A little recluctant

Sarah continues to have a hard time getting started at Taekwondo.  In the month she's been out of school, her separation anxiety has gotten a lot worse.  She's with me 24/7 now and really doesn't want to be separated - ever.

Here she is last week when it took her 15 minutes to join her 30 minute class.  A little defiant don't you think?



She slowly scooted into class when she finally realized she wasn't getting out of it, and should probably make the best of it.  This week we dropped her off and left.  When we returned a few minutes later, she was all smiles.

New favorite

DSC_0039-2.jpg, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

Makes my mama heart melt.

Minecraft Mania!

Andrew has hit a new level of Minecraft obsession. He is now making his own Minecraft battle videos!  
Here is his first:

Fourth of July

The 4th did not disappoint this year!  We had a holiday double-header with a neighborhood bike parade & BBQ and an Angels game with fireworks.

Andrew was super into decorating his bike.  The two of us made a special trip to Michaels and picked up enough red, white and blue ribbon to wrap a truck! 

The kids parade was in our old neighborhood.  And you know what?  This was the first year we ever participated!  Next year, we'll have to organize one in our actual neighborhood!  After a couple of trips around the block and finding a lost Owen, we walked and rode back our friend's house. We've gotten to know this family so much more in the year we've been away than when we lived across the street.  Life works in mysterious ways... 

After an afternoon siesta (when Sarah slept for three hours!), we made our way to Angel's Stadium.  The game was a blast.  We went with another family, and we split up and had the girls sitting together and they boys sitting together not too far away.  This way Sarah got to hang out with one of her best BFF's Julia.  The first thing Sarah said when we sat down was "I want cotton candy!".  Baseball Games are really all about the food, right?

Sarah nervous about the fireworks for the last three innings of the game, but she was brave and lasted through the whole show.  

Hope you had an awesome 4th too!

Fore!

After a fun birthday party at a local golf course and a couple of trips to the driving range, the boys are starting to get into golf.  We found kids clubs at Costco yesterday and went back to the range this morning. They had a blast.

My Pioneer Boy

DSC_4762.jpg, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

We've got a new thing Owen and me. Saturday morning, 7:30. You'll find us on the couch watching his favorite show: the Pioneer Woman.

Respect Sir!

After two long years of being a Taekwondo sideline refugee, Sarah has finally started classes herself!



She's a little shy at first, but after about 5 minutes she's having a blast!

Back in action

A few weeks ago my camera started acting really funny, so funny that I new it just wasn't me messing up the settings.  Turns out the sensor had lost its calibration.  But after a couple of weeks in the shop, its back and seems to be much better.  I was finally able to get back to shooting.

These shots of Sarah discovering hopscotch are my favorites from yesterday.

Owen's new specs and mom's new level of guilt

Owen has a long history of clumsiness and bumping into things.  When he was a baby we would even put a helmet on his head sometimes so he wouldn't bump it so much!



We chalked a lot of this up to his being a super active baby and child.  The one who always was on the go and always playing with balls.  Of course the active kid is going to get a few bumps and bruises, right?

Fast forward 6 years and we learn the poor boy is almost blind in one eye!  He was diagnosed with a lazy left eye.  And from the looks of it he's suffered from it for a long time with his right eye taking over  the majority of his sight.  He's 20/150 in his left eye.  And that my friends, is not good.

Obviously we've never been to the eye doctor before now, but Owen has never missed a check up and before he started kindergarden he had a vision test at his pediatrician's office. Which revealed nothing - why the heck not?  So we were surprised when a letter came home from school telling us we needed to get to an eye doctor asap!  Thank god for mandatory hearing and vision tests at school!

Last week we took all the kids to get their eyes checked and it turns out that Andrew needs some correction too.  (Maybe had something to do with Andrew's reading issues? Awesome parenting here!) Sarah's eyes are just fine for now.

The glasses arrived yesterday and I think the boys made cute choices.  They were sad they didn't get the sport goggles, but I said heck no to that.





Now I'm just thinking how much more fun basketball will be for Owen now that he has some depth perception and can see the net, and how much better reading is going to be for Andrew.  And someday I'll get over my biggest parenting fail.

The aftermath

And after all that party fun, here's what happened next:







Everyone got the stomach flu!  I'm happy to say that everyone is healthy again, but last week was no fun.

Owen is 6!

Owen's 6th birthday party was a blast.  We invited friends from school and church and hosted a mini basketball tournament.   Owen was in heaven.  We had it at our home away from home, the JCC.  This was another party that was done in a few phone calls and totally exceeded our expectations.  The kids had blast playing and the coaches were great.  The party room had awesome basketball decorations and they even ordered a special basketball cake for Owen!  It was fun to watch the boys choose between a Kobe Bryant or Keven Durant place setting. (Owen chose Kobe).  

These party pictures don't look much different from a regular Tuesday in Owen's life, because we are always at the court, but he had so much fun playing with his friends.

Andrew is 8

Our party weekend started Saturday with Andrew's 8th birthday party.  He wanted a bounce-house party so we hit up the local Pump it Up to celebrate.  I love these places - one phone call and your party is planned.   We've been here many, many times for friends' parties, but this was the first time we've hosted one here.  I'm surprised they still love it.  Andrew chose the "Glow Party".  They turn off the lights, pump up the music and everyone wears glow-in-the-dark necklaces and bracelets.  It's like a little dance party in there.  It was eight-year old heaven.  (The Glow party is bad for pictures so I don't have any action shots from all the bouncing).

Andrew invited all the boys in his class and special friends.  Girls are not ok these days.  (I'm kinda ok with that, some of the girls in his class are a little too precocious for Andrew).  The cake was a Star Wars ice-cream cake with mint-chip ice-cream.  So. Good.  

















I think it was a complete success.

My little princess

Sarah and her BFF Kherrington, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

The only time Sarah dresses up in anything pink is when her friend Kherrington comes over. Note, she still has the Cars bubbles :).

Andrew style

Andrew style, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

We were back at the courts this afternoon while waiting for Sarah to finish her nap at school. Andrew is becoming pretty enthusiastic about basketball too. When I drop off the boys at school, I leave the basketball with them so they can go straight to the playground after school gets out and shoot some hoops. Its so fun to watch them play together.

More practice

More practice, originally uploaded by leslie_capron.

All this week the boys have had short school days because of school-wide parent-teacher conferences. So Owen has had even more basketball time as we kill the hour between Sarah's drop off and his school start time. He's now practicing backward shots and actually making them!