Happy first day of fall, y'all

 

It has been hot enough that I still haven't wanted to bake, and that's saying something because I LOVE cookies. I owe some to some friends, so no, you guys, they're not lost in the mail; they're still ingredients.

Anyway, here's hoping we get slightly cooler temps, but more importantly, RAIN. It's been dry for... months? Things are sounding quite crispy and today is only the first day of fall. Could have fooled our yard!

New Year and already behind

 Happy New Year, yes, four days late- that's how I roll. I hope that all y'all had blessed Christmas vacations (or staycations) and New Years celebrations sans drama or police involvement or anything other than the way you had hoped 2023 would go out. I know quite a few of you were more than happy to see the old year out. 

New, fresh beginnings, huzzah!

My parents made it out for a between Christmas and New Years visit and are safely home again. We'd seen Dad in August, and Mom had come out in June to keep an eye on the kids while we were in Scotland but I hadn't seen her in person since April and that's a really long time to go without my Tiny Mommeeeeee! Thank you to any/all of who you have prayed over her and wished her well through her year of health issues. We all are very appreciative.

School started today for the Damonater, to his intense distress. However, he does have Phys Ed and his STEAM class this semester, so it'll be interesting to hear the report of how the first day went down. 

Five more days and we'll have been married for 25 years. He has put up with me for a quarter of a century, people, and most of that was even spent in the same state together. Amazing. That man deserves a medal. Or cookies. Or something. Prayers, probably.

We5 are well, staying warm in the subfreezing temps, prepping for the snow we're supposed to get this weekend. We hope you kicked off 2024 to a great start!

As if there weren't enough snacks already in the house

 this one is totally on me. we had fresh cheerios and i'd snagged a big bag of M&M's for multiple recipes (which have yet to materialize, but hush) and since peanut butter is an everyday staple in our house, i made a batch of happy trails mix. 

what is happy trails mix, you ask?

it was discovered by one lisa and one val at camp lambec one rather chilly summer night around a campfire when friends were frying fresh caught fish from lake erie. they offered us some, but as we'd smuggled these ingredients to camp and had pilfered a big metal bowl from the dining hall, we declined. however, there is no chance of pouring m&m's into a metal bowl quietly and we soon had everyone's attention even though the firelight was the only light around. it was delicious out there in the cool of the evening and it's just as good inside.

here is the recipe, which runs much more like old-timey recipes with absolutely no unit measurements that make me nuts than the precision kind i prefer.

step one: dump your m&m's in a biggish bowl (you will need room to stir)

step two: pour in enough cheerios to cover M&M's and then a little more

step three: spoon a fist sized glob of peanut butter in there

step four: get messy. mix with a utensil or your hands

step five: enjoy and refrigerate any leftovers covered. it's also good chilled! it might even hold together better that way.

this is one of my favorite snacks and i'd love to mail it (some assembly required) to loved ones, but to ship peanut butter would be expensive so it's easier to buy and make your own. maybe when there's not christmas cookies hogging every surface, cookie dough in the fridge, ice cream in the freezer, and candy canes everywhere you turn. 

like in march, say. 

Thank you, God, for food.

 I do believe we have a herd of Cookie Monsters loose in the house. I made chocolate chip cookies last week and I swear the next time I turned around there were three left.

I baked Monday Morning Muffins yesterday. Don't get excited- they're just blueberry muffins out of a box, but I figured they'd work some magic to kick off the week. I'm debating freezing six of them so they last until next week's Monday, haha.

Dunno if you've seen these, but they make edible glitter and put it in chocolate chips. Woohoo! Had to try some. I made another batch- my first with glitter chips- since the first batch of cookies didn't stick around long. I figure it's because we've been out of ice cream *gasp* for several days now. I'm not sure this batch will last long enough for anyone to notice the glitter, but I had a good time making them so that's enough.

Last weekend I made pork bone broth but this weekend it was chicken. I can't even tell you how good my house smells with this simmering overnight. I'm sure it had nothing to do with why I couldn't sleep. That's not drool on my pillow...

