He Did It....Again!

You may remember that I have posted in the past that Noah had earned his yellow belt in Taekwando. One of the frustrating things that occurred as a result of our move, was that he had to start over again at a new school here in Ohio. The schools that are here happened to teach different styles of martial arts...so back to the beginning he went!

I am happy to report that Noah has just done it again! He earned his yellow belt again....this time with such a high grade that he got an extra tip (stripe) on it too! He worked hard...mostly to overcome his nerves. The classes are a lot larger at this school...and he had to recite his student creed and test in front of many people.

In the photo below, Noah performs a side kick...look at that height!

Noah admitted after his test that the most nerve-wracking part of his test was when he had to state his name, his favourite thing about martial arts, and four examples of where he has used improved discipline. Notice in the pic below that he is looking up and to the side...not directly at the crowd! :)

Below, Noah receives congratulations from his teacher. You can see all of the other kids that tested that same day in the foreground.

It was a big day. Even bigger than the accomplishment of earning his belt...I think that Noah is beginning to gain confidence in his new school...and it can only build from here!

Questions I've Been Asked....

I have to say, that lately, Rebekah is on a roll with her question asking. The best questions usually come up in the car on the way to or from preschool. I then get to share them with Kevin in the evenings so that we can have a good laugh together. The other night after one of these such discussions, Kevin made the comment, you've got to write this stuff down! So, that is what prompted me to get back to my blog.

I think about it all the time...I just haven't been making the time that I should to record all of these things. I know that if I don't though, I will regret it later! I love having that log of the things past...and I hope our children will one day love to have it too. There are so many fun and exciting things we have done since we have moved here four months ago. There have been trips and photos and changes to our house. Lots to record!

Now, back to Rebekah and her questions.....

1) Mommy, how fast can monkeys run? (I believe this came from watching Go, Diego,Go!)

2) Mommy, do dolphins and fish live in the water tower? Where do they go? (We drive by the town water tower several times a day).

3) Mommy, why do the leaves change colour?

4) Mommy, do birds have tongues? How do they drink? (perhaps a curiosity ignited by Diego again?)

5) Mommy, listen...can you hear that? (Me) I don't really hear anything. (Bekah) I can hear it. That's because I have good ear-sight.

The last question...I still can't believe she asked! My mother was the recipient of this one...when Kevin and I were away in Alaska.

First, let me set this up. Both of our kids realize that there is a difference in anatomy between boys and girls. They are getting to the age now that we are encouraging them to use modesty, and there is a rule in place in our house that they must knock before entering a room, although Bekah follows this rule a bit sporadically. So, long story short, Bekah decided to question my Mom about who had which body parts.

From what I understand the conversation went something like this:

Bekah: Nana, do you have a 'willy'?

Nana: Do you?

Bekah: No, I'm a girl.

Nana: Well, I'm a girl too. Girls don't' have 'willies'.

Bekah: Does Papa have a 'willy'.

Nana: (blushing and panicking about the rest of this conversation, I'm sure!) Well, I suppose so.

Bekah: How big is it?

Oh my goodness, did I ever laugh when I heard about this! I can imagine my Mom...my very old fashioned Mom, trying to have this discussion with Rebekah! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall that day! I'm not clear on how my Mom actually answered this question. I'm sure she was pretty vague, if I know my mother. Whatever she said, Bekah seemed contented with the response and the subject was changed...much to my Mother's relief, I'm sure!

I am sure there will be more interesting questions to come...and I look forward to recording them for the memory books. :)

Crash Course....

We have now had our first visit to the area Children's Hospital. That didn't take long now, did it? We have been here in our new home a grand total of about seven weeks.

It happened first thing Friday morning. Noah and Rebekah, true to form, were begging to go outside before the clock had even struck nine. Kevin was working from home that day because we had friends from our college days visiting. They had arrived the night before, so Kevin planned to work from home in and effort to condense his day a bit. Good thing. By 9:30, there was screaming and blood...more than I had seen come out of one of my children before.

Apparently, Rebekah had been speeding along on her two wheeler bike, chasing Noah. She skidded out on a slight slope and came down on the pavement on her chin. Ouch. Kevin jumped into action making phone calls to figure out where we needed to take Bekah (we hadn't even been to the pediatrician yet) while I did damage control and applied pressure. The advice was to take her to the Children's Hospital.

Once we got there, everything was smooth and efficient with almost no waiting. It took six stitches to put things back together. They froze the area with a topical gel. It took about a half hour of watching cartoons in order to give the gel time to work, and then there was a lot of poking, flushing, cleaning and prodding that took place.

Bekah was completely unfazed by the whole process. She wanted to go swimming and ride her bike again the very same day. Sigh....

Meet The Neighbours!

We had a surprise waiting for us when we moved into our new house. It started as the sound of cows mooing in the distance. Then, before we knew it, the cows were right next to our driveway! It turns out that the empty field that runs along side our driveway is in fact not really an empty field. It is the corner of a cow pasture. We have a ravine that runs along behind our property, and I wouldn't have thought that cows would climb through a ravine...but now I can tell you, they will.

Every few days the cows decide to come to our little corner of their field for a visit. The kids get a big kick out of it.....me, not so much. They happen to bring a lot of flies with them too.....

