Spring Updates

It is offically Spring, but, as my photos will mostly attest, it has not yet fully sprung here in Colorado! We have had a wonderful busy month of school plays, TKD testings, operas, surgeries and many other adventures. Here's a peek at the last four weeks of Moeller fun, not necessarily in any order! And here's to Spring ..... please come soon!

Sam is a Black Belt! (First row, second from Left)

Monday night, in spite of the blizzard, he insisted on going to his first Black Belt class.

Buds.

1950's Fellini Don Giovanni with Elvira (in purple). I'm on the far left (aka Waldo).

Minor eye surgery to remove an abcess. Sweet girl was a trooper and is healing beautifully.

Spring hike with SP! (and BF). Our 4th blizzard started the next day.  

Ted (L) and Sam (R) five years ago!

Playing in the snow. Do we live in Alaska? It's April!

Sam asked Ted to tie his black belt at the testing. So sweet!

Please come back, Spring!

Getting ready!

Sam and I are getting ready for our Black Belts! (Crazy!) Sam is a Red Belt Recommended now, so he has 3 testings to go - on his 3rd testing, in April, he will test for his Black Belt! (Though I think they are moving to Black Belt ceremonies, so he may have to wait...not sure how this will work.) I am a Brown Belt Decided now, so I am one testing behind Sam, up in June.

Just to clarify, once you reach Brown Belt, you take two testing cycles to advance. So the rank progression is Brown Belt Recommended, Brown Belt Decided, Red Belt Recommended, Red Belt Decided, and 1st Degree Black Belt Recommended (the Red/Black belt) and finally 1st Degree Black Belt Decided! Whew!!

In preparation, we have to complete the Nine Steps to Black Belt. Of course, I geeked out and made myself a binder right away, as well as a timeline to make sure I complete everything on time. I'm such a nerd.  I took my initial Fit Test in class on Thursday of last week, and let's just say I have lots of room for improvement!

I've also started on my 100 Random Acts of Kindness (3 down!) Starting tomorrow, I'm going to start adding in more push-ups and sit-ups (part of my Fit Test) so I don't completely wither away during testing. It will be interesting from January-May when I'm at rehearsals almost every night, but I'm exited! Should be a fun adventure.

Bring it!

Tournament

Ted, Mae and I had a TKD adventure this weekend. We drove to Littleton Friday afternoon for some black-belt only competition, and to watch our instructors mid-term. Then we spent the night at a hotel, with the fun swimming, breakfast and TV that my children l.o.v.e.

Saturday Mae competed as a Tiny Tiger while Ted helped out by time-keeping in the rings. We got lunch around 2pm and Ted's ring finally got going around 3:30. Of course, as luck would have it, MY ring was staged while Ted's was on deck.

That was stressful, but the worst was that my ring actually got going right when Ted had won one round of sparring and was about to do another round! He eventually took 3rd place in Sparring, which, with three State Champions in his ring, was quite a feat.

I was bummed to miss his second round, but had fun competing myself. I did my form as best as I could, but didn't place. I did get 3rd in Sparring (ha!) but there were only four of us sparring (out of the seven in the ring) so it's not quite as impressive as Ted's win. I did see that none of the ladies competed in Weapons, so I might as well do that next time! Automatic first place!

All in all, a great experience. This was Mae's second tournament and she did great. Ted is completely jazzed now and wants to compete at Fall Nationals in Orlando, FL. Not sure I can pull that off, but we're going to try. There are three more regional tournaments, and the four medals link together to make the Songham Star. Very cool.

The school's (new) main instructor, Mr. O, wants Ted to start schlepping to Fort Collins on Saturdays. There are three classes he can do, with other black belts his age. He could do a Black Belt class, an XMA class, and a Sparring class. He is very excited about that, though a little nervous too.

His dear friend Pete lives in Fort Collins, so perhaps we can tie a visit with Pete into the day. We're thinking to go twice a month, although if he actually is going to get really serious (you just never know - tournaments get Ted very excited) we may go more often.

