Isaac's karate promotion test

Isaac had his second promotion test for Karate on Saturday. He is now a gold belt and very proud of himself, as are we! I was so impressed with how far he has come and how good he is. I see him in class but the test really displays his talents. He had to do kicks and punches with the instructions given in Korean! He sparred with another kid, Isaac is in the red helmet. And he had to break boards with kicks and punches. The most impressive was the one pictured above with his instructor and another guy (sorry, I don't know who he is!) each holding a board. Isaac had to kick one right after the other using one leg and not putting it down in between the two kicks. So he had no time to aim at the second board, he had to remember where it was. It was so cool to watch. I knew he was talented but to watch him do something so difficult was unreal! We are very proud of him and I'm so glad he's found something that he loves and is really good at. I always tell him that karate is his special talent, he's picked up on it so fast and does so well!

Isaac's MANY birthday celebrations

Isaac is 9! I can't believe it, where does the time go?! This year, Isaac had FOUR birthday celebrations! The first one was on Sunday, the 13th at Grandma and Grandpa's with the Gallos. And again, everyone gets presents. The second was on Monday, the 14th here at home with just the four of us. His birthday is actually the 15th but his Tuesdays are so crazy, there was no time to celebrate, I was really sad but Isaac didn't seem to care. The third celebration was on Saturday, the 19th with his friends. All the kids had a blast, they did a scavenger hunt which led them to their goody bags...I think that was their favorite part! They had fun, I had eleven 8 and 9 year olds running around screaming and taking EVERYTHING out of Isaac's toy box and once well organized bins, so it was a blast for me too! Actually, I have to admit, I loved reorganizing his toys, to me that is fun, that's my obsessive compulsive side! And finally, his fourth celebration was Saturday night, the 19th with Dave's brother Pete, his wife Mollie and their son Pascal. Pascal is 2 months older than Zoe and he is a doll baby! I wish the pictures could capture how blue his eyes are, they're gorgeous! I loved watching the babies play together, they had so much fun! Zoe's never played with another baby before and it was fun to watch them. And Isaac loves them and has so much fun playing with them. It was great to see Pete, Mollie and Pascal, it had been way too long! So, Isaac had a great birthday week and things are finally settling down.

Just hangin' out

These are just a few pictures of what we've been doing over the past week. Poor Isaac, he's so busy I don't even have any pics of him since the first day of school :(

I caught Dave and Zoe together being cuter than ever! Dave was holding the book for her and reading and she was just sitting there so calmly looking at the pictures and turning the pages. I couldn't believe it, Zoe has never sat still for longer than 5 min at a time! She is always on the go! She also apparently learned how to get her leg out of the highchair (did I mention she doesn't ever want to stop moving?) can you say gymnast anyone? A few pictures of Zoe just being adorable, and yes our couches are turned around backward facing the wall...she learned to climb up but seems to think its funny to just step off and crash onto the floor, maybe daredevil? Also there is a banister that overlooks the front door...that would be a really bad fall. (Kristen, I didn't want to have the same "flying experiance" that Matthew almost had!).

And, I got my hair cut on Wed and she asked if she could straighten it to see the layers better. Looks really different, I kinda like it but it would take several hours for me to do that on my own, no thanks!

Isaac's first day of school, 3rd grade

Monday was Isaac's first day of school. He is walking with a group of kids from the neighborhood, my baby's growing up! He loves school and said 3rd grade is the best grade ever! I can already see a huge difference from 2nd grade, a lot more homework. He doesn't seem to mind though, he does it without complaining and actually seems to enjoy doing it! And back to school means back to busy schedules. Over the summer he only did karate. Now he's back to cubscouts. Tuesdays are the worst because he gets home at 4:00, has homework which usually takes about an hour, we have to eat dinner by 5 so we can leave by 5:30 to go to karate. Karate is 6-7, then straight to cubscouts which is from 7-8. He gets home around 8:30, gets his shower, etc., then straight to bed. The rest of the week isn't so bad, he has karate on Thursday but gets home by 7:30. He says he wants to play basketball and soccer, I told him he has to choose one or the other, but that would make his schedule really hectic depending on how often they would have practices and games. I don't know if that would be too much for him. And I would guess the homework load is only going to get bigger. We'll just have to wait and see how things go!

Zoe's first birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's house

On the Sunday following Zoe's birthday, we celebrated at my parent's house with my sister and her family. Zoe loved her cake and her presents, although more interested in the wrapping paper! The boys loved helping her open her presents and as you can see, Isaac had fun checking out her new purse. When he realized we were watching him, he said he was just checking it out to see how it works! (He plays with her toys all the time at home!) And as usual at Grandma's house, everyone gets a present no matter who's birthday it is!

Zoe is 1!

We celebrated Zoe's first birthday at home last Thursday. She loved her cake and getting messy. After her well needed bath, she opened her presents. She was more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual gifts! Until I got her new cell phone out of the box and gave it to her, she had eyes for nothing else after that not even her new pink pick up truck! Of course she goes for the most inexpensive toy! The cell phone is still her favorite but she has discovered how cool the truck is...it plays music which her favorite thing is the world. As soon as we turn music on, she stops what she's doing and starts bouncing to the beat. It even helps when she's being whiny!