We've Got Talent

***Warning****

Mother's bragging is to follow, proceed at your own risk.

Kade had his talent show this past week.
He was so excited, but very nervous because he hadn't practiced his Kata (fancy name for a form) very much.
He performed well, but did panic a little about halfway through when he temporarily forgot what came next.
He figured it out and finished up with a broken board.
He was so afraid he would hit it and it wouldn't break.
In the end, he was tougher than the board.
He did a great job, and I am very proud of him.
We have more practicing to do, he has been asked to perform in the whole school talent show as well as Annika.
It is a surprising feat to have two of my kids in the talent show. They only choose five children out of each grade to perform.
Nathan also participated in his talent show. I missed it because of a miscommunication with his teacher, so I don't have any video to post. He did a couple of magic tricks that my own kids were very impressed with. I am hoping to try to get him to do it again at home so I can post it.
I am so proud of all my children for conquering their fears to perform in front of such a large group, especially of their peers. That alone should deserve a medal, it can be frightening.

Here is Kade's video with the beginning cut off because my camera is not working very well these days. (I seriously have to open the battery compartment and lick the battery, then push the on button about six times to get it to turn on. I wonder what Burke will get for Father's Day :)

Red Dragon

Kade had another belt test on Saturday. He did fairly well, despite being nervous. The test ended up taking over 3 hours. Quite a long time for an 8 year old. He hung in there and made it to the end but was very tired when it was all over.

Here he is doing a form with his staff (bo): He also had to do several forms with his nunchuks:

They have to do some self-defense as well. Here he is doing overse wrist (I think): Don't mess with the little guy!



At the end of the test, the kids do some sparring with each other. Kade has a competitive streak in him. But no, we do not encourage Kade to beat up girls... Unless he is at Karate.
In fact, the parents of the girl he is sparring with here with jokingly told me they want to stay in touch because they would love it if Kade married their daughter.



In the end, it was all worth it...
We are pleased to announce the advancement of Sempai Kade to the rank of Red Belt in Little Dragons.
Congratulations! Good Work Sempai!

Brown, Baby, Brown

We are pleased to announce the advancement of Sempai Kade to the rank of brown belt.

Congratulations Kaders!

When a student advances, there is a little ceremony the senseis do.
Sensei Monica puts the belt up to her forehead, and says "I share my knowledge of Karate with you."
Then she passes the belt to Kade and he touches the belt to his forehead.

Then she touches it to her chest and says, "I share my love of Karate with you."
Kade touches the belt to his chest.
Then Sensei Monica ties the new belt on.
Kade bows to all of his instructors: Then he gets a certificate and a big cheesy grin:

This is a picture of Kade and his friend from class who also tested for brown.

Catching Up

I am still trying to keep things somewhat normal for the kids as Burke is spending as much time with his parents as he can.

I have taken the kids to the park, to the library, to the doctor, the grocery store, the movies, and to the amusement park (Burke came along for that one). Despite all the rain we have had lately--I thought we were back in Michigan for a while--we have had a lot of fun.

I let the kids run through the sprinklers and of course that requires jumping on the trampoline

Nathan and Kade challenged me to get a picture of them doing synchronized flips. Unfortunately, the only shot I got of Kade was his little backside sticking up behind Nathan.

For Father's Day, we had my family over for dinner. The weather was nice, so we ate outside and let the cousins go crazy.

Adrienne and her cousin played dress up while everyone was here and loved every minute of it.

Kade had another belt test on Saturday. He tested for his Brown Belt. He was so excited...and nervous. I was nervous for him.

The test took two and a half hours, but he did very well and we expect to see him awarded his new belt this evening when he goes to class.

Burke wasn't able to be there, so I braved it with all of the kids (they did great!) and took lots of pictures and video for Burke to watch later.

In other news, Burke was called as a member of the High Council in our new Stake yesterday. He is excited about his new calling, but will really miss the Young Men he worked with.

And, although I will probably be sick of it in a few weeks, I am excited to announce that we will be eating zucchini from our garden for dinner tonight! Yum?

He's A Mean, Green, Fighting Machine

We are proud to announce that Sempai Kade has now advanced to the rank of green belt in Karate.

Congratulations Kade!

Weekend Warriors

The Men

The Machines

That's right, it's Pinewood Derby time again.

Nathan's car was fast, but not fast enough for first place this year.

There is a special race just for the dads in our ward. The dad cars don't have to adhere to any of the rules, so anything goes. Burke actually put in a little motor from one of Nathan's RC toys that got demolished. He hooked it up to his rear wheels and burned up the track. I could almost hear the grunting from across the room.

Next year there may be three cars for daddy to work on, as Kade may be able to participate.

**************
Kade was the ultimate warrior this weekend.

He took his belt test to progress from purple to green.

In case you are wondering, the ranks go like this: white, yellow, orange, blue, purple, green, brown, red, black.

He tried really hard and did very well. There were lots of things for a 7 year old to remember. Some of those forms can get complicated.
He will find out if he is going to be a green belt on Monday...

Mini-Vacations

This week was lots of fun. We took an impromptu vacation to stay at Burke's parents' timeshare. We found lots of things to do there, especially catching up on relaxing. There was a beautiful pool and some hot tubs as well as some outdoor activities. The best thing was that the boys had their own room with their own TV, which meant that the kids woke up and watched TV for a while before they came to wake up Burke and I claiming they were half-starved. I also got to do some back to school shopping for the kids (oh yeah, we are counting down).
In other news this week, Kade advanced to a Little Dragons Purple Belt. He was thrilled and is eagerly awaiting his Black Belt which he is sure will be coming up very soon. His karate teachers want to try something new with the kids, called sparring. If you know what that is, you might be a little worried. The kids basically fight each other. The point is to teach them how to use the things they have learned in class in a practical application. In order to spar, however, you must have protective gear which includes a helmet, mouthguard, mits, and foot coverings. Boys also need an extra piece of gear, which Kade didn't quite know what to make of.
This is Kade getting his new belt in the little ceremony they do for the kids who advance.

Fun in the Hot Sun

We spent Friday at the local amusement park in connection with Burke's job. We dropped Adrienne off at Grandma's and took the older kids with us. We had lots of fun playing BINGO (Burke won as a part of the biggest loser round they were having). We also finally have kids that are big enough to go on the really fun rides (aka rollercoasters). I am grateful to have some buddies who have stronger stomachs than Burke does. We took them on everything at the beginning of the day, but after the shift changed in the evening and they had new people measuring, Annika didn't make the cut by an inch. We are going to try to go back this weekend and make sure Annika has really thick soled shoes on, and maybe some big hair. We did have a few mishaps during the day, including Burke overdoing his ride quota and getting sick after being there for a few hours. Kade took it upon himself to kick a wasp's nest and was stung, and Annika and Kade mixed it up and ended up doing face plants into the asphalt. Despite these setbacks, we had a great time and didn't leave until after 10 PM.
Saturday morning was the big belt test for Kade to progress from a blue belt to a purple belt. He was so nervous and excited that he forgot some of what he needed to know. We will find out tonight if he will progress when he goes to class. He is really looking forward to it, but we will have to see what they say after his performance at the test on Saturday. These are some of his moves...He is the second from the left.