Mae's soccer season starts up next week! Saturdays are going to be divide and conquer days! Bring it!

here we go again!

Pics!

Pics are up at moeltini !!

Black Belt!

This was amazing. It's like childbirth; all the griping and moaning I've done over the last 3+ years disappeared and I wanted to do it again. C'mon Mae, take TKD! It was a fabulous night. Ted was incredible. He was strong, confident, serious, respectful and full of JOY. Awesome.

He and Daniel did Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who got to be High Rank (the first in line). Ted won and for only the 3rd time EVER, bowed the whole school in. His voice was strong and confident "All students stand and face the flag!" (Yes, Sir!) "Chareut!" (attention) "Kyung nae" (bow). "Songham Spirit of TaeKwonDo! See jut!" (Begin). And then they all said the opening creed. It was so neat to hear his voice so strong - no wavering!

Then they all sat down in ranks and then he and Daniel had to pop up again to come out to the floor to do Songham 1. At our (small) school, the classes go through a rotation, since there aren't enough students to offer a class for each of the 10 belts. So the 3 lower ranks (white through yellow) all learned Songham 2 this rotation. Ted and Daniel tested out of Songham 1,2, and 3 and chose Songham 1 to perform for testing, to show their mastery of their low rank material. They were almost totally in sync, which looked cool. Ted's kiyaps (yells) were so strong (sometimes he is rather half-hearted about them) and he was very precise in his movements. So cool.

Then they sat for a LOOOOONG time while the color belts tested. Finally it was their turn and they did their form. They both did such a great job- so confident and sharp. Then they did their self-defense (scary, how quickly a 7 year old can bring a grown man to the floor!) Mr. D. asked Ted, "How old are you, Sir?" and Ted replied (in a very good yell, military style) "Seven, Sir!" "When is your birthday, Sir?" "March 5th, Sir!" Hee hee. Daniel just turned 8 a week or so ago, and they've been together since they were just 5 (thus the cute pic above.)

Then all the high ranks (Purple and up) broke their boards. Ted and Daniel had both a hand and foot break, first the palm heel and then a spin into a front kick. POW! Broke them the first time, no problem. Phew!

Next came sparring. Color belts spar without contact, meaning you can connect with your opponent but you're not meant to use any force - it's more for show. At Black Belt you move to contact sparring (i.e. let 'em have it!) The boys were so good! They both used lots of combinations and both had some great jump side kicks to the head. I was glad that they had all the gear on - it got rather rowdy!

Next the color belts received their belts and then everyone did the clap while Ted and then Daniel got their black belts tied. Ted yelled "I'm going to be a 2nd degree!" (you are supposed to yell "I'm a black belt" but he was inspired. Hee.) Then everyone backed up and he and Daniel had their candle ceremony. I've been to many and they are long, but this one was magical, as I'm sure it is to each black belt when it's their time. They receive their candle, bow to each of the judges (standing in for masters) and walk around the mat (slowly! fire!) while a tape of Master Lee, the founder of the American TaeKwonDo Association (ATA) plays, describing the beginning of Songham TKD and how it all evolved into what it is now. It's so neat.

Then we had a party! Laura (Daniel's mother) and I wanted to have a cake and we got a great one and lots of people stayed to chat and munch. It was a fabulous, wonderful night that I hope Ted will never forget. I hope the pride and confidence that came with this night will be with him for the rest of his life. Pics to come (courtesy of our dear friend Josh - it was sooo nice to not have to worry about taking pictures!).

Congratulations, Ted. We are SO proud of you!

FB is easier

Ted tested last night and competed in a tournament this morning. I quickly uploaded my pics from my camera onto the computer, exported them to Facebook, added a few comments and was done! But, then I felt guilty not posting here. *sigh*
I am in the middle (literally! ha!) of a special knitting project for a very special person in our extended family and have Sam's "maybe" rainbow blanket on the brain. When the kids have gone to bed and the house in cleaned up, this knitting thing is a very relaxing thing to do. Still, the blog must go on!

