Snaggletooth

Some of the kids in Olivia's class have started losing their teeth, and she has been eager to join in.  Last week one of her bottom teeth became loose, and she spent the rest of the week wiggling it.  When she came into my classroom on Thursday, she was excited because it had come out at school (with some help from her teacher).  That night we put the tooth in the "Tooth Fairy" pillow and waited to see what would happen.  There was some discussion on the topic of the value of a tooth in our home.  When I was young, I received a quarter per tooth.  A quarter is no longer the going rate.  In our one afternoon of tooth fairy research, Brian and I learned that teeth bring much more than a quarter these days.  We also learned that the first tooth lost is worth more than the others.  Olivia said that one boy at her school recently got $20 for his first tooth.  Yeah- that's not happening here.  She ended up with $5 for her first tooth and will be getting $1 for each tooth lost in the future.  Although she was excited to find the money, she has been more excited by the fact that she lost the tooth.  She has been eager to show it to anyone who will look.

Winter Running

Our little group of runners kicked off the new year at the Cool Shark 5k in Brunswick.  This was the first time that my cousin Jessica had run with us, and I think she liked it a lot.  The course was nice, and there was plenty of food at the finish line.  We all ran well, and many of us received age group awards.  I finished at 25:41 and placed first in my new 35-39 age group.  Nothing makes you feel old like going up an age group.

Here we are- getting ready to start.

A few weeks later, I completed The Run 5 (5 miler) with Anna and Krystial.  This run benefits the Wolfson Children's Hospital.  Anna is an avid supporter of this race.  I mentioned this last year, but I'll say it again- this is a tough course.  The big plus is that the last few miles are on the Riverwalk, which is one of my absolute favorite places to run in Jacksonville.  I finished in 44:05 and placed fourth in my age group.  After running, we rewarded ourselves with an early dinner at The Olive Garden.  That certainly made all of our effort worth it!

The Father-Daughter Dance

 

The annual father-daughter dance was held on the same night as Gigi's retirement dinner.  Although she was sad to miss the dinner, Olivia was excited to attend the dance.  This is an event that she always looks forward to.  She has been planning her "look" for weeks.  She decided to wear the dress that Brian and I gave her for her birthday (the American Girl dress).  I curled her hair and put a tiny bit of make-up on her.  This is the first year that I've let Olivia wear make-up to the dance, so she thought that she was "the stuff".  Brian knocked on the door at the designated time and presented Olivia with a wrist corsage.  After a few pictures, the two set off for Captain Joe's and then to the dance.  Judging from what Olivia has said and the pictures, everyone had a great time.  Olivia spotted her cousins at the dance and spent a lot of time dancing with them.  This is such a great event, and I'm so glad that Olivia gets to do this with her daddy each year.

Retirement Sweet Retirement

 This post is all about my mama.  After 27+ years of working at the post office (while juggling kids, a home, and many other responsibilities), she has retired.  Her last day was January 31st.  My dad changed his work schedule so that he could be her last customer.  He bought a book of forever stamps.    She certainly went out with a bang.  In addition to receiving numerous flower arrangements, cards, and boxes of candy, the editor of The Blackshear Times made mama the subject of his weekly editorial.  He praised her hard work, friendliness, and dedication to her work.  Everything he said was absolutely true, and these same sentiments were expressed by her co-workers at her retirement dinner on Saturday night.  Person after person recounted their experiences with Mama.  At the end of the evening, they presented her with a framed copy of her editorial and silver charm bracelet with an envelope charm that had the dates of her employment engraved on it.  I am so excited for mama to begin her retirement, and I look forward to daddy joining her in a few months.

The last time she'll ever punch a clock.

Cookie Kick-off

In January, Olivia's girl scout troop joined a few other local troops for a cookie kick-off pajama party. During this event, the girls went to different stations and completed cookie-related activities.  I was a parent volunteer in the "fishing for cookie money" room.  Here, the girls learned to count money and give change.  I think it made them feel like grown-ups to be given this responsibility. Later in the evening, the girls were treated to popcorn and a 3-D movie.  Olivia had a great time and came home fired-up about selling cookies.  So far we have taken pre-orders for about 100 boxes.  We should be receiving the cookies in the next week or so.  There's no telling how many boxes we'll end up selling.  Olivia wants to go on the cookie incentive trip to Atlanta, so she is really motivated.    She is certainly enjoying her first year as a scout.

One Last Hurrah

We have certainly enjoyed our season passes to Wild Adventures this year.  The kids and I went numerous times during the summer and had tons of fun in the park and adjacent waterpark.  Fun as the passes were, we have decided not to renew in 2013.  A big reason for this is that Owen now has tubes in his ears and can't get them wet- so we're going to try to do non-water based activities this summer (as mush as possible).  Since our 2012 passes are still good, we decided to have one last hurrah at the park this past week.  Of course the waterpark was closed, but we still had plenty to do.  We rode the rides, saw a show with a talking Christmas tree, and saw the animals.  The kids were happy to ride all of their favorite rides one last time.

Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon

 I ran the Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon on my birthday this year.  This marked the first race where I ran in my new age group (35-39).  I'm getting old. The race was pretty good and I ran okay.  I had hoped to PR, but that didn't happen.  I didn't get to train as much as I would have liked in the two weeks leading up to the race and it was warm and muggy on the morning of the event.  I ended up with a time of 2.04.03, which I'm okay with.  This race was the last in the Tri-2B-Tuff series, so I got a special medal for completing all three races.

Since this is my last race of 2012, I would like to take a moment to reflect on what a great year of running this has been.  I ended up completing ten 5Ks, three 10Ks, one 15K, a five-miler, four half marathons, one duathlon, and one mud run.  I PRd in the 10K and 15K distance.  Also, I won overall female in two different 5K events and placed in my age group in several others.  In April I bought a road bike and I've enjoyed learning to use it.  One of my favorite things that happened this year was that I found some new running buddies- including my sister Quincy, whose progress this year has been amazing.

I have begun to work on my running calendar for 2013, and it's shaping up to be a good year.  I have made the decision to run my first full marathon next year, so that should be exciting.  I'm also considering a triathlon, but I haven't decided for sure.  Other things on my "to do" list include more mud runs, spending more time on my bike, and trying to improve my 5K time.  As always, if anyone is interested in running with me, let me know.  It's always fun.