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....

Michigan or Communism close call

With a full schedule of events rolling on a brief moment of quiet descended upon us so we got in the Pilot and drove to Michigan, well why not? Tammy, Tracy's sister's son Joey was making his first Communion so we decided to take the kids and go visit the cousins, G&G Hickey and Sue, sort of a mini family reunion.

The drive over was quiet uneventful and we were able too use our Nexus passes to sail right through customs and the boarder patrol, Nikki included. It is with a sort of sad induced glee that I must report the use of electronics has reached a level I never thought would have occurred. A mere 4 years ago we had our kids convinced that we would be an electronics free family, really, they had the mantra down. Packing for the trip entailed, 3 car chargers, check, 2 i-phones, check, 1 i-pod, check, 1 psp, check, back up electronic gear, small generator and 3 sets of head phones, check, who needs to have verbal communication skills anyway. we arrived late Friday night and of course the kids had to play which meant trade electronic gear with the cousins and ignore each other for an hour or so. The adults spent the time catching up and unwinding.


Saturday was full of regular family activities, baseball games, soccer and running around. The weather was great and the kids played outside as we were really killing time until the big event! Jimmy was on a roll and could not let go of the fact that Joey was turning Communist and have his first Communism, he's here all week! This is the first exposure for th Loudamericans in going to a Chatholic Ceremnony and if it were not for the cake and cookies after, they would have been bored.
One thing from my Catholic upbringing no rerason to getr tot he Church to early! Good thing we assigned pews and both Tracy and I were very proud of the kids,, they were quiet and well behaved, well except at the time of Communion. Jimmy got up and tried to get in line, Tracy asked him what he was doing, his respone " Wanted to see what Jesus tastes like", we need to spend a bit more time on religion with the kids. We had a nice dinner at the country club, the kids ate first and then someone came and took them away. It was really nice, we were able to have an great dinner and conversation.

Sunday was a nice Brunch affair and then taking the kids to the pool to wear them out for the ride home. A trip to Grand Haven is not complete without a trip to Butch's Beach Burritos, Butch does not dissapoint. The trip home was more of the same however we did stop for a moment of thanks to Target for the Nexxus passes. The line to cross the border started on the Michigan side and we were able to drive right through and saved easily 2 hours of waiting in line!

More to come.......

Random life events/quotes

Its been pretty quiet around here lately which, for any other family, would be normal. For us, its border line boring.  But, since we are the LoudAmericans, there really is never a dull moment.

Tidbits from our life...

Billy - per an earlier post, Billy LOVES being a kid. In fact, as we share the best part of our day at dinner each night, he is frequently quoted as saying "it was a normal day...AWESOME!"  He loves Scholastic (remember the order forms you got at school to order books? he's addicted!).  The other day, he had a big smile on his face the whole way home from school and was clutching his jacket to his chest. He and Tom were talking and he said "do you ever wish you could just keep things the way they are - forever? we'd never get older, we'd always be together but we'd still get to have birthdays and stuff"  Sure enough, he had a brand new Scholastic category. He poured through it and wizely choose 2 new Lego Chima books. The excitement and wait was palatable!  Also, final Billy-ism. We are working on creating a job chart sot hat teh kids can earn allowance. Of course, anything we want to put on there, doesnt generate much enthusiasm (dishes, make bed, clean toliet, you know....) Tom told Billy he was considering putting "not pitching a fit" on the chart. Billys reponse?  "Thats not a chore, thats an accomplishment!" Touche!  (as a side note, his new favorite way to start a sentence is..."Imagine if...".  I wish I could bottle him up and save him for later, like when he becomes a defiant teenager.    

Kay - we've created a monster. No lie, she bakes or makes something in the kitchen on a daily basis. She's actually quite good but never eats whats she makes. Although, Nikki did enjoy 9 vanilla cupcakes the other day, wrappers and all, when we werent looking.  She also spent 4 hours last Sunday making a snail sanctuary for a snail she found. The snail is now relocated into her room. She and Tom are Cooking channel junkies. Give them unlimited access to the TV (when Jimmy doesnt have it tuned to sports) and they'll watch for hours. Last night, as we were watching a 3 play of Diners, Drive Inns and Dives, she said "wow, I think I just gained 4 pounds watching this show". And, she was right, it looked amazing. Billy hates to watch with us because he says it makes him hungry.  Kay is Kay. Still really passionate (borderline volitale) but super fun to be around as long as her blood sugar is stable. She definitely is the unpredictable emotional factor in the house. Cant wait until she hits puberty. I hope thats year 1 of university or Tom might be moving out. Wish I could say I want to bottle her too but....I'd love to have her energy, its just sometimes a bit much to deal with on an daily, hourly, minutely basis. She is defintely her own person and I'm really proud of that!  

