Day 151 – May 31, 2010 :: Holiday Games

We spent a lazy Memorial Day at home. Matthew hunted up some new online games to try and brought Mark over to the laptop to show him one of his favorites.

Day 150 – May 30, 2010 :: Blue Light Special

It’s very hard to take Kaylee to run errands without her wanting to pick up a little something for herself.  She went out with Mark and came back with this acrylic bracelet, which was marked down to the bargain price of just $1. I thought it was pretty cool the way it “bent” the window blinds when I held it up to the light.

Day 149 – May 29, 2010 :: Magic and Merriment

Mark’s mom, Jan, stopped in for an impromptu visit on her way through the area to visit other family. She and the kids spent an evening doing “magic” with the “Master of Illusion” DS game.  This particular “trick” must have been pretty silly, because they sure were laughing a lot. :)

Day 148 – May 28, 2010 :: Creativity Day

Another themed dress-up day at school. This time they were supposed to dress to reflect their creativity or interests. We one again have the karate uniform and the pop star, although Kaylee’s outfit also included wings this time, which I didn’t quite get the significance of. Three students from each class were selected to “walk the runway” at the assembly. Kaylee was thrilled to get to represent her class and Matthew was relieved to not have to be in for his. ;)

Day 147 – May 27, 2010 :: Amused Sister

On one of the rare occasions recently that Kaylee has had to go sit through Matthew’s karate class with me.  This is her somewhat fake exaggerated expression of hilarity at the fact that on this day, the one and only time Matthew has forgotten to wear his belt to class, they spent the first third of the class doing belt-tying lessons for the new black belts (much more complicated than the lower level belts), so he basically got to stand there doing nothing.

After that I turned over the camera to Kaylee to keep her occupied. Here are the shots she took…

I’m really not sure what possessed her to take shots of the floor or her shorts. LOL   I think that last one was me giving her a look when she wouldn’t give the camera back at the end of class. :-b

Day 146 – May 26, 2010 :: The Look

This is Matthew’s not happy with me look, a mixture of mild annoyance and disappointment. In this case it was because he was told he couldn’t have more BBQ chips right then.

Day 145 – May 25, 2010 :: Glove Repair

The Velcro on Matthew’s karate sparring gloves is pretty much shot. To try to stretch their life a bit, Mark decided to stitch new hook tapes on over the old ones. It helped enough that Matthew should be able to use them through the rest of his current remaining classes.

Day 144 – May 24, 2010 :: Sick Piggies

Kaylee came down with a bit of a flu bug and spent the day camped out on the couch. She consented only to a picture of her toes. ;)

Day 143 – May 23, 2010 :: Swingy Sunday

I took Kaylee to the park for a little while on Sunday afternoon.  She spent most of her time on the swings and kept wanting me to push her higher and higher.  :)

Day 142 – May 22, 2010 :: 40-Something Birthday (Sort Of)

Since my actual birthday was way busy with school activities and Matthew’s karate testing, we decided to “postpone” my birthday by a day. We had a nice little celebration with the cake, cute cards the kids made for me, and a few gifts (a couple of t-shirts, cookies, and a Mexican Train domino set). And I actually wasn’t trying to be mysterious about my age… we just discovered too late that we didn’t have a “2” candle on hand. ;)

Day 141 – May 21, 2010 :: Recommendation for Matthew

Matthew had taekwondo rank testing on Friday night for his “2nd Degree Recommended” black belt. It kind of an in-between rank, so he didn’t get a new belt. Here he is getting a few last-minute pointers from Mark before things got started.

The first thing they had to do was sparring (I hate that they get them all sweaty right off the bat LOL) and board breaks. All of my photos from this part where Matthew is doing anything at all are a complete blur. I need more practice on what setting to choose for action shots under absolutely horrible lighting conditions. :b

Next up was form. A lot of those were blurry too, but here’s one that sort-of turned out during one of the slow parts. (Notice the sparring helmet hair. LOL)

At well over two hours, it was a long time for the spectators to sit smushed in with all these other people in this really HOT gym.  Doesn’t Kaylee look thrilled?  We actually gave her the option of skipping this testing and staying home with me, but she wanted to go. I think it was mostly because she didn’t want to miss out on going out to eat afterwards. ;)

And finally, here’s a shot of everyone lined up at the end of the evening. (Actually, it’s three shots stitched together, and I didn’t think to try to correct the distortion; the room isn’t really all wonky curvy like that.)  These are the students who were testing for black belt rank from all three of the schools under the same owner.  Can you spot the back of Matthew’s head? It’s like a game of Where’s Waldo. ;)  (Click on the photo to see it larger and get the full effect.)

