First Day of School

Apparently I took the whole summer off from blogging :)  I'll catch up at some point, but let me just quickly say how sad it was taking pictures of the kids this morning as they got ready for their first day of 4th & 2nd grade!!  Where has the time gone?  They are growing up too fast!  Here are a couple pics:

What a weekend!

Wow!  That is the best word I can come up with the summarize this weekend.  I don't think we could have crammed too much more in, and yet while I sit here absolutely exhausted I have to say this is ironically the most relaxed I've been in a long time.  I have to start by saying I have 2 of the best kids in the world.  While they have their moments of being a little crazy they are two of the hardest working kids I know and it showed this weekend! 

We started with the Excel Open tournament in town.  Noah participated in the Team Demo event at the start of the morning and out of the 4 teams competing Team Excel (our team) took 1st place!!  They were phenomenal!!

Team Excel

 
After that he geared up for team fighting in case his team decided to put him in.  We had a bye the first round.  The second round our team did great which moved us to the final round.  Noah went in to fight for his team in position 1 and did great - he got 6 pts to his opponents 4.  Overall his team won the round and took 1st place again! 

Presenting opposing team with their trophies

1st Place Team Fighting

 
Then we moved onto the rest of the days festivities which included Kylie competing for the first time.  She was sooooo nervous going into it.  It was her turn and she got in there to do her form against 4 other competitors.  Her form was pretty strong and her yells were really loud for her which got her 3rd place!!  She was so happy and proud of herself. 

3rd Place Forms

 
Next it was Noah's turn to do his form.  There were 9 kids in his division this time.  He did his newest form for the first time and killed it...taking 1st place! 

Judges my name is....

1st Place Forms!

After a little lunch it was Kylie's turn again..this time to spar.  She seemed less nervous this time.  There were 5 total in her division again.  First round & second round she won her match which put her into the finals for either first or second against a girl from our school that is 3 belts higher than her.  She gave it an awesome shot and came up a little short (2 to 3) which landed her 2nd place.  Second place in her first tournament!!! 

Final Round

2nd Place Sparring!

Now it was Noah's turn again.  He got a bye the first round and followed that up with 3 winning rounds to get yet another 1st place.  We stuck around for a little bit so that he could compete for the first time in under black belt Grands (grand championship).  There were 21 kids which ranged from Noah to teenagers.  He did his form strong, loud and with such attitude...we couldn't have asked for more.  He didn't win, but he did score really well!

Mr Denski congratulating/presenting Noah with 1st place

1st place sparring!

Here is the summary of the tournament at home:

Proud siblings

Mean team!!

So it was a quick run home to eat and get ready for recital.  Kylie looked beautiful as usual.  She was on and off stage all night long with her 7 dances.  My favorite by far was her solo.  She did an amazing job really hitting all the moves she's been working so hard on lately.  How she had the energy after all the days activities is beyond me.

Today we hung around the house most of the morning and then it was off to soccer.  Noah did a great job in his game and his team won 1-0.  Later we headed back to the field for Kylie's double header.  It was delayed due to rain, but once the shower let up the kids were out on the field.  Noah actually played as well because we  didn't have any subs.  Kylie's foot was bothering her which seemed to hinder her game a little, but she had a number of good blocks on defense.  Noah was a little maniac.  He was all over the field and assisted in a few of the goals our team scored.  First game they won 3-2 and the second game was 3-1. 

Noah's team

While all the winning is nice, I'm honestly more happy with the effort the kids put in.  Whether they got first or last - when they go out and you can tell they are giving it 100% it's such an awesome thing to witness.

To all the friends and family that were there to share in part or all of this weekends activities.....our heart felt thanks.  You all made the kids feel so special.  When I asked what Noah's favorite part of this weekend was...it wasn't the trophies or the winning games....it was everyone coming out to be with him.  I guess we must be doing something right...hahaha!  Good night all!

Loop the Lake

So cute!!  Noah's first race and Kylie's second.  They did great!  Someone said that it is about .8 of a mile.  Here is the start:

The first child did it in just over 4 mins!!  Noah's friend from karate came in 2nd overall and 1st for their division at about 4 1/2 mins.  Here is Noah's finish:

Here is Kylie's finish:

So proud of both of them...I couldn't do it :)  Off to soccer in a little bit.

