More Monday Musings

Today was Parker's first day of karate camp. He was a little hesitant last week when we told him that it would mean not going to Angels this week, but he was definitely on board with the idea by the time this morning rolled around. He was even more excited when he showed up to discover that his friend Shalyn from church was there. Camp is from 9am-1pm each day this week and each day has a different theme. Today was Stranger Awareness Day, so all of their activities (coloring, games, karate moves, etc) focused around that. The kids bring their lunches and eat together and finish out the day with an hour long karate class. According to Sensei Tony, he got to see another, good side of Parker today (less quiet/shy than in the evenings at class) and Parker did really well.

While Parker was at karate camp, Daddy took advantage of the sunshine and spent time mowing, edging, and weeding the yard. This had been his original plan for Saturday but Mother Nature didn't cooperate; it poured here all day Saturday and Sunday! Once Parker got home he helped Daddy spread the mulch from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Dawn in the flowerbeds around the house. They also took off to Home Depot to get a few more plants for the flower bed behind the back porch. It was a lot of effort in the hot sun, but the results are great!

A new hanging plant for the light fixture instead of our old battered welcome sign.



Daddy's little helper in his work gloves.


Taking a break from all the hard work.

Tonight, Parker also had his regular karate class. He was a little confused when we told him to get dressed again, insisting "But I already did karate today!" But once he got to class he did really well. He has now saved up 20 karate dollars to go shopping in the "karate store" next week.

Here's Parker's doing his kicks tonight with Sensei Tony. On the last one, he was supposed to kick as hard as he could and then you see the Sensei graciously fall backwards at the big strong kick.

Parker was also picked to be the line leader towards the end of class tonight. He got to go through and demonstrate how to run the obstacle course and then close out class by calling out the instructions for everyone to bow.