Weekly Wrapup

MONDAY - Both of the boys started at their new daycare, First UMC of Ocala's Preschool. Wesley is part of the Toddling Turtles class and Parker is a part of a summer camp group of older kids. Wesley fussed when we left but apparently had a good day playing. He even took a nap - which was something it took Parker months to do after he started daycare.

TUESDAY - Parker's class got to go on a field trip to the local movie theater for the free kids movie - still not sure what he saw. He had a great time! After school, Parker and Wesley wanted to go for a walk. We ended up going a couple of blocks south to Fisher Park. The park is a city block and has this great big redwood jungle gym, a basketball court, a couple of raquetball walls, a dog park, as well as a baseball diamond with dugouts. The boys really enjoyed themselves.

WEDNESDAY - Our new district superintendent stopped by the house in the afternoon to drop off a welcome basket of wonderful goodies from Panera Bread. Later after picking up the boys from daycare we ran some errands. Absolutely loving the Michael's up here - it's very high end and the entire center of the store is dedicated to scrapbooking! They were also very gracious as well because when we were shopping Wesley knocked a frame off the shelf and broke it and they told us not to worry about it.

THURSDAY - After the kids got out of daycare we went to visit a karate dojo. Before we moved Parker seemed to be getting tired of karate and told us he wanted a break for a while. But this past Monday and Tuesday he started asking about karate at breakfast. This was a dojo that Sensei Sheri had found for us after doing some caling around. The instructor was nice and the kids seemed to enjoy it but Parker would be one of the youngest in the class and it seems much more geared towards kata (rehearsed moves) than the kind of fun exercises and games he's used to. Also the class meets twice a week for 45 minutes each instead of the 30 minutes once a week that Parker's used to. So we're still undecided about whether or not we'll be sending him. At home Wesley decided to create some excitement by grabbing the hot lightbulb in the piano lamp with his hand. He has two fingers with really good size blisters.

FRIDAY - Wesley's treat this week was water day at school and we had to send his swimsuit and a towel. Miss Louisa said he wasn't too sure about it at first, but soon was enjoying himself. He's trying to use his sign language at school and is still continuing to take a good two hour nap there! But when he came home he was super tired and clingy and we discovered he had a fever. After getting some medicine, he ended up chilling in the chair with Mommy for most of the evening. This was also our anniversary but since our big trip in January was our present to each other we just had a nice low key evening at home.

SATURDAY - Since Wesley learned how to climb out of the crib a couple of weeks ago, we tried to sell it on Craiglist and Ebay before we moved. While some people called about it, no one followed through in buying it. So we had the movers bring it with us and put it up again for sale a couple of days ago. This morning we met a very nice couple from Williston up at the church who bought the crib (with mattress and comforter set) to help out a family friend. Then we spent most of the rest of the day putting pictures up in our bedroom, the hallway, the living room and the dining room, as well as doing some laundry and trying to organize the garage some more.

Wrapping Up and Moving On

Sorry for the long delay on blogging. We were scheduled to have the phone/internet/satellite installed at the house when we moved in on the 30th. While the satellite was installed on the 1st, we only got the phone and internet installed late yesterday afternoon. The last week or so will come in a couple of different posts over the next few days.

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After the farewell dinner on Sunday, we spent the rest of that day and Monday trying to wrap up errands and finish packing. Parker's last night of karate with Sensei Tony was on Monday night at Faith. He had a very good class and afterwards got to spend all of the karate dollars he had saved up at the karate store. His haul? Included an orange glowball, a new puzzle and a Nemo mask for the pool.

Here he is with Sensei Tony at the punching bag.

Here is Parker with Sensei Tabitha working on self-defense.

And finally working on some jumping along with letters and colors with Sensei Melissa.

After the boys went to bed, we finished up cleaning the house to the specifications of the conference checklist and were up until 4:45am! So we caught a little nap before getting up at 7:30am so that we could get showers and catch up on the last few personal things that needed to be packed before the movers came. Grandmommy came early to help with the boys and brought doughnuts for breakfast and then later Granddaddy came to help coordinate things. The movers met Mommy at the church at 9:00am to load up her office and then headed to the house to cram/pack as much as they could in the truck before the torrential downpour started.




