The Kids and Karate

I haven't done a karate post in a while, so here it goes!





<--and of course, I HAD to start with this one....I think the image just speaks for itself!!

This past Saturday the kids graduated to their next belts in karate. A couple months ago, RJ graduated through the ranks on the Ranger side - which is what they call the little kids (generally under 6 or 7) and moved to the Young Adult side of the studio. He loves the new moves he's learning - and the best part? He gets to learn how to use the 'weapons'!! Every two months, they learn how to use the new tool. It's really great watching him progress through the moves.

Maddy is doing really well, too. She loves karate! She has so much energy and really puts it to good use in class. She is one little girl you won't want to mess with!

Here they are getting their belts. First, Maddy-Belle (as she likes to be called!). As she was getting her belt, you can see what RJ was doing! It surprises me how silly they STILL get even though my camera is in their face all the time. They are soooo cute!! Notice the complete lack of front teeth on RJ - he's just starting to get the bottom ones in to replace those that he lost last January.

And here is RJ getting his belt:

Whenever I post about the kids, I like to try to get an even number of images per child, so I don't appear as if I'm favoring. For all the moms out there (including my own!), I'm sure you know what I mean!!! So I include this last one, simply because I think it is cool. And I assure you, both of my children are in it!

Since Ron couldn't come, I asked Maddy to take a picture of RJ with my cell phone so we could send it to him. The blig blur on the right is Maddy's cute piggy tail and RJ is one of the small figures in focus on the phone!

Have a great day, everyone!!!

Day of Firsts

Thursday was RJ's first day of First Grade and the first time he was going to be away from home all day for school. He has been so apprehensive about this all summer. Luckily we were able to go to the school last week to see his classroom and meet his teacher. While there he found out that his friend who has been in his class every year for the past 3 years will be in his class again. That definitely made things better. So of course I had to grab a few images!! And for those wondering, I didn't cry. That day. I did however cry the night before as I was making lunch for him to take the very first time. :-)

Here's Maddy... being Maddy

RJ waiting for the bus. The second one is what happens when you ask him to smile.

RJ getting on the bus...and getting off

Happy, Happy, Happy!!!

Earlier in the month I exclaimed to all how big of a month August is in my household. I wasn't kidding. Last week alone, we celebrated my father-in-law's 60th birthday, my mother-in-law's birthday (40?!<-- me looking for brownie points!!), my 7 year wedding anniversary with my wonderful husband, and last, but most certainly not least, is my uncle's birthday. Now, I was not near him to celebrate the last one, but it's always in my heart (and super easy to remember since we got married on his birthday!)

So I want to publicly say Happy Birthday to my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, and my uncle! I wish you many many more happy ones to come!!!! And to my husband, I am so glad we were actually able to spend the ENTIRE day together for our anniversary. Truly a special occasion. I love you!!!

So on to the images...in order to fully celebrate, we rented a house on Gun Rock Beach in Hull, MA for the week - well, Wednesday through Sunday, but close enough. It was really great. We were literally right on the ocean, as you can see. What you can't see is that high tide brought the water up to the back steps for us. It was amazing.

Off the porch to the left:

Off the porch to the right:

This was the view off the porch over to Nantasket Beach (at night):

The waves crashed into the rocks right below the porch. These rocks actually form the base of the foundation of the house we were in. It was so cool. The kids loved climbing all over the rocks - moreso than being in the ocean!

RJ checking on the rocks below:

And Maddy posing like a goof, as always!

I just thought this was really nice looking. As we walked along the street, Ron was carrying Maddy and the sun was setting right over their shoulder. I just love how they are silhouetted with the orange sun.

Another Karate Graduation

On Saturday, the kids graduated to new belts in karate. Unfortunately, I had a really bad "duh" morning and thought we needed to be there at 9:30.....NOPE! Luckily I was trying to get there early, so we got there just in time for Maddy to get her new belt. I felt so bad. Luckily for me, she really didn't want to work out that morning, so 'just' getting the belt was more than OK with her. I would now like to present to you the new Green Belt - Maddy and the new Blue Belt - RJ.

I put together a slideshow of images set to RJ & Maddy's favorite song "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects.

Click on the arrow to start it. Enjoy!

Birthday's are Fun!

We had quite a busy weekend! After my sister's shower (see below!) , we had a birthday party for our cousin. He's so cute and the kids had so much fun!!! My Auntie-In-Law is an Arbonne consultant, so I got to spend some time playing with the make up and skin care items. I bought a whole ton of stuff and became a wholesale distributor with her, so if you want to know more about it, shoot me a quick email (I get a discount!) and we can talk. I love what I have so far and do NOT want to be a salesperson, but I will tell anyone who wants to know what I love and why!

I took a few great shots of the kids (of course - again, they are my FAVORITE subject!). This one of Maddy makes me smile every time. And if you know Maddy, this face is HER!

