Ballerina

Emma has wanted to do ballet since she could walk so in August I finally got her signed up for classes. When she is focused she is a beautiful dancer! A lot of ballet comes so natural to her it seems. She loves being on her tip toes and she loves moving to music. She had her first recital last week and I could not be more proud of her. There are only 4 girls in her class and for some reason only 2 showed up on the morning of the recital. The other girl who came is very young so Emma had to kind of lead the way. Miss Alie is a friend of mine and does a great job teaching the girls at a studio called Dance Imagination. We are so lucky to be at that studio. We are also lucky that she has so much support. Papa and Mami Olgi came. So did Aunt Steph and Angel. Even "Uncle" Tim and Miss Robin drove all the way from Ballground! So nice of everyone to show up that early Saturday morning.

I think ballet is a perfect fit for Emma and I hope she continues doing it as long as possible. Here is the video. I've seen it a million times already and will probably see it a million times more!

I tried to post the video on the blog with NO luck :(

Here it is on YouTube but because it uses a Josh Grobin song that is copyrighted - the sound does not work. You can find the version with sound (I think sound makes it even more special!) on my facebook page.


http://www.youtube.com/user/bjett76?feature=mhum

No more therapy!!

After Matthew's medical problems when he was a newborn it was stressed upon us that putting him in rehabilitation and therapy was imperative. So as soon as possible he was enrolled in Occupational and Physical therapies. He did them several times a week with a specialist and then we worked with him ourselves. It was pretty upsetting at first. His first evaluations were not very positive. At three months old, they told us he was functioning at only a newborn level. But we worked very hard - all of us did! My mother did therapy with him at her house and Ben and I practiced all his exercises with him every chance we could. We showed others how to help him too. Some days Matthew was tired and cranky and didn't want to participate but we continued to do what needed to be done. Then suddenly things began looking up! We would get new therapists every once in a while and they would not believe this was the same baby on their files. He was doing incredible. Before we new it, he was up to par with his age level. In the beginning he had therapy twice a week. By the time he was two, it was once a month. Then by age three he had graduated both Physical and Occupational therapy. It was recommended he begin speech therapy although he barely qualified to receive it. Then this past week he was tested again and they told us he was doing so well they did not feel he needed Speech therapy anymore either! One therapist even said he spoke better than some Kindergartners.
Wow - I could not believe it!

It feels odd not having to take him to therapy. But I will be happy to get used to this change! Now the next step is to try to take him off his medication. Fingers crossed for that but even if it doesn't happen, to know that he is doing so well is more than I could ever hope for. I love my little boy so much and am SO very proud of all that he has accomplished!

Loving Husband

My hubby and I at the beach over the summer

I had a birthday in December and am now officially 32. Although I really thought I was already 32 so it doesn't feel like I'm much older! I guess you get forgetful in your old age.

Ben and I don't normally do too much for our birthdays or our anniversary. We just have too much going on I guess. This year I suggested we have a nice dinner at home. I told Ben he could make me some Salmon and we could eat with the kids. So when I got home to find the kids missing I was a little confused. Ben had planned the evening so we could go out to dinner alone while the kids stayed at my Mom's house. So sweet of him! I enjoyed the Salmon I ordered at the Marietta Fish Market and I especially enjoyed a peaceful meal with my loving husband. I didn't have to cut up anyone's food. I didn't have to tell anyone to hurry up and take a bite. I didn't even have to get up in the middle of my meal to take someone to the restroom. It was just perfect!

Ben also did a great job with my gifts. I received a gym membership that I really really wanted. Some new headphones, a movie, and tons of other stuff I probably don't deserve. He truly is the best!!

Baxter

Emma's teacher told them about a special friend at the beginning of the year: Baxter the Bear. Baxter comes from Maine and the entire class waits for him to arrive to the school. They track his travels down the East coast and learn a special song about Baxter "the lovable bear from Maine". When he finally arrives, each child gets to take Baxter home for a weekend and then write about it in the class journal.