Summer snippet

*This post began in June and camped out in the Drafts folder*

 Nothing earthshaking has been going on. Thankfully we aren’t dealing with wildfires or extreme heat (please be careful, those of you who are), or even flooding which is surprising because we were starting to feel like guests of Noah’s ark for a while there. It’s about the time camp would be starting up and that’s such a part of my DNA at this point that I find reminders everywhere. Including a cookie recipe made from cake mix, which is how several of our camp cookies were baked, so in remembrance:

Damon joined his besties for a week of Beulah on the Road (think high energy VBS) right before one of the besties moved out of state. I'm so glad they had that last week of fun together! I do have more pictures but it might be October before I sift through everything. =/

He also escorted me on a trip to see Grandmama and PaPa and kept them out of trouble while I attended the memorial service of the mom of one of my besties. Bittersweet for sure.

PaPa took Damon to a local animal park and showed him around town, including the home they were living in when I was born, someplace I couldn't tell you how to get to or even when I last saw it, haha! Damon was inordinately pleased to have been to my first home. 

Dada doing one of his favorite things, hehe.

Dada and Damon doing another of their favorite things!

Another 15 year old in the house

An artist friend of ours, the talented Heidi Jacobs, created some terrific Halloween pieces. I showed Liam the photos on facebook and told him we'd get him one for his birthday, so he chose "the batty bat mug" and is delighted by how much hot cocoa it holds. Thank you, Heidi! 

This photo is so you can all marvel at his humungous feet.

And this one is so you can marvel at how much hair he has. I sent this picture to Zita to see if he has as much hair as Nina!

Liam has a favorite tree because of its humungous yellow leaves. I don't remember what kind it is, but he makes sure to hug it every year, haha. His favorite colors are still yellow and gold, just like when he was a baby and adored his stuffed yellow giraffe, Geoffrey, who is still in his bedroom somewhere.

We measured him a few weeks ago and he was 5'7", making him officially taller than me. He's probably crept past that now.

 Mister Minty had himself a birthday. He still requests all things mint: mint chocolate chip ice cream, peppermint sugar cookies, "minty circles" (otherwise known to the rest of the world as Lifesavers), Thin Mints, minty hot cocoa... it's hard to keep mint extract on hand around here. So these were a big hit from Grandmama, and I haven't had a single one yet!

He also may be a little Lego obsessed.

 I asked what he wanted for his birthday and he chose mint chocolate chip cookies. As I'm rummaging around in the pantry for the bag of Andes mint chips that I knew I had in there, he strolled in and asked what I was looking for.

"Oh, I ate those a long time ago." 

I did smack my forehead and not him, thank you very much. 

Regular chips with a brand new mint extract it is! And eyeballs, because I used pumpkin, ghost, and moon cookie cutters. Everything turned into blobs as chocolate chip cookies don't behave the same way as sugar cookies, but that didn't change their deliciousness any.

And Dada found some high-end minty cupcakes!

You probably don't see anything in this picture, because Liam is standing sideways and is therefore invisible. Pretty sure he hasn't even hit 100# yet. (The baby gate keeps the dogs out of the kitchen, in case you're wondering.)

I came downstairs Halloween morning to find Liam, caped and perched gargoyle-style on top of the ladder in the sunroom. The ladder was up because Dada was kindly installing plant hooks for my ferns. There's a low rumble from above, "the birthday boy sits upon his throne." I do believe I snorted. He is in every respect a Halloween child.

We skipped trick or treating this year. It just didn't seem like a good idea given the germs floating around, so we dressed up the dogs instead. Honey is wearing a pumpkin bib and Bos is a hot dog, haha!

At this point, wearing real clothes feels like Halloween for the boys as they've been the pajamas the majority of the time since March. Anytime they're told to put on real pants these days they are automatically suspicious because with the remote learning they're doing there are no actual people being seen or being seen by. Think Khan Academy but dryer. Damon has the occasional Zoom meeting but Liam has zero, hence the pajamas all day, every day. By the time we get back to street clothes, nothing Liam owns is going to fit because he's growing so fast. We tease him regularly about being Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy", especially when he rumbles some reply to us. 