They got to do a pinata, which was so much fun for them!

Here's one more of Maddy (notice the curls - Giggy set her hair in curlers before bed and she looks just like a princess!)

Oh yeah, and we TRIED to get a family picture with all the cousins together, but as you can see, they were all a little giggly!! (It IS a party I guess!)

Mansfield Character Breakfast

This morning I took the kids to a character breakfast where the proceeds benefited the Chernobyl Children Project, USA. Prior to today, I had no idea such an organization existed. The purpose of the organization is to provide help for children affected by the Chernobyl disaster. What I didn't realize is that the nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986 is still having a profound effect on people who live there. You can read more about what they do on their web site, but one of the main things they do is to coordinate trips for children from the region to a Boston-area host family. They get to stay with the family for a month and receive proper medical attention for the time they are here.

I realized that it truly is amazing how little I know about what is going on in the world. It makes me sad to think of the innocent children that were (and are continuing to be) affected by the radiation.

Here are some images I made while we were there:

Doing Dishes

Something I've seemed to have forgotten to do in this craziness of life, is to capture more images of the kids just being kids. I've spent time in the past trying to get the perfect posed image of my children for Christmas, or Easter, or just because. What I seem to forget to do is take the camera out while they are doing what they do best - playing, having fun, etc. In my opinion, a posed picture is nice, but rarely captures the true essence of the child. And since the purpose of taking pictures is to forever capture your children in time - why not do so while they are doing all the things that they love?

When I look back at pictures of my children in a year, two years, or even ten years from now, will I remember that RJ's favorite toy is his Lego Star Wars? Will I remember all the times Maddy sat down to color on whatever she felt like coloring that day? I hope so, but my guess is that I won't. And having great images of them doing their favorite things will help. So, I'm making a pact to myself to take the camera out more during daily life and get them doing things that they usually do.

Tonight I did that, in a rare moment where my children (of their own accord, mind you) decided to wash the night's dishes for me. Aren't they sweet? Being 3 and 6, though, they didn't really clean anything, but they sure got water everywhere!

More Karate Kids

The kids have graduated to their next belts in karate again. The karate program they are in promotes them every couple of months to keep them interested. They go to Personal Best Karate in Foxboro. I highly recommend them. Miss Stacey, their instructor, is the kindest, most patient woman I've ever met. Here they are posing with her after receiving their new belts:





Here are a few images from the demonstration they do prior to receiving the belts. I am such a proud momma - I have the GREATEST kids ever!

Tournament of Champions

January was a very busy month for me. Once I got back from San Antonio, I spent many days trying to figure out what to do with my business. That was my evening job. SInce I had been away from the kids for 4 whole days (I've never gone away from home without them - except when we won that trip to the Grammy's last year, but they were in FL with my in-laws having a blast, so that really doesn't count), I really needed to catch up on some much missed play time.


The next weekend after I got back, the kids had a Tournament of Champions where they performed a 'Form' in front of judges, received a score and a trophy. It was really cool and the kids did great. I'm a very proud Mama and got so nervous for them while they were up there. RJ was the VERY first person to perform for the day. I was so nervous for him, I'm surprised I got any images to even post here. He did very well, placing third. I felt he deserved much better than that, but I wasn't one of the judges. (and I'm a bit biased, too!). Maddy did very well, too. She hadn't been doing so well practicing at home, so I wasn't sure how focused she'd be, but she did so good. She also placed third.



These were both taken when they were introducing themselves to the judges. Aren't they just the cutest?! Oh wait, don't I say that all the time?

The Tooth and the Shiner

I can't believe it! On Tuesday, I was sitting in Ballroom A of the San Antonio convention center with my dad, when I get the following text message from Ron, my husband: "Your son just lost his first tooth!" Immediately, I was both excited and sad, for I had missed a really big milestone in his life. In addition, this was a major ordeal for him, since he was really emotionally attached to that tooth! He just did NOT want that thing to come out.

He's good now, especially since the tooth fairy was kind enough to not take his tooth until I got home to see it, and she left him 4 quarters, to boot! But I did have a hard time getting him to sleep last night because he was afraid she wouldn't let him keep it. Even now that it fell out, he's still attached to it. I took some crazy pictures of them for this post, which I like a lot. Aren't they the CUTEST?!

So that's the tooth....that same day, Maddy decides she's going to reach too far off my bed for the new pink hat Daddy bought her. She falls off and hits her face, barely missing her eye on the night table! She's a tough little girl and only cried for a couple minutes, but between the two of them, we look like we should be reported to some gov't agency for abuse! They are both more than fine now, but I don't think I'm leaving for any trips without them for a while.

I'm still spinning from the events in San Antonio, but I will post more about the convention when I get my head to slow down a bit.