Yellow belt!

The mamataxi has been very busy the past few months taking our little ninjas to Karate. It has been an interesting process to observe. It all started with Emma's BFF, Anna, inviting her to "buddy" week. Ben wanted to go, too, so his friend, Kai, invited him along (they are all in the same class). I have since learned that if you attend a buddy week class you are pretty much sucked into joining - not in a bad way though!! This class is so good for the kids (physically and mentally) and the instructors obviously love what they do and do it well - that you can't NOT let them join!

Emma - who is a moxie filled young lady around the house is so FOCUSED in class. It is a fascinating transition to watch! While we still battle at home, it has actually gotten better - partly because we hold her accountable to the mental toughness she is learning in class and partly because I can threaten not going to class when she is occasionally wicked.

Ben started off all gung ho, but his enthusiasm occasionally wanes and I have to really work hard to get him out the door. Once he is there he has a fantastic time. He is STILL the class clown and it gets him warnings (sensei is trying to help him understand the difference between "having fun" and "being funny"...). Warnings lead to time outs which lead to the loss of your belt until you earn it back. He has only been in time out once for his silliness - I'm hoping that cured him!

They have been going 3x a week for 45 minute classes for about 3 months now. Guess what I JUST REALIZED - I can drop them off and run three miles and be back before they are finished! WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG??? Probably because two of my favorite local mommies are karate moms, too, and I actually enjoying hanging out and yacking with them! Such a trade off - adult conversation vs exercise... what to choose? ;)

They tested for their YELLOW belts on Wednesday. It was a big group from a two different dojos testing. All the kids were respectful and focused with their eye on the upgraded belt prize.

Listening to instructions.

It was quite a physical test - and they were good and sweaty. Both passed with flying colors. Phew!

Ninja Emma

Ninja Ben

Don't let this picture fool you. They were ECSTATIC!!

I like your belt!

We are very proud of you, Emma! She practices every day, too!

Orange next!

Very proud of you, too, Ben!! He kept his silliness in check for the bulk of the testing.

Class Clown

Karate besties! (minus Kai...)

Friday Happy Hour

Daddy called in his Father's Day gift two days early deciding he wanted to take Ben out on a charter boat fishing. We gals decided to make an evening of our boy-free time and walked down port. We hit up the library stocking up on more chapter books, then Lainie's Way for some birthday gifts, C'est Cheese for an appetizer, ice cream for dessert:

Rocketship Park for some play:

The fountain to make some wishes: 

Dinner at the Steam Room (YES, I know we already had dessert but girls can do whatever they want!):

Then we walked back up the giant big hill home. A very fun and satisfying evening!!

While we were making rounds, daddy and Ben were fishing up a storm. They caught a bunch but this one caught by Ben was the only keeper - a 19 inch fluke. Ben was thrilled asking, "When are we going to soufflé the fish?" Can you tell daddy watches a lot of French cooking shows??

Makers Festival Fun

Blog

Joys of June

Life is blowing by. We have three more weeks of school then SUMMER! I have no idea where the time goes... Daddy and I have been working hard and it's really paying off. We have surrounded ourselves with some extraordinary people in the office and we are not stopping any time soon. We rewarded ourselves after a particularly good month at our favorite sushi place. Em loves sushi and Ben even tried some salmon. Hooray! He's actually been taking nibbles of new foods lately. And, we can now add barbeque sauce to the short list of things he will eat. We are very proud.

Our Sushi Model

Forever Daddy's Girl...

Summer is close, so there are constant requests to go for ice cream... Every once in a while we concede!

Cotton candy vs soft chocolate

While I was in LA last week, daddy bathed the kids in the sprinkler. That's what Daddy's do!

"Synchronized sprinklers?"

Our little man's reading and writing has come a long way. This kid is a spelling machine.

Writing his teacher a thank you letter.

Daddy took some of our best guys out on a fishing charter off Orient Point Friday and came back with a whole lot of this kind of goodness!

Delicious Striped Bass

The race to 100 and a trip to St Maarten (the Dutch side) at the end of Summer? We are ALL IN!!!

Let the games begin!

Today was Em's last lacrosse game of the season. That means we can start sleeping in on Sundays again!!! And the return of Sunday Snuggles... :)

She stuck with Goalie all season.

Mother's Day in PJ

For the 1st time since moving back east we decided not to go to PA for Mother's Day / Grandpa's Birthday / my birthday - instead choosing to celebrate the day at home. I gotta tell ya, I see a lot of these stay in my own home happening this year! It was the most relaxing day even though we did a ton of stuff!