His braces will come off on Tuesday, so he is very much looking forward to devouring his favorite candy bars that he's been very responsible about not having. We got him a decent supply of Twix, so that should last him an afternoon or so. 

Overall, a pretty fun kid. I think we'll keep him. 

Carnage

My first thought upon entering the house with the groceries in hand this afternoon was, "why does it smell so... vegetal? Vegetabullish? Veggish? Um..?"

Oh. That's why.

Apparently our Great Pyrenees (who is the only one who could be blamed for these Shenanigans as The Bos was snug in his kennel, though he had stealthily smuggled in a pink crayon, so he is also on the Naughty List as he was caught with wax shards and pink front paws) likes potatoes. And Dada's expired vitamins which he hadn't been taking anyway, so no major loss there. And desperately wanted to get into the melatonin but was thwarted by the childproof lid. 

She also ate close to half of my bag of spice cookies. You know, the kind they make Biscoff and cookie butter out of. The delightfully crispy, not-too-sweet, perfect with coffee or tea or straight out of the bag kind. THOSE COOKIES. THOSE WONDERFUL COOKIES. She ate them. All. 

Has anyone figured out how to create force fields yet? I really, really need one in our kitchen. Could you put a bug in Santa's ear for me, please?

Accidental pumpkins

A certain birthday boy asked for his favorite minty sugar cookies in orange this year instead of birthday cake. I'm a bit sleep deprived so I didn't fully realize how much they would look like pumpkins. Traditionally we call these St. Pat's Swirlies because I make them around St. Patty's Day and they're green and sugar cookie colored. The dough didn't want to cooperate for whatever reason, but I think he'll be pleased regardless. 

If you're headed out for tricks and treats tonight, wear your Wellies and weight down your costume!

Happy 14th birthday to Liam, in all the wet, wild and crazy that Halloween can bring!

Intentioned snips and random snippets

The irony was not lost on me as I meandered through Walmart hunting front-closure bras for after a double mastectomy. I kept giggling wryly to Dada about needing bras for when I wouldn't have any boobs! Something's gotta hold all those bandages together before you can put clothes over them. How crazy life is.

                                     *****

Maybe breast cancer was one of God's ways to get an outlet to those of you whose love language is Gifts. Holy smokes, I continue to be blown away at the gifts that arrive. Currently I have three bouquets of sunny, cheerful flowers spread through the downstairs. Two friends made dinner for last night on top of an already stuffed fridge and freezer. My stack of cards overfloweth. My phone has been blowing up with texts...

I have three containers of chocolate chip cookies! If that isn't love for this Cookie Monster, I dunno what is. I am humbled by all of you and the ways that you care!

                                    *****

Tuesday was my follow up appointment with my surgeon. He asked me how I felt I was doing and looked, at least to me, pretty surprised when I chirped, "good!" I confessed that I hadn't believed him when he'd informed me that a bilateral mastectomy would hurt less than something done laparoscopically, but he'd been right. Everything I'd heard and read told me to "stay ahead of the pain" so I followed directions and took pain meds alternating with Advil accordingly. For four days. And then I didn't take anything at all. Because nothing hurt! Some friends are saying I have a high pain tolerance, which could be true, I suppose. Every body is different. I have no idea how that could be measured. What still strikes me as funny is that the sensation I feel most is the prickles that are just like when your breastmilk lets down. I have areas of mostly numbness, but the feelings that I do feel cracks me up. There's nothing to let down to anywhere else! 

Anyway. 

He looked over my recorded drain fluid numbers and decided the drains could come out. WOOHOO! For those of you who have never had a surgical drain, let me tell you what they do and why it's good fabulous to get them out. Fluid can build up after surgery and has no place to go without help. My cancer books said essentially "think 'turkey baster'", which didn't give me the correct mental picture, so I'll offer a little better version. Think 'small, turkey baster with tubes that get sutured into your body and dangle loosely in an attempt to be yanked at every opportunity" because that is closer to what they feel like. So you have these tubes coming out of you like the Borg and if you're smart, you take the advice about the $1.50 Lowe's nail apron and snuggle your drains down into the pockets. The nail apron also had long enough ties that I could cross them behind my back and tie a tiny bow in front of me, which made sleeping that much nicer as I didn't have to channel Samwise Gamgee: no matter how I lay there's a dirty great root sticking into my back...

