Well...I think I'll head upstairs and either read one of my many books on raising toddlers (I need all the help I can get) or escape into a Nicholas Sparks book.

Bye for now.