Thursday, May 09, 2013

Kids Update

We are bounding into Spring/Summer and around here things have picked up speed (if thats even possible!).

Billy continues his reign of "Tae Kwan Do" Terror. He recently competed in the All Canada Tae Kwan Do tournament and true to form he placed first in Poomsae. For those who are not in the know, Poomsae, has Billy on the mat or in the ring by himself and his goal is to reenact what ever number move sequence that the judge asks. He is now a yellow belt with a green stripe so all the moves are in that category. There is precision, sounds and form that make up the perfect Poomsae, which of course the little engineer was able to do quite well result: Gold Medal!









In the last tournament Billy dominated the sparring rounds, which for those not in the know, it is actually what you think - controlled planning with pads. Two contestants, or as Billy prefers, combatants, enter the ring bow to each other and proceed to kick each other to death. Billy won his first championship 11-2. He must have made a big impression on the other yellow belt/ green stipers because there was only one brave contestant in all of Canada that dared step into the ring with Ol' Bill. However moments before the bout the cold feet set in as Billy was getting ready and the other contestant bailed out.  Gold Medal for Billy! Awesome job Billy!

Bonjour Mademoiselle! Kay has been learning French and the French field trip found Tom and Kay along with the rest of the 5th and 6th graders at a local French restaurant,. The goal = order in French, speak only in French and have fun. Well that was easy for the kids. Tom just smiled, said Oui and ate great French food! The field trip included a ride on the city bus and a strong lesson in manners/etiquette.

Also, please note Kay's sharp new bang "cut". VERY early 90's Jeanine Garafalo. Loving it!
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The food was great and the kids did an awesome job. The French teacher has obviously taken this trip before as was evident by the efficient way the trip was planned. We had to pre-order, we had Pouillet ( chicken) others had spaghetti, in any language, spaghetti is spaghetti! The food came minuets after we sat down and was awesome. Then for dessert we each had a huge brownie covered in ice cream and whipped cream. That was delivered about 5 minutes before we left which was spot on! By the time we walked the block to the bus stop the kids were all pumped up on sugar!

Kay has been having some difficulty lately with long division. Tracy spent time with her and got her re-acquainted with her multiplication tables and low and behold, "Mommy I think I got it". The next test came home with a 100% 6 out of 6! Way to go Kay! Kay has been having several play dates lately with her friend Jessica and when Jimmy asked Kay what her in Jessica have in common Kay stated " Well we have common enemies". She is gearing up for her first competitive gymnastics meet this weekend so more on that to come.









This past week at Cameron, the school Billy and Kay attend, had their 15th Annual Young Authors Day. The kids write a story based on ideas they develop in class and then parents, Grandparents come to school to hear the Young authors recite their stories.. The gym is set up like a reading room and the Authors go around from one adult to the next reading the stories and getting feedback, a great idea!  Billys story was an epic battle against aliens with his friends William, STephen and Morgan. Kays? Poems of all sorts - limericks, haikus, rhymes. Very cool. 









Batter-Up! Jimmy is now full into baseball, new shoes, batting/catching gloves, bat and bat bag. He is on a house team and tried out (along with 35 other kids) to make the select team. The select team is made up of the 12 best players from the house league. He (of course) grabs his gloves, stuffs his mouth full of gum and heads to the park, "let me at em, let me at em'! The tryouts were last Saturday and then began the waiting for in this day of age the call back (which is actually not a call but an e-mail).  Like we have nothing better do then sit around waiting for the telltale 'ding you have mail'. Well we had dinner, hung out and sure enough 'ding', and Jimmy got the call back to come try out again.



Sunday we headed over to the park, dropped Jimmy off and ran a few errands.  Thing 1 & thing 2 waited in the car as I went in search of the lad and before I could even get past the gate, "Dad guess what ?! let's go get my new select uniform!" Result: Big Smile! He made select and is their top catcher, the position he was born to play. 

 To top it off he game on yesterday with a 93 on his math test which for the first time all year, he had the highest grade in the class! Way to go Jimmy!

More to come....