Did I mention... NEW BELTS!!

The boys had rank graduation in May!!

Trystan has attained the rank of Beginner Green Belt, and his sparring gear has been ordered!

Isaac is now a Brown Belt, and is about a year out from recommended black belt training. That is just HUGE. He is 3/4 of the way there, and is really beginning to see the fruit of his labor.

I love seeing them learn the effects of long term discipline towards a goal... that is priceless stuff, and well worth the investment!

--Oh... and Alyza wants to take ballerina lessons! Maybe this summer!

Homeschool Happenings...

Congratulations to Trystan, who has now officially graduated to "mommy school"! He had his graduation program May 14th, and even sang a short solo. He was the life of his classroom this year, as you might imagine, and we are glad to have him home! Nervous about where the scissors might be, but so happy all the same!

We have finished our selections for this coming year of study, and are very excited about it. Well, 4 out of 5 Reddings are excited, 1 Redding is a bit doubtful! I think we will win him over, though, and he has enjoyed helping to select some of his first independent reading titles for the coming year. As soon as we are able to place and receive our order we will start! When it is too hot to play, it is just right for reading.

Anyhow, the boys will be studying American History next year. It will be fun to see God use stories of our founding fathers and great American inventors to inspire them to bigger dreams! The curriculum we will be using (Heart of Dakota) will teach most of their subjects through the lens of history, and is a complete, Christ honoring curriculum that encourages the same Godly, independent thinking that made our nation great. One of our goals is to not just teach our children the answers, but to teach them how to FIND the answers, the ideas, and the questions for themselves...

Alyza will be starting school with me this year, too... The same publisher has a wonderful preschool curriculum for her that she will just LOVE. Her minor motor skills are really astounding, she is tracing letters like a pro, and is only beginning to learn her alphabet! She cuts FRINGE all around her art projects, and is really skilled in puzzles. I need to step it up, or she will be writing before she is reading! So easy to forget she is only 4!

Crunchy Dragon Eggs

Took Trystan to see "How to Train Your Dragon" today! As a surprise, I had picked up several bags of "How to Train Your Dragon" candy eggs on clearance a few weeks ago. I pulled a bag of them out of my purse during the show and gave them to Trystan.

After a while, he asked me, "Mom, what do these eggs look like?" It is, of course, dark in the theatre, and we had 3d glasses on... hard to see much! I told him,"I don't know, sweetie, like dragon eggs I suppose, kind of blue with brownish spots on them."

A little while later, he says, "It's alright, mom. At first I thought they were just crunchy. I figured out how to take the wrappers off, now."

My Funny Valentine.

I noly havyes 4U!

Translation : I only have eyes for you, love Trystan

Hmmm.

Alyza brought me a drawing last week when she was THREE and not FOUR.  It was a big oval type thing all colored in precisely.  I oooohed and aaaaahhhed and asked quite politely what this drawing might be, to which she replied, "This is your brain when you are sneezing.  It says you should take a deep breath."

Officially Nine.

Well, the long awaited birthday has occurred, and yes, he DID get Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the DS.  You probably already knew this, since the earth did not explode and all time come to a screeching halt - which was the probable outcome of  this child's celebration if he had to wait one more moment to have that present in his not-so-little-anymore hands.

Isaac, like his brother, chose IHOP for his birthday breakfast.  He is apparently too old for funny face pancakes now, and instead went with the very grown up sounding 2x2x2 breakfast, with all sorts of grown up food choices.  The wait staff sang him happy birthday and brought him ice cream with his breakfast, and proving how very much he has grown, he handled the attention with grace.

His birthday lunch with Ninnie was at Red Lobster, proving he IS my child.  That was my birthday choice for untold years when I was young.  He enjoyed it, and even got to crack some crab legs.

But the highlight was the million boy sleepover that happened that night.  That deserves it's very own post.

How do you like your cheese?

Just wondering.

Alyza tried hers on a small plate, which was unacceptable.  Then we tried it in a cereal bowl, which was unacceptable and apparently angering. 

Then we tried it in a small bowl, at her request, only to discover that the tiny pink lady believes that cheese in a bowl makes her SICK. and AGGRAVATED.

We discovered that all of this switching around, screaming, and flailing in the floor makes mommy SICK and AGGRAVATED, too. The solution was simple. 

No cheese for little girls until they take a nap.