Archive for the ‘Kevin’ Category

Thank goodness it didn’t fall apart… I can’t imagine how long it would of taken us to put it back together again! 

(This was taken at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney)

I am so proud to say that my little scrapper (Kevin) ended up competing in his first ever Karate (sparring) competition Saturday!

We ended up driving over to Madison Heights Friday night so we wouldn’t have to drive that 2 1/2 hours Saturday morning.  Kevin woke up bright and early Saturday morning.  I’m not sure if it was due to us sleeping some place different or because he was excited/nervous for the unknown.

I got the kids dressed and went downstairs and had breakfast.  (We stayed at the Hampton Inn and highly recommend them, before staying though check out Room Saver as we ended up saving $12 by using a coupon off there!)   After breakfast we went back upstairs and I told Kevin to start changing into his uniform and he started crying saying he didn’t want to go.  (I knew it was only the nerves talking so I let him just be for awhile)   Paul ended up waking up and took Katie back downstairs so he could have breakfast and while they were gone Mr. Joe called to say they were 25 minutes away.     At that point Kevin was willing to get into his uniform.  While he got ready, I got everything packed so when Paul came back up we could take off. 

We got to the competition and it was quite busy.  Thankfully someone had welcomed us when we walked in and showed us where we needed to go.  I’m so glad we pre-registered as it was a long line to get in otherwise.   We ended up finding Team Rade no problem (thankfully they called us to tell us which ring they were by) and the kids each got a package of crayons and coloring book to keep them busy while we waited for their turn to spar.   We got there at 10am and I should of looked at the time when they finally sparred, but it was quite awhile after lunch as they did forms and weapons first.   It was way to much for Katie so Paul ended up taking her away for awhile.  They ended up finding a target to shop at so life was good for her.     Thankfully they made it back in time to watch Kevin spar.  

There ended up being 12 kids in the 6 yr old novice divsion and I had no clue how Kevin was going to do.  I had watched Jessie & Jake give what they had, but it ended up being not enough.  So I honestly thought the same would happen to Kevin since he had never done this before and they had.   Then they called his name and my heart started pounded.  I told him it was his turn and he started walking out in the ring while I quick hurried to the other side so I could get a good video.  

This is his first match

All I was hoping for was that he would be able to at least score.  If he scored, then I would of felt like he won.  It turned out that he actually won the match!  So then he was going to be able to fight again.  Once again all I was wishing for was for him to score and low and behold, he ended up winning again and then was going to be fighting for the 1st or 2nd place!  GULP!!  My little boy?!?  Fighting in the “champion round” for the 6 yr olds!  I couldn’t believe it.

Kevin’s 2nd match

Once again I was wishing for just one point, but unfortantly that didn’t happen this time and he ended up loosing 0-5, but I was still proud as a peacock for my son since he had never done this before.   They called his name for 2nd place and he went out there and then the top 4 walked over to the trophy table where they handed him his REAL trophy. 

Kevin with his first ever trohpy for sparring!

Kevin & Katie.  (She was so proud of her big brother)

Jessie, Kevin & Jake after their matches. 

What was really funny was the next morning when Kevin woke up and went running to his trophy and just sat with it on the couch looking at it and saying…  “It’s real mom!  It’s a real trophy!”. 

Needless to say he is excited to go to class tonight as his instructors told him to bring his trophy!  He also can’t wait until his sound sharing day (like show & tell) for the letter T as he wants to bring this as well.  I told him he could, but Momma will be bringing it for him as I would rather him not carry it on the bus.  (I’m sure you know why)

So that was our exciting weekend!  One I know we will never forget!

I’m actually getting quite anxious for Kevin to get home from school.  This weekend is the big weekend for him as he will be going to his first sparring competition over by Detroit.  He’s been in mixed martial arts now for 10 months and has been having so much fun with it.   When they said he could start competing in competition I didn’t know for sure how that would go.  Kevin at first said he didn’t want to, but with the other kids in his class went in November and came back with some big trophies (They ended up winning 1st, 2nd & 4th) he got excited and wanted to go as he too wants to win a trophy. 