So, last night Ted tested for his Black Belt Recommended. This is a black belt with a red stripe on it, to signify that he is a recommended Black Belt, but not a decided one just yet. He did a great job testing, sparring and breaking boards. We are all so proud of him.

This morning we drove our to Littleton for THE BATTLE FOR THE MOUNTAINTOP Tournament. This is our 3rd year at this tournament and it's a well-run event. This was Ted's first testing as a K4K, not a Tiny Tiger, and the other red/red-black belts were VERY good. Very tight, very snappy, very LOUD. He did well, but will need to step it up to win in this new ring. Still, he had FUN which is the point. He and the other boys were good buds by the end of the day. He won 3rd in Sparring and 4th in Weapons, walking away with the remark, "I need to work on my weapons more." Good for him, taking the initiative.

We spent the afternoon putting up Halloween decorations and Ted mowed the lawn (!!). They played some soccer in the park near our house and had a very nice family dinner of peanut soup with rice bread - random parts of that meal appealed to different people. All in all, a busy but pleasant day with the family!

Oh. Plus I deleted all the images from my computer. All the ones in my Photo Library. Nice. Guess a trip to the Apple Store in on my plate for tomorrow. Oy!

Red Belt!

Ted tested for his Red Belt Friday night. He was awesome. His form is 44 moves long and he needed no help. He ROCKED. He broke his board in one try and sparred the pants off a 9yo opponent. But the sweetest thing of all was when Mr. D asked him "Why do you want to be a Black Belt, sir?" and Ted replied, without missing a beat, "Because I want to be a gooder person, sir." I mean, seriously. Could he BE any sweeter?! I could eat him up! He did so well ... this is his 4th testing with K4K now and he's totally on board with being a big kid now. In only 4 more testings he'll earn his Black Belt! Amazing. We are so proud of you, Ted!

Day 2 of Summer Break

Can you believe it is cold and rainy? Still? What an annoying start to summer vacation. Oh well. This week begins the Tri Babes training, and also my free month at Lakeshore. Because of the weather, it's very good timing! Monday morning I ran for 45 minutes on the treadmill (conveniently, our HHS House Band set is 45 minutes) and this morning had a half hour swim lesson and then spent another half hour on what I had just been taught. Interesting stuff, this swimming business. Tonight we had a strength training session, which was mostly talk and very little strength, but the coach showed us all how to do everything and she'll mail out the drill for us to do at home a few times a week. Nothing I didn't tackle with Jillian, so I'm good there, if in desperate need of improvement nonetheless. Tomorrow is a bike ride. So, while I'd love to go out on my new road bike with the peppy Tri Babes jersey, I'll probably just wake up early again and go over to Lakeshore. I thought I could do a 30 min swim workout (if I last that long...my legs and lungs are not used to it yet) followed by a 50 min spin on one of the stationary bikes. We'll see .. it was amazingly difficult to even walk when I got out of the pool today. I felt like jello. I wanted to sit in the hot tub for a treat but I was afraid then I'd really not be able to walk!

Yesterday the kids and I swam at the inside pool at Lakeshore and Ted had TKD. Today we swam at Paul Derda with Jack and Jason and then more TKD. Ted is ON FIRE lately with the TKD. He knows his entire form (46 moves) already (testing is on the 19th and he is usually still struggling right before) and is totally confident. He's like a new kid! It all started when he went to brown belt. My parents will be out for testing, so I hope they'll want to see him. It's pretty impressive to see such a little kid doing all that. He also has been reading up a storm. I think his confidence has shot way up lately. He's very in Dr. Seuss and read Cat in the Hat and the knock-off Ten Apples Up on Top today, all the way through. Tomorrow he starts a 10 day Reading Camp at Horizons with this teacher from K/1 and three other entering 3rd graders. He is the only entering 2nd grader in that group, so that's encouraging. It's only 2.5 hours long so it should be fun. Now, what to do with the other two in the rain! I had planned to bring bikes and play on the playground. Hmph. 

It's 9:30 and I am wiped. Off to bed. Happy Hump Day! (They're fun, but summer days are loooong!) 

