Tee Ball

Michael and Matt finally had their first tee-ball practice yesterday! It was chilly and muddy, but the Sand Gnats are off to great start. That's Michael in the red hoodie.

First Haircut!

No more Bieber. No more baby curls. But he looks so handsome and he did so well. He's even more kissable than he was before.

Happy Birthday, Michael!

My goodness, how is it that my Baby Michael turned 4 years old today? Easy labor. Angel baby. Not-so-bad toddler. I'll admit that the 3s have been a bit of a challenge, but it's been so wonderful to see Michael coming into his own. Michael loves animals, dinosaurs and monster trucks. He loves "sets" and things that are small. He loves games and sports. He has a massive and quirky vocabulary that includes a number of terms he has learned from playing Wii with his brother. Today, while playing stuffed animals, he asked Luke what they were "versing" (as in vs.-ing/battling) and wanted to know if they had all their "upgrades" or if they needed to "unlock" them and if they needed to change their "profiles." Michael counts to 100, does simple math and can pump on the swing--at least a year earlier than Luke. But, like Luke, he's had no interest in writing and is just now starting to write his name. He's enthusiastic and happy and quick to recover when sad or hurt. He asks for one of his many monkeys and in a few moments, I always here "I'm all better now." He's just a great kid!

Very happy to get his Koo Koo Birds Clubhouse!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. Luke and Justin enjoyed the rides.

Getting some drive time.

Cake!!!

Tomorrow, Poppy and Nan are coming. Then it's the big party on Saturday!

Theme Days

Michael and Luke had theme days at school this week. It was the annual SYC pajama day for Michael. To be honest, this is my least favorite day of the year because it means lugging sleeping bags, pillows and various other things along with all of the usual school stuff (and the 25 lb baby).

And Luke had a "crazy dress day" in honor of April Fool's Day today. This is his jammies/bathing suit/winter hat ensemble. Sorry for the crappy pictures. Our camera died and I am using the phone.

First Birthdays

Luke's first birthday was pretty low key. I think his party was a couple of days later. He was walking and had 5 teeth. He loved his cake and ate the whole piece and then some.

We threw an impromptu party for Michael because the weather was beautiful. Michael was scooting and cruising. I think he only had two teeth. He wanted nothing to do with his cake. He wouldn't even smash it.

Justin's party will be next weekend. Tonight we had cupcakes and pasta. Justin loved the pasta, but like Michael, was not impressed by the cake. He actually tossed the whole plate off the high chair shortly after the picture was taken. Luckily, it landed on the mat as I imagine that green icing would not be fun to scrub out of carpet. Justin is crawling and cruising and teething like a madman. He's about to cut his eighth tooth.

The Requisite Birthday Video

Happy Birthday, Justin!

One Year Ago . . .

A few days ago, Ali sent me these pictures she took last year when she came to watch the kids on the day Justin was born. I had never seen them before. I am still so thankful that Ali and David came to take care of our kids. It looks like the kids gave them a run for their money.

Our last picture as a family of four before we left for the hospital.

Apparently, after we left, there was tree climbing and mud wallowing.

Which resulted in this . . .Caleb stuck on the tree.

And this . . .a bath for four.

And this . . . four tired kids.

At the hospital the next day, playing in the closet. After so much fun, why were they at the hospital again?

Oh yeah, that's right.

Brothers

So I have this new gadget on my netbook that randomly cycles through all of my photos. This one just came up. Aren't they cute? And doesn't Luke look like Justin in this picture? I'm really proud of Luke and Michael. They've become much better brothers as of late. They're finding they have more common ground with each other than with some of the kids in the neighborhood. Luke even turned away one of the neighbor boys the other day because he wanted to stay in and play dinosaurs with Michael. We also caught Luke helping Michael onto the swings and pushing him the other day. Don't get me wrong, they still fight all the time! I know some of you have been lucky enough to have siblings that have enjoyed each other's company from day one, but this is new territory for us and we are really enjoying it and hoping it lasts!

Homemade Pizza!

Tournament in Zanesville

Luke had his first real martial arts tournament yesterday. About 6 students from the dojo and Master Circle headed to the Four Seasons Tournament in Zanesville. We caravaned with the other families and found our way to the local middle school. We got Luke registered and then waited and waited and waited while everything got organzied. Luke was very, very grumpy. Michael was very, very hyper. Justin was very, very snotty and tired. And Master Circle's wife had worked a night shift on Friday, so he had brought his 2-year-old daughter with him, so we all kind of took turns watching Keira, too. It was bedlam, but thankfully nobody seemed to care. I'm very glad that I packed a ton of snacks because there wasn't really any opening to go to lunch even though there was a lot of downtime. Next time I will bring more books and other diversions.

