Last night was promotion again at Bobby Lawrence Karate. All three of the kids promoted. Nora to a white with blue stripe, Emma to a green belt, and Ian to brown with an orange stripe. I was really proud of all of them!

Nora’s promotion was first. She was the only one promoting to a blue stripe, so she had to do her form all by herself. I was worried that she would be nervous, but she was awesome.

Ian and Emma had a combined promotion this time. It was a little bit crazy and there were tons of kids.

Emma did her form first:

And Ian performed his a little bit after her:

Then they both got their belts.

Then they did the belt ceremony. Ian was in the back of the room, so I couldn’t really see him. I just got some pictures of Emma.

Emma was really excited about her new belt. Can you tell?

It was a crazy and fun night at karate. I’m really proud of the dedication and hard work they have all put into karate.

Yesterday was the first day of school for Emma, Ian, and Nora. Everything went off without a hitch. Everyone was happy to go and they all seemed to like their teachers. Nora is in her last year of montessori and has Stevie for a teacher again this year. Ian is starting second grade with Ms. Hendrickson and Emma is starting fourth grade with Mrs. Jerome. Ms. Hendrickson plays hockey so Ian was really excited about that. Mrs. Jerome told Emma that her favorite things were art and reading and Emma was over the moon about that. I’m excited to see what this school year will bring.

Back in April, Ian lost his two front teeth!

Last week I went out for a short mountain bike ride in the afternoon. I left the kids home with Scott. When I got back this is what I found:

All three of the kids decided to be Harry Potter with a mustache. Of course it was done with a permanent marker. Luckily it came off quite easily. Fun times with Dad!

Recently, Ian was given an assignment at school. He had to write two sentences using a noun, adjective, and a verb. For most first graders, this assignment would probably take about 5-10 minutes. For Ian, this can easily be an hour project. I started on the assignment with him. I helped him come up with a sentence and he started to write it. Then, I had to leave to take Emma and Nora to karate. I asked Scott to take over and help him with the second sentence. That is when everything fell apart. Ian just gave up and didn’t want to do the assignment. Every sentence that Scott suggested, Ian hated. Scott got frustrated and started teasing Ian and suggesting he write sentences about him crying. He just collapsed into a mess of screaming tears. Scott left him alone to finish the assignment. When he got back he didn’t find any sentences written, but he did find this card:

He also made this card:

When I got home Scott showed them to me and we both just laughed hysterically! He took so much more time to write this card than he would have to just write the sentence.

This is life with Ian!

All three kids got new belts today! Nora became an orange stripe, Emma became an orange belt, and Ian became a green belt. I’m proud of all the hard work they have put into earning their new belts!

Ian joined the Black Belt Club at Bobby Lawrence Karate. What it means is that he has made the commitment to stay in karate until he earns his black belt. He had to write a paper about why he wants to be a black belt. Then he had a meeting where he sat down with Mr. Klekas and went over all the belts he must earn on his way to black belt. For Ian, it will probably take around 2 1/2 years, depending on how hard he works. He is really excited and I am proud of him for making such a big commitment.

I snapped a few photos of Ian on the morning of his birthday. I wanted to capture those last few moments of being 6. I also wanted to get a few more photos while he still had his front teeth. These were taken shortly after he got up. I love how he is still in his pj’s and how his hair is a mess. I just love how these capture him just being himself.

Today is Ian’s 7th birthday. I can’t believe how time flies. I can remember the night he was born like it was yesterday. The drive down Parley’s Canyon was torture. I was doing everything I could not to have him in the car. That was the only time I have ever asked Scott to drive faster. His birth was fast and furious–and that pretty much describes Ian to this day.

Today he is about to lose his first front tooth. It has been hanging by a thread for the last few days. Maybe today will be the day that it falls out. I’m not looking forward to it, really. I know that once it falls out that little boy smile will be gone forever. A big new tooth will come in it’s place and his smile will be forever changed.

Ian is in the first grade this year. His teacher is Mrs. Laura Johnson. He likes school, but it has been a challenging year. He has had a hard time conforming to the rules. Sitting still and keeping his hands to himself continue to be issues for him. Never the less, he is doing really well academically. He is an excellent reader and really good at math. Spelling, however, is a constant struggle. He works really hard on the words all week, but can’t seem to get them right on the tests.

Last week he was diagnosed with ADHD. At first, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. It was so hard to hear that my little guy was not “normal”. I just thought that he was a boy and that they were all like that. The first few days I read everything I could get my hands on. I wanted to figure out how to “fix” everything. I think the reality hit a few days later when I realized that nothing is going to “fix” him. This is an issue that he will deal with for the rest of his life. I felt really down about the whole situation. As the days have gone by, it has gotten better. I am learning about the ways we can help him, and we have an appointment with a new doctor to get a plan in place. I feel good about the future for him. I think we are lucky to have found out now when he is still in first grade.

He is still doing karate at Bobby Lawrence Karate. He is a blue belt now, and loves that he gets to spar! He is begging to join the Black Belt Club. We are just so busy right now, I don’t know how we can fit anything else in. Hockey is still going strong. He really likes it and he keeps getting better and better. Ski season is also in full swing, and he is skiing with the Saturday Adventure program. He has a great group of boys that he is skiing with this year, and they are all improving by leaps and bounds.

He loves to be busy and active, but under all that craziness is the sweetest little boy. He is so sensitive and caring. I love that about him! He still loves to hug and I love getting hugs from him. I keep savoring every one of them because I know that soon he won’t want to hug his mama. I can see the little boy smile disappearing and I know that his sweet little boy hugs won’t be too far behind.

I’m so glad that November is almost over….I’m sick of trying to think of things to post every day This has been one of the hardest NaBloPoMo’s I have ever done!

We spent today hanging around the house in the morning. I’m feeling a little bit under the weather. I took advantage of the time at home to start on my holiday card list and to get bills paid and a bunch of other little things I wanted to get done before I leave for Maui. Did I mention that I leave 2 weeks from today???

In the afternoon we took the kids to see Tangled. Ian and Emma had been with my mom. Scott, Nora, & I met them there. Ian came in crying and it went downhill from there. He had a bad headache and then he threw up. Luckily he made it to the bathroom. Scott took Ian home before the movie even started. But the girls and I really enjoyed the movie.

After that we came home and took care of Ian. I got a few more jobs done around the house and we had a left-over Thanksgiving dinner. I kept feeling like today was Sunday and I am happy that there is still one more day left of the weekend!