Christmas Morning Rocks!

We actually were able to sleep in today... AJ didn't wake up until 6:30 am and Jason came running in our room at about 7:00 am...

Mommy! Daddy! Santa came!!!

He had run all the way downstairs (in the dark by himself, pretty scary for a four year old) to check out the scene before coming into our room. We all headed downstairs and the mayhem commenced. Jason wanted to eat the cookie that Santa left behind and I made him wait to ask again until I had the video camera out. ha ha

Video to be posted soon. Here are the photos!



If you can't see the slideshow, click here.

Xmas Cookies!

Jason was excited to have McKenzie and her mommy and sister to our house today to make Xmas cookies. I think the kids ate more of the decorating candy than they put on the cookies!

From Xmas Cookies with McK

Here is the photographic evidence. Thanks for taking the photos Andrea!

December has been a busy month

The boys have been busy this month, and by the boys I mean all of them!

Jason built a farmhouse of graham cracker and icing and cereal in school:

From December 2008

AJ has started eating solid food. Here is his first foray into rice cereal:

From December 2008

Alex has a new car!:

From December 2008

Things are exciting!

Here is a slide show of all the photos.


If you cannot view the slideshow, click here

Jason's 4th Birthday

Jason's 4th Birthday was great, not only did he get to fly with his Uncle Craig, he was able to spend the day with his Nana and Papa, who took him to the arcade where he amazed one and all with his wild skee ball pitch. Then Nana hosted a wonderful birthday dinner with Nana made yummy Lasagna!!

Everyone from the Gomulka side of the family was there to celebrate and I even gave in to Jason's request for a Chocolate cake with Chocolate icing! A big Thank You to everyone for making it such a great Birthday for Jason.

Jason's Birthday PA

High Flying Birthday!

Jason got the coolest opportunity on his 4th birthday, a chance to go flying with his Uncle Craig. I, of course, took the opportunity to tag along!

From Jason's Birthday Flight

Craig picked us up at Rock Airport north of Pittsburgh. We flew south, along the Allegheny River towards Pittsburgh. As we got close to the city we were able to listen in to air traffic control at Pittsburgh International Airport. We cruised over the the city, to the point, turned around and headed back north. Along the way Craig let Jason "fly" the plane. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. Full slideshow of the pictures available here.

Thanks Craig! Jason loved it!

Jason's Birthday Flight

It's getting cold in GA

We went for a windy hike up Stone Mountain yesterday! It's always nice to be in cold weather, but I think we went a little overboard bundling up AJ. Those are his feet sticking out from under Alex's jacket!

From Cold Weather Stn Mtn

Another big event yesterday was Jason's first movie theater experience. They are showing a scaled down, 4D version of "the Polar Express" at Stone Mountain.

From Cold Weather Stn Mtn

Jason was so cute, he was enthralled for the entire movie. There are some tense moments in the movie and afterward we asked Jason if he was scared, he said, "no, I was brave!". When I asked him which part was his favorite he said, "all of the parts!" The 4D just means that it is a 3D movie and then they add special theater effects, such as cold water spraying out at you when the train scrapes across the ice, or snow falling from the ceiling during the snow fall scenes. Pretty cool, I just hope Jason isn't disappointed with the next movie he sees.

As the weather gets colder, Jason is getting excited for his birthday and going up to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving!

AJ had a big day yesterday too, technically he sat through his first movie, or slept as the case may be, and he had his first storytime with Daddy!

From AJ 13 weeks

Halloween 2008

Jason did a great job fighting fires! He had a lot of fun this year and did a great job with his "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you". He was very excited about Halloween this year, he's been counting down the days since probably about 2 weeks ago. It could be the candy :-D AJ was a trooper and chilled out in the baby bjorn! Thanks to Beth and Wes for hosting the Halloween Pre-Party, that was a huge lifesaver this year! Thanks to Deborah and Ray for the adorable "pumpkin" outfit for AJ, he loves the rattles in the pumpkin shoes! I think Jason was a little jealous of the pumpkin shoes. AJ was crying fairly hard in his car seat while we were heading out the door. Jason said "it's okay AJ, it's me, I'm just dressed as a fireman, there is no reason to be scared!" and then "I really like those pumpkin shoes, they are pretty cool." It was so cute, because his tone of voice was the same as the one adopted by the fire fighters that did the "fire safety" presentation at his school. Very soothing and yet authoritative.

Here are the pics!

AJ and Jason ready for action!

Jason and Peyton are ready to hit the neighborhood!