Of course I have a feeling this competition will be bigger than the last so I don’t know how good he will do.  I really don’t expect him to place in the top due to he isn’t quite aggressive enough, but who knows.. he might just surprise me.  Last night he had his last practice and I kept reminding him to kick too, not just punch and jab, but he must not of heard me.  So when we were in the car on the way home I asked why he wasn’t doing what he was suppose to and kicking.  His reason… “because Mason is my best friend and I don’t want to hurt him”.  LOL     At least he will only know 1 other person in the 6 year old group, so hopefully he will be a little more aggressive like he is when we practice.

I’m just thinking how tired he probably will be when we get home.   Depending on how many matches he has to fight.. I wonder how sore he will be.  It might be one of those nights where we wished we had a spa/hot tub for him to be able to soak in, but there is no way I would ever be able to talk Paul into one due to the expenses like our gas bill skyrocketing and also having to buy things like a spa filter or whatever else when it breaks down.    Instead I’ll just have to give him a nice warm bath and maybe add some bubbles as I know he likes playing with them.  Plus it’s a lot cheaper!

So wish Kevin (and us) luck for tomorrow!!   Plan on me posting Sunday with his results and some pictures of him doing his thing. 

Do you hear that question through out the day from your little ones?   For me I hear that or I hear the “Is it time for ______ yet?  My thought is since Kevin’s now in Kindergarten she should be able to tell time on a regular clock and not just the digital clocks.   So when Mom Central teamed up with Munchkin Math so some Mom’s could review the Telling Time DVD and blog about it.  I signed up for it really hoping to be chosen as I wasn’t quite sure how to start with the teaching of telling time and was thrilled when I was chosen!

Once the DVD arrived in the mail the kids couldn’t wait to watch it.   The ages on it says it’s for ages 2-9, but after a couple minutes of watching it Kevin didn’t want to watch it anymore as it seemed to “baby” for him.  I had him at least stay in the room as Katie was loving it.  (For those that don’t know.. Kevin is 6 and Katie will be 4 in a couple weeks)  

As I was disappointed Kevin didn’t want to watch it, it wasn’t that long before a smile came on my face because there he was not only watching it, but singing the songs and doing the motions right along with the DVD.      So yes, it still did grab his attention and I’m happy to say he did learn some things from it.  He now knows at the hour part by looking at a clock, but still has to work on the minutes a little bit.

While I was 0h so glad that she came up with some fun songs to help the kids learn (for example for telling the different between the Hour & Minute hand…  Hickory Dickory dock there are 2 hands on the clock.  The hour hands short… the minutes hands long… hickory dickory dock) I was a little bummed that for minutes they didn’t go into as much detail as I would of hoped.

Yes, she did explain how the minutes are counted by 5’s.  For example when the minute hand points to the 1 it’s 5, when it points to the 2 it’s 10, when it points to the 3 it’s 15.. etc, she never said that there was minutes in between the 5 & 10.  The examples they used all the time was when the minute hand was on a number, never in between.   So when the coo-coo bird was getting tested on the DVD, Kevin was doing great, but then when he looked at our clock and it was 4:27 he got a little confused. 

Over all I am happy with the DVD and I know it does help children tell time as I saw what Kevin learned by just watching it a couple times.  This will be one of those DVD’s that when I’m done with it, I’ll be donating it to our local library so other kids can learn how to tell time too!

Here is a demo of Munchkin Math Telling Time on Youtube.   That way you can get an idea of what it’s all about for yourself.  I just wish it showed more of the songs she taught later on in the DVD.   At least you get an idea though if it would be good for your child.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Munchkin Math and received a sample DVD to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Ok.. so it’s not quite wordless, but here are some pictures of Kevin’s lightsaber cakes.  As you can see one was make with all cake while the other was 1/2 cake and 1/2 rice krispie treats!   (We were so caked out by his last birthday party and had left over cake from the 1st one I decided to do rice krispie treats with the saber handles we never touched and that worked out really good.

