Recorder Karate Black Belt

Well, apparently Thursday was Bekah's day for advancing in karate!

Rebekah earned her black belt in recorder karate.

Bekah's music teacher has a fun program that allows the students to earn "belts" for each song they learn on the recorder.  (The belts are colored strings they tie on the recorder.) 

And yesterday, Bekah earned her black belt in recorder karate!

She may only be a yellow belt in karate, but she could kick your tail with the recorder!

Congrats to our black belt!!

"Goodbye White and Hello Color!"

A few weeks ago, we requested that Bekah test for her yellow belt.  She got sick the week she was supposed to test, and the next week, her teachers told her they were putting off testing until after the tournament.

At her last karate class, I asked when she would test for her belt, and Mrs. Helen said it would be weeks from now, because 17 people had signed up to test for their belts and they work from the higher belts down.

"Okay," I said.  "Just be sure to tell us when she's going to test.  We want to make sure she's ready."

Well, Bekah's been studying anyway...just in case.  And it turns out that was a good thing.  Last night, without notice, they tested Bekah for her belt.  I was in zumba, so I didn't know.  After zumba, I was sitting outside her karate class, chatting with a friend, when I heard applause coming from her classroom.  I told my friend, "They'd better not be giving Bekah some award without me there to see it."

Just in case, I grabbed my camera.  Then I spotted Bekah, putting on her new yellow belt!  Wha?  We missed it!!

I caught a picture just as she was running back to join her classmates, with her new yellow belt on!  (She's the yellow belt standing right in the middle.)

I was frustrated to miss the actual award of her belt, but so happy that I was there and happened to have my camera in my purse!  They release the students by rank, so there's Bekah right as she was being released with the yellow belts!  She is positively BEAMING! 

She tackled me with a hug as I was trying to take her picture!!

They gathered all the students who had advanced for a group picture. 

And I grabbed a quick pic with Sensei Stevens and Mrs. Helen. 

When we got into the car to head home, Bekah let out a whoop!  She was on cloud nine!

When we got home, I had gather Daddy and Lydia in the living room and then open the door for Bekah's grand entrance. 

She waltzed into the living room and David and Lydia's mouths dropped open when they saw her yellow belt.

"Goodbye white belt!  Hello color!" she proclaimed as she swaggered in.

She was immediately squished in a big group hug!  Super proud of my Bek!  Good job, Honey!!

Good Grade Recognition

On Friday, Lydia returned home from school with three certificates in tow.

She got a certificate for each nine weeks that she has been on A/B Honor Roll!

On Monday, Bekah came home with two certificates for the same.  (Her teachers didn't hand out certificates for the first grading period for some reason.) 

Bekah got one certificate for A/B Honor Roll and one for All A Honor Roll!

Yes, yes...my children are brilliant.  Ha ha!

Bekah's Bandana Bags!

I don't remember exactly when it happened, but Rebekah spotted a bandana craft in a craft store and decided she was doing this at her next birthday.

So we looked at some crafts online and found a pattern for a no-sew bandana bag.

Bekah each girl choose their color bandana before the party.  (And I had to buy some pinking shears!)

We placed two bandanas together, and then cut strips along three edges.

Then the girls helped each other tie the strips into knots on the three sides.

David said I chose the longest craft in the world for the girls to do at their slumber party.

It didn't seem to be taking that long, but it was getting late!

They all worked together to get the craft done.

We made the straps by cutting strips off the bandana and braiding them together.

David helped too, even try Lydia's bag on his head like a hat!

And here's the end result!

I think they all did a fabulous job on their bandana bags!!  Too cute!!

Rebekah's Birthday Party

When we got home from Arkansas, we tackled make-up work, and then went into a full-court press to get Bekah's birthday party preparations underway.

Rebekah decided to have a markedly "grown-up" party this year.  I guess you would say the "theme" was bandanas, but this is quite an unusual party as far as the Christophers are concerned. 

No months of prep.

No crazy decorations.

No cake designs to consider.

No games to plan.

Bekah decided to keep it small this year so she could have a slumber party that started with an activity (movie, bowling, etc.). 

She also decided she wanted a chocolate layer dessert instead of a cake.

And a bandana craft.  That's the most important part.

(The rest was optional.  This craft was very important!)

So, we maybe prepped for this party for two weeks...kinda, off and on.  This has been the most stress-free party by far for YEARS! Ha ha!

While we were gone, I made this bandana table runner, and Bekah and I started on the napkin rings.

Here's the layer dessert Rebekah requested.  I had to at least make a cake-topper - in bandana font, no less!

Here are the goodie bags, filled with candy and gomus. 

And, I didn't know this...but apparently you need a French manicure before you have a grown-up party!

So that's what we did!  (Note: She's still wearing her karate medal!)

So, Saturday night, the girls all arrived at our house around 6 p.m.  They got their sleeping bags and PJ's settled and we headed to the movie theatre to see The Lorax.