Matthew did great with all the parts of testing and is now a “2R”.  For financial reasons, he’s probably going to be taking a break from karate after June. After doing this 2-4 days a week for the past three years, it’s going to seem really odd to not have it in our schedule.  If/when he goes back to classes, he will formally test for his “2nd Degree Decided” in about a year.

Day 140 – May 20, 2010 :: Mother Nature Plays Cat and Mouse

We had some really severe rain storms mid-day.  It poured white sheets of water so solid that I could hardly see out the windows. But they were very intermittent. Every single time I grabbed my camera and made my way from my desk at the back of the house up to the shelter of the front porch to try to grab a picture, the rain would ease up to almost nothing.  The sun even popped out a few times as I opened the door as if to say “nah-nah-nah-nah-boo-boo on you”. LOL

If I were a more dedicated photographer, I would have just parked myself on the porch until I got the shot, but I don’t have that kind of patience these days. ;)

Day 139 – May 19, 2010 :: Video Games on the Notebook

No, not notebook as in small PC… notebook as in spiral bound paper. Matthew spent all his free time for two solid days drawing a “video game” in this notebook. He filled several pages with the stick figure character fighting his way through different levels and obstacles.  The hearts in the corner represent the number of lives the character has at that point.

Will the hero survive and battle successfully through all the levels?  We’ll have to wait and see… Matthew hasn’t finished drawing them yet. ;)

Day 138 – May 18, 2010 :: “America’s Top Talent” in the House

Kaylee singing and dancing along with a talent show themed episode of Hannah Montana. Normally she gets in trouble for standing up on the couch, but when the camera comes out, she gets a break. I’m such a bad mom. LOL

Day 137 – May 17, 2010 :: War and Peace

A typical evening. The kids had finished their homework and had a little time to kill. They decided to take turns pretending to chop, poke, shove, or psychically push each other into falling over the back of the love seat.  I try to discourage this type of activity, since it seems like an obvious candidate to end with a fight or with someone getting hurt… or both.  But, shockingly, it was just 15 minutes of fun and laughter and totally conflict-free fake battle, ending peacefully when Matthew had to go get changed for karate.

Someone please tell me how they can get along so well while pretending to demolish each other, and then turn around and end up in an all out wrestling screech fest over choosing a TV show or deciding who gets to sit in which spot on the couch? :b

Day 136 – May 16, 2010 :: Bait and Switch?

Kaylee has been wanting a Wizards of Waverly Place doll for ages. She’s been bugging me about it since well before her birthday, probably more like since shortly after Christmas. She still had some birthday money burning a hole in her pocket, so I told her that if she got her stuff in the family room and breakfast area put away and her room picked up, I’d take her to get one.  I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen her clean… and without one complaint!

When we got to the store, she agonized for ages over which Alex doll to get (they have four different ones), and finally settled on…

(drumroll please)

… a Taylor Swift doll that plays a few lines from “Our Song” when you press her bellybutton. Um, last I knew, Taylor Swift has never appeared on Wizards of Waverly Place.

I told Kaylee she is never allowed to complain about not having a Wizards of Waverly Place doll again. :b

{The shot above is in the van as we were leaving the store. She’s rocking out to her Selena Gomez CD on the headphones.}

Day 135 – May 15, 2010 :: Butterfly Magic

Saturday was the Kiwanis Butterfly Festival at a local mall, and they arranged for Mark to do a few magic shows.  Here he is with two “famous artists” who volunteered to help him with this amazing trick.

Directly across from where Mark was performing was a face painter. Kaylee thought that was the coolest thing ever, and just had to have hers done. (Excuse the noise/blur in these photos; the light was not good, and I only had my small camera.)

Checking out the results in the mirror…

After looking at the samples on their display, Matthew decided he wanted his done too…

Good thing this was only a painted spider, or I might have been jumping right off this escalator. ;)

Day 134 – May 14, 2010 :: F is for Fossil Family Face Food

Kaylee made this plaster “fossil” at school. She says it’s a family of shells… a mom, a dad, and a little child.  Matthew says it looks like a skull face. 

And the food?

