January 7, 2012 - Freezing For a Reason

They call it "freezing for a reason" and that's exactly what I did today. I jumped into the water... in January... to raise money for Special Olympics.

Originally I jumped at the chance to do this event because I'd always wanted to do a Polar Plunge, I just never got up the nerve to do one in Omaha where they had to chip the ice away to make room for the swimmers.

But I also knew I was doing it for another reason - those Special Olympic athletes. I have done numerous news stories on the Special Olympics during my 10+ years as a journalist, and those amazing athletes have touched my heart every, single time. Talk about a never say die attitude - and always, always with a smile on their face.

So today, I got to judge a sandcastle contest, draw some door prize winners and hang out with 400+ others like me who raised money (thank you very much dad!) and then jumped into some pretty cold water.

We had a blast!

I was blessed to have a child born without disabilities... the least I can do is help raise money for those who might need a little more help to get through life. If you ever have a chance to volunteer at a Special Olympics event - DO IT - you will wonder why you didn't sooner.

Here's the link to a quick piece my station did on the event: Polar Plunge 2012
You'll see me run in and out around 1:03 and 1:12 into the video. I'm wearing the red shirt and dark shorts.

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January 6, 2012 - Dear Mother Nature, I Love That You're Confused...

... because 60-degree weather in January ROCKS! I hope you continue to think we are in the midst of Spring and not Winter.

Today called for a morning spent in the backyard... without jackets... and without shoes. Yipee!!!





Georgia and I even had to dump a little sand on the ground, so we could put our toes in the sand and imagine we were at the beach.


Today would not have been complete without a picnic. Come on, when can you have a picnic in the backyard in January?



Ah, Mother Nature, keep it up please, keep it up!

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January 5, 2011 - Jump Up! Jump Down!

You know, because when Sesame Street is on... movement is a requirement. Didn't you know every episode was an aerobic workout?

Elmo says jump up...

Elmo says jump down...


And while you're at it, some CRAZY dancing doesn't hurt either.






Just another day in our wild and crazy home.

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January 4, 2012 - Where Can You Find Dried Play-Doh in Your Home?

... because you can find it just about anywhere in my house. Um, add my daughter's hair to the list. Georgia is a Play-Doh playing machine. I am a Play-Doh scraping and vaccumming machine.

We got our Play-Doh fix again this morning.

This is still her "smile"... it's too cute.

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January 3, 2012 - Handing My Daughter Over to Strangers

The good news is - my hubby got a job in our new hometown. The bad news is - Georgia has to go back to daycare.

Today was D-day - that's daycare day in our home.

I guess we've been a little spoiled for almost the last year. If anything good came out of my being laid off, it's that Georgia has had a stay at home parent since February 9, 2011. First is was me, and then starting in July, it was my hubby. She has flourished having one of us home, but sadly, our bank account has not. So we are now a two-income household once again.

We prepped her for this day - we told her all about the new friends she would make, the teachers she would meet, the new toys she could explore, the playground she could play on - she seemed pretty ready and a little excited. That is, until about 30 minutes before she and I needed to walk out the door. I can honestly say I think I witnessed her worst toddler tantrum... yet! She would not even let me put her shoes on (I was lucky to have dressed her much earlier) and forget brushing her hair. I had to carry a squirming, SCREAMING and kicking child to my car and buckle her in. She then SCREAMED the entire way to the daycare. When she saw the building, the tears and screams subsided a bit and I finally got those shoes on.

And she let me take a picture:

(so much for those cute shots of her getting ready and walking to the car with her backpack that I had imagined)

So how did she do? When I left her - after prying her death-locked arms from around my neck - she was crying those big, heaving, ugly sobs while all the other kids started at her. But when my hubby picked her up just three short hours later (yes, she only goes three hours a day), he said she was playing with the other kids and appeared happy. Thank goodness.

Let's just see if we make it out the door tomorrow with shoes on.

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January 2, 2012 - Be Creative

Want to find creativity? Have a kid - creativity and imagination ooze from their every pore. I don't think a single day goes by in our home where Georgia and me or Georgia and her daddy aren't coloring, painting, crafting... something. She is constantly searching for an outlet, like if she doesn't release that imaginative energy, she might start to swell from the size of it and eventually just float away like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon.

Today, this is how we released our creativity:

Thank you Aunt Jenna for the awesome easel!

And going with the creative flow, I also let Georgia do something today that is usually pretty well off limits - she got to touch my camera. And not only touch it, but take pictures with it (supervised of course, I had one hand on it the whole time - I'm not clinically insane). But she could point it at whatever she wanted to and hit the button.

So here's photography through Georgia's eyes:

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Here We Go Again - and I'm Kicking Off the New Year with Craziness!

I must be crazy because I'm starting the new year with a new 365 challenge. I did it in 2010 and had to take 2011 off, but I thought hey, why not push myself to the brink again? The challenge means I will take a picture (or more) a day for the entire year. The first time I did it, everything had to be connected to Georgia in some way - after all, this is her blog, right? This time around we'll see how things go... it's still a little fluid at this point.

So... drum roll... here's the first post not only of 2012, but of the new 365 project.

How did my family start off life in the new year? We visited the dead of years past... years way, way past. Yes, yes we did.

This is the "Old Burying Grounds" in Beaufort, NC, and we've been wanting to check out this cemetery for quite a while. It's one of the oldest cemeteries in North Carolina with the oldest recorded grave in 1756, but it's said there are some older than that. It's no surprise, it was a very peaceful and beautiful place in its own way.


There's the grave of a little girl who died in the 1700's on the ship on her way back to Beaufort from England. Her mother had not wanted her to go, but she had begged to see her homeland and went on the trip with her father. Her father had promised her mother to bring her home, so after the girl died, instead of the traditional burial at sea, he sealed her body in a rum keg and brought her home for burial.

People leave gifts on her grave, so Georgia left her a pink flower.



After our peaceful walk... we finished off the first day of the year with a visit to a much more lively place - the beach!!



We flew Georgia's kite...



... fed the seagulls...



... and just soaked in the unusual but very welcome temperatures in the 60's...



I hope 2012 holds many, many days with our toes in the sand and the sound of waves hushing the world. Bring it on 2012!

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