Jimmy - he's at the ackward time between basketball season and baseball season and winter football training has also ended. He's restless and I get it. Its hard to be an energetic 11 yr old when it rains every day and spring hasnt really hit. Good thing we got him a basketball hoop for Christmas. He's out there for hours a day, perfecting his sport. We play endless games of HORSE and PIG and he's got a number of signature shots. In fact, he has an ally oop from the street that actually went in that we got on video. We'll try to post it. Kay was the camera person so its a bit wobbly but still an amazing shot. Hes getting challenged in drums by his teacher - describe why music is a language. Good existential training for the boy.    He also finally showed his music teacher at school a youtube of him playing and she (along with the rest of the class) was floored. At some point, she's going to pull him out of class and have him show the grade 8 & 9 music teachers what he can do. We were proud of him for sharing that as to date, he's been pretty private with his friends about his music. He's a super good kid and in a really fun stage of kid-dom. Not many arguments and he gets our jokes. Again, wish I could bottle this up.

Tom just finished a brunch course at school and thank god its over. We were all on our way to weighing in 20 pounds heavier. cream, butter, bacon, sauces, olive oil, you name it. Yummy! Today hes at a one day tapas class, super excited for what he brings home! He's been volunteer extradiniar at Kay/Billys school (Cameron) - he lead Billys class through 4 sessions of building "boats" on wheels and helped all the 4th grade classes on Scientist in School day.He should be on the payroll!

I'm still taking drums and finding it really challenging. I wouldnt say I'm not talented but its not natural, like Jimmy. I can finally play "Little Black Submarines" by the Black Keys. I think my teacher gets frustrated that I'm a repressed adult and not a carefree kid but... I think he likes the challenge.  Work is easing up a bit, 10 hour + days instead of 11-13 hours and much more limited weekend work. Thats nice but I suspect we might be in the eye of the storm a bit. Trying to enjoy, but its not necessarily in my nature. I'm working on it:)

Nikki is driving us crazy! Despite a daily 3-6 mile walk, she has now taken to wanting to be outside 6+ hours a day and "talks" to us when she wants to play. She barks and moans, grabs her ball or frizbee and then runs to the back door. You'd think she was a puppy again. Its cute but exhausting. Poor thing, I think she needs a pet.

Thats it, random bits of our daily lives....

Happy Gotcha Day Jimmy!

It was 11 years ago today Sargent Pepper taught the band to play and our drummer is still pounding out the beat night after night after night (and during the day as well). It is a blessing in more ways thaen one that our neighbors recently had a newborn so we could stop Jimmy from sneaking our of bed and playing his drums!

Yes Jimmy came home from Korea 11 years ago, said "Jimmy Murphy nice to meet ya" and has kept up his yearning to be the center of attention, in all things, and in particular in his talent for music. He is still passionate about sports, both playing and supporting his siblings and friends and family. He is on the sideline cheering Kay in her gymnastics and offering Billy Master Meogie advice during Billy's Tae Kwan Do tournaments.

He is really trying to step up his studies and is bound and determined to get his first 100% in math. True to form, Jimmy suffered a set back recently as far as math goes and lost the opportunity to get a phone. The whole phone discussion is for a different blog, he did however handle the set back with grace and some ease. He has been studying extra hard and has stopped the incessant arguing with mom and dad about what needs to be studied and what does not (He is thinking of his sports career or broadcast journalism careers don't pan out he will be a lawyer) because he is a good arguer, not negotiator. He recently informed Tracy that when the time comes for her next review he would be happy to march down to headquarters and " straighten" them out, good God! He's got definite ideas on what she should negotiate for a signing bonus and extra strategy. Too much NFL draft I say!

Jimmy is now finishing up basketball where his team made it to the championship game and fell short of adding a second first place to his record. His comment " wow I am getting a lot of extra season playing under my belt"! Baseball is just around the corner as is a trip to the local Play it again Sports as the kid never stops growing and needs new shoes, gloves, bat, you get the picture. He is excited to get back behind the plate and throw runners  out trying to steal second, that base is mine he says!

