Lunch with Delaney

Delaney asked if I would have lunch with her last week.  I actually had a little time on a preschool day, so I went.  It was not the thrill I had hoped for, but Delaney thought it was, so yay for that.  The first graders eat in their classroom, at their desks,  and they are not allowed to talk. It was very boring.  To make it worse, the teachers turn on PBS, and the kids get to watch tv geared to preschoolers.  Bleh.

It was pizza day, so I let her buy lunch to make it a super-special day.  For her.  I looked at the lunch tray and couldn't imagine it was filling enough for her- 1 slice of pizza, a bit of pineapple, and beans she wouldn't touch.  But she was happy about the pizza. 

This picture is just in here so you can see her awesome hair! 

So cute and happy to hang out with me! 

They have a stupid system called Class Dojo and the kids get points for random stuff.  It is suppose to inspire good behavior, but the points are so arbitrary, they really don't.  Here Delaney is, waiting in line to give herself a point because she knew how many days were in October.  

Happy with her points!  She has 51 right now, which is a lot, but again, it is totally arbitrary.

Me and my girl! I am glad I went to spend time with her.  She is a great kid!

Butt-kickin'

Joshua also takes Karate, but he is in the Teen/Adult class.  Yes, he is the smallest person in the class, and he works HARD.  The poor kid comes home drenched in sweat, hair plastered down, muscles sore.  I love it.  It is nice to know he is getting a work out at least twice a week.  I should probably take the class with him, then I too could be tossing kettle balls around and doing sets of 200 kicks at a time.  

With Halloween and all this week, they did something extra fun on Wednesday.  They used colored markers to practice knife fighting techniques. It was pretty exciting to watch and looked like a lot of fun.  Joshua said he had a great time.

He is the smallest one in the class and he was paired with this nice lady. 

I love her laughing at Joshua right here. 

And then she took him down!   

And she did it again!  And again, and again..... They were suppose to be walking through the technique, learning the movements, and she did it perfectly every time. She grabbed the wrist, twisted and dropped him. Consistently.

When it was his turn, well, he did a good job, but never managed to repay in kind. 

 But he tried, and he worked hard. The markers were used instead of fake knives so you could tell where you would have been stabbed, and some of the class was quite colorful.  But not Josh.

 Poor kid didn't do much marking either.

He just got whupped.  But it was fun!

 At the end of the evening, here he is, showing that he only got 3 marks.  He might have lost a lung, but he did great!

Karate

I hung out and took pictures at karate the other day.  They do sparring once a week.  Marian hates it because she's afraid of getting hurt, and all the kids know it.  So she gets whupped a lot, and for a kid as competitive as she is, it is not fun for her.  Fortunately, I got them on a great day. 

Callie, in the yellow shirt,  doing her quiet but sneaky thing. 

This right here is what Marian fears.  She got wacked pretty good once or twice and is afraid of getting her shins hurt again.  Callie is not afraid!

Marian taking on the kid in red. You can see her backing off.

And then..... THEN she busts out this awesome spinning back kick!  That's my girl!  Aparently she's discovered that  this particular kick is not going to get her hurt, and it scores points for her.  She won. 

See, more confident already!

Why the Primary Program Rocks

Some people's children spend the whole thing scowling and refusing to sing.  And some people's children are entertaining enough that their parents might buck the taboo and sneak pictures of their children.  Although I will confess that the best part of the program (for me!) was when Rylee gave me a big thumbs up after delivering her part beautifully.  Then she put the glower back on.

Squirrel!

Lately, when I let Levi out to potty during the day, I open the door, peer out carefully, and if there isn't anyone around, I'll let him go, no leash. Poor kid never gets to just run.  He's always on the leash and our backyard is so tiny, he can't run.  So I let him out untethered and let him chase the squirrel.  There is a little squirrel who runs around the front area and Levi is bound and determined to get it.  Sadly, he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to squirrel catching.  There has been more than one occasion that Levi's nose is buried in the grass, sniffing for the little critter, and the squirrel will leap down from the tree and dash across the lawn to a bigger tree.  And Levi won't even notice!  

There are times that Levi does see the mad dash for a better tree and then, the race is on.  Mostly, there is no squirrel in sight when he goes out.  Mostly, Levi just gallops from tree to another, sniffing and searching.  But he sure has a good time!

Hey, I'm uh, lookin' for a squirrel.  Have you seen it?

 It might be up here!

Did he go this way?

Wait!  I think I heard something! 

Aaaah!  He saw it! Run, squirrel, run!