Ha na-Tul-Seht, Orange Belt!

Josiah started taking Taekwondo in January and he has really been loving it and doing great. It has taken some doing on Mommy and Daddy's parts however, to convince him that he has to practice at home as well for his Taekwondo goals, but little by little he is getting more disciplined to do that as well. This picture was taken just before the belt ceremony started to receive his orange belt and as you can see he was pretty happy! At the actual test the Friday before (we forgot the camera), it was a little nerve wracking for me as I wasn't entirely sure he was ready. The master only lets them come to the testing though if he feels they can pass, so that was good, however, it was a nail biter for sure!

He goes to Taekwondo practice three times a week (half hour each time) and his instructor is really great! He sets the standard very high and challenges the children to meet it. He also encourages good behaviors at home as well (big PLUS) by sending home a chart of things to check off each month as Josiah's does various tasks (one of them is "listen to parents"). For his orange belt test, he had to do his white belt 10-step routine, master the four kinds of kicks (he numbers the various type of kicks for them to learn), and also to be able to break a board by doing a "hammer-down fist." During practice, they used a practice board (made of plastic) that he would break and that the master would then fix it back into a board for the next person. At the test, (to our surprise) they used a real board and I could hear Josiah say to the black belt helpers, "I use a yellow board with a line down it." He was able to break the real thing on the first try though and he got to take his broken board home with him.

During the test (while the many other senior belt children were testing), Josiah and the junior belt children had to wait and listen. Josiah was in his goofy, excited mode however, and was playing around with his board and trying to talk to Sydney (a green belt from his class) and no less than 3 times the black belt helper kids had to come and tell him to "cool it" while the others were testing. He finally got the message and calmed down thankfully!

When Josiah completes certain things as required by the master, he can earn stars to go on the sleeves of his uniform and when he passes various skills during practice he can earn stripes to go on his belt. Recently, he got a yellow stripe for "basic movement" mastery. He had to do his 10-step for senior orange belt in order to pass for his stripe. This class has been great in developing Josiah's listening skills as he has to be on his toes during class listening intently to the master in order to perform the proper skills in sequence and when called upon.

As per Josiah's usual, he gets really shy when he is being praised or pictures are being taken over and over. He was very proud to get his orange belt though for sure!

Master Kim (as pictured in the 3rd picture down the blog, standing right behind me in the photo) prompted all the parents to come and get into this shot with our kiddos after they had just the kids with the Grandmaster (the man who founded this Taekwondo school--pictured in this middle of this photo). We were reluctant to join the photo shoot, but he insisted and so here it is!

We are very proud of our oranged belted-boy. As a treat after his test, we took him to DQ for an ice cream treat. I am glad he has this outlet for his boundless energy! I look forward to seeing how he will progress in the future.

NOTE: On the post title, the first three words are how you count "1, 2, 3" in Korean. They have to learn how to count in Korean and many Korean terms to learn Taekwondo. We also discovered that when they earn their black belt that they actually receive a letter written in Korean and an offical card to signify that they are approved to receive their black belt from the main Taekwondo Academy in Korea.

Free Friday Field Trip Day

Every first Friday of each month, the Tacoma Children's Museum hosts a free day for all families to come in and play at the museum. I normally cannot go to events like this without another adult helper....for OBVIOUS reasons! :) I had the idea to take my babysitter and her little sister with us (and provide lunch for them), so that I would have a little extra help at the museum and it worked out perfectly. Hannah and Josiah get along well and many times they were walking around the museum holding hands.


Josiah would run off and Hannah would call for him and would search around until she found him again. They had fun checking out all the different areas. They enjoyed the ball pit, the little construction house, a place to build things with big foam blocks, and a little vacuum-like machine that sucked up little balls and went through tubing that you could move around to have the balls go on different paths.

Josiah even played with Naomi a bit here. A little game of Peek-a-boo!

Caleb was all over the place and we had to keep our eyes on him closely to make sure he wasn't lost in the crowd. He has no qualms about being alone to play and so we were busy following him around to various locations. He really loved laying and jumping in the ball pit as you see here.

