Saturday, January 28, 2012

Avon Breast Cancer Walk

IN IT TO END IT
Dear Friends and Family,

Did you know that every three minutes, another woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer? Every three minutes. Because I cannot ignore this shocking statistic, I’ve made a commitment to work toward changing it, and I need your help.

I'll spend the weekend walking, along with thousands of other people, in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I will walk at least the distance of a marathon (26.2 miles), and I may choose to walk as far as a marathon and a half. I will also raise at least $1,800 in donations to the cause. I'll have to spend the next few months training, fundraising, and preparing for the event. It's the biggest challenge I've ever taken on, but I'm very excited about doing it because I know it will make a real difference to the millions of people affected by breast cancer.

The money raised is managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity with a mission to fund access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. The Avon Foundation funds both local and national organizations in five key areas: medical research; education and early detection programs; clinical care; and support services, all with a focus on the medically underserved.

Please help to support my efforts and this critically important cause by making a generous contribution. You can make your donation online by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message, which will bring you right to my personal page. Please remember as you're making your donation that in less than the time it took to read this e-mail, another woman in the U.S. was diagnosed with breast cancer.

You can also help me by passing this message along to others who may be interested in being a part of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Jamie Coombs

P.S. you can find out more about the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer by visiting www.avonwalk.org

Please email me at potatoatha@gmail.com if you are interested in donating:). Thanks again.

Friday, January 6, 2012

The Red Headed Wonder turns 2

Brady turned 2 in December and boy, it has been an Adventure to say the least. I had this great idea to have Brady sit at the dinner table instead of his high chair thinking that if he eats with us, he will eat better. Well, turns out its just more of a mess than before. Good thing we have a dog that likes to eat what Brady drops, right? So back in the high chair he goes, for now.

Brady is now completely and utterly obsessed with Toy Story!! All 3, in fact. He will literally sit through the whole thing. It's good and bad. He has picked up a lot of words from watching and it's really cute to watch him act out what's going on in the movie. I also can get quite a bit done while he is watching, like writing this blog entry for example:). Now for the downside, He literally wants to watch it 24/7!!! So, I have limited it to about twice a day. Once in the morning and once before bed. The words "No Buzz" create a tantrum of earthquake proportion!! Not something anyone should ever experience unless you have earplugs.

All in all Brady has been a joy. He cracks me up! My mom and I took him to the park yesterday and he now goes down the "big boy" slide all by himself. He is extremely social and when we went to Yogurtland later in the day, he proceeded to have a dance party with a little girl who's mom I know from work. It was adorable and I have a feeling he will be a ham when he starts going to school.

I have started looking at preschools in our area and my God are they expensive!! First off, Montessori schools in this area are ridiculous!! $1500 a month along with $1200 worth of fees!! Who can afford this type of schooling? We certainly can not!! So, I am also looking into a Catholic school here called Holy Cross and believe it or not, it costs the same as our daycare for two days a week. It gets more expensive as each year goes by only because you go from 2 days a week to 5 and we have 2 children now so that's something to think about.

Holy Cross takes kids at 2 years 9 months and I'm pretty sure they have to be potty trained so I'm going to work on that but I'm really not sure how to start. Any suggestions would be great:).

Anyways, a lot going on with my little guy. He still has a binky and I'm so not ready to take it away but he will definitely have to give it up by September if we get him into preschool.

Looking forward to seeing what Brady does next!! Stay tuned!


Monday, January 2, 2012

My goals for 2012

Well, it's a new year and a new blog! Let me just start off saying that 2011 flew by like crazy!! Samantha is already 7 months old and Brady turned two on December 9th. I honestly think that this year will be very exciting for us and my goals for this year are many but aren't unrealistic. So here are my goals for this year. I want to write them all down to look back and see what I have accomplished when 2013 rolls around. I think it will be interesting to see how well or not so well I've done. 


Goal #1- Lose 8 more lbs. I know it doesn't sound like a whole lot but it would bring me to pre-Brady weight. I took a Zumba class today, so a good start but very far to go.


Goal #2- Cut back on my swearing:). Brady repeats everything nowadays so I really have to watch myself as far as the language goes. So far, I'm doing pretty well.


Goal #3- Save more money!!!! This is tough. I've never been a good saver, and so I am really trying to pay myself first, then pay everything else. So far so good on this as well because I started last month. 


Goal #4- Visit my friend Jill in Hawaii. I know this isn't so much of a goal but I really need to make the trip. Jill has been my constant friend since high school and I miss her soooo much! Unfortunately this trip will be sans Danny because someone has to watch the kiddos, but I plan on taking a fun and relaxing trip by myself to go and spend some time with her and Danny and I have plenty of time to take trips together in the future. 


It may not sound like much but I don't make resolutions because I find I can't keep them and I'm trying to set small but reachable goals so not to overwhelm myself. 


Phew!! Well, wish me luck in 2012. Between 2 small kiddos and a full schedule of work between Danny and I, 2012 will prove to be a busy year but I look forward to the fun and excitement it's sure to bring. Happy New Year Everyone!!