Chapter 39: Omedeto Gozaimasu

Happy, Happy Birthday Zacky dear,
Happy Days will come to you all year.
If I wish then it would be,
A Happy, Happy Birthday to you from Me!!!

******ISN'T IT GREAT TO BE EIGHT*********




(sadly this is when my camera's battery died so I had my sister Taci take the rest of the pictures, but I wasn't able to get those pics. But to explain his cake he wanted a karate cake and since he just earned his white belt (see chap. 38) I decided to make his cake look like his Gi (his karate uniform) with his white belt, it was the first time I had used fondant and I was really excited how it turned out as well as seeing how happy Zacky was about his cake.)

Chapter 38: Onegai Shimasu

His eyes are taking in his surroundings, his pulse is beating faster and faster and his thoughts are only on one thing "I'm going to do it, this is it, today is my day." Sensei enters the room and all falls quiet, respect is permeating from his eyes as he looks and spots Senseis' black belt, one day, he thinks to himself, one day.

Sensei looks over the group and asks the initiates to kneel on the mat and start their Seiza Meditation. Kneeling he closes his eyes and begins to feel the rise and fall of his chest, in, out, in, out. Sensei rises and again all eyes are on him, the Karate 12th Kyu Review had now begun.

Zachary has been in Karate now for almost a year and the time came when his instructor (Sensei) felt he could review for his white belt. He was very excited and very nervous at the same time, he had been working so hard and had been talking about earning his white belt for some time. The review itself was nearly heartstopping for me, when someone who is teaching you child says "Now remember parents your child may be hit or bumped or bruised" you tend to be on guard. Zachary did an outstanding job in defending himself and it at times seemed like I was a part of a video game, I would try to duck the punch or move to the left, move to the right or jump out of the way, and the last part of the review when Sensei really comes after them and makes them "fight" (for lack of a better term) I really, really had a hard time just sitting in my seat and watching, but he did it, he showed off all the things he has learned in this past year and he really proved that he deserved his white belt. What a day for him to treasure!!!!

Chapter 37: HUH?!?!?!?!?

So this morning I can hear Lainee in her room, she is tossing and turning and sighing, so I go say "Lainee, what is the matter?" to which she replies while sighing "I just can't sleep anymore!" So I tell her "then just get up, it is morning anyway." "OHHHHH!!! good, I didn't know that!" I just kind of look at her thinking, how in the world could she not know that it is morning, it is already bright in her room!

HUH?!?!?!?!?

Then after the kids have gone to school and I am folding some laundry on my bed, she is in the bathroom, and she soon is telling me how she needs more TP, she shows me how much she has and I tell her that, that amount should be plenty, she doesn't need anymore than that. So she starts to argue her case and I finally give in (after a few minutes) and go to get her some more TP and as I am putting it on the roll holder she looks up at me and says (completely seriously I might add) "WOW! Mom, how did you know I needed some more TP?" I thought she was trying to tease me so I said "Moms just know these things, it is like a super power." and to which she says "That is sooooo cool." So after she washes her hands, she comes out with this completely amazed look on her face and she says "Mom, I still cannot believe that you knew I needed some toilet paper."

HUH?!?!?!?!?!?

Well, at least if she ends up at Knollwood, she will be with family :)

Chapter 36: Things that go BUMP in the night!!

I loved, loved that Halloween fell on a Sat. this year, it just seemed to be such a relaxing and fun day. Scott and Bradley headed off for a day of Rabbit Hunting and the rest of us just hung out (well, someone had to make sure her room got cleaned or she would miss out on Trick-or-treating, bet you can't guess who!) We danced to the tunes of monster mash, Adams Family, and thriller, while we got the house and all the candy ready for the ghouls that were coming tonight!!! We also watched some halloween shows to get in the right frame of mind for "Fright Night".

As the day was winding down the kids were getting antsy, "Is it time yet?, how much longer?, can I just put on my costume?" this is what I was beginning to hear, to which I would respond, "not yet, 3 hours, and let's wait a little longer!" Zachary had been waiting for a couple of weeks to carve his pumpkin (sad, but true, he is the only one who got a pumpkin this year) so rather than wait for Scott I decided to take on the task myself, as you can see from the picture above he decided on a non-traditional jack-o-latern, but what can we say other than it is so Zachary!!!

Finally the time came to don the costumes, take pictures, find our bags, eat our dinner of "Terrifying Twice Baked Mummies", and then set off to have a spooky good time Trick-or-Treating.





Hope you all had a Frightenly Fun Halloween!!!!
Love, Pink Lady, Lady Bug, Karate Kid and Hunter (and thanks to our cousin Katie aka Asian Princess, for coming with us!)