Music Maestro

Every spare minute of our free time this month has been spent cleaning out the old main building of the church in anticipation of the move...

Caleb decided to provide us with some background music while David & I worked on cleaning out the choir room :)

Lesson Learned...

Josiah has had his glasses for a little more than a week now. The eye doctor had told him that he didn't need to wear them all the time unless he felt like he needed them - just when he was looking at the board, etc. So Josiah began the year by taking them off quite a bit...would leave them in his desk when he went to lunch, recess, related arts, etc.

Well, this particular Wednesday he came off the bus and said he had a headache....he fell asleep in the car on the way to AWANA and I kept him with me in the choir room instead of going to TNT. He put his glasses on to read a book and in about an hour, he said his headache was all gone. I told him that it was probably eye strain - he probably needed to wear his glasses more because without them, he was making his eyes strain to see things, creating the headache. Since then, he's been wearing his glasses more and have had no more headaches :).

Calling Tutu...

They would definitely fall under the "hang up your cell phone and drive!" category!

Kids' Choir Kickoff!!

Our OFFICIAL kickoff to M&Ms was LAST Sunday, but because I was leading the parents meeting, this was MY first week with my kids! I was SO excited to finally get my hands on those sweet little children - I could hardly wait!!!

I got to finally make the BIG reveal - the name of our Christmas musical - and share bits and pieces of the songs and drama for them to hear. They are so cute and always SO excited!

Part of the story line in the drama this year is that the kids are going caroling door to door to drum up support -the mayor has told them they can't do their pageant in time square because it's a re-election year and he doesn't want to make the voters mad. So they go caroling to several different houses and encounter some interesting perceptions and confusion about what Christmas is REALLY about it. So I had the kids decorate graham crackers with frosting and candies like "doors" - sort of a scaled down version of a gingerbread house - while we were listening to some of the songs.

It was a HUGE hit - and was so adorable to see how they did them differently. Some decorated them very specifically, some just wanted to pile on as much frosting and candy as they could! :)

The 1st & 2nd graders

The 3rd - 5th graders

The youngest choir - 4 years old - Kindergarten

I'm so excited for the semester to begin! We have some super special things in store!!!

Northside's Prayer Walk

While I was with Jacob at his karate rank test, David and the other kids headed up to Northside to pick up their doorhangars and head out on the Prayer Walk. The church scheduled three of these over the summer to distribute doorhangars in the neighborhoods surrounding our new church property. It was a way to not only invite our "new" neighbors to come join us at our grand opening worship service on 9/11, but also enabled us to pray over these neighborhoods and for these families.

David said the kids were surprisingly helpful :) and did a great job!

It was a HOT summer day, but they seemed to understand the purpose for being out there and did a great job with David!

Jacob's Rank Test - BLUE Belt!!!

On Saturday morning, David and 3 of the kids headed up to Northside for the last our 3 prayer walks that were scheduled over the summer. I hated to miss it, but Jacob had a rank test scheduled for the same time. So he and I headed to the dojo. He was a little nervous - he was testing for his blue belt, and as he advances in rank, the tests get a little harder. I think he was also nervous because it was the first test he was doing on his own. (Jacob & Josiah have always tested at the same time...but Josiah is already blue and it will take another several months before he advances now that he is at the intermediate level).

Sensei was giving them "the talk" - about doing their very best, about how they have learned everything they need to know and are prepared, etc. Part of what I love about Fortress is that he really does make them work hard - so that they feel as though they have really earned it and accomplished something! It's not an easy thing!

Before EVERY class/test - he always has the kids jump up, try to touch the ceiling, and say "I'll do my best!" Alright - time to head out for the run!

The first part of the physical test is to run a mile within 12 minutes.

Jacob led the pack and finished 2nd - even beating out a LOT of the older kids! And he had a HUGE smile on his face the whole time!

Proud of himself for finishing the run (he's always most nervous about that part!)

Doing his kata...

He did GREAT! It was not an easy test, but he passed and did very well. Goodbye orange belt!

Hello blue belt!!!

Giving the new blue belts a talk about how they have graduated to a new level in karate now, they will have more expected of them, more responsibility, etc. Such a good thing!

Jacob and I took advantage of it only being the two of us and went to have lunch together! He had a free kids meal coupon from the library reading program to use up, and I even let him order dessert. What a special morning celebrating my sweet Jacob. Way to go Jacob - SO proud of you!!

He's DEFINITELY my son!!!

See where I found my baby boy? Climbed himself all the way up onto the kitchen counter to get to the peanut m&ms....and he looks pretty proud of himself too, doesn't he? :)

Brace Yourself - I'm Back!!!

It's going to be a doozy....because this blog post is going to be dated 8/24/01 and yet it's ACTUALLY 10/8/11 - which means I am way behind...again. The last 6 weeks or so have been pretty much insanely crazy....and any spare second we had was spent collapsed in exhaustion for the most part. So here we go - anyone miss me??????

On Behalf of his Brother...

Remember how Jacob lost one of his front teeth last night? Well, this is what David found when he went to leave the $1...(you might have to click on the picture to be able to read it)...

We were dying laughing! We've never "done" the tooth fairy - they know we come and put the money under their pillow. But apparently they were going to try one last angle to get a little more money this time...other "tooth fairies" apparently leave alot more than $1 these days! I thought it was hysterical that Josiah was trying to aid his brother on this one! :)

Saturday night with Dad

On Saturday night, I took the younger two to a birthday party for one of Caleb's friends that just turned two. When I got home, I found out that David and the big boys went out to dinner! Cute picture right? Too bad all I can think about when I see it is that David took them to Ruby Tuesday...where I have about 20 coupons for at home...and yet paid full price because he didn't take a coupon. Sigh.