The whole crew: Matt - Skeleton, Peyton - PowerRanger, Reece - Monkey, Jason - Fireman

From Halloween 2008

A semblance of order

Well we are starting to regain some semblance of order in the house again! AJ is starting get on a fairly predictable schedule which makes organizing everything else a little easier. Jason is still loving school and is extremely excited for Halloween this year. He wakes up everyday and asks if today is Halloween. He is going to be a fireman, I'll be sure to post photos as soon as possible. We are all loving the fall weather and Jason continues to practice his bike riding.

Here is the latest photo of AJ:

From AJ 9 weeks

AJ Smiles

Jason's Bike Now has Peddles

We put the peddles on Jason's bike and he's flying along! Here is a little video of him in action!

AJ is 10 weeks old!

AJ is doing really well, he handled his two month check up with as much grace as can be expected! The shots, all three of them (gulp!), went over without too much fuss! He is now a whopping 10 lbs 14 oz and 22 inches "tall". He is about 4 lbs less than Jason was at the same age, as evidenced by the photos below. He is sleeping as well as one can expect a 2.5 month old to sleep. He's been an excellent hiking companion and loves being in the baby bjorn (thank goodness!). He is also very happy, he smiles all the time and I swear he laughs at us. He gets a crooked smile, which just cracks me up!

AJ 10 weeks

Jason 10 weeks

From AJ 9 weeks

AJ says "well, at least I have hair big brother."

Jason likes being a big brother

More recent photos of everyone available here.

AJ's first Playdate

AJ was lucky enough to spend sometime with sweetie pie Camryn on Wednesday! It's always fun hanging out at the Mages house! When we left, Jason said "I'm sad, we didn't spend very much time there today." -- we were there for probably 2.5 hours. It's not enough for Jason, he wants to spend the night. Not sure how McKenzie's Mom and Dad will feel about that!

AJ's first "playdate"

From AJ 9 weeks

AJ Bath

Because the little baby bath photos are always fun, here are a couple of AJ!

From AJ Bath Photos

To view all photos: AJ Bath Photos

Jason's Kitchen

We spent a little quality time in the kitchen today making Lasagna! Always a good time, Jason was a big help!

From Cooking with Jason

To view all of the pictures click: Cooking with Jason

AJ rolls over!

AJ rolled over for the first time today. He's a little anxious to be on the move...

The start of the attempt to roll over

Woah! I'm falling here!

That was fun!

From AJ Week 5

AJ's first Triathlon

From AJ Week 5

AJ went to his first triathlon over the weekend. Alex had to work at the Tri for Tourettes, a kids triathlon held at the Concourse Athletic Club. It was a ton of fun cheering for the kids and pretty inspirational!

Jason is a tri veteran at this point. We walked up to the race, I put the chair up and he climbed right in. His new cheer is "Way to go!".

From AJ Week 5

Stone Mountain

We went to Stone Mountain over the weekend and Jason loved it! We rode the Swiss Tram to the top of the mountain, took the train around the mountain and threw "fruit" in the Great Barn. AJ luckily slept and ate through the entire day :-D

From Stone Mountain

Smooth Operator

Now this isn't supposed to happen anymore, since I have my new small camera, but alas I have no pictures of my smooth operator in action. I will attempt to paint a picture with words.

Jason and I were at the playground in the neighborhood today, he was playing on the playset, trying to talk me into letting him do the monkey bars himself, when a little girl from down the street drove by in her "jeep" (one of those little battery powered cars, for kids). He said to me, "mommy, do you think she would give me a ride in her jeep?"
Me: You will have to ask her.
(Jason walks over to the little girl who is now swinging on the swings)
Jason (to little girl): Hi! Will you give me a ride in your jeep?
Little Girl: Ok
(little girl attempts to slow herself down to jump off swing. Jason gets impatient)
Jason: Now?
Little Girl: Ok
Jason and little girl walk over to jeep, he gets in the driver's seat and they drive away.

Not kidding you, he talked the girl out of her cool wheels by saying "hi!". Of course, I was talking to her mom while this transpired and checked if she was okay with it, but I don't think it would have mattered to the kids.

A little bit later, the girl walks back to her house and drives back on a battery powered Harley Davidson. She then shows Jason how to ride the bike, and hops back in to her Jeep and they follow each other around for about 10 min.

Aww, if only all relationships were so easy!

Jason Sings Seven Days

I've written before about Jason's love of singing in the car. Here is a little gem that I was able to record because Alex was driving. Jason is singing the song "Seven Days" from the Sting album "Ten Summoners Tales". Enjoy!

Baby Brother Is Here!!

Jason's baby brother, A.J. was born on August 10th at 3:32 pm. The entire story can be found at mom's tri-blog.

Cowboy Jason

A few weeks ago, they had some photographers come to the school for photos. I think Jason was incredibly uncomfortable with the scenario (note sarcasm):

Cowboy Jason


and the horse you rode in on!