They split the kids into divisions. Luke was in the 3-5 year old Little Dragons division. There were only about 10 of them. At his dojo Little Dragons is ages 3-6, so his friend Cameron who is 6 got moved up with the older kids. This worked out well for Luke, but not so well for poor Cameron. Believe it or not, there actually were a couple of 3-yr-olds competing, but it was very casual. The sensais (is that right?) were much more laid back than I imagined. I guess I've seen Karate Kid too many times. Turns out only Luke and one other boy had formal routines to perform, so they just competed against each other. The other boy got a gold medal and Luke got the silver.

Then they asked if any of the kids had a weapons routine. This is funny because on Friday night at practice, Master Circle asked Luke if he wanted to use a weapon (well, duh, YEAH!!). So he gave Luke a stick and told him to do one of his combinations with the stick and add some extra "keeyahs!" and bam, Luke had a weapons routine. He'd only done it like 3 times. He went up against the same boy (who had a staff) and somehow Luke won and got a gold medal.

Then they sparred. Luke sparred at an in house tournament recently and it was a disaster. But he's learned a lot in a few weeks. It was amazing to see him and the other Koguryo kids doing exactly what Master Circle said which was to be patient and let the other kid make the first move. Luke was patient and he won and got a gold in sparring.

We thought that was it, but then Master Circle said that by looking at the medals it seemed like Luke should be Grand Champion in his division. So then we waited and waited some more. We watched the next group. His friend Cameron had a rough time, but his friend James, who is 7, did really well and medaled in all of his events. Finally, Master Circle asked around and it turned out there was another boy who had the same point total as Luke. He had competed with the group without the formal routines who had just done some of their skills informally. So he and that boy sparred for the title. Luke won again! The funniest thing at this part was that Luke couldn't unfasten his gloves, but nobody could help him because I was holding Justin, Matt was holding Michael and Master Circle was holding Keira. So next thing I know, they are handing us a plaque that says Little Dragons Grand Champion! Woo hoo!

We were all exhausted and needed to get home, but the teenagers hadn't even started yet. There was no way we could stay. Even Master Circle had to leave before the end. I hope the next tournament is better organized. It's the same people running it, so I hope they worked out the kinks. It was fun, but totally exhausting. Justin did amazing. None of our other kids would have done half as well. Michael was challenging, but had a good time running around with Keira. I wish I'd gotten more pictures, but it was just impossible. I did see one of the teenager's parents with a camera, so hopefully he will send them to Master Circle to post on Facebook.

COSI

On Friday, we took Michael and Justin to COSI while Luke was at school. Justin is getting to the perfect Kidspace age. He just loved everything and it will be even more fun once he can walk. I just signed Luke up for a week-long dinosaur camp at COSI in July, so I think Michael, Justin and I may have our own little Kidspace camp that week.

Between the slides, there are two channels for racing balls. Michael did it about a thousand times.

Michael declared that he wants one of these giant ball funnels for his birthday.

Justin could actually ride this thing because it was so narrow. Now I'm trying to find something similar for him.

Tiger Mother

This is the Black Tigers. It's the Demo Team for Luke's Martial Arts School that performs at events around the city. Next time you see a picture of them, Luke will be up front and center. Yep, Luke just made the Demo Team. I find I'm having a moment of Amy Chua guilt as I write this which is why I'm not posting it on FB or my moms' board yet. I feel like I've fallen ass backwards into becoming the martial arts equivalent of a pageant mom! Tournaments, belt tests, demo teams! But, I swear, Luke has dragged us to every performance of the Black Tigers since we started at Koguryo seven months ago. Master Circle sent out a notice for auditions and said they were open to everyone, Luke said he wanted to do it, so we went.

Of about 20 kids, Luke was the youngest and smallest kid there, although there were some other yellow and white belts trying out who were a bit older. Mostly, though, it was the kids in the picture above who are all at least 12 and almost all of them have black belts.

The auditions were tough. Luke had to memorize several short routines and then perform them in front of everyone. He was so awesome. There were kids older than him that couldn't do it. I was just so proud of him for getting up there. Once I saw how serious the whole thing was, I was kind of regretting going because I thought he would be crushed if he didn't make it. Plus, by the time the whole thing wrapped up it was 8pm which is way past his bedtime. But then they started calling kids up and Luke's name got called! It was Luke, a boy who I think is about 7 and then all of these teenagers! There were at least 5 or 6 kids that didn't make it. Next week they start building a new routine and I have to order him a uniform. I imagine they'll do their first performance in a couple of months.