Saturday

It has been a whirlwind around here lately. Friday I kept Ted home from school to recoop after a week of intense TKD practice. That night we both tested and advanced, so we are psyched. He wrote that goal for himself in January and is very pleased with himself for achieving it, a few days early no less. I think some other kind folks took some pictures of Ted for me, so I'll post them as soon as I get them.

Then this morning it was Consecration at HHS for the 1st graders. I missed the memo on dressing up (there was a picture, and we (the parents) presented the kids with their own little torahs) but as Wendy pointed out, Saturday morning in the temple probably assumes a step up in attire. Now we know.

After that, we had a quick lunch at O's, picked up Ted's GF DF EF cake, and headed over to the party. It was a BLAST. Miss Holland, Mr. D, little Mr. D, mini Mr. D, and Miss Lang kept the kids moving with tons of fun games. I think the hit was the obstacle course. After lots of games, lots of situps, and lots of "Yes, Ma'am!"s, they all had cake and a goodie bag. All his Horizons friends got together together and got him the Lego Miners Crystal Sweeper ... he is in heaven. He is also totally excited to ski with his friend Alex, who drew him the cutest Lego Miner card, complete with crystals. He bounced around the room for quite a while after reading that card, remembering the (little) terrain park and the one blue run they did last year ("This year we can do all blues!" he said.) An exhausting but fun day. 

I have tons of pics and am going to get them on flickr asap. Happy Birthday Party, Ted! 

P.S. Yes, his head is buzzed and ATA is shaved into the back of his head. Mrs. D did that. He thinks it is so cool. 

Top teeth are on their way out!

Ted lost a top tooth today (actually, Mr D's son pulled it out for him ... it was dangling and Ted couldn't pull it out himself.) The one next to it will fall out shortly. He is so excited. This is Tooth #5. Sam only had 4 teeth by 12 months while Ted's were all in, even the molars, by 9 months. Owie for Mama. 

Anyway! An exciting day! 

TKD was a bit more serious. Mr. D had a good talk with Ted and explained that, now that he is in the big kid class, he has to know the whole form. He knows about 3/4ths. Mr. D gave him the options: chill out, relax and stay a Blue Belt. No big deal ... it's not a problem, he simply doesn't have the whole form. Or, push hard and learn it all. Ted elected to push hard. (Literally, Mr. D said, "Do you want me to push you really hard?" and Ted said, "Yes. I wrote it on the board. It's my goal to have my Brown Belt by my birthday.") Wow! I didn't realize he even remembered that particular class, back in January, where they made goals for themselves and wrote them on the board, which hangs at the entrance. Alot of this is me; we don't do much TKD at home at all, just whatever he picks up in class. At his level, he really needs to be practicing at home too. Blah. In any case, the next 10 days or so should be interesting. If he pulls through and gets this done, I'll be impressed. And if not, I hope he doesn't take it too hard. 

In GF news, O's GF DF pizza is a hit with Ted, as are Noodles' rice noodles with the Japanese Pan Noodles sauce. We are trying to eat out less, but it's nice to know there are a few places we can go!

OK, top tooth #2, get out already, before Ted drives me (and his teachers) batty twisting it around 24/7! 

First Piano Lesson

I just love this picture. So adorable! Today was Sam's first piano lesson with Bestemor. To say it was sweet would be an understatement. And Sam had a blast. Which is the point! They started at the table, tracing his hands and labeling the fingers 1-5, writing LH and RH on them, etc. Then they played some Orff instruments, learning the proper way to put the mallets, or what-have-you, down afterwards (instrument care 101?) and then went downstairs to the piano. She showed him the groups of black keys and had him find all the 2s, all the 3s, then showed him where C and F were (1..2..C...1..2..3..F...) and had him find all those. He was very interested in the recorders so they did that too. Then they went back upstairs and did some more Orff instruments, had a snack and did some more drawing, this time of whole notes, half notes and quarter notes (not that Sam knew what they were, but she showed him how a circle can be a note, a circle with a line can also be a note and a circle colored in with a line can also be a note.) Kewl. When I taught piano, I only ever had 2 kiddos as young as Sam, and it was slow going. But they learned and they liked it. Sam wiggled "his 1's and 2s" etc for the rest of the day. Surprisingly, Ted already knew where C and F were on the piano (?) but was very interested in the finger numbers. I told Sam to teach him. Love it! 