Last Day of School!

Thursday was Jason's last day at the Goddard School. We will miss it there! Jason has grown up quite a bit since the first day so many YEARS ago. I can't believe we were there for years! He seems to be handling the switch fairly well. Yesterday we visited his new school (High Meadows) to drop off his final enrollment forms, he said he was excited to attend. It is a school on a farm, so really, what is not to like?!?

The real trick at this point is going to be his first week back at school... just one week before his little brother's due date... will I be in the hospital for our little guys first day??!?!? I know it will all work out, it's just going to be a possibly hectic late August for the Poon's! :-D

Summer Haircut

As some may have noticed is the latest pics of Jason, the hair was getting unruly again! Yesterday was the big hair cut day and here are the results:

Now that is a haircut that will make Papa proud!
As you can see from the pre-hairproduct shot below, a little product goes a long way for our little man:


Full Sideshow Here

Braves day at school - Anti-Braves day at home!

As part of the summer program, Jason's school is having fun Theme Days. Last Friday was "wear your Braves shirt to school" Now, we've been in this fair city for going on 8 years now, but I will never, NEVER be a Braves fan. I can trace this hatred back all the way to the initial days of the "tomahawk chop", arguably the worst fan invention. So when the day came, we sent Jason to school in his SOX shirt!!! Thanks for the shirt Uncle Tom, and thanks to Alex for being from New England, so it is socially acceptable to adopt the Red Sox as my baseball team. (And Mom, don't be sad it isn't a Pirates shirt, we sport the black and gold for every other sport!)

Jason Swims!

Alas, no pictures, but today was a big day in swim class! Jason put his head in the water, kicked and pulled with his arms! He was so proud of himself, he grabbed onto the side of the pool with a big smile on his face, and embarrassingly, I started clapping. The mom next to me started laughing at me, but I couldn't help it! I was just so excited! I kept thinking about 4 months ago when he would cry all the way to class, and then during class, after class... yuck! This is way more fun! He crawled out of the pool after he did this and came over to give me a hug and then went back to his class. Too cute! I'll try to get pictures up soon everyone!

Olivia's Birthday Party

Jason wanted to make Olivia a birthday cake, so we fired up the griddle and made her a puppy pancake. Jason decorated the pancake with beef treat... he went for the smiley face design!



One gulp Olivia ate it in, no joke, one gulp!


Happy Birthday Olivia

Full slideshow of photos here!

White Water - Water Park

Today was Jason's first trip to the water park! He loved it and has been wanting to return since we left! They had a great toddler sized area where Jason could go down slides all by himself. He had a huge grin the entire time we were there!

He was pretty tuckered out, he fell asleep on the way home in his bathing suit:



and then actually went upstairs and took a nap!

Petting Zoo At School!

Jason was very excited yesterday when I picked him up at school, he couldn't wait to tell me about the animals that came to school that day on a little trailer!

The Little Red Barn Mobile Petting Zoo came to the school and the kids took turns petting and brushing the animals! Here are some photos of Jason:

Jason's Lastest iMix

Jason and I have been a little bummed these last few weeks... my SIRIUS radio isn't working :-( There is something wrong with the tape player in my car, which is what connects the SIRIUS in the car stereo... I just need to find the FM thingy... but that is proving difficult!

So long story short, in search of new music for Jason, I went to the depths of my iTunes library to pull out some things from the college years. We also have some new music from before the SIRIUS went kaflowey...

What Jason is listening to these days:
"Ain't No Sunshine" - David Sanborne with Sting (when he first heard this one, he said, "mommy, this is Sting, the 'Roxanne' guy" - Jason likes the sax solo)
"Something Good This Way Comes" - Jakob Dylan
"The Galway Girl" - originally written by Steve Earle, but we listen to a more Irish version
"Fast Car" - Tracy Chapman (Jason likes the "be someone, be someone, be someone" part)
"Ready My Mind" - theKillers
"Grace is Gone" - Dave Matthews Band

That's all for now! In other news, Jason floated on his back in swim class this week! Here is hoping for a safe summer of swimming!

Memorial Day Weekend

We all headed down to Brays Island, S.C. for the long weekend. Jason found plenty to do! We were able to pick fresh strawberries, and veggies from the co-op garden on the island, try our hands at some fishing and crabbing and we got some good swim time in!

