Lights

Experimenting with outdoor lighting for my book club in two weeks. We are NOT seasoned entertainers and don't have that figured out yet after 10 years in this house. I like these!

Date night at the gas station

Jim has been raving about this deli for years, and I finally got to try their magic Italian sandwich tonight. The best part, it is inside a gas station, which is also an espresso bar. That's right folks! Also, if you know the secret entrance, there's a speakeasy too. For dessert, we choose Twinkies and an ice cream drumstick. And have you ever hear of a pickle juice ice pop. Yeah...I wouldn't recommend it.

It turns out, I'm a cheap date!

Track part 3

And then there's this morning. Adam had his name announced as best overall long jump, won the fast heat of the 100 by like 5 feet, and found out he got 4th overall in the baseball throw last week. I think we've found a sport to replace spring baseball for him!

Track part 2

Sitting here at Laura's meet. Don't know if I've ever been prouder of her. She just ran the 800. Two weeks ago, the 400 left her gasping and in tears. Since then, she has been practicing and learning how to breathe and pace herself. And today she zipped around the track and kept pace the whole way. I love the fact that she is so proud of her 8th place finish because she sees her improvement. She was so happy and pleased with herself when she finished.
Oh, and she got 3 overall on the high jump, even though she belly flops over the bar. :) Can't believe I didn't get a video!

Track

The kids have entered the world of track and field!


Theres a lot of downtime at the meets, so you never know what these goofballs will come up with.

Somehow, Laura was lucky enough to be put on a team with her best friend Cherry. So far, she's raced hurdles, some sprints, the 400m (once around the track) and the high jump. She had 2 really close sprints where she came in 2nd and is a rock star on the long jump in practices. The longer races are more challenging, but her coaches focused on that this week, so she's feeling confidant about her 800m this Friday night. Her meets last a whopping 4 hours on Friday nights and it has been COLD! But everyone still leaves with a smile.


Adam's meets are on Saturday morning for 3 hours. He's blown them away in broad jump, baseball throw and the 100m. His down time is mostly unsupervised while Jim takes Laura to karate and I help with the meet and he's been handling it so well. It feels good to trust your kid!

https://youtu.be/ozYfBNi_y_8

This is his team's shuttle relay. They'll start regular relays when they get older. That's my back and ponytail at the finish line, I get to call out the order of finishers! With a microphone! Oh the power...

My 38th Birthday

Oh you guys, I am so spoiled!!!  Jim and the kids planned a fantastic birthday carnival for my birthday this year. Each of them had 2 games for me to play. When I sat down for breakfast, there was a card waiting for me with enough tickets to play each game twice.

Laura had a face painting station

Adam had me stick my hand in a box and guess what I was touching (a coyote skull).

Jim ran the cake walk (Ava almost won)

Adam also had a dart game with prize slips inside the balloons

Laura also had a ping pong ball toss game with the prize names on the bottom of the cups

Jim also had a target shoot game using a Nerf gun and LA Croix cans that he guzzled the night before.

I just love the signs they made too

And there was a map of the carnival!

Adam's sign says it all!

Spring Karate Tournament

Laura did so well! She started out with Megateam, which is a group of all ages and belt ranks performing any form (pretend fight) you want. They worked for 2 months making up a form and polishing it. They were the only group to use a bo.  They did a great job that day and earned 5th place.

Here she is with as much of the crew as I could catch at the same time.

I think hanging with her friends and watching the rest of the teams was almost as fun as earning trophies.

And boy, did she earn trophies! A few hours later, she competed with her individual form. She blew the other girls away. I wish you could see their forms so you'd understand how awesome this was. But taping them for that reason didn't seem right somehow. Just believe me, she's much more crisp, polished, intense, and confident.

(Why is she the only one looking the wrong way? I don't know. Also notice: she has the shabbiest equipment; her footpads are duck taped together. Well, so what? She still beat them all.) 

Then it was time for sparring. She has been sparring with brown and black belts 3-4 years older than her and 1-2 heads taller. It paid off and she won 3 matches in a row for 1st place! They weren't all easy, though. The 2nd match had to go to a tie-breaker, but she still won.

This is the final match. This girl did some trash talking to Laura beforehand, but she took it all in stride and beat her.

You should see how confidently she handled everything all day. She even squeezed some homework in between events. I was the only one showing any nerves. She never ceases to impress me. 

Fantastic job, Laura!!

Spring!

A little taste of spring in February.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love the creativity of the kids' Valentine's gifts for me this year!

Laura's 4th grade program

My favorite song...

https://youtu.be/cdQcgcP7MJc