In this photo, you can see the cows right up against the fence by our driveway. Yes, that is our minivan in the foreground of the photo. They get really close.

Here we have Bekah with the cows. :)

Bekah and one of the many young cows checking each other out.....

Here we have a video of the cows on one of their visits. I had another video clip that I liked better...but it is longer and blogger didn't seem to like it very much. We have had MANY problems with phone and internet service since our move, but I will save that long, sordid story for another day. So, here is the short clip of the cows.

Enjoy the footage! :)

Two Wheels

About two to three weeks ago, Kevin asked me what I thought of taking Rebekah's training wheels off her bike. I gave him the thumbs up....although, truthfully, I had no idea if she was ready. I figured that the worst that could happen would be that he would have the inconvenience of putting them back on, right?

So, I went to take my shower, and by the time I came back outside my four year old was riding on two wheels! This was the scene in front of me.....her backside pedaling away!

Go Rebekah!

And here is the video to prove it. Away she goes!

Noah didn't learn to ride on two wheels until he was five and in kindergarten. I just assumed we would teach Rebekah at the same time. I guess I underestimated her. :)

Bekah's New Friend

So much is happening here in our new home. I am networking and trying to find playmates for the kiddies, and mommy friends for me. It is tiring. I have met a lot of nice people, but haven't spent enough time with them yet to consider them 'friends'. Getting close to people is WORK! It doesn't help that every time I meet someone, the leave on holidays!

One of the places that the kids and I recently got to explore is the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. It is a wonderful park, and we had fun despite the stinkin' heat.

We ended up walking out of the zoo with a membership, but not just a regular membership, it's a gold membership. I am such a sucker. At least part of it is tax deductible. :)

I loved the manatee exhibit. I was surprised that the kids weren't more into it though...they loved the baby tigers the best. Did you know that manatees eat lettuce? Big heads of romaine lettuce. Yum... Below are the kids with the manatee statues.

Here we have Noah on the Rhino at the front of the zoo (no, it's not real).

The gorillas were amazing to see! There were about 7 or 8 of them. This was obviously the alpha male of the group. He had such a presence about him. He was absolutely massive in size! We called him the Papa gorilla. Whenever we see something big, my kids say that it is the Papa of the group. Papa is the name they have for my dad....and anything that is small is 'Bekah sized'. Look at the look on his face....grrrrr.

This little guy decided to hitch a ride...just like my kids!

This woman was walking around the zoo with a baby wallaby in a carrier. We were able to go right up to them and ask questions. We learned that the wallaby was being groomed to be put in the Children's Zoo. This woman would walk around carrying the wallaby every two hours so that the animal would get used to encountering children. When we got home Noah told Kevin that we saw a lady with a kangaroo in her purse. :)

The highlight of the day was when Rebekah got to feed the giraffes. Noah preferred to watch from a distance (wink), and I was in charge of photography, so Bekah stepped up and fed the giraffes without hesitation. That's my girl!

Here we have Bekah feeding the giraffe on video.



Overall, it was a great day and we can't wait to go back! Maybe next time I will get to feed the giraffes. :)

Some Updates...Finally!

Well, we made it to our new home! We have been in our house two weeks as of yesterday. This will be a quick post...just to give you the highlights, and I will try to write more later.


- Noah had his first bee sting on our first day in the house. It was strangely reminiscent of when we moved into our last house and I was stung. He survived the ordeal with only a few tears, and now he just runs whenever he sees something remotely resembling a bee.


- Bekah has developed a new fascination for bugs. She has learned how to flip off the top level of retaining wall stones in our yard in order to find what she refers to as 'rolly pollys'. They are disgusting, fat, little bugs that roll up into a ball when you touch them. The real kicker was when Noah came running up to Kevin and said "Rebekah has a rolly polly in her hand and it's having babies!". GROSS! Kevin checked it out and sure enough, there appeared to be a trail of something-or-other coming out of the bug in Bekah's hand.


- We have also learned that fireflies do not fly fast enough to out-fly Rebekah. We came home after dusk one night and she discovered that she can catch them in her cupped hands. We could see the light shining through her pudgy, cupped, little hands. She even managed to catch one to give to Noah. :)

- Cows are our neighbours...and therefore so are a lot of black flies. :S One of those things that isn't really disclosed on a property disclosure agreement. We have a house on one side of us, woods on two sides, and a field on the other side. We didn't initially realize that the field is connected to a farm and the cows come right up the hill to graze. They are close enough that the kids can stand nose to nose with the cows through the fence.


- We had a deer in our front yard this morning. He looked like he was eating something close to my front porch...I am hoping it was the weeds.


- One night on our way home we had a mother deer and two of the smallest baby deer we have ever seen run across the road in front of us. The poor little things were panicked and didn't know how to get over the guard rail. One ducked under, the other one ran back and forth along the side of the road while I yelled at poor Kevin to go and rescue it. Fortunately, it didn't come to Kevin running in traffic too...the little guy found his way under the guard rail to safety before Kevin could make his move.


- We have all but our basement unpacked. Nothing is hung on the walls....but trust me, it will be soon. I am getting ready to wield the hammer myself.


I think that is the update for today. My bed is calling.....