A sweet person I met online even made a beautiful apron for my drains which she then mailed to me. I got to wear it for a full 24 hours before my drains came out. You guys, there is no end to the creativity and thoughtfulness out there. A total stranger made me something lovely to make something important and yet unpleasant somehow better. Find your Cranny of Creativity and use that as your ministry to others. I already said some of you are so good with the gifts. Some of you are amazing with the foods. Most of you are brilliant at texts. All of you are capable of great love even in tiny but not overlooked or under appreciated ways!

Stepping off my soapbox. So you live in dread of accidentally getting a drain hooked on something or reaching "wrong" and pulling these suckers out, right? 

Well.

Chalk this up under Things I Should Have Figured Out Had I Really Thought About Them: since those babies are sutured into you, that means there's some snipping involved in releasing them so that they can then be pulled out. My sweet surgeon did mutter something to himself about "that's in there tighter than I intended" whilst working on my right side, followed by a moment of sharpish digging. Then he looked at me and intoned, "now, these drains are a little wider on the inside than they are on the part where you see them, so ..." and I forget the rest of what he said because my brain was processing it and got as far as, "DUH, you dummy (meaning me, not him)" and then "so I guess I didn't need to worry about accidentally yanking them out" and "wait, that means it is going to hurt" all pretty much at the same time. I think I asked if I should take a deep breath (that's what they have me do as they access my port during IV treatments) and I'm fairly certain he said, "whatever works." So I suck in a big breath as he counts to three and what follows truly didn't hurt so much as feel weird, but the sound was exactly like sucking up the bottom of a milkshake with a straw. Sorry to those of you reading this in a public place if that made you laugh out loud and people are looking at you oddly. 

He heads over to do the left side and I frantically let Dada know I could use some cold, wet paper towels on the back of my neck STAT. Not so much the pull or the sound, but definitely the snippage. Is that a word? It is now. My stomach rumbled uncertainly and I felt like someone had cranked up the thermostat. The surgeon looked at me with his eyebrows up, I looked back from under one of my damp paper towels (because Dada is good at this game and I had one on my forehead, too), squeaked "good to go", breathed in, he pulled, and out came the second one. 

He gave me a few minutes to lie there with my knees up as he taped gauze over my drain-free holes which will seal themselves shut- all of this is so amazing to me- and asked if I was okay to sit up. I was, so I did, he said to keep doing what we were doing as everything looked like it was healing really well, and then he said that if I experienced any fluid buildup it would have that waterbed feeling. They can take care of that right there in the office via a needle inserted through my incision(s) which is/are numb anyway and suction whatever fluid out. Sorry, Daddeeeeee and anyone else who would have appreciated less is more...

He said to give it a few days for the drain holes to heal up before starting my stretching exercises which are apparently remarkably similar to exercises encouraged post-rotator cuff surgery. I teased that they probably are the same and that someone just changed the title on the booklet. He reminded us that compression is important so that the skin adheres well but to not be doing a ton of stuff up over my head quite yet as that would affect the pectoral muscles. I don't want to end up with T-Rex arms, but he said to wait a few days, not to not do that at all. He even said I don't need any more gauze/bandages over the incisions but to stick with the ACE bandage or compression shirts. 

Otherwise he will check on me in six months!

And that was that! So thank you all for the continued prayers, especially for those of you who prayed that the drains could come out! It is so nice to be able to lie on my sides instead of only my back. I slept in the recliner for about a week and it's so nice to be back in my comfy bed. 