We had a turn with Baxter in November. Emma asked if we could take Baxter to Disneyworld but I had to explain to her that it wasn't quite possible! But even without Mickey, we tried to make it a special weekend. We started with going out to see a movie - something we rarely do. We watched The Care Bear movie in honor of our guest and snacked on Gummy Bears. Matthew and Ben came with us to the movies. Poor Ben - he isn't a big fan of the movies and this cartoon one was a little bit too pre-school even for me. But the kids loved it! We took Baxter out to lunch and shared ice cream with him too. On Sunday we dressed him up and took him to church with us. So although we didn't do anything too exciting, Emma had fun with him and especially enjoyed introducing him to all her other stuffed animals. We may be lucky enough to get Baxter one more time before the year ends. We will have to start planning what other fun things we can do with him!

Bringing Baxter to our house

Emma, Matthew and Baxter at church

Baxter meeting Emma's other animals

Eating Ice Cream!

At the movies

Family Halloween

Emma asked to be a witch this year for Halloween. I was hesitant to get her a witch costume since she usually wants to be something "pretty". Luckly I found a perfect Princess Witch costume on EBay that was a decent price. She looked perfect! Matthew was such a struggle last year. He doesn't like dressing up but since he has been so obsessed with dinosaurs lately I made him a dinosaur costume. It was really just a hoodie with spikes and a tail sewn on. I dyed it his favorite color (green) and since it was a jacket it didn't feel much like a costume. He kept it on all night and really enjoyed roaring to all the people we saw.

I was so excited because this year Ben could actually join us for Trick or Treating. He didn't have a game, he didn't have a competition, and he wasn't sick! I think this is the first time we all went door to door together as a family. It was such a wonderful evening.

We did our normal tradition and went to my wonderful brother's neighborhood in Marietta. Earlier in the week some of my Dad's family from Ecuador came to town. They really wanted to see how Halloween was celebrated in the United States and asked to come join us. It was a treat to have them tag along. They enjoyed seeing all the decorations and costumes.

The weather was much better than the rainy night we had last year and the cold night we had the year before that. In fact, at one point I even got a little too warm. We went our normal route but this year with Ben helping out we cut our time down a bunch. He would put Matthew on his shoulders between houses and would encourage the girls to rush to the next house. The usual 1 hour plus trip took less than 45 minutes!! Ben was such a good sport. I know Halloween really isn't his thing but he even dressed up. What a great Dad he is to our kids. I hope the entire family can do it again next year.

The beautiful Princess Witch

Dinosaur for Matthew and Skull for Emma
(They picked out what they wanted on their own)

Vampire and Dinosaur

My first semi-homemade costume

New Phone

I had a Motorola Razor phone for YEARS and YEARS. I loved that phone. It was small and sleek and did just what I needed. I could receive and send phone calls with the push of a button. Then as the years went by, I started to text. Just one here and there - nothing major. My techno savvy husband got an IPhone as a gift from his loving wife one year and he loved it. I thought it was ridiculous to have a phone that could do so many things. Why would you need all that? And he was ALWAYS on his phone. So when I needed an upgrade on my phone and saw that they no longer offered my beloved Razor I switched to a Pantech Slide phone called the DUO. It slid up and down and also had a slide keyboard. Pretty fancy for me! I became an avid texter after that but I still mocked my hubby's phone with all it's bells and whistles I didn't need. THEN I dropped my phone in the toilet and it was Dead. I needed a new one and I wanted something modern. So Ben convinced me to get a "real" phone this time.

I've had my HTC Aria for a few weeks now and I am in love. I can check my emails as they come in. I can check my facebook. I can have the Internet at my finger tips. It even flashes a little light when I have something new to look at. But the best thing is that I can send and receive pictures! That is the one thing I always hated about my simple phones. So thank you Ben for bringing me up to date and for getting me such a cool phone! And I apologize in advance if you find me always on my phone ;)

Talent Show 2010

I was in charge of the church Talent Show again this year. Once again we had a great group of kids perform things from hula hoops to telling jokes. It was a great night. The theme was based on "America's Got Talent!" and boy do my two kids have some talent!! I actually got Matthew to participate this year. Initially I was going to just have him do his dinosaur impression but then decided to try to get him to sing. He sang his favorite song "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" and was so proud of himself. I was so very proud too!