Well, if you flip it over, apparently the skull family likes to have waffles! LOL

Day 133 – May 13, 2010 :: Fine Art

Kaylee came home from school with this painting she had done in art class. She’d intended it to be a Mother’s Day gift, but hadn’t gotten it back from the teacher in time. I adore it and am totally impressed with all the detail and the style and color, so it surprised me that Kaylee was critical of it. She explained that she hadn’t gotten to finish, and she didn’t like that she had gotten the paint outside the lines in a few places.  I think it’s perfect just the way it is. :)

Day 132 – May 12, 2010 :: Workin’ It

The kids had a half day of school, so Kaylee and I took some time in the afternoon to pop over to Target and get her some shorts.  Aside from the one set she bought recently, she had outgrown every single pair she owned. Although admittedly, most of them had seen at least two previous summer’s wear.

It took three trips to the dressing room, but we finally came out with five pair that she didn’t hate, and that fit and met the school’s dress code.  (What is it with all the super-short shorts in the stores?)  She showed off this blue pair (in reality they’re actually more navy) with the tag still attached when we got home, strutting her best model moves for the camera.

Day 131 – May 11, 2010 :: The Guest Book

The last evidence of our weekend guest magician, who has departed for his next lecture.  This book contains a photo and signature (and sometimes a more lengthy note) from every magician who has spent a night in the “Jensen B&B”.  Not all the lecturers stay here – some are local or stay with other friends or family in the area, some have had to head immediately on to their next engagement, and a few have opted to stay in hotels.  The first guest was 10½ years ago, when we filled in for the previous lecture coordinator who was unavailable to host. It was a long while after that before the next one, but two dozen more have passed through here since Mark began coordinating the area lectures over four years ago.

It’s been an interesting experience to welcome these unique individuals from all over the world into our home. Most have come alone; a few have brought along a friend or spouse. They have had all manner of personalities, from loud and boisterous to very quiet and reserved.  They’ve ranged in age from 21 to 97.  A few have been a little full of themselves; most have been very down to earth. Sometimes Matthew and Kaylee are in school or in bed pretty much the whole time the guests are at the house. Of those who have been around to meet and spend time with them, some have embraced the opportunity to entertain the kids, and others have not quite known what to do with themselves around the pint-sized alien beings. 

Not one of them has fit into the stereotypical “magician” persona. Any pre-conceived notions I may have had about how a magician should talk or act have gone out the window.

I initially agreed to do this to make Mark happy… and he’s in seventh heaven getting to hang out with these guys, show off his collection, and talk magic until the wee hours of the night… but I never thought I’d enjoy it too. While some of the guests have been a mere blur in and out of the house as the event schedule kept them hopping, I have sat and had intriguing conversations with others.  I’ve been privileged to be given private magic shows at my kitchen table. On my birthday one year, one guest insisted that the group of magicians present for lunch sing to me, as I blew out a candle on the cake one of them had coincidentally brought along. It has taken a long while for me to get comfortable with the whole hosting thing, but I’m finding that I’ve actually come to look forward to these visits as well.  It’s been quite a time. :)

Now if I could only figure out some way to magically clean the house before they arrive. ;)

Day 130 – May 10, 2010 :: Open

The sign in the window as I went to pick Matthew up from karate. I really liked the colors and the way the reflection of the sky and trees mixed with the patriotically painted wall and display grid of shirts for sale in the school… a calm exterior, giving no hint of the noise and high-energy activity going on inside. :)

Day 129 – May 9, 2010 :: Journal Accomplished

We spent Sunday afternoon on the final assembly of Matthew’s journal for his school project. The fur is from Hobby Lobby. We spray glued it to one side of a piece of cardboard and lined the inside with the same parchment he wrote the entries on. Then we whip-stitched the edges with embroidery floss, and stitched the pages to the spine.

“Whip-stitched” actually sounds like way too easy of a term for what we did. Getting through all that fur and cardboard was tougher than I expected. It took me lining up the needle and bracing the book, with Matthew then pushing the needle through with a thimble.  And since we had to trim some of the fur to make it fit the book, it was shedding pretty badly for a while. I looked like I had been attacked by a cat when we were done. :b

The final touch was tying the book closed with a long strip of leather lacing we extracted from one of Mark’s old belts.

