Danny in his gear
Listening carefully to his instructor
"en guard!"
So far (after 2 classes) Danny really enjoys fencing. There are a lot of rules, and as his instructor said today, "this isn't Star Wars." But it's the closest he can get! The classes are 1hr 15min once a week, so it isn't too intense (like karate, which was 3-5X/wk). As you can sort of see, the class is made up of all ages - there is one guy who must be in his upper 60's at least, down to an 8yr old - but it doesn't intimidate Danny. They sometimes choose their partners and sometimes are paired randomly, and he doesn't seem to mind either. I also signed him up for the after-school bowling league, which starts next Wed. I hope he likes that as well, because it goes all year until the middle of March! The league is city-wide, so there will be kids from other schools there; I don't know who else is signing up from our school, so there's no way to request a certain team. I hope he likes his teammates!
While Danny was at class, Katie played on the playground outside. Even though the gym set is designed for younger kids, she found enough to occupy her time. Here is a video of Katie doing something I could never do in my whole entire life:
(I will try to fix this so it's right-side-up!)
So far (after 2 classes) Danny really enjoys fencing. There are a lot of rules, and as his instructor said today, "this isn't Star Wars." But it's the closest he can get! The classes are 1hr 15min once a week, so it isn't too intense (like karate, which was 3-5X/wk). As you can sort of see, the class is made up of all ages - there is one guy who must be in his upper 60's at least, down to an 8yr old - but it doesn't intimidate Danny. They sometimes choose their partners and sometimes are paired randomly, and he doesn't seem to mind either. I also signed him up for the after-school bowling league, which starts next Wed. I hope he likes that as well, because it goes all year until the middle of March! The league is city-wide, so there will be kids from other schools there; I don't know who else is signing up from our school, so there's no way to request a certain team. I hope he likes his teammates!
While Danny was at class, Katie played on the playground outside. Even though the gym set is designed for younger kids, she found enough to occupy her time. Here is a video of Katie doing something I could never do in my whole entire life:
(I will try to fix this so it's right-side-up!)
If you know my family at all, you'll know that it's hard to believe she actually came from my womb! (We have always firmly believed that no girls should be able to do stuff like this-since we couldn't! lol)
This weekend, my twin sister came out to visit with 4 of her 7 boys. It was the eldest's birthday, so we went out to CiCi's Pizza, and had a yummy cake which I decorated with Cars (the movie) cars. He's 13 - a teenager! My older sister has a 17yr old girl and a 15yr old boy, but somehow this one's birthday hits home harder - I guess b/c his mom and I are twins. She and I also did some serious used book shopping, plus a trip to the library. We are book addicts, lol! There are a few authors that we both love, so one or the other of us is trying to get all of her books. G is working on Mary Balogh, and I on Lynn Kurland. I also have a good selection of Eloisa James, but I'm not trying for all of them. If I can get them, I really want all of Karen Marie Moning's Highlander series, but they are hard for me to find. (I need to do used, of course - Amazon is for cheaters! lol) Her boys are mixed in their reading likes, but while we were at the library, they all went for Foxtrot and Calvin and Hobbes. Danny especially likes to read them there, since I almost never let him take them home. (No, I'm not a meanie, it's just that when he does, it's all he reads for the entire 2 weeks that he has them. Deprived of these comics, he'll actually read brain-enhancing material!) Her one son, however, fell asleep! He looked so cute there, sprawled in one of their comfy chairs. And no, it wasn't the baby! lol Here is a picture of Jacob, sitting happily on Mommy's lap.
Isn't he adorable? Every time DH sees him, he gets this gooey look in his eyes, but I just look at him (dh, not the baby, lol!) and say, "NO!" We are sooooo done. I value my sleep way too much to voluntarily go through babies again. If God were to decide our family needed a new member, we wouldn't be devastated, but we're certainly not planning on having another!Last Tuesday, my kids' school hosted a skating party (the PTA does this about 4 times a year). Katie always loves to go - she even got a pair of Barbie roller skates for Christmas last year - but Danny has no interest, so he stayed home with Dad.
Here are Katie and her friend Lizzie:
They convinced the dj to let them do karaoke for one song - and they picked "Crazy Frog" (what, does that have words? I guess so!). Here they are in the booth with another friend who weaseled her way up too.
Katie is such a drama queen; this was right up her alley! Her fantasy is to become the next Hannah Montana, if Disney ever made anther show like that one. She has a good voice, when she's not trying to be as loud as she can. And she's constantly making up songs!
This week has been an interesting one for Murphy. On Mon., he was alone in the house while I was at the YMCA, and dh was in the garage working out. I guess he missed me, because he chewed up one of my slippers! Grrr. Oh, well, my fault for leaving it where he could get it and for leaving him alone in the house. Then on Tues, we went to Marc's, and without warning, he pooped in the produce section. Ewwwww, gross!!!! I was soooooooooooooooo embarrassed. But what could I do? I really needed to go shopping, and there wasn't another time for me to come back, so I had to finish (after notifying mgmt, and taking the dog outside, of course). How humiliating. On the good side, he knew he was in big trouble, and behaved perfectly for the rest of the day. Then today, I decided to try taking him down to the beach, since the weather is just gorgeous. He's never been on sand, and judging from his reaction to the hose he doesn't like water much (and he's a pure bred lab - go figure!). Well, he did fine on the beach, although he was a little leery of the waves, with the sound and all. After a while he relaxed, so I worked our way back and forth getting closer to the water. Eventually, I was close enough to stick my toes in, and I tried to get him to do the same. On the 2nd try, he did, but when the wave moved up and back, he all of a sudden freaked out, running in circles as far as the leash would allow, until he pulled me off balance and I landed on my rear end! Thankfully, the sand cushioned my fall, but it was the wet sand by the water, so my budinkus was soaked - and full of sand. And I didn't have time to go home to change before I had to get the kids from school! Uck!
That's it for this week!