Emma of course was born ready to perform. She decided to sing HER favorite song from her favorite singer - Justin Bieber. I bought her a Justin shirt for the performance and she did the rest, hair and all. She looked like she stepped out of the 80's. Last year she couldn't decide to sing or dance so this year I told her she could do both. I was having some trouble with the music in the begining and I think it threw off her singing but she did an incredible job dancing! When you watch the video you want to skip to about 45 seconds where she starts.

Once again, I don't know where these outgoing children get their courage. Definitely not from their SHY Mama!

The Beach and the Tooth

An old friend of Ben's got married in September. She was getting married at the Beach in North Carolina. We took this as an opportunity for another family vacation. It was the kid's first trip to the beach and the first time for Ben and I to go to the beach since our Honeymoon. It was an amazing trip. The kids loved every minute of it. We started in North Carolina and ended up at Myrtle Beach. We spent some time at a civil war museum and at a battleship (the USS North Carolina), but their favorite part was the sand! I think we spent hours and hours building walls, castles and holes. The weather could not have been better. It was sunny but cool and the water was just right. Matthew was more of a water baby than Emma was. He would go into the water with Ben and let the waves splash over him. I could only get Emma up to her shins before she would want to run back to the sand.

All was absolutely perfect until our last day. It started normal and exciting. We had checked into a fancy hotel for the last part of our trip and were extremely content in their comfy beds and 10 swimming pools. We decided to start out at the beach for the day. Unfortunately I had a run-in with a jelly fish - Ouch!! It was pretty painful but I tried to tough it out for the kids. I didn't want them to be afraid of getting into the ocean. So all was well after that....until we headed toward the pool. Emma had asked to be wrapped up all tight in her towel and then began dancing around and being too silly. She tripped over her feet and since her arms were restrained she fell face first on the concrete. Blood everywhere, a busted lip, and when she looked up her tooth was knocked inward. I was already drained from the jellyfish and seeing her like this made me sick to my stomach. But once again as a Mom, I stayed as calm as I could. It turned out her lip wasn't so bad and the bleeding quickly stopped. Since it was her baby tooth we didn't feel it necessary to rush her to the hospital although her tooth was obviously out of place. I didn't know what to do with her so we ended up going for ice cream. I couldn't think of anything else she could eat! She thought it was fantastic - "this is the best night ever" she told us as she ate her ice cream dinner. Then later that night as I was getting Matthew in his pajamas I heard her squeal "OUCH!". I turned to see what happened and she said "Mommy! I put my tooth back into place all by myself!" And she grinned a big bloody grin! She was right though, her teeth looked straight once again.

We spent one extra day at the beach and it truly was perfect. It was so hard to leave but we had school days and work waiting for us in Georgia. I think we might do this beach thing again next year - minus the bloody tooth and jelly fish of course.

(Ben took lots of pictures but hasn't sent them to me yet- I will post as soon as I can)

Shadow Baby Jett

Not much time before I was married I was attacked by a dog. After that experience, although I still had a huge love for dogs I was a bit nervous around them. So after I got married I KNEW I wanted a dog but told Ben that I needed a small one that I didn't have to be afraid of.

So my wonderful new husband picked out a puppy for me for my birthday. The first thing I noticed was his PAWS!!! They were massive and I knew enough about dogs to know that big paws meant a big grown up dog in the future. But Ben assured me that it would be fine - and it really was. Shadow was the most gentle dog in the entire world.The vet believed he may have had some German Shepard or Great Dane in him since he was so tall. He was spoiled as a puppy and grew up to believe he was a lap dog, even when he hit 100 pounds. As newlyweds we took him everywhere and after the kids were born he became the protector of the house.