My chest is tightly wrapped and I've been making comments about corsets and stays to Dada, who has been grinning while wrapping me. Yet another Thing I Should Have Figured Out Had I Really Thought About It is that with my chest wrapped so tightly, it looks like my belly is popping straight out. Stop right there, those of you saying, "what belly?" Just quit it. I am telling you that yes, I have one, and yes, it is out there, looking 4 months pregnant. This is not just me. This is lots of online ladies who've gone through this. Some of them have freaked out to husbands along the lines of "did they put my boobs in my belly!?" to which husbands standing out of strangling distance have quipped, "no, it always looked like that but you couldn't tell because your boobs were in the way." I'm serious. The Internet says so. It must be true. Sorry to those of you still reading in a public place. Keep the giggling outbursts to a minimum. People are going to think something is wrong with you. 

If you see me in one of Dada's button downs because I still can't do over the head shirts and I only own two button downs of my own, please don't ask when I'm due. Unless you're standing out of arm's reach. Best still watch out, though. As someone I love pointed out, I'm more aerodynamic now so that means I'm pretty fast. ;)

Goliath is down!

*Viewer discretion is advised for photographic content*

Once again, I am humbled and blessed by the faithfulness of my mighty God. In a week full of scary firsts, he held me close through every medical test, chemotherapy administration, and port placement surgery, not to mention keeping all 3 Things safe on their field trips, rides to and from and during karate, and Real Life in general. I truly do not understand how those who choose to do life without God can even summon enough courage to get out of bed in the morning.

Some of you know from my frantic "I am going to bite something, someone, anything" texts how badly I cope at waiting while being hungry and thirsty. I was instructed to eat or drink nothing, not chew gum, not consume mints, nothing after midnight on Thursday in preparation for the port surgery Friday around lunch. For those of you keeping track, that meant this Hobbit would miss breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, and perhaps not be eating until afternoon tea, which is just about as unacceptable as it gets for a poor, pitiful, pathetic Hobbit whose brain felt like it had shriveled to the size of a raisin in the back of her head by the time she was rolling into surgery. I've tried to be really, really good about drinking especially as I want my veins to be stab-able on the first try! To not have any water in me was terrifying, and I wasn't sure they'd be able to use the IV needle that my kind oncologist's office had left in just in case.

Thankfully they were after flushing it and making sure there were no signs of infection brewing. I was still poked to give blood, but Steve was quick and compassionate and so sweet that he made the first few tears fall. For whatever reason, it is so hard sometimes to be on the receiving end of kindness. Sometimes I wish they'd just be brisk and then leave, but the extra encouraging word just about breaks my heart.

Soon enough we met with the surgeon one more time to go over what would happen, and then met the anesthesiologist who had his own questions to which I answered, "I'm a boring patient." He grinned at me and said he liked boring patients. I felt like I was in good hands. The friendly, cute nurses came to stick in my relaxing, "pre-anesthesia margarita" (as my Aunt Chris calls it) and wheeled me off to the OR. 

I remember commenting that Liam would love the OR because the lights reminded me of an octopus, the huge digital clock on the wall, the myriad of Stuff I'd never know the purposes of. I met another nurse but didn't catch her name. I don't remember anything else. 

Apparently, according to Dada, while under general anesthesia, I grilled my surgeon about if he'd always wanted to be a doctor. I don't even remember seeing him or the anesthesiologist enter the room! I can just hear Nana laughing about "how nebby" I am... nice to know that my subconscious and my mouth still take over even when I'm under. Yikes.

When I woke up in recovery there were more nurses to meet, and my sweet friend Cheryl from mammograms came to take my chest X-Ray, a precautionary measure after port insertion as that procedure does involve sticking a needle and catheter into a big vein. They could potentially puncture a lung, hence the "before you go anywhere, you're getting an X-Ray" habit. In my case, all was well. Yay! Good job, everybody!

I think I spent close to an hour in recovery, looking around, watching the nurses, hearing the heartbreaking cough of a small person, chitchatting with whichever nurse was checking on me, finally some ice water after my X-Ray showed all was well, and I think my surgeon came in to say the first spot they tried twice didn't work so they had to move to plan B, which was something we'd covered ahead of time.  

