Michelle Excels During 1st Semester At UNC -Greensboro

Michelle has made great strides in her college career these past few months. She made the big transition to transfer from a community college to a 4-yr university - The University of North Carolina Greensboro.

This is a school that was originally chartered in 1891 and currently has over 17,000 students enrolled. It has a beautiful campus that is situated in downtown Greensboro. It also has an excellent School of Education which led to Michelle's decision to come here to complete her degree.

After completing her first semester at UNCG she made both the schools Dean's List and Chancellor's List.

She has continued that academic success during the summer as she has successfully completed 1 summer session and is in the midst of her second summer session.

Why all the work? It is because at the end of the summer she will be a Junior and able to gain entry into the school's College of Education and pursue her major in Elementary Education.

She is doing a great job at adjusting to college life and she is certainly putting in the effort to do well. The results definitely bear that out.

Although she got her first taste of student teaching in the Spring (more like student observing), she will start the student teaching as part of her classwork in earnest during the Fall. She will also start to get into more classes in her major which should be interesting.

We are very proud of Michelle and what she is accomplishing.

Madison Completes 7th Year of Dancing With Year End Recital

It's hard to believe that it was 7 years ago that Madison started taking Dance at the On Stage School Of Dance. The years have flown by and she has gotten progressively better with each successive year.

The year end recital was again held at the historic Carolina Theater in downtown Greensboro, NC. Madison and her class performed three numbers at the recital, representing the three different dance styles that they studied: Jazz, Tap, & Ballet.

The first number was performed to the song: I Believe:



The 2nd number was performed to the song When You Believe:



The final number was performed to the Jonas Brother song Year 3000:



We were very proud of the performances and how much she continues to improve.

Soon it will be time for year 8 to begin.

A Big Day For James - Being Confirmed At Covenant Church United Methodist

During a busy May, one day may have stood out from all of the rest: the day that James became Confirmed at Covenant Church United Methodist in High Point.




















He had a year long series of classes and events leading up to this important day, where he got to make the choice for himself whether or not to join the church.




















The day was made extra special by the fact that so many family members made the commitment to travel to NC to be there for James on his special day. He had more people coming to be there for him than anyone else that day, and it was extra special due to the distances travelled.




















Thanks to all who were able to come and be a part of this day that James will remember for a long time.

Southwest Middle School Spring Band Concert

The 6th Graders at Southwest Middle School performed an amazing feat this year. They came into the year with no experience playing musical instruments and came out of the year with an impressive sounding, cohesive band.

I'm sure a lot of the credit goes to the Band director Stephanie Linville, but I also give a lot of credit to the students who obviously put in a lot of practice time in order to do so well.

The Spring Band Concert for the 6th grade band consists of three performances. Fortunately we have captured video clips of all three. Pay special attention to the handsome Tenor Saxophone player, also known as James.

The Performances

The First Piece is entitled Etowah by Brian Balmages




The second piece is entitled At Daybreak by Robert W. Smith.




The final piece is called Renaissance Festival by James Curnow.




After this amazing Spring performance I am sure everyone is looking forward to seeing how much progress they will continue to make in 7th grade.

Catch Up Weekend

Welcome to Life in JT's World "Catch Up Weekend!"

This weekend is the time that events over the past 3-4 months that have waited patiently shall finally get their due. You will get updated on Band Concerts, Dance Recitals, Camping Tales, Baseball exploits, College Life after 40, and life as a budding media mogul.

Stay tuned as updates will come out all throughout the weekend, as I am determined to get all caught up.

Wish me luck.

Starting Pitcher vs. the Giants

On Sunday May 3rd, my baseball team played against the Giants in our MSBL league. They were undefeated at the time and averaging 18 runs a game.

When I arrived at the field for the game and started getting loose they asked me if I wanted to start the game. As in be the starting pitcher for the game. That was awesome. Of course I said yes. After not getting to pitch at all last year I had worked my way to be one of the top 2 pitchers on my team this year.

The game went well. I ended up pitching 6 complete innings and gave up 5 runs, but I think only about 2 or 3 were earned. I also had a very good day hitting. I went 2 for 3 with 2 rbi's. This raised my batting average after 4 games to an impressive 0.545.

Cetainly playing well helps make the game a lot more fun. Although we lost, I am having fun playing this year. Michelle laughs at my kid-like desire to try to get the team together to practice on our off days.

This is real competitive baseball. I've got to enjoy it while I am able.