It all started with the kids waking up earlier than normal, which I guess is ok since they had school today.  I would rather them wake up a little early than late.  I was able to get Kevin fed, dressed and ready to go to the bus stop before Katie woke up.  I got her comfy on the couch and out to the bus we went.  What I love is that we have it timed just right where by the time we get to the stop (just one house down) the bus is just about there.  At least I know during the winter we won’t have to wait out in the cold long.

Hurried home and got Katie ready for preschool.  She was so excited as the Tumble Bus was going to be there today.   I never even heard of a Tumble Bus before, but after finding out what the name of it for sure was and looking it up online it actually looks quite fun.  Wouldn’t that be nice if they had something like that for adults… they could come to your house and you could do a work out with some free weights or maybe even a Kettlebell or two.

After dropping Katie off I hurried then to Meijer to get a few groceries and also some Candy Corn for Kevin’s Halloween party today.   I was suppose to be in charge of the games and they were going to be playing Halloween Bingo and we were going to be using the candy corn as the chips.  Since the kids were both at school, I thought it would be best to sort them into their own snack size baggies so I wouldn’t have to do that at the party, or do it when Katie would be home as I know then I probably would end up with not enough pieces of candy.

Then around 1pm Paul ended up calling me to let me know that he was so busy putting up more tree stands and since it was a nice day he was thinking maybe of just staying there (he hunts about 30-40 minutes away) so he could finish putting the stands up and hunt tonight.  I told him I had Kevin’s Halloween party to go to, but I would see if his parents could watch Katie.    Needless to say not only were they gone, I knew my parents were up north and when I called my sister she was gone too!  So all my baby-sitters weren’t home so I tried calling Paul to tell him and he must of left the phone in the truck.   So lucky Katie got to go to yet another Halloween party.   Thing was she did awesome there!  I was afraid she would end up getting into things and I would be chasing her, but instead she was my little shadowand ended up playing BINGO with the kids and actually won a game!  What was funny was when it was time to leave and all the Kindergartners were handed their art projects, Katie just couldn’t understand why she didn’t get one too!  I seriously think she thought she was now a Kindergartner.   It was so cute.

But what was the cutest was it was time to leave and I had told Kevin that he could just ride home with us instead of riding the bus home.  He said he would rather ride the bus home and I just kept saying, no you can ride with us.  So I was putting his stuff in his backpack when all of a sudden he sneaks over to his bus line.  I grab his stuff and walk over there to tell him let’s go when I notice he’s holding his bus buddy’s (a 4th grade girl) hand.  It was just so darn cut I couldn’t help it, but told him I would see him when he got home.  I so wish I could of gotten a picture of it.

Then around 4pm I ended up getting another call from Paul.    He was calling from his cell phone so it kept breaking out, but what I did hear didn’t sound to good.  All I could catch was he was on his way home as he thought he broke his arm!   Once he got home I asked if he wanted to go into the ER and he said no, that he would wait til after Kevin’s karate class.  I had him call his parents so they could watch the kids and they said they could take Kevin to Karate and also watch Katie so we were able to go right then.

Instead of going to the ER we decided to go to one of the Medical Clinics where they x-rayed his arm and everything looked good and it was just a big bruise to his bone.  So they gave him a pain med, wrapped it and sent us on our way.   The reason we chose there instead of the ER was hoping we wouldn’t see as many people with the H1N1 virus since it’s hitting hard here.   All I know is there was quite a few people their wearing their masks, I can’t imagine what it would of been like at the ER!  Needless to say I had bought my hand sanitizer and was using it quite a bit.  I just pray that we didn’t end up catching the bug while we were there since so far we have escaped it!

Now the kids and Paul are in bed, I think I’m going to enjoy my quiet time and read some more.  (I’ll reading Armageddon by Tim LaHaye)

Have a great night!

Oh yeah… before I forget….

I know I already told you once, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!       I hope you had fun up north and won big! 

