Daddy’s New Belt

Watch out future boyfriends of Zoe Madison, Daddy’s got a brand new belt.  Color: black. 

Yes after 2.5 years of training 4 hours per week, the big day happened this past Saturday.  Lar tested for his 1st degree black belt in Shorinji Kempo Karate.  It was a big day and my parents, myself , and Zoe got to be witness to it.  I don’t have great pictures because I was too busy taking video so Lar could watch it back later to study his techniques.  He really did break to 2 boards you see him holding in one of the pictures.  We have them as a keepsake and Zoe is “practicing” for her test too.  LOL.  We have told her that she can start karate at 5 (really it is 4, but she is so small, we told her 5) and after seeing what karate really is, she is super excited to be old enough.

You have to present your old red stripe belt to your family, so here is Z holding Daddy’s old belt.  She clapped when he broke the boards and yelled “I’m so proud of my Daddy!”.

 

And lastly, here is Lar with his teacher, Master Scottie Hartsell.  Yes that really is sweaty grossness all over Lar’s gee.

Spring into Fun

April has brought on some welcomed warmer weather and that means some time outdoors.  Her class went on a field trip last week to Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens where they listened to a guided tour of tropical plants, planted their own plants, had a picnic lunch, and just generally ran a muck like 4 and 5 year olds do.

This are 2 of her best buds at school.  Henry and his mom (on left) and Julian (on right).  Julian and Zoe are so cute together.  He lives down the street from us and they love to have play dates together.  On a recent one to McDs, Zoe leaned over an kissed his shoulder and told him that she loved him and this past weekend at a park play date he drew her a picture of hearts and flowers and wrote “Luv u, Julian, To Zoe”.  You better believe that is one for the keepsake book.

 

And the little girl beside Zoe is Jordan, or better know to our family as Zoe’s Sissy.  She is going to go to public school next year so Z will be heart broken. 

 

Zoe proclaiming to be the “Captain”on a rock at the park and then Zoe and Julian on their park play date.

And lastly our attempt at Easter Egg decorating.  She helped dye them and that is pretty much where the interest faded.  I think we may have gotten 2 decorated before they were abandoned on the kitchen counter where they still sit.

Sean’s Birthday

We had a recent trip to the great PA where we were greeted with Zoe having a stomach bug (7 loads of laundry and 10  viewings of Monsters Inc was the cure), a freak loss of water due to electrical power failure of the pump, and 2 snowfalls totaling about 8 inches.  On a fun note, Sean turned 11 and we all headed out for a bowling party.  I did better on the lane with the bumpers (without using the bumpers) that I did on the adult lane, by a long shot.  Zoe had several strikes!  And she looked super cute in her new outfit from Aunt Shannon.

 

Random Shots

Can you tell I am catching up?  Here are just some random shots from the past few months.

Birthday Celebration

We held Zoe’s birthday party at Acrofit in Mooresville.  They are a facility that trains dance and tumble team so we knew it would be the perfect place for 3-6 years old to run off some serious energy in the middle of January.

And at school instead of a “party”, they have a celebration of life.  We are supposed to come to the class and bring a picture from each year of her life.  We tell a story or fact about her at that stage,pass the picture around and they circle the world (her friends sitting in a circle) while holding the Earth.  They sing a song about the Earth going around the Sun each time she ages during the story telling.  Sound a bit strange I know, but they really seem to like seeing the baby pictures and hearing about their friends.  Then of course they have a “party”.