Here are some pictures taken by Julie Lane who is a professional photographer and the wife of one of my teammates.

Running the Go Far 5K

Last Saturday Madison and I ran a 5k race. For Madison this was her second 5k race that she had competed in. The race was conducted in conjunction with the High Point Marathon in downtown High Point.

Madison's school participates in a program called Go Far. During this program 4th and 5th grade student spend 10 weeks practicing to prepare themselves for the 5K race. This is a great program that stresses "doing your best" and "completing the race" more than worrying about who has the fastest time.

This was a busy weekend as Madison was already spending the weekend camping with the Girl Scouts. I had to pick her up at 7:45 am at the camp to take her to the race. Afterward I brought her back to camp to join the rest of her troop, ready to tackle the climbing wall.

The race, as always, was a struggle to make it to the end. After some words of encouragement, Madison persevered and successfully completed the race. She finished nearly two minutes better than her time from last year with a time of 35:57.

Overall she finished 256 out of 526 runners. Not bad for a 10 year old.

Here we are posing with our medals after completing the race.

She is ready to start training for next year to make her time even better. I guess I am going to have a new hobby.

The Busy Week That Was for Life in J.T.'s World

This past week certainly was a busy one for Life in JT’s World. There were two baseball games with a Spelunking adventure thrown in between for fun. Combine that with the semi-annual High Point Furniture Market and you have quite a week.

Let’s recap all of the excitement:

Thursday: Night Baseball Game Against the Reds
The Reds are the best team in the 14 team Triad MSBL baseball league. They had the best record in the league last year and they recruited more players for this year’s version. We played in the wonderful Stoner White Stadium, but that did not change the outcome. I went 0 – 3 at the plate, hitting into 3 ground outs. The highlight was that I pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief and struck out 2 batters.

Friday – Sunday: Boy Scout Campout to Lost World Caverns in WV.
We got on the Troop bus around 6:00 pm and arrived at the campsite in WV sometime after 11:00 pm. We set up camp and were in bed just before 1:00 AM. Around 28 of us in all were camping on this trip

At 7:00 AM we got up and prepared breakfast. J.T. was his patrol’s cook for the weekend, meaning that he had to cook for 7 boys counting himself. He made very good Ham and Cheese Omelets for that breakfast.

Around 9:30 am we got back on the bus for the 20 minute ride to the Lost World caverns. ( http://www.lostworldcaverns.com/ ). After we arrived, we got our initial briefing and put on our Spelunking equipment: gloves, kneepads, and hardhat with headlamps. They took a “before” picture of the group in case we didn’t all make it back from the adventure.

We headed into the caverns around 11:00 am for our 4 plus hour, underground adventure. The first part of the tour we followed the normal tour path, viewing the Stalactites and Stalagmites and other interesting formations. Then our guides told us to cross over the railing and follow them. This is where it got interesting. For the next 4 hours and 3 ½ miles we walked, climbed, crawled, slid, and shimmied our way through the caverns. It was an amazing experience. There was one section that lasted about 100 yards where the ceiling was probably no more than 2 – 2 ½ ft high. I had to lay out flat and pull myself along with my arms. James did great and usually was the first person in line behind the lead guide during our trek.

There were areas with names like “The Sewer”, “The Drain”, & “The Birth Canal”. This was not for the faint of heart by any means.

I decided to pass on “The Birth Canal”, so I was rewarded with another football field length arm pull on the alternate route.

Everyone made it out successfully and had a good time. It was quite a work out. You could not believe how muddy the kids were at the end of it all. I just threw my clothes away, since washing them would have been a lost cause anyway.

The Guides (3 in all) took pictures of us during the tour and will send them to us on a CD in a couple of weeks. I will post some then.

The rest of the campout was rather uneventful after that. James cooked another great meal for his patrol and we packed up on Sunday Morning and returned back home.

Sunday Night: Baseball Game.
After resting for a couple hours, it was time to play a night baseball game. This game was against the Orioles. Although we played them closely, we lost again. This time I was 2 – 3 hitting, with 2 rbi’s. This brought my batting average back up to 0.500 for the season. I also pitched in relief again. I pitched 3 innings this time. The first 2 were scoreless, but after some errors they score a few runs in the last inning I pitched.

All in all it was a very good week. Now all I have to do is great ready for this coming weekend’s 5K run with Madison.

Baseball Season Is Underway!