He was the first to poke his head through this little hole and I caught him looking through it just in time!

Daniel was very thoughtful about all the exhibits he looked at, and spent a majority of the time putting the balls up the vacuum machine, but here you see him examining the vegetables at the little market area. He actually took that potato and put it in the apple tree. A new type of apple perhaps....the apple-potato? Well, maybe not the best combo! Try again little buddy!

Daniel is looking downstairs through the window and you can see his reflection in the glass. He frequently came to find me when I was off with someone else and wanted to hold my hand. :) He is the one who is much more cautious and heeds any warnings I give right away. I am never concerned about him in a public place, as he always stays with me. At least I have one of them like that!

This is Naomi's excited face. She was THRILLED to be out and about looking at everything!

They have a "slob bin" for items that have been slobbered on by the babies, and we tossed our fair share of slobby toys in it! I love her beautiful blues here above the slobbed on squash!

This was one of the building blocks that she just HAD to keep climbing into to sit. I tried to pick her up a few times during this little session and she gave me some dramatic floppy motions with her body and exclaimed, "Ahhh, AHHH, AHHHHH!" to let me know that it was NOT popular to remove her from this block! She has really liked to try and climb things lately, and it is so cute to watch her try to get her little petite body up onto things.

She really enjoyed the ball pit too and you can see by the tongue action here that she was really "having a ball!" :)

Hannah and Josiah promptly held hands as we walked out of the building to head back to the car. As it turned out, I parked in a GREAT spot...in this parking garage down the hill a block down from Broadway on the 4th floor. By doing so, we were able to cross the Broadway bridge (a walking bridge) RIGHT over to Broadway without pushing the stroller uphill! Yeah, parking in the right spot "for the win!!" It was a fun field trip and it was fun to have friends to share it with. Thanks Sharel and Hannah for joining us today!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow!

The morning of March 2nd, I looked out and saw this rainbow in the sky. It was strange as I have rarely seen one in the morning like this! It faded rather quickly, but not before I got a quick shot. Please disregard the junk in the backyard, someday when it is actually sunny I plan to go out and clear it all out of there. Somewhere over the rainbow you may find a pot of gold, but on our side you get a pile of junky toys. :)

Naomi's 1st B-day--part 1

In the morning for Naomi's birthday, I took her to the doctor for her 12-month check-up. This was both good and bad. Good that we got an accurate record of her stats on the exact day of her birthday, but bad in that Mommy forgot that getting shots probably wasn't the funnest activity to do on your birthday. Ugh....lesson learned. Naomi had a little fever later on in the day, but nothing a little Motrin didn't solve! Even so, she was a trooper and had a great day overall! At the doctor she weighed in at 18 pounds 4.5 ounces (10th percentile). She is falling a bit in the area of weight, but due to the fact that she was gaining in the other two areas, the doctor was not concerned. She is 28 1/4" tall (25th percentile) and her head circumference was 18 1/2" (95th percentile). So it is good to know she still has the "Charlie Brown head" like the rest of the children. :) Overall though, the doctor was very pleased and said she looks great!

Pictured above is Naomi's new ride that Ellie (her little friend) brought over for her as a birthday gift. It doubles as a ride-on and a walker toy. She also brought a sweet little dolly too that fit nicely in Grandma and Grandpa's gift! Thank you friends for the fun presents!

Naomi got to try two cupcakes today, but the 2nd time later (not pictured) wasn't as fun as this one because she was so tired then (it was way past her bedtime). This would be the "before" shot as she was delicately picking at the cupcake at first.

She is now nearly done with the cupcake and is attempting to offer me some. I had to pass on that one....cameras and lots of white frosting do not mix sweet baby girl!

An "after" shot of baby and the cupcake mess. She reminds me a lot of Daniel in this shot when it was his first b-day!