They wheeled me out to the post-recovery place where I was allowed to get dressed with Dada's help, went over how to take care of things, some more chit chat to yet another friendly, smiling nurse. I was released with a scrip for pain meds and sent on my way with well-wishes.

Every single person there was once again, kind, thoughtful, comforting, encouraging. Thank you God for the medical personnel you have in my life!

We dropped off my scrip, headed to one of our favorite down town restaurants where I finally got to dig into some fries and a BLT and the best ice water with lemon I swear I've ever tasted. Then Dada ordered pie a la mode and I ate almost all his ice cream.

We picked up my meds, including an allergy med and Aleve which I'm supposed to take during and after my infusion for my white blood cell booster. 

We went home and tucked me into a big chair with my snazzy fancy blanket from my girls where I zoned out with a few episodes of Star Trek- The Next Generation. Yes, I'm a nerd. I wasn't sure I'd have the brain power to stay awake through anything with real thought required. I almost dozed off multiple times as it was.

Dada brought me an ice pack for over my incisions and a heating pad for over the back of my neck and shoulders, which was definitely the sorest part. I must have been propped up pretty high during the surgery or something because my range of motion as far as turning my head went is still a little affected. The heating pad worked wonders and I might replace it again tonight. I went to sleep with it and the ice pack and slept about 4 hours with them mostly in place before I woke up to use the bathroom and drink some more. I got several more hours of sleep until the morning noise around here (i.e. Bosley and birds) got too distracting. I needed to drink some more and use the bathroom again anyway, haha.

So I took all my meds that I needed to take for the first half of today, had breakfast, and headed off to karate graduation, which went very well. I sat with two of my best karate mom friends and my family and watched Damon receive his black belt! Yay kiddo! Lots of hard work went into that, let me tell you. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them from Dada's phone to mine...

Yet another thank you to every person who has been praying, for those of you sticking me on the prayer lists you know about, for lifting me up, for sending me cards and Stuff, for the cookies and the texts and the love that we are feeling every step of this journey. I can't express how amazing it is to be so covered! Thank you! You are wonderful and I am so thankful that God has put you in my life!

I realize this is a private photo and much thought has gone into placing it here where it will no longer be private. The truth is that this is all crazy and confusing and will very likely get much worse before it gets better. I don't know what five more sessions of chemo will do to me other than hair loss for sure. I have no idea what kind of future surgery awaits me, what the scarring from that will look like inside where nobody can see it and out where the whole world could, or how I will feel when this whole adventure is over and I'm proclaimed in remission, should that be God's will. 

I picked this one because I am smiling. I am upright and healing. I look strong after what has been the hardest week of my life. 

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." ~Psalm 139:13-16

"She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." ~Proverbs 31:25

Goliath never stood a chance.

I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)

We've discovered an amazing ice cream place in town and are going to be F-A-T...

Yes, that is every bit as amazing (and as blue!) as it looks. It might be my favorite there, though the Coffee Oreo and Caramel Brownie are also outstanding...

These are World Peace Cookies by Dorie Greenspan, author of multiple cookbooks but especially the new one I got for Christmas. Every recipe I've tried from it so far has been a hit, from the Almond Crescents which surprisingly Carrie will NOT leave alone to these World Peace Cookies which are absolutely to die for if you like true chocolate cookies and not just sugared chocolate cookies. Even the chocolate ice cream recipe with vodka in it was yummy!

Did I mention F-A-T? I'm gonna be 500 miles WIDE if I keep this up. Some of you are remembering the meme I added to my Facebook wall about my beach body being postponed this year until further notice. I'm not in shape. Wait. Round is a shape, right?

And let's be honest, all those veggies mentioned in the garden post will not be in place of the above yummies, rather they'll be in addition to. I'm a Hobbit at heart, what can I say?

May-hem of graduations

I've already mentioned how May is traditionally a crazy hectic month with the end-of-the-school-year everything and Carrie's birthday. I can only imagine what it'll become once we add in Proms, graduation parties, and all that jazz. Yoi.