Ted had his 1st Leadership class today, following his regular class. He loved it. They reviewed Songham I (which Ted learned when he was 5...it'd been a while!) and talked about SWAT (can't remember what it stands for but it means they can go into any lower rank class and assist, if they teacher wants them, or they can just do the class for review.) and about their GOALS for the next 90 days. Ted wrote "My goal is to get my Brown Belt by March 5, 2009." That's a very attainable goal! He was so jazzed to be there. Now I'm on a mission to lower the cost of the program. Mr. D agreed that if I could find the same stripe material, I could just sew the stripes on his collar rather than spend $150 on a new uniform. Can you say, heading out to the fabric store tomorrow? hee. We're also going to hold off on the new double weapons (same weapons, different color, and two of them. Why? I don't know.) Anyway, very cool. 

Everyone starts back to school tomorrow. Can you hear the whooping from where you're sitting? I love my children, but I really really cannot stand the constant fighting. No wonder I was an only child. Oy. Welcome back to structure! Hooray! 

Green Belt! and reading fun

Tonight at class I earned my Green Belt! Woo hoo! I've been stuck at Camo Belt for a while now, so it felt good!

Yesterday Ted brought home a book from school called "Power and Glory," a book about a boy playing a videogame, in a "in the house that Jack built" style. Sam loves hearing it. (Try to ignore Mae crying in the background. Heh.)

Blue Belt!

Ted tested for his Blue Belt today. This was his first testing as a K4K. He did the 1st half by himself, then had help on the 2nd half. We need to work on his confidence in doing it himself. Luckily, they are repeating In Wha 1 next cycle, so he should have no problem getting the 2nd half on his own. The big deal is learning how to keep going when you forget or are unsure. It's OK to stop and think, but not to lose focus. It's a lot like acting. "Don't break character" is the mantra. The same is true here. He did a great job though, for his very first time doing anything alone. A Blue Belt! Very very cool. 

The videos are of his self-defense and board breaks. Mr. D wanted him to do a jump front kick, but he had told him last class that he preferred to do a regular one. And then he did the jump front kick anyway! Rock on, big kid! 

more bullets?!

What can I say? Paul's been sick and we've had a crazy week! I PROMISE there will be pics soon. 

• Ted is testing for his Blue Belt on Tuesday. He is also going to start in the Leadership program in January. Notice the nifty striped collar and yellow patch. Kewl.
• I am testing for my Green Belt. Yikes! I can't make the testing (Xmas reh) so I'll do it in class next week.
• Paul's been sick again. He's on the mend now but this one was a douzy.
• The engineer from the warranty company is scheduled to come out on Jan. 14. I am annoyed that we have to wait that long for someone to re-do a report that's already been made, but whatever. If it's all covered, it will be all worth it! 
• Sam had a fabulous day at preschool today. They prepared latkes and ate them for snack AND played dreidal with real chocolate gelt. And Sam got gimel. So he got tons of gelt. He was talking about it all afternoon. Cutie. 
• Mae has been more ornery that usual. Hmm. Marilyn comes next Thursday for Mae's first EMDR session. Should be interesting!
• Our friend Epin received her referral for her baby yesterday! Pax is soooo cute! Hana Hu is very excited to be a big sister. The excitement is so strong for those of us watching them prepare...I remember how incredible the wait til travel is. 
• We've discovered a meal we'll all eat!! It's fish tacos. The kids eat the fish sticks, shredded cheese and tortillas separately while Paul and I make tacos complete with salsa/soy mayo sauce and cabbage. Truly delicious and easy.  