Here are some of our favorite Jimmy memories. Its funny how kids personalities dont change, they just get bigger. And, Jimmy has a very big personality.

We love you Jimmy and are so glad you started our family 11 years ago. Big hugs to your birth parents and foster parents as well for loving you and caring for YOU. We love them for all they have done for us and you.

MS 150 - AGAIN!!

It's that time again....Two weekends ago, we had one reasonably warm day (50 degrees) and I got my 1^st ride in – 60 mins, not a bad start! Our St Pat's day party was a success, the Easter Bunny came ~~~~ all signs that it's time for me to start training for the MS150!

This year the ride is June 7-9th. The Target Team is growing and we are aiming for our second year of 100+ riders! I am really excited!! I’ll be traveling back to ride in MPLS even though my training will happen in Canada (‘eh). I’ll be celebrating my finish with a cruise out of Miami with my husband, sans kids. Exactly the motivation I’ll need to finishJ

My fundraising goal is being “upped” as they say… from $1000 to $2,500. Last year, you all were incredibly generous and helped me beat my goal ($2,190 on a goal of $2,000!). This year, while I know times continue to be tough, I am hoping that you'll set aside a little extra $ for this cause.

As a reminder, I ride for my Uncle Alan and all the people living with and affected by MS.  I am not alone, last year over 3,000 people biked and there were 1,000+ volunteers: everyone united in raising money to find a cure for MS and to help people lead productive lives. (Plus it's just a whole bunch of fun!!)

I'll be riding with my longtime friend Wendy and with 100+ of my Target friends as well as friends from Team General Mills (WENDYJ) and Team Donaldson (ANGELAJ) I think this will be our 19th year riding together and while you'd think it would get a bit repetitive, every year is a new adventure.  If you remember last year, it was the toughest, hottest, windiest most challenging year ever. There is NO way this year will be harder than last (it better not be!)  If you want to join us, let me know! I'll get you set up!  

If you want to donate, feel free to check out http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/MNMBikeEvents?px=2132963&pg=personal&fr_id=17515. Or, you can just make out a check to MS Society and I'll be sure to hand it in for you.

If you don’t want to donate, no worries, just send thoughts of low 60's, slightly cloudy, a backwind and downhill the whole way:) That is a huge help in itself and its always a good morale boost to know that people are sending us good vibes.

Keep an eye out for my training/fundraising blogs and...enjoy Spring!

(FYI - to date I've already raised $350, I love my friends:))

Happy Easter-Bunny

The kids can't wait until Easter morning when they can get on the phone and call Grandma Hickey ( Bunny) and shout into the phone HAPPY EASTER BUNNY!

The entusiams is fueled by several pounds of candy which they relentless search the house for creating sugar induced monsters, Ah but I digress.

This year Alison, Larrie and Jessi came to visit. They are friends of ours who we met in India and Jessi and Jimmy are BFF'S. They arrived Thursday afternoon and the fun began. We finished up the usual running round and had a great meal of Chullapa's and spent the night catching up and sharing stories. Alison works at Target, thus the Indian connection and Larrie and Tom share the stay at home Dad, chief cook and bottle washer duties. The kids played video games and basically did kid things.

Friday was a holiday around these parts and Larrie and Alison headed off to Niagara to knock another item off their bucket list while the rest of us hung around the old homestead. Tracy took the kids, plus Jessi, on a long roller blade, bike, skateboard dog walk, not sure how they managed to not get all tangled up, but Tracy does work miracles. The day also consisted of smoking a Turkey and trying to keep Kay out of the kitchen, which is rally a daily activity, days off are harder than  most. The evening ended with a couple of the neighbor kids, Jake and Josh, joining us for dinner and of course the smoked turkey with all the fixings was awesome!

Saturday was off to 'do' the town, downtown that is... CN Tower, Kensington market, ChinaTown and pork bone soup. The CN tower was pretty interesting as far as local tourist traps go. The fact that the elevator ascends 1.150 feet in 58 seconds is what sets this tourist trap apart for the rest, not to mention you can look through the glass floor and watch your lunch travel towards the ground as you travel into the stratosphere, hello Jack... wheres the giant? The tower is listed as one of the new 10 marvels of the world that and the simulated roller coaster ride is one of the Historical Societies must experience rides, with that kind of endorsement we may have to return. No trip would be complete without mentioning that Target has now opened in the neighborhood.