The rain caused us to be over two hours late leaving Hudson, and then there was an overturned semi-trailer on I-75. We finally got into Ocala after 4:00pm. Grandmommy and Granddaddy traveled with us as well as Miss Rael. Remarkably the cats went into their carriers pretty easily and were even so relaxed on this trip in the van with Daddy that they both took naps!

Fortunately the weather was much nicer in Ocala and there were a few folks from Belleview and Druid Hills at the parsonage to welcome us. The Druid Hills congregation had left flowers on the fireplace mantel as well as food in the refrigerator, food in the pantry, and a wonderful pot roast cooking in a crock pot on the kitchen counter!!!

Things were a little hectic as we unloaded the truck and spread the boxes out in the different rooms so unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of that process. And then the movers drove out to Belleview UMC to unload all the stuff for Mommy's office. Here's the only pictures of the boxes from that night which we did get. That's Miss Rael sitting on our kitchen counter - with the family room in the background.

Karate Board Breaking

Last night was another board breaking event at karate. It's the first time that they have done this since last June and we're so glad Parker got another chance to board break before we move. Since a lot of the class members are relatively new, Sensei Tony had Parker go first. He was very excited after he broke his board!

Mid-Week Roundup

Mommy is finally home after being out of town since Monday morning. She was leading a retreat for pastors down at the DaySpring Retreat Center in Parrish. So Daddy had been pulling single parent duty for the last couple of days and doing a great job at it.

Parker did well at karate on Monday night on his first night as an official yellow belt. Sensei Tony emailed us this picture this week of Parker with him and Sempai Melissa on the night he tested and got Karate Kid of the Month.

Parker's teachers also pulled Daddy aside on Monday to talk to him. Fortunately they wanted to tell him about something good that Parker did that amazed them. They let the kids play with a light table and some x-rays of body parts the other day and Parker was the only one who took all the different x-ray sheets and overlapped the edges until he had made a skeleton of the human body. He definitely has an interesting perspective!

Tonight Mommy and Parker went off to choir practice again getting ready for this weekend's performances. It will definitely be interesting to see how he does at the performance because he has NO fear in rehearsals. Tonight he sang SUPER loud (translation almost screaming) right into the microphone on "Happy Birthday Jesus." He had the entire adult choir laughing so hard that most of them were crying. Definitely taking the video camera with us!

Karate Star

At the end of karate class tonight, Sensei Tony announced the Karate Kid for the month of December. This is something they've been doing for the last several months and have been alternating between a kid from Parker's class and a kid from the big kids class. Parker was selected as the Karate Kid for the month of December!!! He was so excited about it too! He got a special certificate to keep and his picture will be put up on the board for the whole month. He also got to fill out a little questionnaire about his favorite things that will be posted up on the board as well. Some insight into his form? His favorite part of karate is the frog jumps at the beginning of class. He wants to be a Rays ballplayer when he grows up so that Mommy and Daddy can watch him on the tv.

And then after class, Parker got to test for his Sr. Yellow Belt. He had to recite all six of his dragon codes and then go through a series of punches and kicks. These are more complicated, with several steps each, but Parker managed to do everything.

And when it was over, Parker lined up with all his instructors and bowed and then Sensei Tony put his new yellow belt on for him. Parker was riding so high in excitement he could hardly contain himself.

So we're very proud of our new karate star around here! Congratulations Parker!

Karate Kid Moves

Parker did very well at karate tonight - listening, following directions and staying focused. One of the first things they did was rotate between stations doing jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups.



Later in class they were working on learning a new kick.

Miscellaneous and Doctor Fun

A few things have happened over the last few days that have gotten lost in the blog with reflecting on Mommy's ordination and Wesley's baptism. Sunday afternoon after the party at church, Miss Rael and her mom Leslie followed us home for a while. They had watched the cats while we were away at Annual Conference and needed to give back our keys and garage door opener. Leslie got to hold the baby and Rael and Parker decided to play dominoes. They had lots of fun!
Then Sunday night, we went to another one of Miss Rael's basketball games. This time it wasn't for school but a community fastbreak league. She did really well scoring several baskets, but they suffered a heart-breaking two-point loss in overtime. Parker loves to watch basketball and Wesley doesn't seem fazed by anything that happens. Rael took Parker out on the court after the game and he got to run around and try to shoot some baskets.

