My Karate Kid

After only two weeks of lessons, Canaan was tested on the things they've practiced so far. He was one of only 7 of his classmates that was able to pass her test. He was rewarded with the chance to "grapple," since we don't have any sparring gear yet. This little girl was one tough cookie and had just beaten another little girl before she took on Canaan. His instructor said I can purchase the protective sparring gear for him at any time now. Canaan is eager to begin sparring. He watched 4 of his classmates with the protective gear spar today and he said it looked like a lot of fun. Then he tried to practice on Matty when we stopped to get pizza on the way home!

Spelling Bee

I thought the Word Whammer Leap Frog refrigerator magnet would be a great teaching toy for the kids. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a big magnet that has spaces for 3 letter magnets to fit in it. It sings the alphabet, tells you the sounds of the letters you put in, asks you to spell 3-letter words, and has an option of letting you make up your own words. But, now I'm finding words left on my fridge that I never expected. Like this one. Matty is the one with the fascination with poop, but Canaan is the one with the ability to spell it. I think they're in cahoots!

Chocoholics

Who knew one batch of brownies could yield so many pictures? At least I'm not the only chocoholic in the family, though I draw the line at sticking my head in the bowl to lick out the last remnants of the chocolate. A bubble bath seemed the perfect antidote to brownie batter. Despite warnings to not touch anything, I still found a chocolate handprint on the bathroom door.

The Three Little Pigs

Tonight we had root beer floats for dessert. The boys treated me to their rendition of "The Three Little Pigs." It was so stinkin' cute I had to get the camera out. I think "Not by the chair of my chiny-chin-chin," is my favorite part!

Homework, Schomework

Canaan's teacher sends home an agenda each night that lists his homework assignments for the week. Tonight was his first night of homework. He had to practice writing his name neatly 7 times on the first page of his name book. He had to read for 15 minutes (or be read to), and I have a place to list the title of the book(s) he read/was read. And he's got a list of words to practice each night that the class will be tested on each Friday. When they master this list, they get a new one. (Canaan already knows at least half those words by sight) Canaan read "Cat Traps" by Molly Coxe for his reading homework. I read "Just Like Daddy" by Megan E. Bryant to the boys at bedtime.

Karate Chop!

Canaan had his first karate lesson today. I thought it would be like an into-to-karate, learn-the-basics sort of class. But apparently it is an on-going class and you just jump in where the class is at. Fortunately, they do offer a tutorial to help catch up the new students. Canaan was a little bit nervous when we came in. We were a few minutes late in arriving because it took over 25 minutes to get through the pick-up line at school, and the class was already in the middle of a floor routine with the instructor calling out the names of different stances. We checked in with the instructor's assistant and she showed Canaan where his spot would be. He jumped right in and tried to follow along with the class and ran the drills to best of his ability. I'm excited to get him in to the tutorial as soon as I can so he can really keep up. He's really excited--next week they will order his Gi (the karate uniform).

My Little Chefs

I don't often feel like cooking much these days. I took the lazy way out tonight. I let the boys cook! I bought pre-made pizza doughs and had sauce and cheese on hand. They washed up and took turns standing on the "help-me" stool. They slopped sauce all over the dough...and the pan...and the counter...and me! They plopped and sprinkled cheese everywhere. Canaan was so proud I let him push the pan with the pizzas into the oven. I think they enjoyed watching them bake just as much as they enjoyed putting them together and eating them.