Yellow Belt

After a very intense two-hour test, Grace earned her yellow belt last night.  She had an excited cheering section:

And, boy, did she ever earn that belt!  She definitely got nervous, but she impressed us all by how well she continued trying and stayed focused the whole time.  The test was certainly harder than I thought it would be.  There was a "movement" section where she had to show that she had mastered white belt material, and then there was a "stamina" section, which quite frankly felt like just enduring the two hours was enough, but they also ran for four minutes straight, held the push-up position for a minute, and other such torture.  There were two kids (including Grace) testing for their yellow, two testing for orange, and three testing for purple, so lots going on.  She did GREAT.  We are very, very proud of her--but more importantly, Grace is very proud of herself.  She still just loves MP and can't wait to start learning yellow belt material.

She will be a yellow belt for a while now.   While she needed to attend 13 classes in order to test for a yellow belt, she will need to attend 26 classes to test for the orange belt.  There is also quite a bit more material.  And, she will be able to start sparring!  Wow.  She's excited and nervous to do that...  

After having taken off their current belts and getting ready for the belt ceremony:

Shaking hands with Mas Pat, her favorite teacher who taught her intro class:

Cutting her yellow belt with a machete-like Indonesian fighting knife (very cool):

The new yellow belt:  

We then headed out for some well-deserved dessert with Peter (who was a champ for making it through that big test!), Jenn, and Matt.  Grace got a strawberry tart (and shared some of my malt).  It was a good ending to a big night.  

Then, she woke up and played soccer today...  Whew!  

Sweet Dreams

This is how I found Anna sleeping tonight:

Cracks me up.  (And thrills me that I can take this pic with my ISO cranked way up and not use a flash!)

Good Night!  

Soccer!!!

It's soccer time again around here!  Grace actually had her first game last weekend, but I had to miss it to go to a Girl Scout Conference.  This week, there was no way I was missing it, though.  Grace was awesome--especially in the first quarter before she got tired.  She was much more in the game, blocking the ball, turning it around, and running with it.  It was so exciting to see!  The girls have moved up to U8 soccer now, so the field is bigger and they play eight minute quarters now instead of five:  much more tired girls!  Five girls play at a time now, though, instead of just three, so they're learning positions now, too.  Adam is again the coach--and thinks he may even need to buy some running shoes for practice and games!  He is a great, patient coach with some very excited girls who love to hug each other... often.  :-)  

In other news, Grace is testing for her yellow belt this Friday.  She is very excited, especially since we went to an open house on Friday and saw one of her teachers (the only woman) kick some serious ass.  Bahk Bonnie was seriously tough, graceful, and amazing.  Two of the highlights the girls can't stop talking about was when she was sparring with two men and totally took them down, even though they were "about a foot taller than her" (Anna's words), and when she broke metal with her head!  Not a bad role model for Miss Grace, eh?!  

Anna has started her two dance classes (ballet and contemporary dance both with Miss Beth) and violin.  Anna loves it all, and she's even started waking up extra early to practice a half an hour before school, so there is less to worry about in the afternoon.  That is working out quite splendidly, actually.  Her class of 35 was just split on Friday, since they hired a fourth 3rd grade teacher.  I think there are more like 25 in there now, which should help me sleep better at night.  She seems to like her teacher and is happy.

Grace is doing well in first grade.  She comes home tired, but happy, and is truly becoming a good little reader.  She is diligent about her homework and quotes Ms. Cotter often, often describing how nice she is.  She proclaimed this weekend that she was "sure [she's] going to have a good year in first grade."  She no longer seems to be kissing Conner on the playground, but is still his--and many other kids'--friend.  I helped in her classroom a couple of days last week, and even stayed to have lunch, and got to meet many of her friends.  

I'm still adjusting to my life without the girls all day.  I was kind of looking forward to some time to be bored, which really hasn't happened yet at all.  The days fill up fast!  I've gotten lots of doctor appointments taken care of (my eyes are doing well!), had a photoshoot up in Logan last week, am compiling pictures to finally update my website, and am hoping to finally paint our bedroom (a project on hold for the past 2 1/2 years!) this week.  The afternoon/evenings are completely packed with lessons, so it's so nice to be able to breathe and get some things done during the day.  

Looking Sharp

Thanks for the new clothes, Gramma!!!  The girls absolutely LOVE them--and it was cool enough today to wear the whole ensemble.  :-)  As you can see, they look adorable.  Anna wanted to be sure I fit the shoes in the picture, since those are her favorite part.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!