Pork bone soup is worthy of one blog all by itself, seriously by far the best soup ever. Korean food in general rocks but the pork bone soup is a thing of beauty and before you cant dig in you must bow your head and show some respect, it's just that good.
Lunch empowered us to wander around Kensington Market.  If Kay ever follows through and runs away from home, all we have to do is head over to Kensington, that's where she'll be. Tons of neat little shops, a couple of open air Korean markets, dried fish everywhere.. quite the draw. We all had a blast checking out the unusual items and even found a #4 Bret Favre Jersey, remember him AND a Robert Brooks jersey!?  Connie Gumper would be proud:) That night we had several sitters, 2 boy's and a girl all high school freshman age. One of them, who shall remain nameless... was traumatised, to the point where they will never babysit again, Oh well, more sitters where they came from. Larrie, Alison, Tracy and Tom were rewarded with a much needed night out. Taking the subway back downtown we had dinner at the awesome Volvos Greek restaurant, the flaming cheese that everyone was getting looked great so we ordered it and much to Alison's chagrin the flame on ours sort of fizzled out. Somewhat underwhelming was the exact adjective, no matter the rest of the food was awesome and a huge thanks to our friends for picking up the tab!

Sunday brought the rascal rabbit to our warren along with eggs, eggs and more eggs! Easter baskets for the kids and a very nice Easter Champagne Brunch for the adults! Larrie and Tom powered up and before we knew it we had Eggs Benedict with fresh made Hollandaise, Cinnamon french toast, Chorizo Hash,and Kay and Jessi created some awesome buttermilk biscuits, what a feast! We spent the rest of the day lazing about and just having a quiet day, totally needed it! Sunday night Tracy got busy and whipped up an awesome Lasagna for the kids and smoked salmon, risotto and asparagus for the adults, seriously need to hit the gym!

Monday we had another day off so after a leftover breakfast we headed off to REPTILE world, another tourist trap, but it was pretty well done. We watched them feed the alligators dead rats and  Kay was chosen to help during the 'Pet the Snake' portion of the tour and got to hold a 15' Boa, only Kay!

That done and a quick lunch at Tracy's newest favorite place, Mucho Burritos, it was time to say good-bye. The was a slight hiccup in the plans when Delta called to say the plane was delayed however all in all it was no big deal.

It was a great way to spend the Easter weekend with great friends, great food, babysitters, dinners out a huge Thank you to Alison, Larrie and Jessi for coming to Toronto and hanging with us!
Happy Easter to all...more to come

Billy gets his due!

The kids at Cameron, the school Billy and Kay attend, compete on a monthly basis for certain humanitarian awards, last month was Fairness and this month was Honesty.










Last month Billy's teacher submitted the wrong name for the Fairness award and Billy was overlooked. That however did not deter OL' Bill and was plowed ahead, nose to the grindstone, spreading Honesty toward all those who would listen. His hard work paid off and this month he won the Honesty award along with getting his already earned Fairness award, which pun intended is only fair, right!

He was the only kid at assembly that won 2 awards.

Thats our Billy, Fair and Honest:) 












Billy also completed the section on penguin's and made a beautiful rendition of the Erect-Crested Penguin and having his penguin posted in the hall, which if you don't know having something "posted in the hall" is similar to having an article in the New England Journal of Medicine!

Way to go Billy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Erin Go Braugh has hit in our third country as we geared up for the 12th Annual St. Patrick's Day bash and kegger. Yep 3rd country, and the Grand Marshall is none other then Pam O'Georgeson, being she has attended this event in every country we have tossed the blarney around.

This year was no different aside from the fact that we did not have a parade. We were all set for the parade, route, check, flag, check keg, check, the only thing is all 100 or so people showed up all at the same time and threw our staging into overdrive and by the time we came up for air, well the crew was to far into the beer and blarney to be bothered with donning their boots and coats and setting down their beer for the parade that it went by the wayside so to speak.  It was also damn cold - last year, if you remember, had the paraders in shorts and tshirts. Not so this year! Wellies and toques all around! (if you arent Canadian, look it up!:))  

The group was quite a mix of school friends, neighbors, Tracy's co-workers and Tom's chef buddies and several friends from India who happen to live here in Canada, Claude and his family and Carol and Josh, both very dear friends that lived with us in India were in attendance. Claude is now living in Mississauga (see prior post) and Carol in Montreal (yes!! she flew down for the party:) Gotta love our friends)  It was super fun to see everyone and we all had a blast.

