Day 355 - Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Day 355 - Wednesday, December 21, 2011 – Jordyn helped Kevin with the dry run lobster dinner preparation.  Kevin wanted to make sure he knew what he as doing so that Christmas Eve dinner would go off without a hitch.

Day 354 - Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Day 354 - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 – We celebrated Jordyn's birthday at Miyako.  The waiter made this napkin hair bow for Jordyn, and she was a wonderful sport about it.  The food was delicious and watching the food being prepared was super entertaining.  This is what sixteen looks like.

Day 349 - Thursday, December 15, 2011

Day 349 - Thursday, December 15, 2011 – For Jordyn's upcoming sweet sixteen, we sent her a balloon and candy gram on the last day of school before the Christmas break.

Day 344 - Saturday, December 10, 2011

Day 344 - Saturday, December 10, 2011 – The kids and I had a ton of fun decorating these gingerbread people, tonight!  Jordyn was a little gingerbread fashion designer.

Day 342 - Thursday, December 8, 2011

Day 342 - Thursday, December 8, 2011 – Jordyn is super excited to perform in the opening night of her Many Moods of Christmas concert tonight.  Her enthusiasm is invigorating.

Day 337 - Saturday, December 3, 2011

Day 337 - Saturday, December 3, 2011 – Megan and Jordyn had the sweetest of Sweet Sixteen birthday parties tonight in our basement transformed into New York City. It was a get dressed up and be fabulous kind of night, complete with bartender, Mair Greene, slinging Fauxtinis for the 50 or so guests, and our own personal paparazzi, Laura Armbruster.

Day 332 - Monday, November 28, 2011

Day 332 - Monday, November 28, 2011 – Another theater night with my best girl.  Heading to the Detroit Opera House to watch my niece, Bailey, perform with the Michigan Opera Theatre Children's Chorus...A Winter Fantasy.

Day 331 - Sunday, November 27, 2011

Day 331 - Sunday, November 27, 2011 – We came home from Grand Rapids to a freshly painted bedroom (thanks to Mair and Roger Greene!).  Part of Jordyn's Sweet Sixteen present was a more grown-up room.  Out with the pink and green and flowers, in with the Tiffany box blue with black and white accents.  She loves it.

Day 329 - Friday, November 25, 2011

Day 329 - Friday, November 25, 2011 – Jordyn, Ashton, and I visited my Aunt Dee at the nursing home today.  It's hard to watch someone suffer with Alzheimer's, but she seemed to know who we were and Ashton really seemed to be a bright spot in her day.  He amused many of the residents as he ran squealing through the halls.

Day 326 - Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Day 326 - Tuesday, November 22, 2011 – Megan, Shelby, and Alicia came over tonight to transform the basement into a NYC skyline in preparation of Jordyn's and Megan's Sweet Sixteen and the City birthday party next month.

Day 322 - Friday, November 18, 2011

Day 322 - Friday, November 18, 2011 – Break and bake cookies and a can of whipped cream.  Jordyn and Liam are geniuses.

Day 312 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Day 312 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 – Jordyn loves taking American Sign Language for her foreign language credit.  Here, she is signing a song.  No, not singing, signing.  Well, maybe that's still called singing even when you're signing?

Day 304 - Monday, October 31, 2011

Day 304 - Monday, October 31, 2011 – Jordyn and her girlfriends all decided to go trick-or-treating as pop stars for Halloween this year. Here they are on Megan's porch. From left: Megan Kerin as Katy Perry, Taylor Jenkins as Ke$ha, Shelby Gulda as Taylor Swift, Jordyn as Lady Ga Ga, and Alicia Kuligowsi as Nikki Minaj. They all looked great! Such a good group of girls.

Day 293 - Thursday, October 20, 2011

Day 293 - Thursday, October 20, 2011 – Jordyn has certainly put more expression into her choir performances. Taste of Broadway was a phenomenal production by the Oxford High School choirs. The energy was amazing especially when all 200 choir members took the stage to enthusiastically recite their creed: "I am an Oxford High School Singer. I will dedicate myself to advancing my choir to be the best it can be. I will fully engage mentally, physically and artistically in every rehearsal and performance. I choose to demonstrate positive moral character, thinking of others more than myself. To me every day matters in building a better choir. I will do all I can to make each rehearsal and performance better than the last. I am a member of a world class choir. I am an Oxford High School Singer." Replace the periods with exclamation points, and you get the idea of how enthusiastic it was.

Day 290 - Monday, October 17, 2011

Day 290 - Monday, October 17, 2011 – Super excited about the design of Jordyn's and Megan's Sweet Sixteen and the City party invitation!

Day 288 - Saturday, October 15, 2011

Day 288 - Saturday, October 15, 2011 – Jordyn, Mom, and I went to see Bailey perform as part of the Michigan Youth Opera Chorus along with the Michigan Opera Theatre in Carmina Burana and the Medium at the Detroit Opera House. This was my first opera and it was quite a night.

Day 286 - Thursday, October 13, 2011

Day 286 - Thursday, October 13, 2011 – Jordyn and I went to dinner at Bahama Breeze with Megan and her mom, Patty, for a Sweet Sixteen party planning session. The girls enjoyed their daiquiris. Virgin, of course.

Day 282- Sunday, October 9, 2011

Day 282- Sunday, October 9, 2011 – Jordyn and I are rocking our Oxford football tees on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at Liam's OJW football game.

Day 274 - Saturday, October 1, 2011

Day 274 - Saturday, October 1, 2011 – Alicia and Jordyn leading the pack of fierce golfers.  Work it, girls!

Day 270 - Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Day 270 - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 – One of Jordyn's besties, Alicia, spent the night tonight (yes, on a school night because they have late starts on Wednesdays), and without my even asking them, they sat down at the kitchen table to do their homework. Such responsible girls.