Jasmine Turns 8

Yesterday we celebrated Jasmine's birthday. We have been blessed to have her for 8 wonderful years and even though there are some rough times we are thankful for every second we have with her. She continues to grow in so many ways. She's improving her speech, she loves playing with her baby sister, she loves reading and coloring. She even tried playing Soccer for the first time. Jasmine has not only brought us joy but she's also brought us an appreciation for all special kids.

Her Own Thing

This past weekend Jasmine had her annual dance recital. She got to perform in 3 different dances, 1 ballet, 1 tap and 1 hip hop. It was a 2 night performance on a Friday night and the following Saturday night. When Jasmine got home from school Friday she went through with her regular routine and laid down for her nap. Unfortunately she didn't wanna wake up when it was time to get her make up done and start getting ready for the dance. Because we were interrupting her nap and her daily routine she ended up being cranky the remainder of the night.

All things considered she did good for her 1st performance of ballet Friday night. When it came time for her 2nd performance, a tap dance, she came out from behind the curtain crying. We don't know why she was crying but whatever it was, she got over it as soon as the music started, and started getting into her routine. Finally her final performance of Hip Hop Jasmine didn't seem to be too interested. Maybe it was just too long of a day for her or maybe it was because another teacher was leading them and Jasmine was unaware and didn't know what to look for direction. She was in good spirits when it was all over and even got a bouquet of flowers from her grandparents.

After relaxing all morning Jasmine seemed more ready for Saturday's performance than she did the previous night. She was in a better mood throughout the night and it showed when she was on stage. After her 1st performance of ballet she even got complimented by one of the other fathers backstage who said she was a beautiful dancer. Her tap dancing performance came off without a hitch, she was not crying this time around. She finished strong with her Hip Hop performance dancing her little heart out. It was a beautiful thing to see; not just her performance but how far she has come and how far she has grown into her own person. It was an exhausting 2 nights but all I can say is, "I can't wait until next year."

Go Jasmine Go

8

Earlier this month Jasmine wrapped up her 2nd season as a Cheerleader for Upward Sports. And like last season, she loved every minute whether it was cheering on the sidelines as the games were in progress or whether it was performing the halftime show every game. Before each game I had to let her know where we were sitting because throughout the game she would constantly look for us and wave. She loved having her family there especially her brother who would play in the following game. The times I did forget to let her know where we would be sitting she would look for us diligently. Even if it took her the entire game to find us, she wouldn't give up looking. 

Her family wasn't the only ones supporting her; the other girls on the squad were always looking out for her and offering a helping hand anytime she had any kind of trouble. She made numerous friends on the squad and retained others that returned from last season as well. Every one is so kind and generous to her we are so thankful for the local Upward Sports organization.

As far as the future we are considering signing her up for soccer as well. Her big brother, who she looks up to, plays soccer and lately Jasmine has been kicking the ball around the house as well.  Jasmine has her yearly dance recital coming up in a couple of weeks. She's doing such a wonderful job in her routines. I hope to have another update then. But when it comes to cheer I think I speak for Jasmine when I say we can't wait for next year.

Happy Thanksgiving

As most people spend this one day a year to celebrate all the numerous things to be thankful for we do our best to express our gratitude year round for the 7 years we have been blessed with our Angel, Jasmine.  It has been a journey filled with incredible highs and incredible lows; however, we wouldn't change it for the world. Over the past year alone Jasmine has fell in love with dance and cheerleading, making numerous friends along the way. Every day with her is truly a blessing and for that we are thankful.

So from Jasmine and her family; Happy Thanksgiving.

Dancing Queen

Well it's been a while since our last update but last week Jasmine signed up to start dance classes and she loves it. She's taking Hip Hop classes and Tap/Ballet classes after she tried out tap at her VBS Special Friends Bible Study. You can see her below in her dance outfit ready and waiting to go to class. She was dressed and ready to go one full hour before class started that's how excited she gets about going to dance class. It turns out she ended up liking Ballet more than she did Tap which surprised us cause she seemed to love Tap. Regardless, this is the first extracurricular activity we've been able to sign her up for. But it won't be the last, signups for Cheerleading will be in Decembe and she'll get to cheer on her big brother as he plays his basketball game so we know she's gonna be excited for that.

Time to Potty

Our son was born in 2007. Just as we were starting to get him used to using the potty. We thought we wouldn’t have to buy anymore diapers for a while, then Jasmine came along. And just when we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel with having to provide Jasmine with diapers she has baby sister on the way. We just can’t seem to get out of buying diapers.

Jasmine's big brother is learning responsibility with his new puppy. He's learning to feed it and take it outside to go potty. For some reason Jasmine picked it on this and is now potty training herself. As crazy as that sounds it only gets crazier. When she initially learned that Spike, her brother's puppy, was going outside to handle his business she wanted to go do her business out there too.

Through her mom's persistence Jasmine learned that puppies may go outside but big girls use the potty. So now she tells us when she feels like she has to go. Jasmine doesn't bother asking for help when she's done. Like the big girl that she thinks she is, she simply hops off, pulls her pants up (usually forgetting to pull her diaper up with them), flushes and goes about her day.

It's both weird and funny that Jasmine has been reluctant to even try using the potty until Spike came along. But that's just Jasmine, unique and independent.

Big Sister

Jasmine is going to be a big sister as we are expecting another baby. She's so funny, when her mom tells Jasmine "There's a baby in my tummy!" Jasmine looks at her mom, points at herself and says, "I'm baby."

We are excited about this new chapter in her journey. She loves her big brother unconditionally, she always wants to play with him and be by his side, sometimes annoying him by being too attached to him. Recently her brother stayed the night with his uncle and Jasmine kept asking, "Where's Frankie?" so I can't wait to see how she will handle being an older sibling; Will she be annoyed if this child is too attached to her like she is with her brother or will she be happy to have somebody looking up to her, following her everywhere, imitating her and always wanting to play with her?

Jasmine has recently started potty training. She usually tells us after she goes potty in her diaper rather than before, but she is trying and that's all we can ask. I joke that we are cursed with diapers because when we started potty training Jasmine's older brother, we found out we were expecting so we went from buying pull ups to buying newborn diapers. And now that we started potty training Jasmine we find out we our expecting again so we'll be back to buying newborn diapers in no time, talk about irony.