Jumping
Posted by Michelle on Dec 2, 2012 in Hayley
Hayley made her first real jump over cross bars in July but I just got around to posting it.
Boston!
Posted by Michelle on Oct 17, 2012 in Hayley
I’ve got tons of photos to post in general including a huge pile from our week in Boston but I thought I’d get one very cool photo up now… Hayley at the NE Aquarium taking a dip with Reggae, a Harbor Seal.
Kestrel Heights School
Posted by Michelle on Oct 7, 2012 in Hayley
With Hayley in 8th grade, we knew we had some choices to make about HS for her coming up soon. We didn’t feel like the super big Apex or Green Hope high schools were a good fit for her so we had already begun looking at other options. While Salem Middle had a lot of things going for it, we never thought it was a great fit for her. Hayley worked very hard for (mostly) honor roll grades and had some wonderful relationships with a few teachers but it took a lot of effort for her to do well there in their more rigid system. Her learning style is different and we felt like a more flexible, smaller environment would work better for her – one that was more open to creative expression and stressed participation (in classes and activities/sports). We had applied to other schools before but ended back at Salem anyway. However two weeks into 8th grade at the year-round Salem, I reached my limit with some issues there and when a space opened up at a school she had been wait-listed at before, we made the decision to switch schools.
All that means that Hayley now attends the Kestrel Heights School, a K-12 school with about 100 kids a grade that is right over the Wake County border in Durham. Their HS was high on our list of schools we liked and by moving now she is guaranteed a slot for there. This was tough on her, she’s been with her friends a very long time. But the chance for a better academic fit for her was too good to pass up. We felt like Kestrel’s philosophies, curriculum pacing and varied teaching styles work better for her.
So far her grades are great, they moved her up a year in math to Algebra and she’s on the cross country team. She’s getting better about wearing uniforms and making friends. She’s even admiting she likes the new school a lot!
Wild Sky and puppy
Posted by Michelle on Oct 3, 2012 in Hayley, pups & other pets
The sky was wild and Hayley went outside to take a few photo with her assistant Annabelle along for the photos.
More Photos – Regular View or Slideshow View
Jeff’s parents on the local NBC news
Posted by Michelle on Sep 13, 2012 in Jeff, More Family
Jeff’s folks run the AARP Health Fair up in Blacksburg and it’s really huge so their local NBC had them on today to talk about the event. They are awfully cute.
Summer and start of school
Posted by Michelle on Aug 14, 2012 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
Since Hayley is in a year-round school, our summer was short and she’s been back at Salem for two weeks now – her last year there! This year Mason from next door has joined her.
First day!
With Mason
It was a good summer though. Hayley was at moviemaking camp again and we await their premiere on the big screen later this month. She’s been doing great at riding, we love this barn and she’s got a new saddle now. I need to bring the good camera out and shoot her jumping, even if watching her jump terrifies me.
We took a fabulous cooking class with our dear friend Sara at the always amazing Southern Season. Their store gets bigger every time I’m there, it’s 60,000 square feet now! The cooking school was state of the art and fantastic. I’m so stoked she is old enough to take the adult stuff with me!
Amazing setup – the flat screens could show you what was inside the mixing bowl
With Sara
We went up to Blacksburg VA for the 4th again to spend it with Jeff’s family. I’ll post more photos from that later but I never have my camera out there, I’ve got to do better. Jeff did the 5k again and shaved a bunch of time off – he’s awesome.
Hayley took a ton of photos at the art museum there – looks like Grandma Sharen posed in one with some interesting stuff!
We stopped at Pilot Mountain on the way back and went up to the top.
Right before she went back to school, we got to see Rachel and her family, I’ll post more photos from that later too.
Onward to eighth grade!
Posted by Michelle on Jun 28, 2012 in Hayley
It was a tough but really good year for Hayley. She made honor roll both the third and fourth quarter (so 2nd semester too), she had her science fair wins and she got a Math award for having the 2nd highest math EOG improvement in her grade/track.
She’s having friends over tomorrow (the final day of school) and we are headed to Frankie’s Fun Park for them to celebrate the end of the year.
We are really proud of her and hope 8th grade is successful too. Time to start researching at high schools for the year after next as the application windows are normally start midway through the 8th grade year. (oh who am I kidding, I’ve been researching them for awhile)
John Ford Coley & Byron Hill
Posted by Michelle on Jun 23, 2012 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle
I am unabashed fan of 70s music and Friday night we headed out to Winston-Salem to see one of my all-time favorites – John Ford Coley. Coley along with England Dan had a ton of hits including Love Is The Answer, I’d Really Love To See You Tonight, Never Have To Say Goodbye Again, Nights Are Forever Without You and Sad To Belong to name a few. Love Is The Answer is my favorite song of all time so I was just thrilled to get to hear him live, even Jeff and Hayley were excited because they’ve listened to his stuff so much they love it too.
It was fantastic. Small intimate venue with John Ford Coley and an amazing country songwriter named Byron Hill alternating songs and stories – they were a great combo. We were 10 feet from the stage, got to talk to them, get autographs and take photos. As fun as hearing songs I loved from Coley, we were totally charmed by Hill who evidently has written something like 600 songs recorded by others, including 30 top-ten country songs. I’m not a country fan so he was new to me but he sang a number of his songs that went to #1 and I was downloading them by the end of the night.
Jeff’s Grandma turns 89
Posted by Michelle on Jun 3, 2012 in Jeff, More Family
How cute is Jeff’s Grandma Faye with her birthday cake?
A few spring Carolina photos
Posted by Michelle on Jun 1, 2012 in Hayley, Michelle
Still have a backlog of photos but I’m catching up!
Hayley with UNC’s John Henson
Hayley on ballgirl duty for Senior Night, UNC-Duke
(she was excited to break in new hightops and get them signed by Henson, Barnes and Danny Green)
Hayley shooting the UNC Spring Football Game
Hayley with new UNC Coach Larry Fedora at the IC Bash after the UNC Spring Game