Monday was "Buddy Day" at karate. All the kids could bring a friend for free to try class out for the night. Parker wanted to bring Aydenn along and he did come with his mom. However Aydenn decided he would rather watch than participate. He still managed to sneak in a few karate punches while sitting on his mom's lap! There were six other "buddies" that showed up so class was pretty full. It was nice to see all of the kids there with their friends and see everyone have so much fun.

And then today's big news was that we started the boys with a new pediatrician. We've had some differences lately with our old pediatric practice and just really don't feel comfortable there anymore. When we asked around about a new pediatrician, several people (including Aydenn and Emma's parents) recommended Dr. Dwyer at North Pinellas Children's Medical Center.

Thankfully Dr. Dwyer accepts our insurance and has an office at New Port Richey. The best thing about this practice is that between the four offices they are open on Saturdays and Sundays for sick visits, so no need for urgent care or ER visits on weekends. Wesley needed his 6-month checkup today and we decided to take Parker along so he could meet the new doctor before he gets sick and has to go. Dr. Dwyer took a lot of time with us and made us feel very at ease. Parker loved it because he got two plastic dinosaurs and a bouncy ball and it wasn't even his visit! Wesley got three shots and an oral vaccine and has done really well today - no fever, very little fussing. We also found out that he is growing by leaps and bounds. Wesley's height was off their curve chart - 29.75 inches tall, which is a gain of 2.75 inches in 2 months! He weighed in at 17.3 lbs which was a gain of 1 lb 13 oz in 2 months! He's still lagging behind Parker at this age by a pound, but is still ahead of Parker in height, by .75 of an inch.

Miscellaneous Monday

Here's the Mother's Day project Parker made in Children's Church yesterday. That's a piece of Dove chocolate in the middle of the flower that he says Mommy can't eat because it belongs on the flower.

The big guys did some yardwork today, trimming the hedges down the west side of the house, trimming the palm trees, pulling weeds and picking up sticks/moss out of the yard. Parker loves to help with all of this, of course, and even got to use the hand trimmers with the help of Daddy to make the hedges look nice. He helped put the cuttings in the trash and brought the trash can back into the garage. When he was all done he came inside and wanted some juice "because he'd had a hard day working!"

Then at karate tonight, Parker learned how to do a flying front jump kick. They practiced standing on one leg first and then jumping to the other - they all looked like a bunch of unsteady drunk flamingos flopping around! But eventually most of them got the hang of it.

The Karate Kid Breaks a Board

Tonight was a board-breaking session in karate class. This was not something that the kids had ever practiced or done before; however we had seen this at the big karate school demo/promotion a couple of months ago. When Sensei Tony talked about this last week, Mommy asked him if everyone would be able to actually do it and he replied that they'd never had a student not be able to complete the board breaking. Parker was excited all day today talking about how he was going to karate and break boards. Yesterday at church we had invited his babysitter Miss Rael and her mom Leslie to join us and they were able to attend.

There were nine kids in Parker's class tonight and every single one of them was able to break a board with their foot, some of them on the first try! There was a huge crowd of family and friends there to observe and they all cheered like crazy for every student that went up. Parker was shy and nervous once we got to class tonight and didn't want to volunteer so he had to be coaxed up at the end as the last student. All the people there were cheering his name to get him to go up there. Once he got up front he started to get into it a little bit. He tried to break the board off the concrete blocks with his foot, but after three tries, Sensei Tony realized that was a little high for him. So they switched to Parker breaking the board while it balanced on two small stacks of wood. Parker nailed it on the fifth try with those! He was so excited and ran around all night telling anyone who would listen that "I broke a board!!!!!" Every kid got to keep their board and Melissa signed and dated them for each child. We took him to Dairy Queen for a special ice cream treat after class.

