fun stuff

It's that time of year when you can't sit still. Too bad the weather didn't figure it out. Monday, both kids had gymnastics. No big deal until you throw in the fact that Corey also had softball scheduled at the same time as her class. I wasn't smart enough to tell her to go to early class. (That's what one of her team mates and fellow aspiring gymnast did). However, we got a call canceling practice due to cold! It's APRIL! Oddly, we'd skipped our previous practice the Thursday before because it was around the freezing point and Monday was quite a bit warmer. Oh well. Wednesday was karate, thankfully indoors. And Thursday was softball and again COLDER. We went there and I'd say it was a hair above freezing. All I know is that Amory and I played on the play stuff while we were waiting and I thought I'd shiver to my death. Amory is doing AWESOME at throwing and catching. We took our gloves out and played for a bit. Corey's softball skills are far from perfect, but guess what, she's hustling! I think that will make a huge difference. Then finally on Friday, Corey had karate. She's getting better at her kata all the time, but still refuses to test. The good news is that she asked to get the curriculum and wants to practice. I think she is wanting to skip belts. Good luck with that!

karate tournament

Well, Corey went to tournament. Actually, we all WENT, but Corey participated. She chose to do only 4 events. That's fine, we got home EARLY. She did strongest punch, strongest kick, fastest punch, and fastest kick. She didn't place real high in anything, but this year she didn't freak out. So, she did well in that respect. I asked her if she did her best and tried her best, and she said she did. That's all we can ask for.

One thing that pissed me off was that there was a man behind me yelling at his youngest son because he couldn't sit still in the stands while they were waiting. Guess what, NONE of the younger siblings could sit still. MOST parents knew that before hand, so we packed activities for the little ones. Not this family, they just yelled. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was when his older boy was competing, there was a small issue. His boy was NOT performing to the level that dad thought he should. Get this, the kid had THREE girls beat him. Honestly, this competition is supposed to be fun, each kid at least medals. I think as they get older, it MIGHT be harder for a girl to win (in fact in the older age divisions, there weren't many girls winning, but there also weren't many girls participating.) However, technique will win the "strongest" events. Now, if they are all using the same strike, sure the bigger guy will win. At nine all the kids are around the same size. The kids that won were the ones that did a better strike. I'm sure this poor boy was in trouble the whole way home. Oh, and it didn't matter to dear old dad that the kid was a green belt going against other kids of higher belt rank. MAYBE those kids that had been a green belt for awhile or even blue belts had a better technique.

Oh, and a parent of a child I know, I could see the parent getting on the kid's case. Little brother had been winning all his events. Guess what, IT GETS HARDER as you get older. Some kids get bigger faster, some kids learn new techniques. It just happens, and then there is the fact that the groups for the older kids are HUGE. Of course, they have this trade up system and if you get four first place trophies, you can trade for one tournament champion trophy and then you can also trade 2 of those trophies for 1 GRAND Tournament trophy. This family has all the boys put all their trophies together to get the tournament trophies. Poor kid wasn't pulling his weight.

softball

Corey got the info for softball. She can either try out for a new team or be on her same team. Of course she wants her old team, so that's awesome. I hope she enjoys it as much this year.

The evil one

(That would be Amory for those that don't know him).

Amory is now in a boys only class at gymnastics and is liking it a lot. They do things you don't see in the other classes. They go wild but it's usually a controlled chaos. Anyway, the boy loves his gymnastics class and his coaches.

Sadly, Amory has second child issues. He's never played preschool soccer, taken preschool music class or preschool art. In fact, he's only been in preschool since January. He'll have half a year under his belt when kindergarten starts where his sister had a full year. He recently told me he wants to play tennis. I'll have to look into that for summer.

He did go back to karate. He's not doing well with the sitting quietly part though. Sparring, he loves. We will see how it all works out.

Karate graduation

Corey had her graduation demo the other night for karate. She was a green belt blue stripe, and was hoping to get her blue belt. Well for the demo part, she and a couple other girls (another 3rd grader and her 7th grade sister) did some throws and such. They had a blast. Anyway, when they called her name, she got he same green belt blue stripe. I could tell by her body language she was devastated. However, sensei had said at any time during the semester if they had tape on their belt (meaning they needed to perfect just one thing) they could re-test. Normally they only test once a session. Well, she coped until the end. She came up to me, and burst. Of course, my baby was crying, so I had to cry too. Well, we talked about it, and she understood what she needed to do to get her next belt and she went off to help clean up. A brown belt came up her and told her she did a great job at demo. (Everyone looks up to Jessie, she's a highschooler AND almost a black belt.)

