Yellow Belt - 3 Stripes!

If anything is a constant in our lives here in Okinawa. It has been Karate.

Ryukoku Seidokan, the Honbu Dojo and Sensei Ron and Akemi Nix have been a wonderful addition to our lives here. Olivia and I both tested this past weekend for our 3rd Stripe (or 7th Kyu) on our Yellow Belts.

Here are Olivia and I while I am getting warmed up.

We both did some push ups. (note: Olivia's new PE teacher recently told the class that the girls could do "girl push-ups" to which Olivia now told me "I told all of my friends, that real girls to real push-ups." Love our tough girly girl.

Here is a video of Kelly (me) doing the kata we needed to do for this level. Wansu.

And, here I am afterwards, happy as a clam! :)

Between our testing times, we were able to watch a lot of really great classmates get their green and brown belts. As well as a Black Belt test for his 3rd Degree. Pretty amazing stuff.

Next up: Olivia!

And a good look at her Self-defense moves...

Here she is getting her third stripe put on.

HAPPY Girl!

The best part of this whole experience is that I have gotten to watch her REALLY grow. She practices almost every day and works really hard.

Here she is with her friend Mia

And with Christopher and Emily

And of course: With Sensei...

And this is a photo of Olivia with Marisa. It was Marisa's first time testing at a "big" test time. She did great!

BFF's tackle the zoo

I wouldn't have thought it was possible for Alessandra to actually have a Best Friend.

Insert: Sophia Taylor

We met the Taylor's last year when Olivia started karate (you may remember Emily from both of Olivia's karate testing videos - and you will see her again on this years). Sophia is a mere 3 months younger than Alessandra and they have always had their height and hair color and cute faces in common...

This summer Sophia started preschool at East-West Montessori with Alessandra. They are in the same class and although they were already buddies, it seemingly solidified their happy relationship.

This week, we hit the zoo for a field trip. Alessandra with her mommy only and Sophia with her mommy and baby brother only (an amazing feat since she is one of 5 sibs).

I'm not sure they actually cared that there were actually real animals at the zoo, but they certainly wanted their photos taken with the pretend ones...

Okinawan Bat Alessandra

Okinawan Bat Sophia

Some other classmates caught up with us and the girls were ready to "jet"

Except that we were looking at monkeys... everybody needs to check those guys out again...

We also went to the Wonder Museum. Sophia in the small chair...

Alessandra on the tree stumps...

Both girls discussing something important

A in the big egg

Not sure what this set up was, but they liked being back there...

and Alessandra on the big chair.

Life is good when you are small.

Happy Birthday to me!

So, it's official. I am in my mid-thirties.

I have happily made it to this pivotal age - it seems that the ages that end in "0" are the big ones, however, I tend to think that the mid number birthdays are just as big of a deal. It's like you are passing on from one end of the spectrum to the other - and it should not go overlooked.

I suppose there are many things I should know by now... and likely I do know some of them. BUT, I am happy to let you know that I don't know most of them and I love that I am continuing to learn and change as each year passes. The past year has taught me a lot. I know that I can single parent successfully (most of the time), that I can live overseas without skipping a beat and can travel back to the States (with 2 kiddos in tow) and love every moment with the people that I love. I have also learned how sad I can be while missing those that I love - both living in Okinawa and being away from my husband for a pretty large chunk of the year. I have also continued to learn how thankful I am that I have chosen the lifestyle that I have (or more accurately that WE have). The challenges that an ongoing nomadic military lifestyle places in your hands is truthfully - unable to be accurately described to those who have not undergone such a lifestyle on their own, but a lifestyle that will always bring me many more happy memories than sad.

Thank you to everyone who is a part of my life. Your support and love do not go unnoticed.

Enter...the 80's - Alessandra style

This is from this morning! Most of you probably know that I pretty much allow my girls to choose what they like to wear. It makes the mommy-daughter battles much less often AND at some point I know they will understand color-coordination better than they do now.

Alessandra always throws me for a loop in her dressing style. This morning, I felt a very Irene Cara/Flashdance vibe - most likely because of the headband (that she would NOT let me change), but I felt the sparkly shoes added something extra too. Thought you might enjoy a little peak at little miss Mighty.

Tooth #2

Yep, another visit from the toothfairy! (and it happened the night before her school photos... )

Good-bye Tonsils!

I realize I have been a little lapse at blogging as of late. Life is passing quickly!

2 weeks ago (already?) Olivia ventured into her first "surgery". She had her tonsils and adenoids taken out. We read a GREAT book about it where the little girl's mom had a "tonsil party" for her. So... of course....


Here we are with our goodbye tonsil cake the night before the surgery.

And here she is the morning of her surgery right before they gave her the "sleepy medicine". I didn't dare take any photos or videos after the event (although she was pretty funny coming out of anesthesia asking us "did it happen yet?" with her new squeaky voice). All in all, she pulled through like the trooper she is AND was back to normal by the following Monday (well, almost normal... we added 2-Popsicles a day last week too).

The tooth fairy has landed...

It's official. Olivia is on her way to being an adult. 1 tooth gone (and a new 6 year molar to boot).

She lost it this past weekend (while our sitter was here) and didn't want us to know. (so of course we didn't... wink, wink)

We always wondered if the tooth fairy was Japanese or American. Turns out, she is American, and gave Olivia a Sacajawea Gold Dollar.