Thursday night

Just a Thursday night at karate.  I thought we would go to the open mat class and then, maybe, Ewan would get to promote to his next belt.  We have been working towards promotions for what seems like forever.  We get there, we just go slower because of other commitments like sports. 

Surprise!  Kella and Kinley got in on the promotions, too.  Pretty cute watching my 5 year old try to do basic series and run a kata.  And, they all did great.  It was tough-Ewan's group had to run the same kata at least 5 times until the Sensei was satisfied with how the kata looked.  Kella and Kinley stayed strong through the 2 hours that included class and promotion.  They worked on kata, basic series a little sparring and self-defense.  The payoff-promotion.

 

The promotion class, before.

Ewan promoted to green belt!  

Kella promoted to full yellow belt!

Kinley promoted to yellow-striped belt!

The promotion class, after.

Our newly promoted.  Look at how excited they are.

Stories from my phone-rest of August recap

It is quite the luxury to be able to sit down at my computer and update this poor blog.  And, it's a beautiful day-I have the windows open!  Kinley is chilling in her chair, watching a show and the beasties are all enjoying an afternoon snooze.  And, before I get up and start checking more things off my to-do list, I will tell you what we've been doing recently.

First-karate promotions for all the boys.  We got back into karate after spring soccer and the boys have been working hard these past couple months.  Promotions were mid-August and all the boys did well.  Marcus was nervous that he wouldn't promote, but he did do a great job!  Of course, fall soccer will keep us out of karate until October.  So goes life,

Marcus receiving green belt.

Cale gets his green belt.

Ewan earned his blue belt.

Liam got his orange belt.  He was sooo excited. Since he started so little, he has taken longer to earn each belt.  I say an orange belt at 7 is pretty good.

Some proud boys there.

Kinley gets a lot of alone time with her best friend-Mommy.  This was a day we biked to the coffee shop and had a cinnamon roll.  That was the first day the temps weren't kill-me hot and before the monsoon season started here.  We haven't been out much on our bike.

A random-"what is this plant" picture.  This thing stands to my thigh and was from a mother's day gift from preschool.  I transplanted the whole pot of little wildflowers and this dude has really enjoyed the horrible soil in my flower bed.  Its stem is like a trunk.

Because I like being super-busy and because I knew they would love it-I signed the girls up for dance lessons at a place 10 minutes from our house.  Here is Kinley on her first day.  She loves her teacher and loves to go to class.  Kella does, too.  I just don't have a pic of her in her dance outfit yet.

Some of Kella's writing.  The two girls in the picture are Kella and her cousin Cassie.  Apparently they are party girls.

Here's Ponyo.  It was national dog day.

A typical Saturday at our house comes complete with 4 soccer games at 2 different fields.  Let's see-Ewan plays U10 on the Ravens, Cale U12 Zardes, Liam U8 Sounders and Marcus U14 Sunderland.

And, on Saturday, between 4 games, Andy had time to go to the store and find a dog to adopt.  Because we weren't busy enough already.  His name is Jasper-a 9 month old Viszla mix who was not well loved at his previous house.  Ponyo has allowed him to stay and be the second dog.

A picture Kella drew of me and her.  I love it!  This little girl is a very, very good artist for being 5 years old.  I think Kella drew this as a thank you for finding a dance leotard to wear to class until the backordered one comes in.  And, I got her some nightgowns.  She was in heaven.  (and, I found these things at the consignment store=jackpot)

I think Jasper likes it here.

And, now you are caught up.

karate parade and demo

The Saturday of Ewan's birthday was chock full of activities.  Besides soccer games for most, if not all of the kids (I can't remember), the kids karate studio has their demo at the Tipton Pork Festival and also walked in the parade.  After the last soccer game of the morning, I loaded up 4 of 6 children (Marcus and Kella were with Grammy Linda and Grandpa Jerry for Marcus's soccer game) and went to Tipton.  The weather was questionable, but did not rain.  The demo was well done by the students and Cale even had to lead a kata.  (A kata that he mostly knew-oops.  I think it's inspired him to practice more at home.) I drove 10 little boys from the demo to the start of the parade-that 12 passenger van is good for lots of things.  Then Kinley and I went and had some lunch and walked to the end of the parade route.  The karate studio had a really great place in line and we didn't have to wait too long to see the boys.

lots of fire trucks from area services

Kinley enjoyed part of the parade.  Then, she got tired and took a nap in the stroller.

My karate boys!

My one picture of them walking in the parade.  I know-I forgot to have the camera ready when I saw them approaching.

Liam earned a new belt!

Liam's been participating in karate class now for about 6 weeks. He's so excited to go and wear his "karate shirt" and belt. He always wants to wear one of his brothers colored belts, but he has to wear a white one since he is a newbie. 

Last Monday, the sensei, Mr. Stout, advanced two other students to higher ranks. When they were done, Liam asked where his new by was. I told him that it wasn't time for a new belt for him. Well, Liam made the best sad face ever and looked like he was just going to burst I to tears. Mr. Stout saw Liam's face and said  that Liam had been working very hard and he could be advanced to a yellow-striped belt. Liam was so excited, he was jumping up and down and had a huge smile on his face. I love to we my boy happy and it was so kind of the sensei to notice and recognize the hard work that Liam has been doing. Liam was so happy that he wore his belt to bed that night and also for part of the next day.

karate demo

A few weekends ago, the boys participated in a karate demo at a local festival. Andy took all the kids while I caught a few hours of sleep in between nights of work. He was good enough to take some pictures. The boys ran through some different katas and did some sparring. After that, they walked in the festival parade. I'm thinking it was at least a mile long route, but probably more.  They were pretty tired by the end and Ewan suggested putting a "do not disturb" sign on the door of our house so they could rest. Pretty sure their second wind hit as soon as they walked in the door. I'm glad the boys had a chance to demonstrate their skills in front of others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ewan got promoted

At karate to tonight, the sensei was running the kids through what they would each need to know for their next promotion. I wasn't paying close attention-mostly because I was trying to keep Liam from talking the ear off of a guy who was there just trying to work out (I jumped I after I heard Liam say "I'm stronger than you."). Apparently, the sensei thought that Ewan was progressing nicely and decided to promote him to an orange-striped belt. It's a step-up from his gold belt and shows that Ewan knows most of what he needs to get a full orange belt after a bit more work. It's a nice way to keep Ewan motivated, too. Let's remember that Ewan is 6 years old and has already advanced through several belt rankings. Ewan was so excited. He was getting promoted before his brothers. And, I let him tell Andy on the phone. So happy.

Has to have help tying his belt. Hopefully Ewan can keep this one on better.

In line with his class. See the grin :-)

Congratulations Ewan!

karate awards

Over Christmas break, the boys had an awards ceremony for karate.  They've been attending class now for about a year and a half.  Everyone gets an award, even the students that have just started.  Each of the boys was excited to get a new patch to wear on their gi.

The senseis 

Ewan-junior leader award

Marcus-STORM team award ("Special Team Of Role Models")

Cale-SWAT team award ("Special Winning Attitude Team")

Liam was jealous that everyone was getting an award except him.  He kept inching his way to the front, hoping his would be the next name they called.  When they didn't, he said, "Hey, what about me."  Mr. Phifer was so nice to pull out an extra awards certificate and present it to Liam.  Liam was super-excited to be included with the other students.

the new badges