He's growing up.....:(

Tonight on the way home from karate Ryan asked if there really was a Santa. I didn't have to come up with an answer right then because Ryan can't just ask a question and wait for an answer, he has to add his own hypothesis onto the question and debate his own answers, so we ended up discussing whether magic was real instead of Santa. This will probably be the last year he will truly believe. I never really cried with milestones like walking or first day of school so I'm not sure why this one is hitting me this way. Maybe I'm just over tired and emotional, or maybe the thought of my oldest not believing in Santa is too much of a reality dose that he really is growing up.

Santa, in case you're reading my blog, just wanted to let you know that *I* believe, and I'll be looking forward to Christmas morning because I've been REALLY good this year.

Kylie (child at heart)

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting....

Yesterday was a regional Tae Kwon Do tournament that Paul and I both participated in. It kind of snuck up on us as we were discussing the tournament on monday, thinking it was further away than saturday. I took a private lesson with our instructor to get a new weapons routine....I didn't want to toss my weapon again like I did last time so I switched from the ssahng joel bong (nunchuks) to the jahng bong (big stick). I was definitely more interested in practicing my weapons form than my open hand form which showed in the results.


We dropped Nathan and Kessa off at Mom's house and headed on to the tournament with Ryan and Brandon. Paul and I both got to stay in our own age ring....sometimes if there aren't enough people in an age group they will combine, and usually it ends up being with the 20-29 year olds which is hard for us old 30-39 folk. I had 3 other ladies in my ring this time, one came from California, one from Phoenix, and the third was from my ATA school. Talking before hand we found out that the two ladies I hadn't met before had just come back from Fall Nationals in Orlando. They both did really well there and racked up the state champ points.....not sure I really have a chance anymore but I'm gonna keep trying :D .


First we did open hand form, I went third and I went all out....at least I was on the verge of throwing up while waiting for my score from the exertion (lol!). I apparently didn't do as well as I thought I did though....I got a 6 (out of 10) from the foot judge, 6 from the hand judge, though I did get an 8 from the center judge (overall form) which brought me in third place, disappointing but I know what to improve on now. Only three of us did a weapons form, and I was really nervous doing it for the first time, my hands were shaking and when you have to do something precise with your hands, having them shake is NOT a good thing. I did pretty good, I was disappointed in my propeller move because it wasn't as smooth as it should have been. I must have done something good though because my scores were 7, 8, and 9 placing me in first for weapons. Sparring is my worst area. I'm not very good at it....I'm a very large target and very slow so it's easier for my opponents to get in and out with a score. Since there were four of us I was guaranteed 3rd place since the two that don't move to the next round tie for third, and sure enough....I tied for third. So all in all it was a good day and we had fun.




Paul did AWESOME in his ring. I can't fathom having to spar in a ring with the guys he spars with. Men tend to hit harder and faster than women, I wouldn't stand a chance at all. Paul did really well and placed 2nd in sparring...was only 1 point away from winning first. In forms he tied for second and had to repeat his form, then the judges just pick the winner from those two instead of re-scoring and he won 2nd (other competitor received third). I'm very proud of him, he rocks! I only wish we didn't always end up competing at the same time because I would love to be able to sit and watch and take pictures. This time we were at least in side by side rings so I got to watch a bit of it.

Hope you all have a great week! I'm now off to search for something yummy and gooey to make for Thanksgiving dessert.

The Tea Set

In September Grammy picked up a little tea set for Kessa while we were in California. I tried to keep it up and out of sight for a while because it's ceramic and my children are not known for being gentle with anything even remotely fragile. This weekend it was discovered again and they have all been having tea parties (even the big boys) with Kessa. The house was filled with the sounds of me hollering out "BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!!!" when the clinking and clanking of the little cups and saucers became more than just background noise. They all seemed to have fun and enjoyed the make believe. Night came and the boys all went to bed, but not Kessa....she took a late nap and was not about to lay down and since she was playing quietly I figured it wouldn't hurt. She sat down right beside my chair and once again had the teapot filled with water. I got a kick out of listening to her....."Dear God, thank you for this water.......(looks up at me) Mom, I don't have any food.....Amen." She is now sleeping peacefully in her bed with her Mermaid, Princess, and Bear blankets and the tea set in it's basket right next to her pillow.

Dance Class....uh oh.

I finally gave in to Nathan's continuous requests to take the dance class after Kessa's. I hesitated for a long time because his main goal in taking part in the class was the prize of a piece of candy at the end....

Nathan: Mommy I want to take that dance class!!!!
Me: Why do you want to?
Nathan: Because I waaaaannnnnttttt toooooo
Me: Do you like dancing?
Nathan: No.
Me: Then why?
Nathan: Cause I want the candy!

Today was different though, he stated he wanted to take the class and said it was because he wanted to dance, not because of candy. So I figured what the heck and let him try the class. Miss Lisa had an extra pair of taps for him and he really seemed to enjoy the tap part. He was a bit lost throughout the class since the girls have already had 1+ years of dance. He did manage to follow directions well and only seemed to annoy a couple of the girls while standing in line. I know his behavior was at his best since Miss Lisa didn't walk out mumbling something about 4 year old boys being banned from the studio. I don't see this as a long future for him, but I could be wrong. We'll see what happens next year when soccer sign up comes around again :)

The current focus of destruction.

Well, we moved from flooding the bathroom on a consistant basis (although it's happening more again lately) to the destruction of the garage door. Rewinding to a few months ago... Ryan felt it would be a fun thing to ride the garage door as it opened, resulting in a very broken door and a fairly expensive repair bill. Fast foward to a couple weeks ago....Nathan (who has been told pretty much every day since then NOT to hang on the door) decided that the warning only applies to when my eyes are watching him, for he too felt the need to go for a ride on the door. One more call to the garage door repair man, who took pity on me and charged the least amount of hourly labor he was allowed to charge...$95.00 per hour. Fast forward again to 30 minutes ago, granted it is once again my own fault for putting my eyes somewhere other than directly on Nathan, the garage door is once again in disrepair. The black weather strip tubing at the bottom of the door must have been just calling out to him to be yanked, pulled, pushed (but most likely hung on) and is now dangling from the middle of the door. Thankfully, it is a repair that while time consuming and a bit tiring on the arms, I was able to do myself. The day isn't over yet so who knows what else is to come. I'm still smiling...I think.