The kids were excited to let me "sleep until 10 o'clock" then serve me breakfast in bed. Somehow Ben got the time mixed up and at 6:45 came walking into our bedroom announcing at the top of his lungs, "Happy Mother's Day!! I brought you breakfast in bed! But I couldn't find the bacon so here is a muffin and an akmak cracker!!" He was so proud of himself and Daddy and I were giggling up a storm. (See pic)

He also gave me tons of presents. Ben is awesome at wrapping random things we have lying around the house and regifting them. I got lots of angry bird toys and a few minions! He did create our entire solar system our of clay. I need to get a pic of that because it's truly fabulous. 

Daddy and Emma went a more traditional route and I got this awesome gift basket. Happy mommy!!

I squeezed a 30 minute run in after my spectacular breakfast then hit the back yard and planted all the flowers from the PTA plant sale. I don't have a green thumb so I'm praying grandma Ruth is watching over the plants while they take route!!

We then HAD TO go to the beach and do a little fishing. Nothing is biting yet, but as you can see from the pic, it was a beautiful warm Spring day and the water is starting to warm up a degree or two. I'm sure the fishes will return soon. 

We then hit up an outdoor restaurant for dinner - delicious. I had fish tacos that were mouth watering good just thinking about them. Star photographer, Emsadoodle, snapped this rare pic of mommy and daddy together in a pic!

We had a calamari appetizer and BEN ATE A BUNCH OF RINGS. Seriously, our little boy is finally trying news things - you know, one new thing every other month! But I'll take what I can get. :)

And, of course, we had to christen the ice cream stand as the weather was too perfect to go home just yet. The Before:

All in all, an amazing day. I am grateful for my family!! The After:

Plant Sale

Spent the day at the school working the cash box for the Pta plant sale today. Ben's class shopped in the afternoon and he was cracking me up. I gave him free reign of the hallway saying he could pick ONE plant. He came back with spearmint, thyme, and a purple verdana with a world's greatest mom stick in it. 

How does a mother turn down herbs and a pretty flower now?

I didn't. He described his choices: this one (thyme) is for me because it looks like a forest. This one (spearmint) is an early Father's Day gift for dad (I swapped it for oregano when he wasn't looking) and this one (purple) is for you!

Too cute, this kiddo!

Growing pains

Soooooo, the bunch has graduated from cartoons to Disney tween TV. Part of me is sad, and part of me doesn't want to admit that most of the shows have a good message. But mostly all of me is annoyed because Disney channel unlike the cartoon channels has commercials. Argh. We were in Walmart today and Ben said with enthusiasm, "Mom, you should buy Cascade!! It gets your dishes the cleanest!!"

Art Show 2015

Wowsa. Are you confused? Two Bens! Can you even tell which one is the real Ben? Serious self portraiting!!! Tonight was our school art show - which basically means the rest of the school year is going to fly by. I was once again beyond impressed with what the classes learned in Art. Our teacher is a total stud and will be absolutely missed when he retires in two years. Witness more of the magic: 

Sunday mornings

We've NOT been sleeping in on Sundays lately missing out on "Sunday Snuggles" - but it's for good cause, fresh air and LACROSSE! Our super LAX girl is loving being goalie and she is pretty good at it. Our team is made up of K-2 girls of all stages of early lax learning. It's pretty funny to watch considering we are playing against school teams of all 2nd graders who have been playing for a bit. At practice Em plays offense and she is pretty good. As much as I like her in the goal, I think our team would fare better if she spent some time on offense. Oh, well. We will see. Look how fierce she is: 

Holy Moly Anna

Em's BFF celebrated her Holy Communion this past Saturday with a party afterwards at her grandparents home. It was the perfect Spring day and a great day to test out my new camera. Nice crisp clean lines!! 

Her little bro, Sam, just happens to be Ben's BFF so it makes for good fun for the entire family. Class clown strikes again...  Like his spiky new hairdo??

The food was yummy but the chocolate fountain was a huge hit. I have no idea what Ben is dipping, probably his entire hand and then licking it off...

I'm not sure when Em turned into our earth / hippy girl - but she was born in CA so I guess it is to be expected. I'm happy to report she loves wearing her hair in braids or a pony tail these days - keeps it out of her face and knot free. Hahaha - I lied, it is still constantly falling in her face and Rasta knotty. We cannot win with her luscious locks. Yummmmm, chocolate bangs...