Worcester Classic

Our team overall had another awesome day of competing.  Noah didn't participated, but we started day with team fighting where the A Team took 1st place again!  Then it was on to individual competitions.  There were 27 kids in Noah's division today for kata (forms).  They were split into 2 groups.  Noah took 1st place!!

Then it was onto sparring.  There were 24 this time so they were split into groups of 12.  After 4 rounds of fighting Noah took 1st place again!!!  Here are pics with 2 of his favorite karate people/teachers:

Mr. Denski

Master D'Amato

Happy Birthday Pip!

Dance Xplosion

Yesterday was a very longggg day of competition, but Kylie did a good job!  She was the first one on stage for the day with her solo and then after lunch she performed her duo with one of her favorite friends Maya.  When we got to award we were all surprised that the girls were given a special judges award!!  The judge said that they loved the number...that these two girls were totally in sync...never looked at each other so he knew they must practice a lot :)  In addition Kylie received an Extreme Gold & 8th place overall for her solo and Extreme Gold & 4th place overall for the duo.  They were happy as you can see below.  Now its shifted focus to recital, but still a lot of work before they go onto their first Nationals in July!!

Pioneer Valley Tournament

Noah and the team did really well again this past weekend.  Noah didn't participate in team fighting this time, but his team took 1st place again!!  For individual awards Noah took 1st in forms & 2nd in sparring.  It was close on the sparring...2 to 2 and his opponent landed a punch before Noah.  Really proud of our little man...here is the happy guy:

St Patty's Day, Races, Birthdays, Easter, etc....

Ok so I'm way behind as usual :)  Lets see what's happened over the last month...

Below is a shot of our crazy leprechauns all geared up for school:

The following weekend Kylie participated in her first race.  They were holding a 5K in town to raise awareness for distracted driving.  No...she didn't run a 5K, but she did participate in the Kids Run which is a mile around a lake in town.  Here are all the participants posing with Miss Connecticut Teen before the start:

She was able to run it in just over 7 mins!!!  I was shocked!  She came in 4th place and received her medal from one of the other beauty queens waiting at the finish for them:

She was mighty tired and not really wanting to entertain a picture:

 

There is another kids run next month that both the kids want to do so check back to see how they make out. 

Next....Kylie's birthday.  Here is the birthday girl all decked out in her chosen outfit:

She was so excited and had a lot of fun with all the family & friends that were able to make it.  The top item on her list this year were Lego Friends and she managed to get EVERY set.....speaking of which....she finally put the last one together with her brother yesterday.  We have a town!  Here are a few other shots from the day:

The following weeked we were partying again.  It was Cayden's 3rd birthday & Easter.  All we heard all morning on Saturday was...is it lunch time yet (because Noah knew we were going to Uncle Matt's around lunch time).  It's amazing how quick all these kids are growing.  Here are some pics from the party:

Birthday boy blowing out his candles

and whacking the pinata

MARIO!!!!

Little cousin lovin....awhhh!

Uncle Matt trying to keep up with Noah

How high is your jump split?

Kylie touching her feet to her head while jumping

After the party it was back to Joanne's to do some egg coloring with cousins and Aunt Tina & Joey handed out some goodies they made:

All edible...and it didn't last long :)

The next day was Easter.  The kids woke up at Gramma's to see what the Easter Bunny brought them then we got changed in the afternoon and headed to Nana Sicko's for Easter Feast (as Noah calls it):

Our little ham

Pretty girl :)

Noah's job - fill the bread basket

Kylie's special lamb made out of butter that she bought from church for dinner

Kylie's job - pouring the toast

Thanks for yummy dinner Nana Sicko

The cousins

The family

Eggs we colored in CT

Alrighty...I think that is basically up to date.  Soccer started this past weekend.  Noah has a tournament this coming weekend and Kylie has her first belt test the following Friday & a dance competition on Saturday...stay tuned!!