Bekah's best friends (clockwise from left):

Neve, Lauren, Stephanie, and Lydia - with Bek in the middle

Bekah decided we should sit right on the front row.  Soooo, we plopped ourselves down and settled right in.  I bought the girls four boxes of candy to share.  (While planning all this, David expressed concern that the girls might never go to sleep if I fill them full of candy and then bring them back to the house for chocolate layer dessert!)

Right as the movie was starting, Neve leaned over to me and said, "Mrs. Jayna, we're going to have to cut my hair."

"What?"

"I got gum in it."

"Oh," I said. "Just tuck it behind her ear and we'll put peanut butter in it when we get back to the house."

"What?"

Ha ha! 

Lauren was sitting next to me and Lydia had expressed some concern that part of the movie might be scary.  I asked Lauren if she would switch with Lydia.  She offered before the movie started, but Lydia said she was fine.

About half-way through the movie, when it got intense, Lydia jumped out of her seat, ran over to Lauren's, jerked her thumb up in the air and half-laughed "Lauren! Move!"  Lauren hopped right up and went and sat next to Stephanie. It was hilarious...and I had a little cutie snuggled up next to me for the rest of the movie.

The girls laughed and laughed all through the movie.  I love hearing Bekah's belly laugh!

After the movie, we headed back to the house for dessert (after getting the gum out of Neve's hair, of course).

We sang "Happy Birthday," blew out the candles, and opened presents.

Bekah's first present was from Lydia - a new Phillippa Fisher book by her favorite author, Liz Kessler.

Neve ordered her present online and it hadn't come in yet, so she filled Bekah's gift bag with lots of goodies she could open now.

She drew a picture of the earrings and matching necklace that were on their way.  Bekah had fun opening the various bracelets, candy, journal, toys, and other fun goodies that were in the gift bag.

Stephanie got Bekah a $30 cash card!

And Lauren got Bekah a scrapbooking kit.

After this, we set right into making our craft - which was so fun I'll have to detail it in another post!  We got so busy with our craft, that we didn't finish until 11:30 p.m.!

While the girls were running to get their PJ's on, I whipped up some lemon-poppyseed muffins for breakfast the next morning. (Note the time on the clock.)

This was another one of Rebekah's grown-up birthday girl requests for her party.  I was happy to do it too, especially when God saw fit to tell the kind people at Publix to make them buy-one-get-one-free the week before Bekah's birthday party!

And you won't believe this...but I did not get a single photo of the girls giggling in their sleeping bags.  Maybe it's because it was already after midnight and I was tired from staying up until 2 a.m. the night before getting everything ready for Bekah's karate tournament AND birthday party!

But Sunday morning, while the girls waited for their parents to arrive and take them to church, the all decided it was an awesome time to play Pictionary!

So I think, all in all, Bekah had a totally fun birthday!  After all, that's what you get when you mix:

two adults

five kids

four boxes of candy

one cake

and eleven candles!!

Now to prep for her family party!  Yea!  =)

Make-up Work Overload!

Just to keep you abreast of what's going on in the Christopher household, we are in full-on make-up work overload!

Before we left, Rebekah had already completed 22 pages of work, ready to turn in Friday and the beginning of the week after. While we were gone, I requested that the teachers email her the make-up work that she still needed to do. While we were gone, Rebekah completed 32 pages of what was emailed. As of Friday morning, we had 21 more pages to go and hadn't even received the work she missed for Thursday yet!

Lydia had already completed six pages of work and half of her TCAP Prep Packet (about 7 pages) before we left for Arkansas. She completed the remaining 7 pages of the packet, plus completed an additional 10-15 pages of math work Miss Jones emailed me. She also studied 40 spelling words and took the tests on Friday. On Friday, Lydia brought home an additional 34 pages of make-up work, 19 pages of which we got done this weekend.

So, um, yeah. We're a little covered in make-up work around here!!



Rebekah's Karate Tournament

Rebekah finally had her karate tournament on Saturday.

I starched her karate gi so she would look super sharp for her chance in the ring.

While everyone was registering, I took a chance to get Bekah's picture with Sensei Stevens and Mrs. Helen, her two karate instructors.

Heather, a blue belt from Bekah's dojo, kindly offered to show Rebekah the ropes in the process of entering the ring to perform her kata for the judges.

Rebekah took a few moments to run through her kata while everyone was arriving.

Finally it was time for the opening ceremony.  Rebekah is the first one (with the pony tail) in the second line, under the Karate for Christ sign.

I videoed Rebekah's competition kata (see previous post), so I don't have any photos of her actual run-through.  But this is the award part for her age group/rank.

Nine boys and girls, ages 10-11, ranked in white or yellow belt, competed in Bekah's ring.

Rebekah didn't rank 1st, 2nd or 3rd, but she did earn a medal.  She walked right into the ring with so much confidence!  She did a great job on her kata!

Here she is earning her medal from Sensei Stevens (with the red cross on his gi).  David had a different angle, so he could see Bekah's gleaming face!

There's the super smile!

Here she is chatting with her fellow competitors after the competition.

Look at that cool medal!!

She's so proud and so are we!!

Good job Bekah!!