So, we are doing clean up and sensei asked Corey if she had anything she wanted to show him. She decided to go ahead and do it. She passed, but she doesn't get the patch for the thing she did (kata) until it's even better. But, at least she passed. Corey is a blue belt!!!

so

I haven't updated in months. MONTHS! That's because things are very calm around here this semester. All we have is karate for Corey and gymnastics for both of them. Corey still refuses to do her kata and I don't even know if she's been practicing it. A step in the right direction though is that she said that she plans on doing kata at a tournament sometime soon. That said, we didn't do tournament this year. Corey wasn't really motivated to do it, and ultimately, I wasn't forcing her. She does practice on the wavemaster a lot though.

Gymnastics is always great. Corey's come along way. Amory is a maniac on the trampoline. He's really learning so much in a smaller class size. I haven't decided what to do with him for next semester. Keep him in the preschool class or send him to the boys only group where he'd be on the younger side. I'll have to talk to his teacher.

Karate

Well, the kids just had tournament a week ago. Now they are really enjoying their class. The green belt homework is getting harder, but Corey is starting to do really well with it. She also now knows her kata! I'm excited. I hope she tells sensei she knows it so that she can test on it! That would be cool.

Amory knows his stuff, but can't focus.

Mid Summer update

Today was the last softball game of the season. It was so freaking hot today. Luckily, today was also karate tournament. That means legit excuse to not be in the heat! Summer tournament rules. Hardly anyone there, and it was so low key. Amory did very well, behaviour wise. He had alot of fun. He did the best at escape drill and had a big grin the entire time he was doing it. Sure, he got a medal, but he was 4th place, and it looked like he was the smallest in his group that time. Corey did really well too. She got third in strongest punch this time. She did great at sparring. She ended up losing her match, but I thought she showed so much imporvement. That's the important part.

Softball was so fun this season. The last practice was parents vs. kids. The kids really enjoyed it. I think most of the parents did too. Corey wasn't really wanting the season to end. There is supposed to be a get-together to get medals and such.

summer

So the kids are doing gymnastics while I'm at work. I guess they are doing well. Corey says that Amory is working on his cartwheel right now and that he's getting good. Neither one has been on the trampoline lately though. Anyway, they both are doing summer karate. There is a demo team that they are both interested in somewhat, Amory more so than Corey. However, his attention span just isn't up to par somedays. We'll see how long he maintains.

They both start swim lessons on Monday.

Corey's still in softball. The last game she was catcher and pitcher and did awesome. I didn't get pics though. I don't know why I didn't take the camera.

Here are some pics of the game before that. She did great that day too.

karate graduation

I'll put up pics soon, but anyway. Amory got his yellow belt. So excited. I can't believe how excited he was. We were leaving and he kept saying "I just knew I'd get it." Now he's set to spar. LOOK OUT! I told the big girls to go ahead and knock him down a few times. They said no because he was too cute. Damn teenagers. Anyway, Corey moved to green belt black stripe. She knows all the stuff on the curriculum, but she doesn't test well. She looks around and sees what others are doing. Too bad, she knows more than some of them! And kata, forget it. Corey was mad that her buddy Grayson got a higher belt than her. The thing is, Grayson actually worked on her kata. Now, I need to learn it so that I can get Corey to learn it. That's ok though.

presummer update

Well, karate testing is done and out of the way. The kids both feel they did well. Corey KNOWS her kata, but she doesn't do it for anyone. VERY frustrating, but that's her thing. It's like a preformance anxiety. Oh well. Amory is really hoping for his yellow belt so he can do sparring. I can't believe I have to buy my four year old a cup.

We got Corey's softball game schedule. Seems great. Her team is called the frogs. Pretty tough. She seems to like it though. Good times.

Gymnastics. Corey finally mastered the cartwheel. Impressive. She's come a long way! Amory, he got kicked out of class the other night. Nice stuff. Summer schedule came out, I'm sending them both to morning classes in the summer.

Ahh yeah

So, Corey started dance in March. It was a hip hop class. She ended dance in March. She decided this really wasn't her style. That's life. You can't like everything.

We got the call yesterday that softball is starting up. She goes on Tuesday for her first practice. I know she's ready to get going to that. Softball is a favorite of hers. Amory is going to sign up for blastball. That's what they do here before kindergarten and t-ball.