Here's proud Parker with his board!

Here's Parker with Sensei Tony and his fiance' Melissa who helps teach. Notice the cast - Sensei Tony broke his right arm just six days before he was to fly out to compete in the World Championships last week in Thailand. Instead he ended up with a plate and 10 screws in his arm and no trip. But he's still smiling!

Below is a a video taken during class last night.
It includes Sensei Tony's introduction and all of Parker's attempts.
The whole thing runs about 3 minutes.

Medical Misery

Well most of today was spent at the doctor's office. Wesley's had a cough off and on for a little while. This weekend it worsened and started disturbing his sleep so Mommy called first thing this morning and got him in at 9:00am. Daddy stayed home with Parker (who was still sleeping) and tried to finish up his Exodus assignment. At the doctor's office, Wesley was diagnosed with bronchiolitis, which is a cold virus that has settled in his lungs, particularly his right lung. He had to have a breathing treatment in the doctor's office and we have to continue those at home 4 times a day for at least the next week. Fortunately we had saved the nebulizer machine they gave us when Parker had a similar problem a couple of years back. Wesley also needs an antibiotic for a few days and had to have a chest X-ray today at the imagine center. He did really well with all of that (even the 90 minute wait time). So well in fact that the x-ray tech couldn't believe our little guy was sick because Wesley kept smiling and cooing at her. He sounds less congested this evening and hasn't coughed near as much. We were scheduled for a one week re-check with him, but after the doctor got the x-ray report we were told to come back to the doctor's tomorrow. So Wesley has another appointment tomorrow afternoon after Mommy's re-check at the surgeon in the morning.

Here's Wesley doing his afternoon breathing treatment with Daddy in the office.

While Mommy and Wesley rested, Daddy took Parker to the doctor later in the afternoon. This was his re-check on his ear infection and his annual 4 year well visit. Ear infection is cleared up and Parker got 4 shots. They also took blood and he had to also give them a urine specimen for the first time. He insisted to Daddy that he didn't need to go potty until Daddy told him he wouldn't be able to get a prize from the doctor's toy chest. That was all the incentive that Parker needed. The doctor and Daddy discussed whether or not Parker has allergies as he is currently on a nasal spray and we've been concerned with how much he's gotten sick this year. The doctor seems to think that Parker's problem isn't allergies but enlarged adenoids that are causing nasal congestion and the ear infection. One big symptom of the enlarged adenoids is Parker's mouth breathing and snoring at night. This can also cause him to not get a deep enough sleep and wake up a lot during the night (like sleep apnea). So Parker needs to have x-rays of his chest and head also, only his have to be done at the hospital sometime this week.

The only good parts of today were dinner and Parker's karate class. One of the members of the church brought us in a meal and so we were able to enjoy pot roast and brownies without having to work at it! Thanks very much to the DeLuca family for that enjoyable meal! Also Parker attended karate tonight after missing two classes because of family illness (him and Mommy). He jumped right back in and did super on all his punches and kicks and even learned how to do a better jumping jack tonight. Sensei Tony had them stand like spaceships (arms above their heads, hands together, legs out) and then stand like soldiers (stand straight, feet together, arms at side). After going back and forth slowly several times, he sped it up and all the kids seemed to finally get the jumping jacks!!!!

Our Karate Man

Over the weekend we went to a Karate demonstration and promotion ceremony for Ingram's Karate in one of the local high school auditoriums. This is the main group that sponsors the satellite campus at our church. Sensei Sheri had the world master of Isshinryu Karate (Sensei Mitchum) there as a special guest which was very cool. Several adults and teenagers received black belts (1st degree shodan, 2nd degree nidan). It was super cute to watch Sensei Sheri's sons (ages 4 and 5) get on stage and demonstrate their skills at punches, kicking, pushups and situps. The best part though was watching the board breaking demonstration (feet and hands) and also Sensei Tony jumping over six people prone on the ground to do a flying side kick and break a board! Sensei Tony is Parker's teacher and he's going to represent the US in the World Championships later this year over in Thailand.

