Silly Girl

Mady makes waiting for her brothers after swimming lessons fun!

Purple Belt Test

Alex had his belt test for purple belt today. Here he is during his dagger routine.

Sifus addressing the class at the end of the test.

Everyone striking a pose!

Here is the video of his board breaking and self defense routine.

I feel compelled to say that the crazy lady yelling during the video is not me! Someone was very excited to be at the belt test. But Alex did a great job. In fact, after breaking the board (on the first try!), Sifu Sam checked his heel for foreign objects! We're proud of you Alex!

Zoo Day

Zachary has been wanting to go to the zoo, so we took advantage of the day off and went for a Zachary and Mom adventure. The lion was posing on the hill, probably one of the best views we've had of him.

Of course the giraffes are always a fun place to visit.

At the petting zoo, these little goats were standing on a near vertical wall. One of the keepers was up in a tree at the top of the wall cutting down branches for the goats to eat. These two were trying to get first dibs on the tasty treats. Later we saw another keeper cutting bamboo. Zachary asked her about what she was doing. She was so nice and stopped to talk to him about cutting the fresh bamboo for the giraffes. It was a great experience for Zachary!

Hanging out with the gibbons.

Thanks for suggesting a trip to the zoo Zachary!

Kindergarten Valentines

Mady and I joined Zachary's kindergarten class in a Valentine's Day celebration. Her friend, Christian, was on hand too!

The kids made awesome Valentine bags and had lots of yummy snacks while watching a movie. Before snack time, they gave out their Valentines. All of the kids were so excited to pass out their goodies!

The view from the back of the room was a little scary...all those eyes staring at us!

After school, we stayed to play on the playground with friends. Mady took a liking to this backpack. She walked all over the playground with it. The owner of the backpack was a little concerned about getting it back. But Mady is a good girl and gave it back when it was time to go!

Party Time

For Alex's birthday, we had a Kung Fu party with his friends from school. About half of his classmates attend this Kung Fu school, so it was almost like an extra class!

Mady was very excited to be included in the class. She is always trying to get out onto the floor, so when they actually let her, she didn't want to leave.

After a bit of circle time, the Sifus gave a skills presentation and then put the kids through some exercises.

Here's a look at Alex grabbing a dagger by the blade (you might be able to hear the other kids warning him) and Zachary getting his chance to knock out Sifu.

Everyone in fighting stance! After the class, we took a break for snacks and then everyone was back onto the floor for some free play.

Alex chose a space theme for the party. My fish bowls doubled as rockets!

And starry night cupcakes.

Hope you had a blast!

Movie Date

Alex and Zachary had their first movie theater experience today. We left Mady at home and braved the California rain (it's February, sometimes it rains) to see The Lego Movie! I purchased the tickets in advance and didn't pay close enough attention to the theater name. We arrived at the theater and the ticket taker looked at our tickets and said "We don't have the Lego Movie." Oh no! We were at the wrong place! Fortunately, the correct theater wasn't too far down the road and we made it in time to get popcorn and find great seats. Everyone enjoyed the movie and we've been singing "Everything is Awesome" pretty much non-stop!

Super Bowl Party

The Seattle Seahawks are in the Super Bowl! Gma brought us these awesome NFC Champions shirts to celebrate.

Grandpa made his special chili and we added some toppings and snacks.

By the end of the game, Mady had learned the signal for touchdown. By her count, the game was an even bigger blowout!

Happy 7th!

Happy 7th birthday Alex!

Alex's special birthday breakfast was cinnamon roll waffles with icing. Yum!

After breakfast, the boys headed to Home Depot for the monthly project. Alex was extra excited for this one since it was his birthday and the project was a race car. Then we all met up at the boys' school for the open house, but that's another post.
By special request of the birthday boy, dinner was spaghetti and meatballs.

 With delicious Coca-Cola cake for dessert!

Alex had wanted to spend the day in his jammies, but since we had places to be, he just returned to jammies as soon as possible! We had quite an array of attire for the present opening!

It is so fun to watch him reading his cards and knowing who the presents are from. We are so proud of him.

Open House

At this year's open house, the kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades sang a song together and then each class sang a song. Alex and Zachary were both excited to sing and did a great job.

After they finished singing, the were understandably parched. Then they led us to their classrooms to show us what they have been learning.

Zachary would like to grow a cat plant.

Alex had a paper on his desk, "All About Me". One of the questions was "Words I use for myself". Alex's answers were "Myself, me, self". I noticed some other papers had words like fun, smart, silly. Apparently Alex takes his work very literally!

I hadn't realized how complicated Zachary's Chinese name is.

These red chairs in the 1st grade room are a favorite of Mady's.

We briefly visited the 2nd grade classroom to see what is in store for next year. Mady was looking even further ahead and wandered into 5th grade. I think she liked it, she came out with fortune cookies!
Great job Alex and Zachary! We really enjoyed seeing all of your projects around the classroom and looking through your writing journals. You are both doing wonderful work.