I knew he was special when we got him. We got him from the Rockmart Pound. They told us he was born the day after September 11, 2001. He was found alone under a porch and they named him "Trooper". He was an amazing dog. He let the kids pull on him and climb over him and I never had to worry about him hurting anyone. He was afraid of thunder and fireworks. He rarely ever left the yard. He always listened to us. He made me feel extrememly safe when Ben was gone. He looked big and scary when he barked but he was so sweet we gave him the middle name "Baby". We loved him dearly and he will forever be missed. R.I.P to my dear Shadow Baby.

Dan's Wedding

The last Jett brother got married the first week in September. We were so glad we got to share the special day with Dan and Andrea. The wedding was beautiful from start to finish! They had it in one of the gorgeous Utah canyons and the weather was just perfect. Unfortunately poor Natalie got sick right before the wedding and ended up spending the day laying down. Emma had to step in to take Natalie's place as flower girl in the ceremony. She was so nervous but did a wonderful job. She looked so beautiful in the dress that Grandma Jett picked out for her. I am thankful to Elisa who picked out my skirt so we could match the wedding party colors. I had so much fun shopping with her and Jeneca at the Shade warehouse looking for a top to match. I also need to thank Elisa for making Matthew's vest! She did such an awesome job. All of the little nephews looked so handsome.

I was grateful to take some time away from work and spend it with Ben and the kids. My husband is the greatest and I know it is because he comes from such a great family!

Below are just a few pictures. Ben posted over 100 on his Facebook if you want to see more.

A wedding wouldn't be complete without dancing and of course Emma performed her best moves for everyone to see! She was a big hit dancing with Dan's friend Mike who was also the wedding DJ.

Kindergarten

I knew that I didn't have to worry about Emma's first day of school. If anyone could handle it - SHE could. She is always so ready for things and so mature about things. I laughed at stories of Mom's saying that they were going to be bawling their eyes out on the first day of school. Not me. I had nothing to worry about and would not be one of those silly crying mothers. Or so I thought! For some reason as I saw the bus driving away with my little baby girl inside, my eyes just teared up and I couldn't control it. Was it pride or worry or both, I don't know. But I know that I love my daughter with all my heart.

She is at Bascomb Elementary school in Mrs. Scherholz's class. The teacher seems wonderful. She even called us after school to make sure our "sweet little girl" did not have any problems or questions on her first day. She is riding the bus to and from school. On the way home she was so busy making friends on the bus that the driver had to walk back and let her know it was her stop! She had a fantastic first day and has made a friend in our new neighbor - Ashton. He is also in Kindergarten but not in her class. He gets a ride home from his mom but on the first day he waited for Emma to come home so he could give her a flower. Such a little gentleman!

She was so excited about school and ready to go back. You can see her excitement (and exhaustion) from her first day on the YouTube videos Ben took.

Emma's First Day

Emma's First Day returning from school

Summer

We have done a lot of neat things over the summer but unfortunately I don't have too many pictures. One of the cool things that we did was go to Medieval Times. I actually won the tickets on the radio for Father's Day! Medieval Times is a giant castle that you go to where they serve you a wonderful feast and you have a spectacular show with Knights and jousting. Of course it was perfect for Emma - our own personal princess. And of course, Matthew enjoyed the food! The best part was that the Black and White knight we were rooting for won the battle and saved the Prince so that he could be with the Princess and live Happily Ever After.

Ben and the kids have spent a lot of time in the water this summer. We have been able to enjoy my Aunt Yoli's wonderful pool where Emma has been doing much better at swimming around in her floaties and can even jump in the shallow end without anyone catching her. Matthew is a little fish and is so comfortable floating around in the pool too. They definitely take after Ben who I think could live in the water and be very happy.

One day we were all able to join the Johansons, John, Elisa and Jacob and Grandma/Grandad Jett at White Water. It was really a new experience to have little ones at such a big water park. I think we may wait another year or two before we go again so that they can really enjoy how fun the park truly is.

Other fun things we did included having my niece Angelina spend two days and nights with us, watching Toy Story 3 at the movie theatre, and going to a Braves game at Turner Field. We were even lucky enough to spend some quality time with Sarah, Scott, Georgia and Jackson while they were in town for a quick visit.