Where or where does the time go?  Here I thought with the kids both in school and me getting a whole 5 hours a week to myself that I would be able to get some extra stuff done.   HA!  What was I thinking?  I guess I do get some extra stuff done, but not as much as I was hoping for. 

I did get to go grocery shopping by myself today and let me say it was heavenly!  I didn’t have to worry about chasing Katie around the whole store.  If anything it’s well worth the $68 a month for her to be in preschool so I can get that alone done.  ~wink~

Of course I suppose I should be finishing my dishes instead of blogging, but since Katie is actually quiet and I can sit and think I thought now would be the best time to blog because once Paul gets home I’m sure the fighting will start and then I won’t be able to enjoy this quiet time anymore.

So what have we done this week?  Kevin had his Karate Monday night where he ended up having 2 sparring matches!  He lost the first match, but I was still proud of him because every time he has a match he has been improving.  Then the 2nd match was against the same person, but they did it free style where they don’t stop or keep score.   It was actually really nice because the kids were able to just go at it so we could actually see what they have learned since it wasn’t a constant stop and go. 

Tuesday Kevin and Katie had school, but Katie ended up staying home due to she didn’t sleep great the night before due to a cold and since she was still sleeping when it would of been time for us to leave for school I said forget it and she stayed home with Paul while I still headed to school as I was going to be going on a field trip with Kevin to Robinette’s Apple Orchard!  We had a great time there, but it was a little on the cold side.  When the sun was out and there was no wind, it felt great.  But as soon as the wind kicked up and the sun wasn’t out or we were in the shade it was quite cold and the kids were shivering.  By the time I got back from the field trip, I had to go pick up Katie at my parents.  I found out she slept until 10am when Paul called them to see if they could come pick her up and spend a few hours at their house so he could get a little more sleep, plus he had some errands to do.   I went over there and Katie was acting her normal self.   She could of went to school, but I know she needed that sleep.  Especially since she slept in till 10am!  She NEVER does that!

Yesterday Paul had a dentist appointment and then we were suppose to go to the movies to see Night of the Museum II, but he found out that one of his teeth was broken so he had to go back at 2pm to have it fixed.  So the movie ended up going out the window. :(  Oh well.. guess we will just have to rent it when it comes out now.  So I just did the normal.. played with the kids, cleaned, tried a new recipe (you can read about it next Tuesday for Tried and True Tuesday) and then had found out Paul didn’t change the filter on the furnace so I got to change that too.  All I can say is good thing Meijers had their air filters on sale awhile back and we stocked up on them.  That way I didn’t have to take the kids out to go get one.  Of course I suppose I could of just picked one up today.  One more day wouldn’t of hurt right?!?

In 45-50 minutes Kevin will be coming home from school!  Then we can quick work on his homework, make some supper and then he has Karate tonight at 7pm.  I’m hoping we can get some practice in before we go as we haven’t practice yet since class on Monday.  Oops!

Tomorrow Kevin has school (it’s his 3 day week) and I think Katie & I will be heading out shopping for new gym shoes for her.  I had just bought her new ones last spring and of course she didn’t wear them during the summer as she wore her crocs everywhere she went and now they are feeling a little snug on her.  *sigh*   I suppose that’s what happens with little kids… they outgrow their shoes before they can wear them out.  (At least if they are more of a seasonal shoe)

Well, I better sign off as Paul just got home from picking his deer meat and is now out mowing the grass.  It’s amazing how guilty I end up feeling when he’s home and I’m on the computer.  Bummer thing is he has the next 6 weeks off of work!  Hopefully he will be out hunting quite a bit or I just might never get back on here!  ~wink~

I hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for stopping by!