It's been six months since Parker started taking karate.
Here's a few pics of our little karate man at a recent class.

It's very cute to watching preschoolers try to do situps,

which is almost as fun as watching them try to do jumping jacks!!!

Karate Promotion

Last night after karate class, Parker and another little girl Lily were invited to stay behind to test for their junior yellow belts. In order to get to this new rank they had to know their dragon codes, punches, kicks and some self-defense moves. Both Parker and Lily received their new belts! Parker is very excited about all of this.

The funny thing is that they have to trade in their belts next week. Why? Because the actual junior yellow belts are yellow with a black stripe and they were on backorder. But Sensei Tony didn't want to put off their testing because he had promised them. So they ended up receiving solid yellow belts (which is the next rank up) and they are a size too big. I just hope we don't have too much trouble with Parker when he has to switch them out next week! Here's some pictures from the testing:

Sensei Tony and his fiance Melissa explaining to the kids what's about to happen

Doing kicks in the air

Doing kicks on the pads

Sensei Tony putting on his new belt (We do get to keep the old one and we hope to get him some kind of wall display unit to keep all his belts in)

The Week In Review

It's been another busy week or so in the Allen house and we haven't necessarily had time to update - although we've thought about it several times. So let's play catchup and do a week in review.

Last Friday - Met Grandmommy and Grandaddy with cousin Micah at Citrus Park Mall to eat dinner at Johnny Rockets (yummy!). Then the boys got to ride the carousel with Grandmommy and then run around in the kids play area.

Last Saturday - Clark came to spend the night (and watch the Lightning game) and helped Parker and Daddy rearrange the train set in the living room once again.

Last Sunday - Spent the afternoon and evening with Grandma and Grandpa as well as Uncle Roger and Aunt Mona. It's been two years since Roger and Mona last visited - we went swimming with the manatees then. Aunt Mona made a big impression - she hid in the toy closet at Grandma's and jumped out for a surprise! Parker took it in stride and he followed her around all night. When we ate dinner at the Colonnade, he insisted that Aunt Mona sit next to him. And when he got his take home box, he asked Aunt Mona to write his name on it - she did it with great flair and style and he was fascinated. Then we went back to play (and visit) at Grandma's house. We had a great time and it was good to see them again. They had combined this visit with a business trip for Uncle Roger and they may be back in January.


Monday - Karate again for Parker. He continues to do well. They learned some new block moves with their arms and he followed through. They have started getting power stripes on their belt for attendance - one for every two classes attended. He just loves getting those and his karate dollars. And the job list continues to be a blessing for getting him to clean up his stuff at home.




Tuesday - While Daddy was at school again, we once again helped unload pumpkins at church. We were told that there would be 600 bulk pumpkins on the truck - we unloaded another 1,400! With less volunteers, our folks were out there for several hours, even after it was dark. Parker had a blast playing with his good buddy Aydenn some more. He is just convinced every time we drive up to church now that Aydenn will be there - "He's my friend Mommy! We have to play!"

Wednesday - We picked Parker up early from Angels and took him shopping for some new school shoes. His old ones were so dirty that even after washing them over the weekend his socks come out black after just being in his shoes. Not to mention the stink! That's what happens from playing in those dirt/mulch playgrounds at school. Of course, it should be no surprise that Parker picked out Lightning McQueen shoes. Instead of lighting up when he walks, the eyes across the strap glow in the dark.


Friday - Mommy had another doctor appointment and everything seems fine with Wesley. In fact Mommy has been having some contractions (although not regular) and is even dilated 2 cm. Parker also went to the doctor - he had coughed so bad the night before that no one in our house got much sleep - not even the cats! Turns out just a bad cold so we've been dosing him up on Tylenol and cough medicine and put the humidifier in his room again. Daddy also left Friday night for the Men's Retreat weekend with Grandaddy in Leesburg. This is an annual thing they've done most every year since Daddy was 16. The guest speakers this weekend were our former pastor Phillip Short and his dad Riley Short (Riley was Daryl's preaching professor last spring at seminary).