Photos from the trip here

Trader Joes Tornado Time

We had another big storm hit down here yesterday. I was on my way home from picking Jason up at school. We made a last minute decision to stop at Trader Joes to pick up some things. The decision saved us from from some scary moments. While shopping in Trader's the lights went off, came back on, and then the staff ushered everyone in the store back into the "tornado shelter" which is actually the cooler! Apparently, a tornado had touched down about a mile from the store... right on the road on which Jason and I would have been driving home! It was chilly in the cooler/giant refrigerator so they handed out Trader Joe's sweatshirts to all the children. Everyone was very cool, no one complained... it is always amazing how people tend to band together in these types of situations! Eventually, the storm passed and we all went our separate ways. It was still raining rather heavily when we were checking out, so they let Jason keep his sweatshirt on for the run out to the car!

We will be brining the sweatshirt back today with a big Thank You to all the folks at Trader Joe's for keeping us safe and warm last night!

Here is a photo of Jason in his TJ shirt!

Happy Mother's Day

We were down in Panama City Beach for Gulf Coast Triathlon on Mother's Day. After a day of cheering for the racers, my boys were beat!



Gulf Coast is a great race, but it takes the zing out of mother's day :-D Last year I was still too tired from the race to enjoy the day. This year things were just too busy. I'm thinking of making a mother's day (observed) for the Poon household - one week after actual mother's day! ha! ha!

A big Happy Mother's Day to My Mom and all of those other supermoms out there that I have the distinct pleasure of calling friends!

Hi Nana!

Jason says "hi Nana" from the back seat of the all3sports truck, heading down to FL for Gulf Coast. He was upset that I hung up with his Nana before he had a chance to say hello!

Tour de Georgia '08

We did the first stage of the Tour de Georgia today! Jason and I were in S.C. visiting my parents, close to Savannah so we made the trip down to see the action. We arrived a little early, before the expo was in full swing, but it was still nice to see a bunch of people out to support the race! Jason had a little dance with Hope (of Hope and Will, the mascots of CHOA).



We are always happy to support CHOA in anyway we can. They have consistently taken great care of Jason in his times of need (Broken Arm, Thyro-glossal Duct Cyst surgery). It is very comforting to have them so close!

Jason's iMix!

Well, we haven't set up a true iMix for him as of yet, but as many of you know, Jason is very opinionated when it comes to the music he listens too. To be honest I probably set us up for this as I've always asked him what he wants to listen to in the car. Through the years he's liked a ton of really fun songs, so I thought it would be fun to start a chronicle of "Jason's top song".

His current favorite song is "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend. I've linked it to the video posted on YouTube. Hey, Craig, can you do me a favor and tell me what kind of guitar that is? On a personal note, I really like these guys, my favorite of their's is "Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa". This link goes to a live version, so you can't hear the music all that well, but it has a good energy.

Some recent other favorites are:

"Won't Go Home Without You" - Maroon 5 - From the album "It won't be soon before too long"
"Such Great Heights" - The Postal Service (interesting side note, as a baby/1 year old, he loved the slower, and I think original, version by Iron and Wine from the Garden State soundtrack, but now he likes this faster version).
"Shadowplay" - the Killers - this is a remake of a Joy Division song; Jason likes the begining

I'll save some of the others for the next post! Take a listen, you might like 'em too!

No More Cast!

Jason had his cast removed today!! He is very excited to be able to use his right arm again!

Here is a photo from outside the doctor's office!!! Thanks again to Children's Orthopedics of Atlanta, for taking such good care of us!!

We got the big envelope!

We just found out today that Jason was accepted to High Meadows! Starting in September, he will be in school Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are very excited about the program, especially their music program and the weekly pony rides! Jason is excited because they have a red caboose and roosters on the school campus!

San Diego Wild Animal Park

We took a day at the Wild Animal park! It was amazing, much better than any other Zoo or Animal Park I've been too! It was spring time, so the weather was mild and all the animals were out in their glory, plus many of the animals had new babies!



Photos here!

It's a Wedding!!

We've been in California for the past week! It was uncle Tom and Aunt Cathy's wedding! Jason was the ring bearer and I was the mommy who was very nervous about how the trip down the aisle would go!!

The wedding went off without a hitch! Jason did his freak out at the rehearsal, and was a perfect gentleman for the wedding, I wouldn't have had it any other way!

We had a great week spending time with family and friends, here are the photos!

The Happy Couple


Uncle Tom and Jason


the Bride and Groom and their Parents


at the reception and Jason is still smiling! Whew! BTW - that's future baby poon at 19 weeks along

Tom and Cathy had to work the week after their wedding, so they were nice enough to spend time with us after the wedding! They took us to Travel Town the day after the wedding, Jason was in heaven! Travel Town is full of old trains!


Travel Town!!!

and what is a trip to the west coast, without a little beach time! Jason is wearing a rubber glove to keep the sand out of his cast!


We even had time to get a picture of our Cars Movie fan under a Rt. 66 sign!! Go lightening McQueen!



Link to all the pictures!