Purple belt!

Micah earned his purple belt at karate! He's supremely stoked and was so pleased with himself last night when he received his new belt. It was the first official promotion ceremony that he's participated in (prior to this, given his age group, he received his new belts during class)...and his good mood carried him through the rest of the night (along with a little dance he made up about being a purple belt, lol).

We're so proud of his dedication to karate and glad that he sincerely has fun at it. ;) And it's so cool to see just how far he's come since his very first day, three years ago:

Awwwwww. ;)

Cardiologist update.

Just wanted to let folks know that Micah saw the cardiologist this morning and is A-OK. The cardiologist assured us that there are no structural issues with Micah's heart...only a different sound, like chords on a guitar being played when the blood pumps over them. He said he was 100% sure that Micah's is just an innocent/benign Still's Murmur (though I'm not sure I necessarily trust someone who would say 100%, lol). He declared no need for any follow up and thinks the sound will go away on its own around adolescence. Whew. :)

Four on Friday.

1. For the record, the soreness from boot camp, for me, sets in about 12 hours later. I was reminded of this on Wednesday and am keeping it in mind today, as we're not yet to the 12 hour mark. ;)

2. Why can my 8 year old almost instantaneously figure out the least common multiple of 60 and 75 in his head but not be able to write a "4"?

3. Methinks they should have a week or month long "camp" for homeschoolers wherein I can send my boys to a public school environment so that they can get an idea of what a typical workload is like because they obviously don't believe me, lol. 

4. Nathan started teaching the boys how to play poker last night. The "poker faces" on the younger two are pretty hilarious. Incidentally, the eight year old cleaned up. ;)

First day-ish

Technically, our first day of this school year was last Monday. But. I didn't make boys get off the couch and go stand outside to take a picture. ;) Today, then, on the first day of the Options school year, I did pull out the camera. Ta da!

Check it out!! They're actually ALL smiling! It's a Monday miracle, folks. ;)

Course, then I took individual photos and ended up with this:

Yeah. Those are the boys I'm familiar with, lol. 

Anyhow. As I said, today was the first day of Options. This is our sixth year with the program, though it's taken different paths, such that this is our first year with this particular group. So far, we're delighted. 

Micah is listed as a fourth grader (though his summer birthday would put him in either 2nd or 3rd grade this year and I'm considering him a third grader) and has these classes:

• Keyboarding/Piano
• World Cultures
• PE
• Spanish
• Science Lab
• World Restaurant Tour

He's pretty darn happy and apparently made some new friends today. We were only a little worried about this...as the lunch/recess hour is divided. Given this, Asher and Micah don't eat and play together, so don't see each other all day, which worried them as that's never happened before. Though Micah asked me to come to lunch so he wouldn't be alone, Nathan and I decided it would be good for him to have to talk to other people (not really a stretch for our only extrovert anyhow)...and talk to other people he did. ;) All good. 

Asher is listed as a sixth grader (his summer birthday means he could either be 5th or 6th grade and I'm considering him 5th for everything else) and has these classes: 

• Road Trip USA
• PE
• Art
• 21st Century Technology
• Forensics
• AmeriTowne

He doesn't appear to have made friends as quickly as Micah, lol, but did recognize some kids and admits that he didn't feel lonely at all. Yay! This was particularly good since Noah isn't doing Options this year, and Asher's used to seeing Noah even more during the Options day than Micah (having Noah in at least one or two classes beyond just seeing him at lunch/recess). Asher's first day classes were pretty dry with "first day" sorts of things, he says, but he's still quite optimistic about them and looking forward to the year.

Meanwhile, Noah (seventh grade this year) stayed home with me today and worked on his math and grammar for the week. Fun, right? ;) But, actually, he didn't hate having the quiet time to work, and everyone's happy. Whew. :)

New West Fest

Asher performed with his Karate West demo team at New West Fest earlier today. The team did a fabulous job, and Asher came away exhausted (he was in ten of the eleven routines) but happy. :) It's difficult to get great pictures when they move so quickly, lol, but here are a few of my Asher:

After the performances, we wandered around New West Fest for a bit, enjoying some snacks here and there. Then, reluctantly, we headed home to tackle the normal weekend chores that got pushed to the end since we were in Estes yesterday, spent the morning cutting boys' hair and then were at New West Fest. ;)

Whew.