Yellow belt!

Congratulations, Mom! As you know, Owen's Tae Kwon Do experience has been a great source of inspiration for Amy. She began classes after the new year and the two of them have been enjoying going to an all-ages class together several times a week.

Amy's first test to move up from her beginner's white belt to a yellow was a great source of excitement in our house. Having seen Owen break three boards, we were all excited to see Mom take a whack at it.

Literally.

No surprise, she did great. One quick kick with her right foot and it was over. We were all very excited and inspired.

The new yellow belt looks great on you.

A green belt and a wooden car

The weekend started out not so much with a "bang," but a mighty "CRACK!" as Owen added another broken board to his collection and moved up a level to the Green Belt in Tae Kwon Do.

It was a great test! Breaking the board took a few more tries this time, but Owen stuck with it and got it done. Perhaps the most impressive part of the test was the fierce determination and sharp movements he demonstrated as he was doing his two multi-step routines at the start. He has been working very hard and really knows what he's doing.

Owen's Tae Kwon Do success has been an inspiration to all of us ... but particularly to his mom, who signed up to take lessons herself two weeks ago. There she is in her own uniform at the top (she stayed for her class after Owen was done).

I think we're all looking forward to Mom's first test ... and her breaking a board.

After the test was done, Owen, Maya, and I drove up to Grandpa's house for the weekend. We had lots of projects in mind, particularly checking out all the work Grandpa had done on his house ... and getting some work done on Owen's Pinewood Derby car for Scouts.

Operating under the belief that the race was this Monday night, we gunned our way through the project. And now it turns out the Pinewood Derby isn't tomorrow night; tomorrow is just the night we bring the cars in for an intital weigh-in and some instructions about the final steps. The actual race is at the end of February, which is good because we've got two ounces of sinkers we need to add to the car before it's ready to race.

Otherwise, it's all done. Thanks go Grampy for the work in the shop and for the use of Grandpa's basement where we sanded the edges pimped Owen's ride. It's very cool!

We had a nice weekend with Grandpa. At Maya's request we had a picnic for our Saturday lunch.

We also visited some friends of Grandpa's from the church who have lots of model trains, Maya hung some art on the magnetic wall Grandpa added to his basement, and we went to a puppet show at Grandpa's church.

Most importantly, the kids got some cuddles in.

Which was good for everyone ...

Dance, little lady bug!

It's been weeks since my last post. I'm still hoping to get back and correct the record of a very busy New Year's and January with updates of our trip to San Diego, Owen's two lost teeth, the start of school, and much more ... but today belongs to Maya.

Maya had her first dance recital on Sunday afternoon. As you will see from the video, the performance was short but fun. There was some doubt whether she would actually make it to the stage. She missed last week's practice due to a very bad cold, so I learned her steps and we practiced at home. She was also very, very nervous the morning of the performance, but her mom did an excellent job encouraging her and inserting her into the group of waiting dancers. In the long run, she had a wonderful time and was beautiful on stage.

Great job, Maya!

Merry Christmas to All

A Holiday Reading

This pretty much speaks for itself ... as soon as you know the book she's reading is "The Night Before Christmas."

It took us the better part of 23 minutes to get to this point. Up to then was a lot of organization, keeping us quiet, and introducing her "New book, Santa, to the class."

Long story short, you can tell Maya has been paying attention to the teacher's operations during story time at preschool.

Enjoy!

ORANGE BELT!

Owen earned his Orange belt in Tae Kwon Do tonight. His grandparents (Grammie and Grampy Ives and Grandpa Aalberts) were there with us to cheer him on.

We were very surprised it was testing time already, but he has been working very hard and really knew his stuff ... so I guess it's no surprise.

The night started off with him doing his "routine" of moves. He did a great job remembering the 18

steps and was very committed in the way that he moved, determined to get it right.

He then sparred against another student. Nothing too physical, just showing he knows what moves to do to defend himself and attack. Our favorite of the latter moves is a really (for lack of a better word) jaunty little hitch kick that he delivers with style. It reminds me a little of some of the dance steps I did in high school musicals ... but maybe that's just a reminder of the dangers of Broadway.

Like when he got his Yellow belt, the highlight of the evening was him breaking a board. Master Kim gave him the choice of how he would break it, either a roundhouse kick or with his fist.

Owen chose fist. Unlike when he broke his first board with his foot, this didn't come on the first hit. And you could tell it hurt a little bit, both on his knuckles and pride. But he didn't give up and it popped in two on the second hit. Grandpa Aalberts has a great video of the test I'll add to the site when I get it from him.

It was very impressive, Owen! We're all very proud of you!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was awesome (as Halloween should be). Maya somehow ended up with three costumes to choose from. She started with a bumblebee costume, which she decided she didn't like and was then returned. Then came the "princess" outfit, a Rapunzel dress from the movie "Tangled," which she wore out of the store and played in the rest of the afternoon ... but was tired of by bedtime.

"Mom, I don't want to be Rapunzel!" she cried. (It would have been nice to know that before we cut out the tags from inside the collar.)

Next was a ballet dancer outfit, which never really seemed like a viable option.

Which left us last year's monkey outfit. Comfortable? Check. Warm? Check. Cute as all get out?! Check. Maya was a great chimp!

And for the third year running, Owen was from outer space. Two years ago he was a Transformer, last year a NASA Astronaut, this year a Clone Trooper from Star Wars.

 It gives me no small sense of satisfaction that I undoubtedly contemplated my own Star Wars costume when I was just a little older than he is ...

It was a beautiful night for Tick or Treating. Maya got to see her good friend Chris across the street. Grammie and Grampy's dog Winnie got into the act.

And everyone was exhausted by the end of the night. Maya (below) could barely lift her pumpkin full of candy.

... but the Hawkeye Jack 'O Lantern burned brightly ...

And Owen was a great helper passing out candy.

"These are not the Gummi Bears you are looking for!"