Matthew was thrilled with how it turned out. He declared that he was going to keep it and write what he wanted to write on the extra pages he hadn’t filled with the assigned writing. :)

And, yes, he got an A on the project, only losing a few points for some of his more confusingly-worded entries. :)

Day 128 – May 8, 2010 :: Early Bloomer

An early Mother’s Day gift from Mark, since we had a guest magician coming in for the weekend. The color came out a little funky on this – they aren’t actually that neon-ish. LOL

The roses didn’t last long, but most of the rest of the flowers still look great a week and a half later. :)

Day 127 – May 7, 2010 :: Fun in the Sun

The school had a Family Fun Fair Friday evening.  They had music and food and several “bounce” activities.  Here they are waiting for their turn to “joust”.  Kaylee was up first…

And then it was Matthew’s turn…

And here they are bouncing their brains out in a traditional bounce house…

The one advantage of the sun being so harsh was that the camera was actually able to see the kids inside the tent, instead of just getting pictures of black net. LOL

And finally, in addition to the popsicles they’d had when we arrived, they loaded up on more sugar with a pixie dust “sand art” type of thing. :)

They’ve had these fun fairs several times before, but this is the first one we were able to attend. The kids are already talking about going back next year. :)

{I also did a layout about the first part of the evening, which you can towards the bottom of this post. :)  }

Day 126 – May 6, 2010 :: New Metal

Guess what we got!  No, it’s not a motorcycle…

but the money could have made a hefty down payment on one. ;)

Ooooooo… shiny!

Mark and I went to a parents’ orientation at the middle school Matthew' will be attending next year, then headed over to the music store to place an order for the sax the school recommends. Turned out they had one in stock, so after making our credit card cringe, we got to bring this baby home with us.  :)

Matthew was very excited, but they don’t want the kids picking up bad habits by trying to teach themselves, so it sits nestled in its case until we can get lessons arranged, hopefully starting next month. :)

Day 125 – May 5, 2010 :: Look, Mom, No Cavities!

The kids went for checkups with their new dentist Wednesday afternoon.  Besides the fact that their previous dentist had moved waaaaaaaay across town a while back, she also doesn’t take their current insurance, so we decided to try one here close to us.  Both kids handled the x-rays and cleaning very well (other than Matthew getting a little bored and impatient waiting for Kaylee to finish), and neither one had any cavities! Yay!

Kaylee was especially excited that she got peppermint floss in her goodie bag, and she declared this visit “the best dentist ever!” LOL

Day 124 – May 4, 2010 :: If the Glove Don’t Fit…

… you must return it. LOL  The gloves I wear for yard work are pretty much shot, so Mark picked me up another pair. Unfortunately, with my long fingers, they don’t come anywhere near fitting. I guess I’m not “most”.  :b

Day 123 – May 3, 2010 :: Dear Diary

Matthew’s latest school project. They’re making some sort of journal in a historical style a la Lewis & Clark.  I don’t know much about the content yet, but he’s been working very hard on it. He has to write everything out in pencil and then trace over it very carefully with a Sharpie.  Each entry ends up requiring multiple breaks to recover from writer’s cramp. Lewis and Clark had it rough! … Of course, I don’t think they had to write everything twice or had a teacher grading them on neatness. :b

Day 122 – May 2, 2010 :: Poster Child

Kaylee is Star Student again this week, so she got to complete this fun poster. She had to included a photo of herself (she chose one from her birthday party), a story about an event (the Six Flags trip), her hero (Selena Gomez), her favorite movie (Aliens in the Attic), fill out a list of facts and favorites, her favorite book (a Hannah Montana book), and draw a cartoon that told something about her.

For the cartoon part, she thought it was part of the book section, so she illustrated that. It worked out ok by making the “thing about her” that she likes to watch Hannah Montana, which is very true.  Thanks to Netflix instant queue, she’s watched all 85 episodes from the first three seasons over the past few weeks... some of them more than once. I think the theme song is permanently burned into my brain. :b

Day 121 – May 1, 2010 :: Party Girl

Kaylee had a few friends over for a “pop star” themed birthday party on Saturday.  This shot was pre-party in another outfit from her little shopping spree.  This look that she had agonized over planning lasted all of maybe ten minutes once the girls arrived. They decided to play tag, and the hair pieces were gone, and then they dug into Kaylee’s dress-up clothes and accessories, and she changed into one of her costume dresses. What followed was a lot of balloon volleyball, tormenting Matthew, and general chaos. I never knew four little girls could make so much noise!

Here they are singing Happy Birthday mid-party.

It got really calm and quiet while they were eating their cake and ice cream. Sadly, the noise returned full force immediately afterward.  Hmmmmmm… maybe the next party should just involve non-stop eating. LOL