It's April and that means the conclusion of March Madness (now I'm torn between my Big 10 Roots and my new Tarheel home), and of course baseball. Baseball has always been my favorite sport. To me it really is America's National Past Time. The smell of the freshly cut grass and the feel of Spring in the air means baseball.

As many of you may know I joined the local adult baseball league here in the Greensboro area last year. This year at age 42 I am doing it again!

Even as major league baseball starts again today, so did my season. Since my season started a few hours before the Major League season, I get to talk about me first.

Today my team, the Pirates, of the Triad MSBL league played against the Padres. Although we did not come out victorious today, it was nice to be playing baseball again.

I batted twice and went 2 for 2 with both hits being line drive singles to the outfield. A great way to start off the year.

I started at First Base, pitched an inning of relief, and even played an inning in right field. Not a bad day.

This was the first time that I have pitched in a "real" league game since playing in the Warren, OH AA League in 1986 (Some current Major Leaguers weren't even born yet). I wished I could have done better, but it was fun to be on the mound again. I struck out one batter, did not walk anybody and gave up a couple of unearned runs.

Hopefully I will get to pitch some more this year. Last year, I didn't pitch because I hurt my shoulder early in the season and it took most of the season just to throw a ball without pain (It's tough getting old!).

Now that I am leading the league in hitting after the first weekend with a 1.000 batting average I will be a little cocky. It can only go downhill from here.

No matter how the season turns out, I will report how each game goes and update you on my stats as I blog my way through the year. It will be interesting as we had a large turnover from last year and only 4 players returning from last year's team.

We have 18 days until our next scheduled game, due to the Easter holiday, so I will bask in my glory and turn my attention to the Cleveland Indians and hope they get the year off to a good start.

New Wood Floor for Family Room

Michelle Makes the Dean's List

Great News to Announce: During her First Semester of full time college, Michelle has made the Dean's list!





























She took 17 credit hours this past semester and worked very hard so we are all very proud of her.

She even got her name in the Greensboro News and Record today to recognize her accomplishment!

She has now completed her transfer to UNC - Greensboro and is taking another full set of classes this Spring in pursuit of her Elementary Education Degree. Some of the fun courses that she is taking this semester include: Introduction to Earth Science, Introduction to Philosophy, Infant and Child Development, Teaching as a Profession, & Survey of Western Art

Now that Michelle is a full time student, she is on a path to graduate in Spring 2011.


Congratulations Michelle on Making the Dean's List!

Swim Meet at the YMCA

This past Saturday the kids swam in a swim meet at our YMCA. This is the "home" pool for the kid's winter swim team aka "The Dolphins".

They both swam well and had a good time. I am including video clips of both kids during their Freestyle races. Madison swam the 50 meters for her age group and James swam the 100 meters for his age group.

This was just a dual meet against a team from another YMCA, so we only spent around 2 1/2 hours at the pool instead of the sometimes 4 + hours for the larger meets. That certainly made it more enjoyable.

We have definitely seen both of the kids improve in their swimming over the past year.

Madison


James

Braving The North Carolina Winter

Here we are 3 weeks into January already. I can’t believe how fast the New Year is flying by.



























We are settling in to another typical North Carolina winter. A little over a week ago J.T. mowed the lawn during a nice 50+ degree weekend. We had been putting it off, but although the grass slows down here in the winter, it does not completely stop growing and it is necessary to mow it every few weeks.





















Earlier this week we saw some severe weather that got the whole area nervous. We got a ¼” – ½” of snow. The schools were cancelled for the day, so no one had to be out and driving during that treacherous weather. Although I joke, we do tend to get ice with our snow since the weather is rarely below freezing for very long. This particular time didn’t have much ice, but they cancel schools to play it safe.



























The kids tried to make the most of their snow time by sledding down the driveway on any little patch of the white stuff that they could find. By the time I came home from work it was all gone except for the snowball that J.T. had stashed in the freezer.





















It has been tough adjusting to the brutal winters in NC, but don’t worry we are doing our best to deal with it.

Our cold spell appears to be ending as the thermometer is back above 60 again today.

Stay Warm!

Enjoying Afternoon Tea in Style

Today's Blog is brought to you by Michelle. She saw how much fun I was having and wanted to try writing an article about her recent outing with Madison and her mother.

Take it away Michelle...



























Madison has become quite the lover of tea houses lately, so I was so excited for us to try the Afternoon Tea at the O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro, NC.

The hotel is named after the short story author, O Henry, who was born William Sydney Porter in 1862 in Greensboro, NC. The tea is served daily in the Social Lobby of the hotel which is a beautiful area very similar to the impressive library at the Biltmore Estate.