This year instead of the traditional chili ( our tradition), since chili beans are hard to come by, we decided to go with Sloppy Joe's and the like. There were way more kids than adults, basketball games, hide and seek, make-overs, drumming,  you get the drift!

The party took off at the usual feverish pace but being it was on a Sunday ( strategic planning) around 9:30pm those full of the most blarney finally deflated and headed home. We were surprised and blessed at the same time by the number of people who came to the party and the mixing of old and new friends.

Put the date on your calendar for 2014 and come help us celebrate the Wearing O' the Green!

and the winner is.....

drum roll please....BILLY !!!

Today was Billy's 1st Tae Kwon Do tournament and was he excited! It took place in Kitchener (about an hour from Toronto) and we had to be there at 8:30am. NOT what the rest of the loudamericans wanted to do on a Saturday morning, but we did. Billy has supported every one of Jimmys games and Kay has her 1st gymnastics tournament and since its the right thing to do... all 5 of us were up at 7:00am today and out the door before 7:30. Yikes!

The tourney was at a university campus with a gym on one side of the field house and hockey rink on the other. Its was big and thats when Billy got nervous. I think he expected something similar to our dojo, small and intimate.

We checked in, scouted our seats and settled in. Luckily, I sat by some veterans and they gave me the whole run down. 1st up? their patterns - with scores given by 3 judges with a top score of 10 (which I was promptly informed, no one ever gets).  Then, sparring, which is a tournament style, you keep sparring until you are out or the winner.

They call the kids by age and belt color and then the chaos begins, it took 30 min's to get the kids lined up and paired up properly.  Billy was a trooped but I cant say as much for the other 2.

We got the hang of watching the competition by watching the 5-6 yr old black belts. Yikes, one girl was serciously intense and she won both the pattern and sparring. I wouldnt want to mess with her in a few years. Jimmy was mightily impressed.

Then, Billy was up (yellow belt since he just got his yellow belt with green stripe). He bowed, stood up straight, started his pattern and promptly forgot what he was doing. It was super cute. He stopped, scratched his head, figured out what he was suppose to be doing and started again. judges call? 6-6-6. Not too bad for 1st time nerves.

Then, the long wait to sparring, after a bit of side line practicing, getting geared up in his pads and a pep talk from Master Jeon, he was ready.

Round 1 - Billy was on fire!!! bouncing on his toes, moving fast, fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee... you know the drill. Before we knew it, he was dominating at 11 to 2 (you get points for kicking the other person in the chest pad). Jimmy, Kay, our new friends next to us and I were going nuts!  He did a little fist pumped and looked up at us with a big grin.

Round 2 - The opponent was agressive! coming in tough, taking kicks, knocked Billy over, but Billy didnt back down. He got some good strategic kicks in and played smart, not fast.  final score 4 to 2 - Billy wins again and the crowd goes nuts!!   

Then, a bit of confusion, does he spar again or not?  As he starts to talk with his coach and take off his pads we realize...he won! He won 1st place in sparring in his 1st tournament! Amazing!!

Parents arent allowed on the floor unless your kid has won and is on the podium (photos only please) so Jimmy Kay and I ran down. Billy was over the moon when they announced his name. He jumped up on the podium, started pumping his arms, huge smile and when all 4 winners were on the podium, he started doing the gangum style dance. Everyone cracked up. Hes a star!

Guess who cant wait for his next tournament?

Winning is addictive.

 We are so proud of you Billy! next up, the Canada Open in May - we'll keep you posted on our future Olympic athelete:)  

You must be Jimmy's Parent's

This week is March Break and with that upon us last week was filled with getting our act together for March Break.

The schools here tend to have some type of fanfare before each of the breaks and for the most part the events are explained to the students with the understanding that the student will inform their parents of what is happening at school, right. So it came as no surprise when Jimmy came home last week and announced that there was an all school assembly and that some of the kids in the school received awards. Jim won the Health and Physical Education Award which is no real shock. So when we asked him about the assembly and why we did not know there was going to be one he replied Oh, I forgot, to which I through the baloney flag! The reason he didn't mention anything about this is because he was not sure of he was going to get an award and didn't want us around! So when further quarried about what the other awards were, it was revealed they were mostly academic in nature, Honor Roll, Science, Math and the like you know the things as a parent you want you kid to excel in, not that the physical education is not important, don't get me wrong! So apparently you could win more than 1 award however with further in depth interviewing ( pulling teeth) it was revealed that only 1 girl and 1 boy from each class won the Health and  Physical Education Award, that was awesome. When we ask Jimmy about getting another award in like say, Math or Science he said " Hey don't ruin my moment at least I won an award!" Convicted, no never convicted!
Keep up the good work Jimmy!

