It's a good thing...

It's a good thing I'm not one of those mothers who gets her kids so involved in extra-curricular activities that they are just plain run ragged. It's a good thing I decided early on to only let my kids participate in one sport or activity at a time. If I were one of those mothers, we could have had a day that started with a basketball game, from which we had to hurry to get straight to a karate test. Oh, wait. That is exactly how our day started.

I decided a while back that since karate happens at school only one day a week, that Evan could do that plus one other thing. Right now, that other thing is basketball. And this weekend is one of the few times that the two shall nearly conflict.

Today, Evan had his first karate test for rank. You may recall he had a karate test last fall, but that one was an animal patch test. This test was for one yellow stripe on his belt. (Once he gets two yellow stripes, he'll get a yellow belt.) He did great. We could really see a whole lot of improvement in his skill level from November's test. We also saw a whole lot of improvement in his ability to stay focused and listen to the sensai for over an hour. The kids were all very cute.

Since I had to get up at a relatively ungodly hour (for a Saturday) to make a 9 a.m. basketball game and went straight from there to the dojo, guess what I forgot? Yep. The camera. The iPhone would have to suffice again. Thank goodness for that little wonder, because otherwise, I'd be missing my kids' entire childhoods.

Here are a few pictures of the warm-up and the test, followed by a few more of the promotion when Evan received his yellow stripe.

Mama's got some more difficult sewing to do. (Yes, I realize that difficult sewing in my house is defined a bit differently than in some other houses. Any sewing that makes me fear a semi-permanent injury to the skin underneath my thumbnail is difficult here. In my friend Lisa's house, difficult sewing is pleating a dress to prepare it for smocking. I have other talents, people. Sewing is simply not one of them.)

As an aside (as if that last paragraph were not an aside, too), I LOST the crane patch that Evan earned in November because I was procrastinating sewing it on. A couple of weeks ago, we got an e-mail reminding us that patches and stripes should not be attached to uniforms using safety pins or staples (apparently, I am not the only mama lacking the sewing gene) and stating that patches should be affixed (read: sewn) to the gi no later than the practice that follows the promotion ceremony. This e-mail, having pointed out that I am three months tardy with the task, inspired me to dig the patch out of my purse and sew it onto the gi. Oooops. I looked and looked for that darn thing - cleaned out my purse and my car in the process - but could not find it. So, I purchased a replacement patch today. I think that Evan is none the wiser - at least until he shows some interest in reading my blog someday and finds out here. I shall make this promise here and now: I will have both the patch and the stripe sewn on before Friday's class. Take me to the Grady if you find me bleeding profusely from underneath my thumb nail between now and then.

OK, now here are the pictures: (Hey, look! I found the verbosity again...)

(Just look at that cutie patootie doing his little karate roll. He is the little ball on the left.)

Conversations from the backseat

On our way home from basketball practice tonight, this is what I heard:

Evan: Pressley? Pressley? Have you ever heard the story of the tortoise and the hare?

Pressley: No.

Evan: Weeellll, there was this tortoise and he was very slow. And there was this hare and he hopped really, really fast. [Exasperated.] Pressley! Shhh. This is a miracle story.

[Tells story. Well, sort of.]

Evan: Soooo, it really isn't a miracle story. It is just a weird story where the hare makes the tortoise cheat.

Tee hee. Don't worry. I set him straight. I told him the moral of the story from the hare's perspective and the moral of the story from the tortoise's perspective. But, I'm pretty sure given his reaction that he still liked his version better.

I should leave the radio off more often.

Quite a game

Evan is playing basketball at Briarlake. It is our first experience with basketball and it is our first experience with playing sports at the church where I grew up. Yes, they probably had the program when I was growing up, but I have never had any more athletic prowess or interest than I do right at this moment. So, clearly I never played.

Apparently, each season, one practice is dedicated to a player-parent scrimmage. Corin graciously agreed to leave work early and meet us up at the church for this event so that I was mercifully left to photograph the event rather than participate in it. We hear there has never been a game in which the parents beat the kids. Apparently...the parents of the players at Briarlake are themselves some lousy athletes. I would have fit right in, I guess. But I still prefer the photographing to the participating.

The kids (and I think the parents) had a great time. Then, our team parents arranged to have pizza upstairs in the backlot for all the families after practice. Good times had by all. Here are some of the photos:

I think you can see why the parents may have been outmatched....

(Please note that the photo of the scoreboard was the final score despite the fact that it shows four minutes remaining on the clock. Let's not let the pizza get cold, people!)

(Also, please note my hubby in shorts and sneakers with his gangsta' jacket. I would not have taken that photo had he not himself pointed out that he looked like a flasher. And he may have even "flashed" me.)

(You may also note that the quality of these photos is particularly poor. And you may think that that is because I forgot my camera again and took these photos on the iPhone. You would be wrong. These were taken with the "good" camera. May be time to get mama a new camera.)

Phoning it in

I think part of the problem causing my relative absence from blogging lately is that I'm not feeling particularly verbose in this season in my life. (If you've had dinner with me recently, you may take exception to that classification.) Perhaps the lack of verbosity (Is that a word? If not, it should be. I like it.) is limited to the written word.

Thus, without a whole lot of explanation or story-telling, I give you a brilliant piece of photo-journalism I have thoughtfully entitled "More Snow." (If you'd like to see the full set of photos, check out the new Feb. 2010 link under Photos.)

Oh, and a couple of videos for good measure. You're welcome.

P.S. If you saw the video after the last snow that I posted on Facebook, you may note the absence of the Herbie Curbies and dead Christmas trees in this round of video, making the sledding a little less treacherous.

Fun family night

We tried something new tonight.

Somehow I have gotten on the e-mail distribution list for Georgia State's athletics program. And recently, I received an e-mail about GSU basketball. A little light went off in my head. The kids might really enjoy going to a college basketball game on a smaller scale. Particularly since Evan is playing basketball for the first time this winter.

(I promise I'll blog soon about his basketball season. It has been a hoot.)

So, we decided to check out a game tonight. It was homecoming. I told Corin when we were going down the stairs from the parking garage that the last time I attended a college basketball homecoming game, I was in a long, corduroy Laura Ashley dress with a BIG OL' collar. Ahh, the memories.

But, back to GSU. We had a really fun family night. We were almost completely derailed when we arrived at the same time as the GSU panther in his full blue furry costume. He must not have been as terrifying as Monkey Joe, because we were able to move past it after about 15 minutes.

We got to the game late, but Pressley very much enjoyed the dancers and the cheerleaders and Evan very much enjoyed sitting next to daddy and getting the play by play on what was going on in the game.

And you can't beat a $9.00 dinner for the entire family. Well, nutritionally, you can. But where else can you get 2 hot dogs, a slice of pizza, a box of popcorn, a bag of skittles and 4-20 oz sodas for nine bucks? I dare you to try to top the economical value. (Don't worry. We'll feed them nothing but vegetables all day tomorrow.)

The game itself was a nail-biter. GSU led by a narrow margin for most of the game against William and Mary, but in the last seconds, W&M pulled ahead, and then with something like 6 or 9 seconds left on the clock, GSU had the ball - down three points. Some dude shot a 3 pointer with about 1 second left to send the game into overtime, but alas, it was not meant to be. The ball bounced off the rim and we were on our way home.

I think we'll definitely do it again. After all, how many folks have a college basketball stadium ten minutes from their front door? And did I mention the nine dollar dinner. Oh, I guess I did.