Last year, there was another Mommy giving birth to a sweet baby girl in the same hospital, with the same doctor, and with the same-aged and same number of brothers waiting for her at home (yes it is true!). I ended up meeting my new friend, Jasmine, and her daughter (Ellie--pictured above) via email (exchanged through the hospital nurses) and then later in person at her house. This year for their mutual birthday, I thought it would be fun to get together and have some cupcakes to celebrate early in the day. Miss Ellie was very timid with her cupcake at first also, and then at one point got a death grip on it and was sucking it very vigorously! She paused at one moment to look over at me for this moment. Happy b-day to Miss Ellie girl too!

Jasmine was enjoying rocking the two sweet birthday girls while I was trying to get Naomi's twin brothers down for a nap. Daniel was pitching a really big fit today (perhaps all the excitement and a cupcake before bedtime was his problem I am sure) and so I made myself scarce for a while to try and get him to sleep. The effort was futile though and I eventually brought him out to sit with me and just have a quiet time in the chair. It was fun to have friends over though and I am glad they could come even though it is a real pain to bring all the kiddos and gear over for a few hours! :)

Naomi's 1st B-day--part 2

I always take lots of pictures in the chair by the window because I can usually get some good pictures there. This was one of the better ones of Miss Naomi in her pretty little dress. Her "brain restrainer" was in place here as well though it will be soon to bite the dust as you will see shortly.

Here she is winding up to remove said "brain restrainer" (showing her only two teeth in the process).

AND.....success!! It is now a necklace to chew on!

Later in the day, Grandma and Grandpa Walker brought over a few presents for baby girl. One was this baby stroller/walker for her. (How appropriate you may be thinking....a walker from the Walker's....yes I know....corny joke alert!) She loved it though and we got some video of her walking down the hall with it and here you see some major tongue action to go along with the fun! Granparents Walker also made a beautiful book of pictures of Naomi's first year for her and gave her a little push vacuum that pops as well.

Naomi's party wouldn't be complete without her characteristic sniffy face! She will sniff over and over really fast with this cute expression on her face. Good thing the camera was ready to go!

Josiah got the idea to put the present bow on her head and she is a little pretty package indeed! Happy birthday to a sweet little baby! Hard to believe she is ONE!!

Naomi's 1st B-day--part 3

As per usual, we had a picture taking session for baby girl that was frequently interrupted with her brothers trying to get in on the picture taking action. This was when Josiah was trying to get her to smile for me and I happened to catch the moment in time. She loves her big brother! He chases her around (in crawling mode) and she just squeals with delight trying to get away as fast as her little crawling legs will take her.

We turned on some music at one point and all the boys were dancing. Josiah was mid-dance in this shot and having a blast!

Caleb begged me saying, "Take pic-ter ME, Momma!" And Caleb is sportin' his hoodie look for y'all in this one. He LOVES to wear hoods we have discovered of late and when I offered to let him wear this sweatshirt today he was very pleased!

Daniel would not be left out of course and to get him to smile real big I said, "Say computer!" And he did!

Lastly, I leave you with this fun shot of Caleb and Daniel busting a move here to the music! Caleb not only looks the part with the hood, but he's got the moves to match it! Daniel is showing his intense dancing face as well. All day Daniel kept asking, "It's my birthday, too?" I would say, "No, your birthday is in December," and his response was always a disappointed, "Awwww!" I assured him though that he would still get some cake today and that was approved.

Visit to Uncle Brent & Aunt Katie's House

Today we ventured up north to visit my brother Brent and his wife Katie as a family. Brent was eager to battle me on the Kinect Dance game that he had. It was fun busting out the dance moves! Gotta love the "gank," the "wind up," the "swush" and the "double pump." Yeah, you had to be there! I loved the fact that it randomly takes pictures and videos of you as you do it too, very fun! When Brent sat down on the couch to watch "Wipeout," Caleb cuddled right up to him and put the blanket over his lap too! They made spaghetti & corn for lunch and had some ice cream cones for dessert. Even little Naomi had some ice cream too and it was a big hit!

The kids enjoyed playing with their animals. Josiah is "playing" with Marvin the cat here, but I think kitty thought this was more like torture than play. Both the twins chased him around with the cat toy at various times as well! Needless to say, Marvin was making himself very scarce during our visit!