This particular May we already had two graduations. 

Yes, you read that right. Two.

May is the second of four karate graduations spread throughout the year. They're usually February, which we missed because I had the flu and Damon wasn't progressing anyway), May, August, and November. 

Two of those graduation dates are black belt graduations, which are extra special as you get performances by the black belt students who have been working for at least 3 years on becoming a black belt. This particular weekend, our amazing friends Nina and Jonathan received their black belts, and the kids' instructor, Mr. Stanford, was receiving his fourth degree black belt. Well, we couldn't miss that!

Parents normally are the ones who tie on a student's new belt to finish the graduation. However, black belts are different in that the instructors get to tie them on. Then there's flowers and pictures and all of that, often followed by ice cream (if you're related to the same people that we are related to, anyway). 

Here are some snippets of the gazillions of photos taken:

Check out that ankle pivoting, above (which is a good thing) and how quick he is- that kid is a blur! Hehe.

I promise, they didn't kick that innocent brown belt off the stage. Just trying to give you a sense of the kicks...

Once you're a high enough belt, you need to create your own katta/routine. Our favorite student performance was cleverly done to "Flight of the Bumblebee", and she used flyswatters. It brought the house down:

Not the best picture, but a hilarious reminder if you were there. 

And Mr. Stanford wowed us all with his Wushu skills:

It was really special for the kids (and the parents!) to get to cheer on Mr. Stanford. He is a super instructor and it was so much fun to see just him doing his thing instead of teaching. 

Don't ever be offended if someone tells you that you kick like a girl. I sure wouldn't want to mess with this one:

Not that kicking like a boy is a bad thing either!

And I keep hearing Goliath from "David and the Giant Pickle" of VeggieTales fame when I see these; am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?

I know that it's not all sunshine and roses. There are plenty of days that the kids do not want to go to karate, and I'd be painting an inaccurate picture if I implied that they're always 100% behind all this. But when we see the intensity and accuracy they're developing, along with the focus that some of us need more desperately than others, I am convinced that it is building incredible skills in our children. It makes it worth the 45-50 minutes of being in the car several times a week on top of the time it takes for the lessons knowing their instructors are top quality and that they're learning not only self-defense that we hope they won't need, but focus, determination, steadfastness, and how to push their minds and bodies in a safe place. While they're getting kicked. Just kidding! These kids work hard, and that all happens after they've spent an entire day in school already.

I should mention that this graduation kicked off a new facet. The instructors thought it would be fun if the students' friends and families wore the colors of the belts their students were progressing to. Damon was becoming a blue belt and the big kids were becoming red belts, so Dada and I decked out in red and blue. There were raffle tickets to be awarded according to how much "school spirit" you showed. Well, as Nina and Jonathan were becoming black belts, you can see that one of the ninjas below is actually Rita. 

Safe to say, Dada got more than one raffle ticket and made the instructors' day a little brighter. 

An amazing job displaying months of hard work was shown by all. We're really, really proud of these kiddos. 

And thank goodness for freer summer schedules!

***

You thought this post would be over now, didn't you? Ahh, but I'd mentioned graduations, plural, earlier. No, Carrie isn't that old, yet. I'm talking Kindergarten graduation!

Aren't their caps a total hoot!?

PaPa will be super pleased to know that someone did all the motions and sang all the songs required of him. There was the obligatory adorable slide-show of the year, from the pumpkins and leaves of last fall through all the winter activities to the field trips and butterflies of spring. These kids are busy doing way more than stringing beads and playing with blocks. Damon's class had a hard cover book published about their coveted future careers, complete with art work and a write up from every student. In Kindergarten, I remember boys kicking and throwing those cardboard building bricks. It's so interesting to me how much more capable kids are than we tend to think.  

Anyway, it was a rehearsed-to-perfection graduation followed by cookies and punch.     

And then the Kindergarteners were dismissed to go home with their families. That'd be Damon, getting outta Dodge. They still have four more days of school, but it was one super sweet graduation that I'm glad we could attend!