One NOT so fun thing we had to do this summer was say goodbye to Ben's parents. They decided to move to Utah and although we are heartbroken that they are no longer so close by we are excited to get to go visit them in Utah. In fact we will be going there in September for Dan's wedding. We also are big fans of SKYPE so we will be able to see them often on our computer!

We have only one week left of summer. So hard to believe how fast it passed by. Right now Ben has band camp with Woodland HS and the kids have been going to my mom's house. Starting in August............SCHOOL!!!!

Cub Camp 2010

Flag Ceremony

Cubmaster Minute

Birdhouses

Badminton

The past few years I have had the pleasure to serve as the Cub Scout Committee Chair for the wonderful young boys in our ward. It has definitely been a learning experience since I have no experience with Cubs whatsoever. Matthew is much too young to be a Cub Scout and my brother was never a Scout either. All my knowledge comes from what I've learned thru Ben who was an amazing Scout as a child and an even more amazing Scout Leader as an adult now.

The District offers a Cub Camp every summer for all the boys in the area. Although it is a great opportunity it is also very expensive. This year our Pack decided to join a couple other Pack's and have our own affordable (and fun!) Cub Camp. It took place over three days - Thursday and Friday night and then Saturday all day. Each pack was responsible for a few activities each day. It turned out extremely well and I think everyone had a great time.

The first day the boys created shirts using nature items. I made a dragon shirt using certain leaves and a pine cone for the fire. They also made bottle rocket launchers and played flag football. I missed the second day of camp but the boys had fun going on a nature trail and doing a lot of outdoor activities. The third day was jam packed with activities. I only stayed for the first part of the day but I still had a blast. I was proud of our boys who ran the opening flag ceremony with great poise. I was in charge of the "Cub Master Minute" where I briefly spoke to the boys about taking care of the Earth while using an apple as a visual aid. Then the boys broke off into groups - first aid and woodwork. I am not sure how I got put in the woodworking group since I can't remember ever using a hammer in my life. I struggled at first helping the boys who seemed to know the same or less than I did about making birdhouses. But by the second set of boys, I was practically a professional! I also for some reason volunteered to teach badminton to the boys and NO I did not know the first thing about the game until Cub Camp. We ended up having a wonderful time and I sincerely think that all the boys enjoyed learning the rules and playing. Overall, I think my first Cub Camp went pretty well. I can't wait for Matthew to be old enough to do all these fun things!

Photo Shoot

Emma, 5 - Matthew, 3

May 2010

I finally made an appointment to get the kids pictures taken at the Target Portrait Studio. I hope to one day get their pictures taken by a real independent photographer. There are some extremely good ones in our Ward. But for now the ones at Target are quick and inexpensive and they do a decent job. So here are most of them. You can see more pictre on my Facebook page.

School Days

Emma is in her last week at her Pre School. She had such a good year there. There was a tiny rough start with her not eating her food at lunch and the one biting incident but overall it was a big success! She loved her teachers and made a lot of friends. She learned a ton of things and had great experiences. I researched a bunch of Pre Schools in the area and I think the one I registered her in was a good choice. Right now we are experiencing end of the year festivities: Muffins with Mom, Doughnuts with Dad, and a family picnic tomorrow. Next year she will be going to Bascomb Elementary. Emma can't wait!

Matthew graduated from the Babies Can't Wait program on his birthday. He was evaluated and it was decided that he could enter in the county Speech Therapy program. He started at Little River Elementary on his birthday to attend his class once a week. I was very nervous about it since it was going to be the first time he was entering into a school environment without one of us around. Matthew is very attached to us and I was imagining him crying the entire time. But he loved his teachers and was so excited about going to school. It was amazing how great he progressed in the couple months he was there. Since the time he began talking he called himself "Mamur", but a few days after his first class he said his name almost perfectly right out of the blue. I teared up like a fool!! How funny the major moments in our lives when we have children.

We will be talking to someone over the summer to get him enrolled in the Speech class at Bascomb where his big sister will be.