Saturday - Mommy and Parker stopped by the church to say Hi. There was a sale of items from the Noah's Landing Childcare going on as well as our Pumpkin Patch. We ended up spending a couple of hours there visiting and having fun because Aydenn and his family were there. Aydenn's dad Errick was driving the kids around for the hayrides. Parker and Mommy went on the hayride with Aydenn and his mom Stacee and baby sister Emma. We all enjoyed ourselves - and Emma slept through her very first hayride! The boys also bobbed for apples and ran over the bridge and through the pumpkins. The daycare sale went well and the Pumpkin Patch is doing awesome! We've already surpassed sales from last year and broke another record today - over $10,000 in gross pumpkin sales. That means our percentage of profit went up - the church has been doing Pumpkin Patch for 20 years and this is our best season yet!

Karate Kid - Part Two

While we're having to close the childcare at church, the karate school seems to be taking off. For the first 2 weeks, there were just 4 kids in Parker's class and then we picked up 2 more last week. But we hadn't had anyone show up for the big kid class. This week we picked up 5 more kids for Parker's class (total of 11) and 3 kids for the big kids' class. Yeah!!!

After a great performance the first night, Parker was shy to warm up the last two weeks at karate and had to spend some time sitting out on the sidelines watching the other kids because he wouldn't pay attention. Eventually he'd get back into it and he always did great when he would participate. This week, he really got into the swing of things (we think it helped he had a great nap at childcare and was promised a bike ride as a reward if he listened!). He did much better at following along and did not have to sit anything out. He even shouted loud when it came time for practicing punches and blocks. It never ceases to amaze us how much Sensei Tony can teach them in 30 minutes and how much they are learning. And the words in Japanese continue to grow - this week they learned words for "red", "blue", "tie".

Going over the dragon codes with Sensei Tony and the other kids.

Practicing frog jumps.

Doing his blocks on the punching pad with Sensei Tony.

Another side benefit to the karate has been the job lists. Each week we have to fill out a job list for Parker and check off all the chores that he did. If his chore list is all filled out and signed by a parent, then he can bring it to class and get a karate dollar (see picture). The karate dollars can be used to purchase fun stuff in the karate store that you cannot use $ for. The karate dollars are handed out at the end of class each week and all the kids line up and give a "power clap" for the kids who have done their chores.


You can adapt the job list to fit your family. We used most of the suggested ones and added a few of our own. Parker's job list consists of the following chores:

1) Put away all your toys.
2) Put your clothes in the hamper.
3) Lay out clothes for tomorrow.
4) Take a bath.
5) Brush your teeth.
6) Comb your hair.
7) Set and clear the table.
8) Feed the cats.
9) Take out the trash (Tues/Fri)
10) Try my best at school
11) Treat my teachers and friends with respect.
12) Treat my family with respect.

It makes the process of getting ready for bed a lot longer than it used to be, but he's getting better slowly at doing all of these things and Parker loves to sit down and check off the list with you at night before going to bed. It seemed like a lot at first for a three year old, but he's getting more disciplined and focused with this as time goes on. Here's hoping he continue to like karate!

The New Karate Kid

Last week Parker went with Daddy to register for karate classes and tonight was the first class. There were four students in his class; 2 three year-olds and 2 five year-olds.

Sensei Tony did a great job with the kids and for the most part Parker listened and tried to follow along. For most of the time, he did really well at listening and stood (or sat) in line with the other kids. They learned about how to stand still and bow. They practiced basic punches and also basic kicks. And when they count - they count in Japanese. So Parker started learning how to count to five in another language. They also started learning their first two Dragon codes: 1) Always Follow Directions and 2) Treat Others With Respect.

At first the kids practice everything in a line together and

then Sensei Tony had them come up and practice one-on-one with him.

Then the kids worked with partners. Parker was paired up with a little girl named Lily. He had to hold the pads for her and then she had to hold them for him.

We thought it went really well tonight and that the Sensei did a great job working with all the kids and getting them to listen to him. We appreciate the fact that parents are invited to sit in the back and observe (as long as they don't interfere). We're all looking forward to next week.