Both kids are still in karate and gymnastics. I'm impressed with Amory. Gymnastics is not too difficult for him, but he goes full force all the time. However, in karate, he acts up so I don't think that he's paying too much attention. However, he does know more than I thought he did. He's got all the defense moves, I think he's got his blocks and punches. He knows his kicks most of the time. He can NOT wait to get his yellow belt so he can start sparring. I can't wait for him to get his green belt so we only have to go to one session at tournament. However, he does love it, that's great. Corey is getting better all the time at gymnastics. I hope that she keeps the great attitude. In karate, she's finally getting her kata. She can do it, she just needs the confidence to do it on her own.

karate tournament

So, tournament (or tourmanet if you are 4) was great and horrible all at once. Amory's session (also attended by Tristan, Haven and another 4 year old friend of ours, Valdez) was interesting. In the first event, Amory was near the front of the group for strongest punch. Being the socialite that he is, he walked around and didn't cut to get his spot back, and ended up near the end of the line. I don't know that he would have gotten a trophy, but he definitely didn't. He got a medal and was so excited (you will ALWAYS get a metal at these events). He thought it was the best time in the world! Valdez got a 2nd place trophy in that event and that was wonderful! All the kids thought it fun. That continued until the 4th event...

Fourth event, it's getting to be later. For some reason, Valdez punched Amory. I have no idea why and I'm sure Haven knows, but at this point, no one cares so I didn't ask. Valdez had a freakout. I guess he thought he was in trouble. He refused to respond, then he just cried and cried. Their sensei came over and tried to seperate them and such. Valdez refused to finish fastest kick.

So, I went to get Corey's registration forms and Monica took Valdez to get the other two when they finished. Amory had a meltdown. Kenny couldn't go help because we had so much stuff in the stands (purses, cameras, etc.) Anyway, so she gets him out of there. Valdez settles down, does the last event. Amory never settles down, just keeps screaming "I want to lay down". He doesn't do the last event. I fall victim to my stress and tell him he owes me $6 but whatever. Haven said she was done and also doesn't do the last event.

Amory was fine once we were out the door. Tristan, you'll notice no mention of him. He was a trooper. Towards the end, they were calling seven year olds for their next event while they were still on the floor for the previous thing. He just went along. I'm sure he was stressed, but he was fine.

All in all, it was a fun time. The four year olds were VERY tired. But that's nothing compared to the older kids.

Anyway, keep in mind that we left town around 7 and were at the tournament with the white belts just after 8am.

So, Corey was registered for all events she could except kata and weapons kata. She felt that she wasn't ready and of course that's fine. We go through all the events. Strongest punch, she improved so much this year but earned a medal. I reminded her it was about doing your best and that she did beat her best, so no worries. Next event, strongest kick. I'm watching from the stands. As I see Corey approaching the bag, I decide to go down and take a few more pictures.

So, all the time Corey is in line for strongest kick, she's flirting with a boy. I'm thinking to myself, how are you EVER going to do well in an event where you aren't even paying attention. Well, she gets up there and kicks so hard I couldn't believe it! Ends up that she took first place. This is the first time she WON a trophy. She's brought trophies home, because they have a trade up system, but this one, she won all on her own, and it was a FIRST PLACE trophy.

She goes throught fastest fist and fastest kick. She isn't so good at these because she pulls back when she hears the signal. She does hit it hard though. She ends up with medals in both those.

Finally, she's called for escape drill. It's 5pm at this point. I know what time it is because I text message my friend that has Amory. I tell her only two more events, and she'd been called for one. All day the announcers were saying "we will be here until 8." SURE, that may have been the intention. At 6:30, she came off the floor on that event. She sat in line for 90 minutes! I was crabby, but I let it go. Then, one big kid got injured on this event and action was at a stand still. They got an ambulance and the kid finished his day with a ride to the hospital. Never has there been an injury that I've seen. He kicked the bag wrong and hurt his knee really bad. I feel so bad for this kid.

At 8:30, they get called for sparring. (there were kata events in between, so it's not that it took that long). She gets suited up for sparring, and off she goes. My friend that had Amory called and said just leave him. It's getting so late and the boys are fine, pick him up in the morning. THANK GOODNESS! I can't imagine how he'd act at this, he was so crabby when he left.