I had set up a Girl’s Day Out for Madison, my Mom, and myself while James and Grandpap took in the latest movie and lunch. We arrived dressed in our holiday best and were escorted into the inviting lobby with tables of various sizes set up. We were pleased when we were shown to our intimate table for three which had a beautiful rose centerpiece in the middle.

We were given menus and we all decided to try the O. Henry Tea which sounded wonderful. Madison chose the Holiday Peppermint tea, Mom picked Raspberry Delight, and I tried the Christmas Tea. The tea was brought in three beautiful tea pots with matching tea cups, along with sugar cubes (a must!) and cream. Madison was beaming from ear to ear.

The waiter then took our order and we enjoyed our tea while we took in the beautiful surroundings and the wonderful holiday music. After a cup or so of tea, our food arrived. It was presented in such a beautiful way as it was brought out on a tiered tray. Our tea was comprised of freshly baked scones with clotted cream and preserve, chicken salad on a toasted round which Madison absolutely loved, roasted red pepper and white cheddar on whole wheat, sliced cucumber over cream cheese dill mousse on white, spicy cheese wafers, and an assortment of chocolates, cookies, and fruit.

The food and atmosphere was wonderful. We enjoyed this quiet, relaxing afternoon in the midst of the busy holiday season.

Madison declared that she should have been born in England because she could do this every day. Maybe not every day, but we have already decided that this will become a new holiday tradition for the girls.

Happy 3rd Birthday Teddy!

It was almost three years ago that I relented. I finally caved in and agreed to buy into the concept of getting a dog. Michelle researched dogs on the internet and the kids promised all the things that they would do to take care of the dog.

I asked them,

“I am not going to have to feed him, right?” “Right Dad!”
“I am not going to have to take him outside to go potty, right?” “Right Dad!”
“I am not going to have to take him for walks, right?” “Right, Dad!”
“I am not going to have to pick up dog poop, right?” “Right Dad!”

Despite their promises I was still leary. I was comfortable with the fact that I only had two children. I wasn’t mentally prepared to handle a third.

Nonetheless, Michelle found the dog of her dreams and had her heart set on getting it. The kids were on her side and I was out numbered. As I said before I relented.

Along Came Teddy

In March of 2006, we picked Teddy up at a gas station. That was quite an auspicious debut for a little puppy. He was extremely cute, but as expected, it was just like having an infant in the house.

My negativity has worn off during these three years as I’ve even almost forgiven him for eating my Family room carpet in three places.

Teddy has been a good dog and he has grown up along with the kids. He has learned quite a bit over time and has fallen into his routine.

He has fallen in love with Grandma Judy and loves going to visit her as much as the kids do.

Michelle is still his favorite, as he will follow at her heels all day long if he was allowed to. He has proven to be quite the soccer player with James in the back yard. He also enjoys nighttime with Madison, since she rarely moves or kicks at night, she has proven to be his perfect nighttime companion.

Slowly Teddy has broken down the barriers and taken over the household. One by one he pretty much has accomplished all of the “The Dog will never….” List.

This Christmas he gained what might be the last item on the list, by going on vacation with us to Ohio for Christmas. Fortunately, Teddy behaved, as well as, or better than the kids during the long van ride.

Teddy is definitely part of our family now.

Happy 3rd Birthday Teddy!

Another Holiday Season Flies By

Can you believe it? 2009 is here already. It seems like only yesterday that the kids were trick-or-treating and we started to think about the upcoming holiday season. Then before you know it the end of the year has flown by and here we are in 2009.

Fortunately all of the travelling went smoothly. Rick and his family made it safely to NC and my family and Ed & Judy made it successfully to Ohio and back. I know that J.T. and Madison were not happy that they did not see snow in Ohio for Christmas, but being the person who did most of the driving, I can honestly say that I did not miss it.

It was good to see everyone at Christmas. It is amazing how the newest additions to the family, Lia and Ryan, are growing so quickly.

Teddy even managed to talk us into taking him to Ohio for Christmas. I'll write more about that topic on Tuesday as Teddy celebrates his 3rd birthday.

For those of you that were unable to make it to NC for the Holiday season, I am including several pictures of our decorations. James was in charge of the exterior decorations and lighting this year and I think he did a great job.

I want to thank all of you for making our Christmas so special.

Now its time to make those New Year's Resolutions.

Happy New Year!