Trying something new

Last week my kids classes at Mullins started up again! For anyone interested in getting in on this session, by the way, it isn't too late. :D I wasn't too worried about the class for the 6 and up kids, since it's pretty much the same set from the summer session. I mean, other than the whole "holy cow this is all me" nervousness. I've taught kids martial arts classes off and on since I was, like, 15 but never completely by myself and never using a curriculum almost exclusively created by me with a completely new set of students. It's kind of scary! But it's also really good because I've been doing a lot of thinking and research and note taking and trial and error which really can't be anything but good for my own personal training. Anyway. What I was worried about was the toddler class. Dun dun dunnnnnnn!


But, seriously, they are soooo cute! And there are a couple more that aren't in this photo who are just as cute. Even better? Autumn is in my class. And her best friend Angelee might be joining in, too.


We're doing some things like animal stretching and running. I'm using those stars on the mat as the spots where they need to sit in seiza or stand for the next activity. It worked out really, really nicely. Also, Autumn has been going around saying, "seiiiiiiiiza" and then kneeling (which is seiza). I'm also teaching them to say, "onegaishimasu" which is kind of like a before the fact thank you or a please and "domo arigatou" which is an after the fact thank you. And the director's kids have come to teach the kids how to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Japanese.


As far as martial artsy things, the kids are doing different rolls. Too, they are falling onto me and then I "throw" them and they have to roll away. We're doing some other stuff, too, but nothing heavy duty.


To get the idea of circles, really one of the most basic aikido concepts, one of the tools I'm using in both classes is a ribbon twirler. :) They are super fun.


And, of course, we are playing lots of games to teach gross motor skills annnnnd to tire them out. :D Have a 22 second taste:


I'm looking forward to seeing how this class goes over the remaining five weeks. I'm also looking forward to getting used to my new schedule because, omg, I was soooo tired by the time I got home on Thursday.

Oh! And a special thank you to Penny! She came and helped me out on Thursday which is why I have such adorable photos. And one reason Thursday went so amazingly smoothly.

Blast from the Blackberry

I've been on a productivity roll all day. :) Mike, Autumn and I have been scrubbing, weeding, and organizing like crazy all day today. I sat down at my computer intending to chill out but ended up transferring my blackberry files to my computer since I got a new phone last month. Oh, man. Looking at the pictures I had on my phone has been so much fun. For example, this used to be the photo that came up whenever Mike called me:


Also, can you believe that not too long ago, this was Autumn??


From the same era:


I think that was her...first Easter? No, second. I just checked. This very awesome photo is from her first Easter.


I'm not sure of the dates of all of these but I really loved this one. It's so hard to remember when she was all chubby and had her short hair that just wouldn't grow evenly.


Although I do have to say that some things haven't changed. Her hair still gets all crazy. And she still likes to dress all crazy. Kind of like in this picture.


Which isn't as awesome as this picture.


I like this one.


I have a few photos in here of doctor visits and days that Autumn didn't feel well. I tend to send Mike pictures while he's at work. :) I send him the pictures on tough days so he can be glad he's not here and I send pictures of the good days to help him smile. I think this must have been one of Autumn's few days of pitifulness.


And this is just a photo of a spectacular lip poke. Or "pook" as my mom says. :D


Actually, I think I'll close out with some great face action...The Glare:


The Rrrrrrr:


And the OMG:


:) I might post a few more blackberry pics this week.

When I don't post on Sundays...

...I get emails and text messages which is actually really cool. :D Yesterday I had an excellent reason for not posting which I will go into later. FIRST THINGS FIRST:

Autumn's First Ice Cream Man Experience!

Over the weekend, we had an epic cleaning, sorting, and unpacking experience spurred by the tireless energies of Lainey and Papa D. Saturday when we were all kind of drooping, hungry, and aching all over, Papa D suddenly jumped up, grabbed Autumn, and leapt out the door. In the wake of all this activity, Donnie, Liz, Mike and I were kind of blinking in surprise while Lainey explained that he had heard the ice cream truck. So, I grabbed my camera, shoved it at Donnie who's a better photographer than I, and ran out the door.


Autumn got the idea pretty quickly and, of course, wanted the pink ice cream.


She was thrilled=understatement.


We all got ice cream, which was even better. Liz and I got orange dreamsicles which is what I now crave every time I look into my almost-completed orange bathroom (which looks awesome tyvm). Mmmm. Orange dreaaaamsicles.