So, anyway, she finally gets up there to spar at 9:30. Sensei James was one of the judges and that made Corey happy. She got some good kicks in and did really well. She ended up losing that first round. If you lose your first one you are out. She was sent off to get her sparring award. Some of the judges were keeping the kids the whole time. Luckily James let his kids go.

Well, Corey gets out of there, looks at me and said, "I lost, I don't care." She was READY to leave. We leave the venue at 10pm.

Well, since Amory wasn't an issue, we ate and finally got home around 1am.


picture link password is karate

updates

Karate is going well. Corey usually does so much better when her buddy Jasmine isn't there. She goofed off at kata class so much it wasn't even funny. However, she's interested in learning her kata and also some of the harder ones. No, she couldn't test right now over it, but that's ok. Gotta keep practicing. They thought it was cool though that Sensei James's dad was at class Friday night. Kinda neat what's cool to kids. Corey is doing better in sparring, I think this setting this year is awesome for her. She doesn't seemed worried when she fights higher belts anymore (except the teenagers worry her). Gymnastics is the same old same old. I hope that there is a later class for the boys next school year. Amory would love a boy class.

Softball signups are out. Corey wants to stay with the same team. We'll see. I am NOT doing fundraiser though. We WILL pay the $100 instead.

karate kids

Amory is practicing all the time. Yeah, he's only a white belt, but he loves it. He can't wait until he gets to spar. Not long now (yeah, right).

Corey has been working hard. She has been working on her combos for sparring. It's a bit hard, but she has 3 out of 5 done and written. She actually enjoyed kata class, so I know that's a big plus. She's improved alot on her kata.

rock

So, Amory had his first karate class. He did ok except having to go to the bathroom all night. He was so excited. I'm not sure that I'll sign in as a parent helper unless it's for safe shield. Just depends on how he does. Last night was a long night because we have a lot of sitting around. Next week though, we will be at the 6:30 class for Amory (as well as Haven, Tristan, Valdez, and Angel). Then Corey's class is at 8. It's a longer class, but that's fine. I'm trying to convince her that the kata class is a great idea. We'll see. All she cares about now is the sparring class.

Oh, and on the gymnastics front, Corey's friend Aubrey joined and so now she has a buddy there.

so

Corey's been improving on her gymnastics. She has been practicing, and of course, she's been on the trampoline almost every day since christmas.

Amory, still wild, but awesome at gymnastics. Probably because he has NO fear!

Corey got her green belt white stripe. I know she tried really hard in her mind, I just need to convince her that if she only practices a day or two before testing, it's not the same as if you were that diligent the whole session. She's mad that Grayson knew the whole kata. Not my fault the 5 year old friend practices everyday.

Anyway, Amory starts karate this time! Just a week away! Should be great. I personally will be tired, but oh well.

bowling

The kids had their first bowling experience this weekend. It was fun. Corey wasn't too bad. Amory had lots of energy. Might have to take them again. Haven't thought about leagues, don't know how much the kids like it.

Ok, so the the repost, etc.

The long post talked about Corey loving her gymnastics class at G-Force. Amory has really taken a liking to it there and was begging to quit parks and rec to go there. He was doing awesome at parks and rec. He has so much fun on the trampoline and bars. He finished up the session and did great! I did promise him that he could go to g-force if he really wanted to.

Also, I mentioned Corey's karate tournament. It's always fun. Corey really improved. She participated in strongest and fastest hitting and kicking. She also did the escape drill. There were a ton of kids in each of her groups, so, it was really hard to move up to the top and in one group she got a 4th place finish and there was very little difference between 1st and 4th. Oh well, that's life. As long as she had fun.

So, on to NOW.

Amory is officially at g-force. He had his first class last night and was super hyper, but his teacher was fine with that. She just channeled it better. Amory has decided to be a cheerleader in college. The KU spirit squad practices when we are watching Corey. He doesn't care about her, he just loves watching those guys flip and the girls fly. He will be starting karate soon. He's really excited and has already picked up some of the stuff from his sister.

Corey had her belt testing. She thinks she did well. I hope so. I can't get her to practice, so who knows. I know her buddy Grayson knew the whole kata. Corey knew very little of it. As for the other stuff, I know she knew the lapel grab (for example) and she forgot kinda what to do AT the test. I peeked in and saw tears in her eyes. Hope she practices more. We talked about it, hope she remembers that in the future.

I made a long post

and it's gone. I'll do it again later.