That's all folks! 

chipping away at the to-do list

Today was productive. After a leisurely run with Ole and the normal loads of laundry that I (try to) do every day, I made some headway on the house stuff. I spoke with the structural engineer that our neighbor used and he explained the process to me. So my job tomorrow is to call the warranty people and request they send this person out. This is how the whole shebang (minus deductible) will get covered. 

I also did some quick decluttering of random toys and the bags of clothes I'd culled in the previous months. They were all donated to Savers and I used their 20% coupon to get the boys some (new to them) PJs. I mailed out some more gifts to my parents too. I need to get the holiday cards done but I'm much more ahead than I've ever been. 

Other tasks for the week include looking into the cost of re-carpeting (I mentioned the patching concept to Marcia and she looked horrified.) and checking Home Depot for a replacement basement door. I guess a handyman might be in order for that one. 

Tonight at TKD Ted wore his new dobok. It's too big for him but he'll grow into it. It's much more official with the "Boulder TaeKwonDo" printing on it, and the 'big kid' patch officially sewed on. He was pretty excited about it. He is so well-behaved in class. I hope the novelty takes a long time to wear off. 

Tomorrow is Tuesday. Will Ted make it through the day, or will I have to pick him up from school? Hmm...

Tournament Videos!

Paul's home! Hooray! And so is my computer. And for your enjoyment, Ted's tournament videos. First, the weapons one. This one is pretty darn funny, in a cute way. The second is the sparring one; Ted is on the right. At the Tiny Tiger level, they don't compete, just "show their stuff" and they all get medals. Ted was one of 3 kids (all boys, hmmm...) who also competed in weapons.


Weapons


Sparring

Phew!

We survived! Friday after school we packed up and Cathy picked Sam & Mae up on her way home from work. They were so excited. Then Ted and I took Ole to Rob's house and we went to TKD for a Tournament/Sparring class. Then we drove to Littleton and checked into our hotel. Friends were there, so we ended up watching WallE with them, which was very entertaining. After a few hours of sleep, we woke up and went to the Tournament. Ted was a little shy but did a very good job on his form and then competed in weapons, in numchucks, and did great (doing a cool roll on the floor move that was hysterical. My camera seems to have died at that point so even though I took pics there aren't any to share.) More pics on flickr til I get my computer back.
An exhausting day, but a good one. Sam and Mae had a blast at Eve and Cecelia's house and apparently were very well behaved and not freaked out in the slightest. They were happy to see us and we played up at their house for a few hours before heading home. It's good to be home. What a crazy 24 hours!

movin' up!!

Ted tested for his Purple Belt today. This was his last Tiny Tigers testing (sniff!) On Monday, he begins the big kid class "Karate for Kids." I'm not too thrilled about the timing of these classes (his Monday one is from 6:30-7:15! He's usually in bed by 7!) but since he seldom falls asleep before 8:30, we're going to give it a whirl. We'll see. The other classes are at better times, 5ish, which will allow us to go home after school and chill a little bit, rather than killing time in Boulder. More pics on moeltini. He sparred with Charlie and Meghan. This video is with Charlie and then Meghan. Charlie is moving up too, so Ted will be in good company!




(Video is uploading and may not be available til Saturday morning.)

Ted Day

Wow, Ted and I spent a LOT of time together today! We started off with his testing at TKD. He moved from Camo Belt Decided to Green Belt Recommended. He did GREAT. Focused, attentive, respectful...it was great. He received a silver star for his Black Belt Behavior during Testing...he got one last testing too! He was so proud. Here's a video (Ted is on the far right):



and there are tons of pics on moeltini too. We watched the K4K and Adults test too, and then grabbed a quick lunch before heading to Zach's birthday party. Much swimming ensued, so he has got to be tired. He didn't want any cake (again) and instead played with the Legoes that were in the room. He and all the other boys! So funny. We went to dinner at Red Robin to celebrate and it ended up being a date, since Sam and Mae couldn't stop fighting. That always pushes Paul off the edge and they ended up going home instead. Ted and I had a great time chatting. Tomorrow is his last day of summer vacation! Crazy!! (And cold. And rainy. What is UP with this Fall weather?!)