Autumn's ice cream ended up being roughly the size of her head...


So it got transferred to a bowl.


Our ice cream ended up being our first "meal" eaten in our breakfast room! How cool is that? The weekend really was fantastic and exhausting all at once. We all banded together and got almost all the boxes unpacked and almost everything is in the room where it belongs. Is it all put away? No, hahaha. But it's almost all in the right general location. We've even gotten a lot of the outside worked on. Kurt the Amazing Landscaper came and worked on some of our horribly out of shape trees last week. Boppa and I got all the beds weeded and Mike sprayed them and mowed. Donnie took a few shots of the house that are pretty awesome.


The place is really starting to look more like a home and less like a jungle. This was Donnie's favorite photo. On the left are the crape myrtles that the tree people cut all the way to nubs right at the end of the time when it's safe to do something like that. We thought the trees would never be okay again but they came back just fine.


I wish I had a good photo of the backyard before all the work that was done. You wouldn't even recognize it. There's actually sunlight!


Most of the work that we did was inside the house. Probably my favorite thing that was done is this:


My first china cabinet!!! I am sooo excited! Those of you who have been around when I am setting up or taking down from a party know that I have a ton of entertaining equipment. In our teeny former home, it was in the attic, in cabinets, in the laundry closet...just wherever I could stash it. And it's all stuff I use! Now it can all go in the kitchen and breakfast area (it's still stashed in all kinds of places but at least it's all within the same area! and not the attic!) which is awesome. Lainey did all this and I am so thankful because I was looking at all the boxes and then looking at the cabinet and feeling really overwhelmed.

Anyway, it was a long weekend but so great. There's a lot to do but not as much as there was before, thank goodness. But, really, it was hilarious because last night, mike and I were so tired that we were delirious. have you ever been so tired that you laughed like a maniac at everything, no matter how stupid? That was us. :P

Now, I will close out this looong post with the little miss having her morning tea. She says, "hold it with TWOOOO hands, mama!"

Wedding days!

Well, everyone knows that Donnie and Liz are engaged and getting married in November. What you guys might not know is that Elizabeth's sister Michelle got married last Sunday! Crazy times for Liz's family! Here we are between the wedding and the reception:


I was excited because Mike actually dressed up and I got to wear my second coolest pair of shoes.


And, yes. Donnie took a picture of my shoe. :D I also noticed that my mat burns aren't so bad in this photo. For some reason, I always have mat marks on my ankles and the sides of my feet. It must be something to do with how I walk on the mats or what my feet do during takedowns. Who knows. Anyway. Autumn was pretty excited about the wedding. She spent the whole time wanting to dance the night away.


Oh, guess who was there not dancing quite yet? Baby Roxie! She sat at the table with a little help from her Uncle Mike...


While Autumn danced.


Guys. That face cracks me up like nobody's business. She's doing some serious dancing here. We got her to take a break long enough to take a pic with Liz and me. Liz was the maid of honor.


And then Liz and Autumn had to dance, of course.


Autumn paused for a brief second to take a picture with Michelle, who was a lovely bride. :) Her husband is like a foot and a half taller than she is so she looked even more doll-like than usual. So cute!


And then...Autumn was tired.


As we were leaving, she kept saying she wanted to dance some more but the poor kid was just done. So, one down, one to go!!

The good news first

Well. So, as you can tell from the title, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news:

WE
HAVE
A LIVING ROOM

Before:


And AFTER!


There are little things like painting the switch covers and cleaning floors left to do but the big work downstairs is over. /dance (although there's still a bathroom and stairs that need work). The breakfast room ceiling is also finished! All the food is on the table because this weekend and next week we're going to work on the pantry shelves which were extremely poorly designed. :P Yay for a saw and papa d to wield it. That tile floor is going to take me for.ev.er to clean but I will get it done.


So, what's the bad news? Well. Liz really liked the email I sent her, Donnie, and Mike so I'll just copy and paste:

So. I picked out an orange color for the bathroom, right? I figured the bedrooms in that hall are bright blue, bright yellow, and pale pink so I'll go with a sherbet-y color for the bathroom. Manuel said, "Hey, you know that color that you picked for the bathroom? You should go to the bathroom at the taco bell by Wolf River Pkwy and see what that looks like because it's the color you picked."

...

