Leaping Daring Dancing » Christina

I miss you, my blogity blog!

Christina — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:24:57 +0000

Wow…its been a reeeeally long time since I’ve updated! Really sad actually. I’ve been thinking of posting my 365 pictures here as well. The winter blues have hit me hard this year and I’ve been a recluse as of late. I’m hoping to come out of my shell very soon here. Prayers would be appreciated.

Fashionista

Christina — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:58:35 +0000

{ Well hello there blog. I’m sorry, yes, I’ve been ignoring you. Well, it’s summer. I’m pretty much swamped in the summer with wedding pictures and my other blog. You’ll forgive me. I’ll post more soon. For now, this is all the attention you’re getting. }

Ava has been dressing herself a lot more lately. Which ends up in some pretty crazy outfits. This one isn’t SO bad. Though, if you notice her skirt, it’s actually Lily’s. And therefore it’s a little short for my liking. Ok, a lot short. But I think my favorite thing about this outfit is the socks with heels. You don’t get any more stylish than that! I’m sure we’re in for some more fashion fails, so stay tuned! (But really, with that smile, who cares?)

Why They’re Perfectly Matched Sisters

Christina — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:16:30 +0000

Because Lily loves to watch, and Ava needs an audience.

Back in the game!

Christina — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:17:59 +0000

Warning: Geocache lingo and jargon ahead. If you need clarification, ask me, go to geocaching.com, or watch this quick video!

Got a little geocaching in yesterday! Our last cache was in November, so it was about time. We’ve been holding on to a travel bug since we came back from Florida (in October!!) The travel bug was a usb drive and its goal is to get pictures and trivia loaded onto it from all 50 states. We entered things from Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois from our trip. Then I put it in our cache bag and it’s been sitting there ever since. I felt so bad, but we set it free yesterday and I hope it goes to all 50 states!

We had a great time, found a couple of fantastic hides, got a couple of pathtags out there. I’m pretty proud of our first pathtag. Todd drew a funny pic of our family and we use it as a logo of sorts for our geocaching username, Geo Doodles. A couple of friends of ours from hapkido are geocachers too. They are lucky enough to get out to cache several times a week! We’re lucky to get one day a week, we’re so busy. But I’m happy. It’s so addicting!! I’d go every day if I could! Responsibilities…ugh.

We did about 7 caches, found 5 of them. One I think was muggled. The other was a little technically involved. We probably could have gotten it if we didn’t have two kids nipping at our heels. I love caching with the girls. Ava has fun with it and she tries to look for the cache. She mostly likes the swag and trade possibilities. Lily just comes along for the ride. She loves to be outdoors and free to roam. Plus, it just gets us outside, getting exercise, and doing something together as a family. We did get a chance to go get a cache without the girls last night though. My mom had the girls while we went to hapkido, and then we took the opportunity to find a cache near her house that we weren’t able to find last time we tried. I’m so glad we did, it was a fantastic hide, completely ingenious. I love the ones that you have to think outside the box for.

Anyway, got a few pics of our adventure. Hope to get more soon!

Lily’s 1 Year Pics

Christina — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:18:10 +0000

So I finally had time to work on them! Other than her flying pic, I had a look I was going for in the shots, and they came out pretty nice. She had such a great time just waddling around with the balloons! She has got to be the cutest 1 year old I’ve ever seen.

Ava’s Big Day

Christina — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:30:01 +0000

At our last Hapkido belt testing, Ava decided she wanted to join the martial arts as well. T-USA has a Tiny Tigers Taekwondo class and we signed her up after a lot of debate. She’s very much a girly girl. I wouldn’t classify her as a tough girl at all. At least not before she started taking TKD. She took to it like a duck to water. I’ve never seen her so into something, except maybe Sponge Bob. She loves ballet, but she is fantastic in TKD. At least as much as a 4 year old can be.

Today was her yellow belt test. Yellow belt is actually a pretty big step in the martial arts. It shows a the beginning of a commitment and sets a goal in the mind of the martial artist. Black belt. It starts them on the journey towards that belt, and gives them the pride to attain that future accomplishment.

Especially for the little ones, T-USA is a wonderful martial arts school. Todd and I have gone to T-USA for Taekwondo and now for Hapkido as well. What impressed me the most about the instructors and the masters is their primary goal for the kids is to show excellence at home and at school as well as in Taekwondo. With each belt testing, parents and teachers are encouraged to list on the testing form the child’s accomplishments, as well as areas they feel they need improvement. With that, the masters will encourage and congratulate, or coach and dicipline accordingly. I think that is very important and I’m really looking forward to Ava going through the program all the way to black belt!