I'm just so impressed by Luke's moxy. It amazes me. And I hope I'm not totally crazy for letting him plunge so headlong into all of this. At this rate, he may burn out by the time he's 8! But, really, so what if he does? He'll move on to something else and we'll go along for the ride. Being your parent is an adventure, Luke. And I'm proud to be part of it.

Ponesse does Bieber

I like my Justin better.

(For Poppy and Nan--Justin Bieber is a teenaged pop star).

At the Park

Soggy but fun!

Open House

Luke's school had an Open House tonight. It was fun to have Luke escort us around the Kindergarten building and then over to the Big School. The Big School is just that --BIG! It's 4 stories, houses the First through Eighth Grades, plus the "specials" rooms and the library and the gym. Matt and I kept getting lost, but Luke is really learning his way around. It was very cute to see him greeting all of his friends, especially with his shadow Michael right behind him. Luke would say "Hi Maggie!" and Michael would echo "Hi Maggie!" The best part was seeing all of Luke's projects hanging up all over the place.

Guess which Queen is Luke's? The smiling happy one or the one with scary teeth and a knife?


Our parish priest, Monsignor Maloney, has a dachsund named Mabel. Which portrait of Mabel is Luke's? The one with "Mabel"" written nicely on it or the one with Mabel hunting the big scary spider?

But this one is awesome--in art class Luke learned about Van Gogh and made a picture inspired by Starry Starry Night, which is especially cool if you remember this blog post.

Presidents' Day Playdate

Thank goodness for Alyssa and her beautiful pictures! We had an "old school" playdate at my friend Diane's on Monday when the kindergarteners were off. The kids had so much fun, although chasing Justin was challenging for me and I felt like I didn't get to talk to anyone. Oh well, that's what Moms' Nights Out are for, I guess!

This is Molly and I do believe she has a bit of a crush on Justin. They played together a lot and she kept force feeding him sippie cups, which Justin seemed to like!

Monkeying around.

This picture made me laugh out loud. Lola, Daniela and Luke posing together?Really? How did that happen?

That is all kinds of trouble right there. See why I couldn't talk to anyone?

Hooray for sunshine!!

Ok, I'm not naive enough to think that spring is actually here, but it sure has been a nice preview. I've been so much more productive the last couple of days and I've been much better with the kids. Makes me realize how much the winter was grating on all of us! The entire side of the house and backyard are mud bogs and I had to don my rain boots this morning just to go out to the shed. Then I cut my finger opening it and decided that cleaning up the yard and garden could wait a while longer. The kids got out the bikes and scooters this afternoon and we found the push car for Justin. We bought it for Michael's first birthday, but Luke always wanted to hijack it, so we rarely used it. With the older boys so much bigger now, I think Justin might actually get a lot of use out of it this spring and summer!

Driving Home

So driving to pick up my kid every day is definitely not as easy as if he took a bus, but if I didn't drive him, then I would miss out on our car conversations. Here are some of the choice conversation bits from today's drive home. You can tell Luke was on a bit of a sugar high from Valentine's:

Luke: Why is the Veggie Tales Wizard of Oz different from the real one?
Me: Because Veggie Tales is trying to teach a lesson. It's teaching that you should obey your parents, but that no matter what you do, your mom and dad will always love you.
Luke: Mom, that's something I need to work on. Knowing that you love me even if I'm bad.
Me: You think when you get in trouble and we move your magnet that we don't love you?
Luke: Yeah, isn't that weird?

Luke: Jesus is the Messiah. We were all Jews before we were Christians.
Michael: I like lemonade.

Me: Luke, did you get any girly valentines?
Luke: Yes, I got some princess ones.
Michael: Why do girls like princesses so much?

Luke: (going through his valentines) Oh look, this one is from Audrey. She's such a sweet girl.

And there was also a lively debate over which is the best: gummy bears, worms or fish.

Can't wait until Justin can join in the conversation . . .or maybe I can.

Pizza Party!

Last Saturday, we celebrated Luke's Student of the Month honors at his martial arts school. In the chaos of getting everyone organized and out the door, I forgot the camera! These shots were taken by one of the instructors. I'm hoping Alyssa will email me any good ones she took (hint, hint!).
I was a little nervous because it was a mixed group of friends--some of Luke's fellow yellow-belts, some neighbors and some EBC friends, but everyone got along great. Master Circle led the kids in a bunch of games, which were hilarious to watch and then everyone had pizza. It was an awesome party!