Has it seriously been a week since I updated my blog?  Shame on me!!  Now I have to think about what we did this past week.  Monday the kids and I went to the library to pick out some new books andmovies.  I had a friend recommendthe Left Behind series written by Tim LaHaye so I checked out book number one.  Looking at it I thought do I really want to read this?  I’m not much of a book reader and this book was quick thick.   That afternoon the kids & I were reading our own books and let me say, this book sucked me in on the first page.  I ended up staying up till 3:30am reading!  Needless to say the next morning I was quite tired.  I did end up finishing the book just this afternoon and will be starting on the 2nd book tonight.

Tuesday night my friend’s daughter called (she is Katie’s age) and wondered if we wanted to come over and play.  So the kids & I quick picked up the living room and off we went.  (I knew we would be getting home late and wanted to make sure everything was picked up so they could go straight to bed)  Like usual we had a fun time over there.  Katie & O (that’s what I’ll call her) played in their swimming pool while Kevin had fun playing with their train set and I had fun being able to have adult conversation!   It’s just nice to be able to have fun/relaxing nights like that.

Wednesday, Paul andI ended up taking the kids to the Grand Rapids Public Museum.  That was the first time we took the kids there and we all had a good time.  Of course Daddy takes a little to long looking at stuff (he thinks he needs to read EVERYTHING) so the kids & I went ahead and I just had fun pointing out things and seeing their minds at work.  The fun part of the day was all of us being able to ride their carousal.   Paul didn’t dare get on it thinking he might brake something, but as soon as I got on he knew it would be ok.  It was cute.. Kevin & I took some horses in front of Paul andKatie so I turned around and there was Paul and Katie holding hands the whole time.  Talk about priceless!  I’ll have to download the pictures so I can show you!  The other fun thing was we had stopped in the printing store (they have a street of what it looked like back in the day with stores that are filled with stuff back then) there was a volunteer working and printing book marks.  He was explaining the whole process of what they had to do back then, Paul was asking him questions when all of a sudden he asked the volunteer if he had taught at Hudsonville High School.   He said yes, when Paul said I thought so.. you were my teacher!  What a small world!  They have fun talking about old times and probably could of talked longer had the kids not of wanted to go check out the other “stores”.

Then last night Kevin got to start back up with his Karate.  They had the last 2 weeks off due to the instructors being gone on vacation.  I had to admit it was kind of nice not having to take him twice a week to class, but once we were back in class you should of seen Kevin.  He was so slap happy, smiling and giggling all the time.  When I asked him about it on the way home he said he was just so happy to be back there.  Everyone seemed happy to be back! 

Today I ended up running up to Meijers to get some stuff for tomorrow (we have our annual family reunion up at Big Star Lake) and I ended up finding out that Meijers started putting most of their toys on clearance!  It must be they are starting to make room for all the new toys for Christmas!  So, since there was a whole aisle that was 50% off I decided now would be a good time to get some Christmas shopping done since the kids were home with Paul!  Needless to say I know Kevin will be really excited this year.  Of course I’m not sure if what I bought will be for Christmas or his birthday which is in November.  I was able to find a couple things for Katie, but most of the stuff I saw for her was only 25% off so I thought I would wait a little longer for those things.

So that’s what I’ve been up to this week.  What have you been up to?  Anything fun?

A few days ago I had found out that the Cavaliers Drum Corp was staying at one of the local high schools!  If you know me, you know what a big band geek both Paul and I actually are.  The other night we went to watch them, but was only able to watch the drum line. (which didn’t bother Paul since that’s what he played back in the day)  

Then last night I knew they had a competition in Vicksburg so we didn’t bother going to check them out, but since it was going to be there last day/night here today I thought even though Paul was working I would take the kids and am I ever glad I did. 

The kids got into it a little more tonight since the brass, flags & drum line were all practicing together.  Then came the final run through and all I can say is WOW!  I ended up with goose bumps.  Then came the walk back to the car and it was then  that my heart felt all warm because on the walk back to the car and all the way home, Kevin just kept humming their one song over and over again.  Maybe, just maybe I have a future drum corp member on my hands!  I actually hope so as I would love to travel watching their shows.  My luck though is they both would join and be in different corps. 

I ended up finding the Cavaliers playing their songs from this year and thought I would share.