Kay has been gearing up for her first competitive gymnastics event coming in early May. She has spent most of the past few weeks bending over backwards, walking on her hands twirling and contorting in ways that make my head hurt. She has been doing great at school  but for the past few days has been focused on her up coming Spring Break camp, which is a week long cooking camp for kids. She came to visit Tom at cooking school and was so inspired she wrote this recipe:
Family Pie:
Ingredients:
1 cup caring, 2 cups kindness, 4 cups forgiveness, 1/3 cup honesty, 1 cup teamwork, fairness and intelligence.
Whisk ingredients together in a bowl and pour into 2 pies pans.
Bake in the oven at 400 degrees until a yellow color forms.
Let stand.
Sprinkle on honesty, fairness and intelligence berries. Serve with empathy whipped cream and taste the fairness and forgiveness.

Not sure what she did, or what she is telling us either way a very insightful recipe!

Ol' Bill continues on his merry way, with his dog, firm grasp on his Lego's and not a care on the world, Oh to be able to get up each day and honestly ask, what day is today? Do I have anything? How many days till I get my next Lego magazine? In that vain Bill and i headed off to the flight simulator, one of Billy's Christmas presents. I hour in the cockpit flying a plane, too cool. He decided he would be the pilot and I would be the co-pilot, so after about 2 minutes of instructions we took off and promptly crashed, not a good beginning. Bill powered up the engines and we were off and a couple of tense moments we were airborne and heading toward the airport and to make a landing, which we did not do! Alas Bill was not swayed and we were off again as co-pilot i said to the Pilot, Let,s try to land this time to which the Pilot responded " Good Plan" and sure enough we did. The whole experience was awesome and the time flew by, pun intended, and Billy and I had a blast.
As soon as we were in the car  on the way home Billy wanted to know how many days till we can do this again! Billy and his class won the Dance a Thon competition this year and were rewarded with a Pizza party and Billy was ecstatic!








Tom and Tracy are a bit worried about this new class Tom is in at school titled, Brunch below you will see why:

I was getting ready too head off to the gym because of the aformentioned class and worries when the door bell rang. There was some random stranger standing there all dressed up and she handed me her business card stating she was in realestate and wanted to let me know that if I was planning on moving anytime soon to give her a call. I politely responded that we are not the home owners and are just living here on a temporary basis, which did not deter her. She said no worries she lived in the neighborhood and when we were ready to buy to let her know. I then went into the elevator speech I keep handy for these situations, telling her that we are here for my wife's job and then would be returning back to the US. She responded where in the US are you from, and I replied, Minnesota to which she said: " Oh,then you must be Jimmy's parents!"

Next up March Break........

Billy kicks butt - literally!

Billy is now a yellow with green stripe belt! Yeah! 

He tested for the next level of Tae Kwon Do yesterday and did an amazing job. He started sparring this winter and he's gotten really good. Part of the test was sparing and it was really fun to see. The kids wear a ton of pads, can barely move but manage to kick the snot out of each other and love it!

Up next?! His 1st competition in 2 weeks.  We'll head to Kitchner for the day and see how Billy does against his "adversaries".  We are super proud of how hard he works at TKD and how much he loves it.  GO Billy GO!!  check out the video, billy is in the blue helmet ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRQAacQIuUA 

 

 

In other Billy news, he's pretty much got it made.  He and Tracy were cuddling and talking after she had a long day at work...  

 

Billy "I'm sorry you had a hard day"

Tracy "Do you ever have hard days?"

Billy " Umm.... no not really"

Tracy "Really?! Never?"

Billy "Well, maybe one or two"

Tracy "Wow, you have a great life, only 1 or 2 bad days in your whole 8 years?!"

Billy "Yeah, I like being a kid"

Billy "What do you like about being a grown up?"

Tracy "Having kids"

Billy "Not that...not every grown up has kids, whats one thing all grown ups like about being grown ups?"

Tracy "being able to work and buy the people we love things and presents, what do you think you'll like about being a grown up"

Billy "I dont know, I dont really know much about grownups"

Tracy "What about Daddy and I?"

Billy "I really dont have any idea what you do when I'm not around"

 

We should all be so content and happy with our lot in life.  It was a super good life lesson for Tracy and made a hard day great....

LOVE YOU BILLY!!