So, without further ado, here is Ava’s first belt test!

Don’t you love that face? I think her favorite part is yelling!

Instructor Eddie, possibly encouraging Ava to sit still while the other kids were testing. Master Yun seems to be having a hard time hearing the white belts kiyup (shout). Ava in Cha Ryot (attention) stance.

Doing her one step sparring. Kyun Nae (bowing). Sometimes she bows so deep I think she may fall over, it’s so funny!

Ava and another white belt doing their form with Instructor Jaime looking on.

Ava doing her form and her kicking combination. Check that fighting stance out- you can almost hear her Kiyup!

Master Yun pretending to be deaf again! Ava’s getting ready to break her board. It’s a jumping hammer fist. She has to hold up the hand she’s breaking the board with and say “Focus, sir! Confidence, sir!” and then break the board.

Her little feet jumping high for the break, breaking straight through the board, and a loud and long triumphant kiyup to finish!

Time for the belt! The first and last belts are tied by the parents (guardian, spouse, friend, etc). It’s a special time in her journey!

Master Joe talking to the newly yellow belts about the journey ahead. She has been talking about getting a trophy, look at her eying them! I had no idea she was going to get one, she was more excited about the trophy than the belt!

Bowing to the parents: Kamsa ham neida (Thank you.) Good job Ava! I’m so proud of you!!

A little video of Ava’s board break. She broke the board in such a way that she still had a large piece left. So, Master Yun thought it would be funny if she broke the board twice. She tried pretty hard, but she did it perfect the first time anyway! It was pretty cute. Sorry about the wobblyness. Todd was taking the video while holding Lily and I was taking shots with my camera!

Slacking

Christina — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:14:15 +0000

I’ve been doing a fantastic job on my Flickr 365. Yea, not really. I was doing a great job. Until I stopped posting my pictures. I have a whole bunch in my camera. And then I missed a bunch of days. And now I’m ticked at myself. I do this a lot. I have something that I’m supposed to do (like dishes, laundry, my 365), and I forget one day. And another day. And then it piles up. And up. And up. (And I know you’re not supposed to start a sentence with a conjunction, but I’ve already done it 7 times now, and I’m not going to stop, I think, ever.) Then, I put it behind me and I pretend it’s not there. But (see?) it’s there. And (haha) it will get worse and worse until I decide to dig in and just get ‘er done. The last 365 picture that I posted was on February 5th. I think I’ve missed at least 7 days of pictures between now and then. Which makes me disappointed in myself. I’m not really sure what to do about it. I could have a few make up shots and post them. Meanwhile, I haven’t gotten up the gumption to actually post the ones I do have. I’ll get to it. Over a months worth of pictures. Ugh. I will do it. Soon…

Lily’s 1 Year Pics- Sneak Peek!

Christina — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:27:04 +0000

Makeover!

Christina — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:44:29 +0000

No, not me. Why, do you think I need one?? No, my blog! I’m happy to show off my new layout by portfoliositez.com. I still have a few tweaks here and there that I’d like to do, but I’m really happy with it! Make sure you add the rss to your feed, and while you’re at it, if you havent already add me on facebook and twitter! Cuz I said so!

Enjoy!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Christina — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:40:29 +0000

I know what you’re thinking. A sippy cup, so what? Well, this is the first time Lily has drank (drunk, dranken, drinked?) this much cows milk. Ive tried several different sippy cups, bottles, whatever, nothing was working. Even throughout her first year, no one could give her a bottle of my milk. She wouldn’t take it. She wanted me.

You know how Ava has her Gackie? I am Lily’s Gackie. And it’s frustrating. She doesn’t even really nurse. I don’t think I’m producing that much anymore. I can’t even pump. She just likes the comfort of nursing. And, I understand, I enjoy the bond too, but I’m starting to feel worn and abused like Gackie.

I stopped nursing Ava two weeks before her first birthday. It was cold turkey. I gave her a bottle of whole milk and she walked (well crawled) away happily and that was it. She didn’t need me anymore. It was liberating and heartbreaking at the same time.

With Lily, she needs me to fall asleep. She needs me when she is bored. She needs me when she is sad or mad. She just wants the comfort. So, it’s been a little hard. Especially when we started putting her up in her new room and in her crib. She goes down ok, but she wakes up every 2-3 hours still. I have to wean her.

So, knowing that, it’s been dificult with her not wanting cows milk. It’s not that she doesn’t want it. It’s that she doesn’t like drinking out of a sippy cup or a bottle. Well kid, I’m done. Taps closed. And looking at her sippy cup a few minutes ago, I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Wish me luck!