Baby Showers Bring May Flowers

This morning I went to Cristina's 99th baby shower :-)

Later we went to our last Gainesville art festival. I wish I could go enjoy things without thinking about it as "the last time", but it's tough! It was Merete's first art festival EVER, and E was more than happy to introduce him to his favorite part...kettle corn!

And also, running around...

When we got home, we checked out our little birdie's home, and saw three little eggs! (at bottom of the pic is one...it's a small entrance, hard to get a decent pic without disrupting them)

Cristina's Shower

This weekend we hosted Cristina's baby shower with her friends Amy and Erica. First off, I now know how to decorate for an adult party (beautiful flowers in cute little vases, so classy). Second, I also know some more "modern" shower games (bobbing for binkies - now a classic). It was fun, and despite her cold, Cristina seemed to have a great time. The weather couldn't have bee more perfect. The only disappointment was that the other younger guests were too young to play with the boys, and E didn't get to share his car and train themed carnival. However, I think the cake made the party worth it for the boys.

Katsu Challenge 2009

Today was the 2009 Katsu Challenge, hosted by our dojo. Sadly, this is our last Katsu tournament. There were many firsts though, for both Elijah and me. This was the first time I was a judge, which was tons of fun (except I was freezing the whole time, and it took me 3 hours to defrost). This was also the first time E sparred in a tournament. Here’s a video of the action. First up is E in the 6-7 beginner kata division. He won the first round, and lost this second. I think he also went up again for bronze and lost. However, he did his kata very well! Next is my kata. I went up twice, not sure which round is on the video. I also lost, but I did have a great time doing it.



Next up is E in his 3 rounds of kumite. Now, for those of you new to tournament sparring, here’s the deal: When the ref yells “yame”, the kids stop, go back to the line, and the ref assigns points, penalties, or he waves off the judge’s signals and gets them going again. We don’t always see the ref on the video, so I listed off what I think I hear him say. Also, there is a 30-second warning buzzer. The kids are just supposed to keep sparring; no stopping unless the ref yells “yame”. I am so proud of Elijah, and not necessarily because he won. He has come such a long way in the last 6 months! Last September, he broke into tears at the mere mention of sparring at a tournament. This time around, he was excited about it! He did what he was taught: throwing mostly center punches and covering up. It was hard for the other kids to score on their center punches (they have to hit and pull out clean, doesn’t count if it hits the gloves, arms, etc….and has to be with the right power, timing, distance, and a bunch of other things I won’t bore you with but had to memorize). Watching him today you’d never know he was ever scared to spar. Soooo proud!



Round 1 – Elijah in red. Blue scores first with a center punch. E scores with a center punch. Blue stops at the 30 minute warning buzzer (rookie mistake) and E goes in for a center punch just like he was told :-) Kid in blue gets a contact penalty for kicking E in the leg. E wins the match 2-1.

Round 2 – Elijah in red. Blue gets a penalty (I think for running away). E gets a contact penalty (can’t see why, but he told me later it was head contact, which isn’t allowed with punch at his age). Time runs out, match tied at 0-0. Goes into sudden death overtime ( first to score wins). E charges in like a man on a mission…E scores and wins.

Round 3 – Elijah in red. E scores first, center punch. E scores again, center punch (really nice form on that one). 30s buzzer, ref stops match (maybe a judge called something, but he didn’t award any points). E scores with a center punch. E wins the match 3-0.

E gets his gold medal :-)

Making the most out of our time in Gainesville

So for those who haven't heard, we've decided to move to Wilmington, North Carolina after this summer. I'll be at the University of NC @ Wilmington, which is very exciting. What isn't exciting is leaving Gainesville and all our friends. We've been keeping ourselves busy, enjoying everything Gainesville has to offer and spending time with all the people I'll be missing all too soon.

Right now one of the nicest sights in Gainesville is right in our back yard. A family of blue birds has choose E's little birdhouse as their new home. They first visited around his birthday, and now I've seen the female brining twigs and straw to the birdhouse. I also see and hear the male, constantly trying to get into our house by flying through the window. Thankfully he doesn't try to crash through...it's more like a little head bang every 5 minutes. We have to keep the shades down, otherwise he'd do it all day, while the female just keeps working on her little nest.


Last weekend we had a picnic for E's school. The boys played while I served a ton of hot dogs (and for better or worse never got to eat one).

Friday we went to the last home UF gymnastics meet of the season. Cristina and Ronnie came to dinner at Emelianos and then we headed over. The Pauly's joined us and eveyrone had a great time! I think the two newest members of the families had the most fun :-)

This morning headed to O2b for their Kids Fun Run. Both boys ran (well, M walked) 1.5 miles. E ran all the way this time and did pretty well for a little guy (who frankly isn't so little anymore).

After a quick change we were off to Tyler's birthday party, where the boys got to play put-put golf, games, and E and I went for a go kart ride. It was a ton of fun, except for the excessive time I spent outside getting a little too much sun.

E the Athlete

Today was a big day for E. First we all got up early, bundled up, and headed out into the cold (it was in the 30's!) for the Five Points of Life Kid's Marathon. Kids were required to have walked or run at least 25 miles prior to today's race. At Littlewood's Morning Mile E has already racked up 75+ miles!! So he was good to go, but sadly little bro had to watch from the sidelines. Today's run was 1.2 miles, which he half ran, half walked in about 18 minutes. It was great fun for all, and my shins seemed to have handled this run well.

While waiting M got to play with this random dog (I have no clue who he is supposed to be).

After the run E and M got to hang with UF's Albert and Alberta.

Later today E had his karate belt test. This time it was for his purple belt. His kata was Heian Nidan (Peaceful Mind #2). He did an excellent job on his kata. It was hard to see his sparring match, but I did get some footage of him practicing with his little friend. Enjoy :-)

Kung Fu Birthday

Today we had Elijah's birthday party. Despite the sad for forecast, it didn't actually rain and the kids were able to play outside. Many friends came to celebrate and we got to meet some of the new kids :-) All had a blast and we actually have cake left over to keep the celebration going for a few more days.

Winter Happenings

We've had a busy time since the holidays! Merete's English is improving daily and he's telling stories and telling on his brother :-) Elijah is taking his role as big brother very seriously and has gotten over much of his shyness in the process. Merete loves going to school and playing with friends.

Elijah went to UF with me one day and pretended to be a student. He especially enjoyed the dinning hall (I'm sure the "all you can eat" concept will continue to be his favorite part of college when he's grown up too).

The boys went to a friend's birthday party at O2B, which is always big toy fun!

I spent some time crocheting scarves and little monsters.

Merete went to his first medieval fair, where he and Elijah were knighted and enjoyed the 'ol time carnival games. The jousting was very cool too!

We celebrated Obama's inauguration by staying home with sick kids, watching TV, and drawing pictures :-)


Elijah, the girls, and I went to the UF Gymnastics meet, "Link to Pink". The Gators did well, winning the meet and we got to see a perfect 10!

And Han took the boys to a softball game, where the Gators soundly beat (I have no idea who it was, but they boys were excited about it).

The rest of February will also be busy...I've got a trip to Wilmington, followed by E's birthday party, a kids' marathon, belt test, and it looks like at least another birthday party :-)