I was all wha?! My color looks like a FAST FOOD RESTAURANT BATHROOM?! I am so. freaking. doomed. to a hideous bathroom. He swears, though, that he means it well. he just wanted me to see the darker orange ceiling because I should consider doing it in that bathroom. But still. To visitors I'll be all, "thanks, I love this color, too. I was inspired by the mexico-miami decor of the taco bell a few blocks over. It was to die for so I just tried to match it as close as I could."

Cool story, brah.

lol.

So, yeah. We'll see.

ANYWAY. What else is happening here? Autumn is showing off her innate Taekwondo moves.


And Mike bought himself a reel mower. Yes. You read that right. Mike. He bought a lawn mower without a motor. (edit by Mike: See the thing is I am the motor. A 172 wild untamed horse power motor. I mean look at me down there. A beast I tell you!)


I think Autumn's face as he was mowing for the first time (mowing our long, long grass that hadn't been cut in 10 days...) says it all,

Confessions of a Book Lover: The Hunger Games Trilogy

So, I've been meaning to get another book lover post up and I am finally doing it although it isn't a Tuesday. :P I'm not actually going to tell anyone much about these two books except that you need to read them. Seriously. These are so good that my brother read them and who knows how long it's been since he's read a long book!

I didn't realize it until recently, but the Hunger Games trilogy (soon to be trilogy, book 3 comes out later this month AND it's possibly the first book I have ever pre-ordered, partly due to the ridiculously fabulous price of eight dollars for a hardback. Anyway...) is extremely popular. Like, movie deals popular. They are also young adult literature which, this I also didn't know, is embarrassing for adults to be caught reading. Seriously? Young adult literature is some of my favorite fiction...world building, fantastic story telling? Who cares who it was written for as long as it's good and well done. Apparently I suck at being a book snob (I'm cool with that). Anyway, the New York Times has given me permission to love what I have always loved. Thanks, New York Times. Not. You can imagine that authors like Robin McKinley and Gayle Foreman (who is on my to-read list and with whom I have to disagree on one thing: the book about the history of salt? it's one of the most awesome. books. ever) are thrilled to be "real authors." >.>



So. The Hunger Games. I came across Hunger Games through an author's suggested reading list. Maybe Tamora Pierce? Not sure. The book is intense. One of the first things that grabbed me was the ease of the world building. Within a few pages, I knew this was a post-apocalyptic/futuristic version of our world. Too, Katniss's relationship with her mom did some serious resonating with me. Without going into too many details, Katniss had to grow up fast and her mom was kind of...there but not there. It echoed pretty strongly some of the feelings I struggle with for my mom (and my dad, in different ways, though). I even bookmarked one passage because when I read it, I stopped and thought, "whoa."

I kept watching, waiting for her to disappear on us again. I didn't trust her. And some small gnarled place inside me hated her for her weakness, for her neglect, for the months she had put us through. Prim forgave her, but I had taken a step back from my mother, put up a wall to protect myself from needing her, and nothing was ever the same between us again.

Sorry if that's too much honesty for a booklover post but, man, that passage just touched something I had never really articulated.

The book has its basis in mythology, if that's something you're into. In a q&a, author Suzanne Collins says,

A significant influence would have to be the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. The myth tells how in punishment for past deeds, Athens periodically had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete, where they were thrown in the Labyrinth and devoured by the monstrous Minotaur.

And that's The Hunger Games. One boy and one girl from each district in a post-war, post-natural disaster North America go to the Capital and fight to the death.



Catching Fire covers the aftermath of the games, picking up about 6 months after Katniss returns from the Games. The nightmares, the transition from near-starvation to plenty, and the aftermath of her actions in the Games--and the rebellion that she inflamed.

What happens next is not an accident. It is too well executed to be spontaneous, because it happens in complete unison. Every person in the crowd presses the three middle fingers of their left hand against their lips and extends them to me. It's our sign from District 12, the last goodbye I gave Rue in the arena."

:P I'm kind of scared to say anything else because it will give away some of what happens in the Hunger Games. Again, intense.

I'm pretty excited about Mockingjay which comes out August 24, especially since everyone has been extremely tight lipped about the book...I haven't come across any leaks or spoilers. Heck, I'm excited about the movie and I hope it's well done because a movie with an awesome female heroine like Katniss? I can't wait. Oh, here's a trailer for book 3:


Boy, I rambled a lot. Haha. That's what I get for writing off and on for 3 hours and then finishing at nearly midnight.

Maybe not

So I started to go upstairs then decided I would probably just stay downstairs. Just seemed like the safer option for some reason...