Daniel attempted to interest Barry the dog with the cat toy, but he was very unimpressed as you can see here! *YAWN* :)

Caleb decided to get in his cardio workout while visiting his Uncle and Aunt, but found it rather hard to do so when he couldn't reach the pedals. He tried rocking side to side for some exercise, but mom and dad told him that was right out!

Daniel thought he would have better luck with an arm workout, but he too found that the length on the workout equipment was not suited for his needs! Oh well...running up and down the stairs and out in the side yard was "plan B" for both twins' workouts for the day.

Caleb first discovered the rock band guitars and was trying to figure out how it worked here.

Daniel also tried to make the guitar work and announced, "It needs batt-ries, it's not working!" And from his perspective that is a very accurate statement!

Naomi had to get in on the guitar action too, but her playing style was a little different than the boys!

Her favorite toy at Uncle Brent and Aunt Katie's house though by far was their cup coasters! I know...kids love the silliest things sometimes (like cardboard boxes and such)! She was fascinated with them though and played with them a lot! I love her little expression here too! Ooooooo!

We had to leave around 1:30 as the kiddos get pretty tired around that time and everyone konked out in the car including Mommy, but I woke up toward the end of the journey and snapped this photo to share.

Thanks again Brent and Katie for your hospitality. It was a fun day! You are welcome to come down and visit us anytime too!

Josiah's Artwork

Recently, Josiah has really become interested in drawing a lot more. At the beginning of the school year, it was like pulling teeth to get him to draw and now he is just taking off with it! This picture he drew quite a while ago when we did some themed lessons on families. He even drew his animals (fish--Herman and Goldie and Echo our dog).

He has informed me that this is a contruction site and that they are building a pond (bottom left). We recently got this GREAT drawing book for kids by Ed Emberley called "Make a World" and it has these very easy step by step "shape-related" drawings to create. I didn't really have to explain how to do it to Josiah and it was super easy for him to follow on his own.

The last two are more creations that he drew on the white board and he wanted me to take pictures of them! As you can see there are more construction vehicles here as well.


This is a railroad scene with a factory and a couple of helicopters.

Twin Cupcake Icing Mustaches

Here is a quick photo of the twins last night after they had a purple icing cupcake treat from Grandma. Two SWEET and purple grins from two SWEET little boys!

Where in the house is Daniel?

David and I went out on Valentine's day to have dinner and when we returned home, the babysitter told us of a "fun" incident that happened while we were away. To prep the story, I need to first explain WHY Josiah's room has a lock on the outside now. I changed it because Caleb could lock the door, but could not then open it and once locked himself and a friend's child in the room. I was able to get in with the "hanger trick," but it was a real pain and not as easy as most doors, so I decided it would be better to flip the lock. Of course, I was then careful to not hang out in J's room without carefully watching Caleb so that he didn't lock us in.

Apparently, the babysitter, Caleb & Josiah were in J's room (Naomi was asleep in her room) and Daniel decided to lock them in. Once the babysitter realized it was locked (when she went to go get Daniel) she discovered this. Both she and Josiah pleaded with Daniel to come back and unlock it (which he CAN) and it was "strangely silent" on the other end of the door, which as most of you moms and dads probably know is NOT a good thing! The babysitter was ingenious though and decided to pop the screen in the window and climb down into the backyard to get in the main part of the house that way instead. This thankfully worked and Daniel was discovered in our room/David's office checking out all the technology.

Daddy came home to all his computers turned off and then later found that Daniel had unlocked his ipod, set an alarm and then chose to look at a few stocks. He didn't buy any.....(good thing!) and thankfully he did not ruin any of David's gadgets. When we got home, Daniel was very lovey dovey and kept saying, "I wuv you Momma!" and kept giving me hugs. This is how he butters us up when he has been naughty...how can you resist that sweet Daniel smile?

Needless to say, the babysitter has learned the lesson that "where in the house is daniel?" is an important piece of information to have at all times!