When Skills Come in Handy

I was looking back through old home videos last night and was feeling very reminiscent seeing my children so young and little. 
I giggled and smiled seeing this one of Aubrey and Connor sparring each other when Jed ran his martial arts school several years ago.

When I think back to the present, I am grateful that those years of martial arts have come in handy for Aubrey especially.   She is a strong individual who will stick up for herself. She knows she can put up a good fight if she had to.   I'll give you two examples.

Example One: Last year while Jed was away in Iraq, Aubrey had to play in the pep band for the basketball games. During this time, there were several boys that really liked her. There was a particular boy who suddenly tried to kiss her during one of these games. Before the boy had a second to act, Aubrey gave him a powerful blow to the stomach. (This girl knows how to generate power in a punch.) That poor boy couldn't say a word as he was hunched over, holding his stomach and groaning in pain. Aubrey was so mad at that boy, lol, and told him to never try that again. She was still genuinely upset and near tears when I picked her up after the game that day. She told me she wanted to move away. I asked her what the boy said after she punched him, she said he couldn't say anything at the moment. :) That boy didn't talk to her for a long while after that. Later he told Aubrey he learned his lesson and would never try to kiss her again. This year they are talking again and on good terms, but he definitely hasn't tried to kiss her since.

Example Two: Last week Aubrey told us about another boy who kept touching her bottom at school. The first two times she asked him to stop.   He didn't.   (Wow, the audacity of this boy.)   I was immediately angry at this disrespectful, adolescent male; how dare he touch our daughter like that!   Jed and I were oblivious that anything was going on until she came home and announced to us that she punched a boy that day. She punched him real good and hard. Afterwards the boy said, "Man, I didn't know girls could hit!"   Well, surprise, this particular girl does.   You can thank her daddy for that, young man.  :)   Dad was very proud of her.  I was still upset at this boy and was ready to go give him a few words of my own.   Since Aubrey had taken care of the situation herself, I told Aubrey the next time to not be so nice, she has permission to give any boy a lesson the first or second time around. (I say second time because Aubrey prefers to give an advanced warning first of what's coming if the behavior doesn't stop - obviously the boys don't take her seriously until it's too late.)

Yesiree, skills are an important thing to have in life, especially when it keeps the boys at bay.  But I'm not so naive to think that in the coming years, Aubrey might have a different outlook on getting kisses from boys.  But I think by then, they'll all be too scared to try.  And we're ok with that.  :)

Coming Home Video

Life with Jed being home is wonderful, even if it is for only a short while. It shouldn't surprise anyone that it took Jed a few days to adjust being home. Logically, Jed knew where he was, but his mind and body were still back in Iraq.  He came home a different man. He is now a man who has experienced the uncertainty and danger of being in a war zone. As the days have gone by, he's slowly been able to relax and be more like himself.


Extra footage for your entertainment:



A few signs that the kids made to welcome Jed:

Why Didn't I Think of That?

Sometimes kids do a good job taking care of themselves without any help. This would be one of those times:

State Ballroom Competition

Yesterday Aubrey and her friend, Keneisha, competed at the State Ballroom Competition, which is one of the largest events of its kind for our area.  Competitors from surrounding states also come to participate. 

Like most other competitions, it means having to wait around awhile before your turn actually comes up.

In the meantime, it gives the adults a chance to make sure all of the final touches are taken care of - sequins, hair pieces, makeup, bobby pins, tucking stray ends, and...

These two didn't seem to be nervous one bit.

Aubrey and her partner, Isaiah. 

Isaiah's also had to learn to put up with me and my camera.  You're a good sport, Isaiah, thanks for all the smiles!    :)

 

Keneisha and her partner, Mickey.

It's time!  On deck and waiting in line with about 35-40 other couples for the exact same dances.  Aubrey and Isaiah competed in the Tango, Swing, Mambo, and Rumba categories. 

Competition Results: Aubrey and Isaiah made it through to the quarter-finals on every one of their dances and also made it to a semi-final or two (can't quite remember - she danced a lot so it was hard to keep track.)  Aubrey showed a great deal of improvement since last year and had a great time competing.

A Few After Shots:
It's not very often I get a chance to take pictures of Aubrey where she is all dolled up like this, so I had to seize the opportunity when I had the chance.

Aubrey and her Grandma.

(Grandpa was there too, he just happened to be out getting the car started, it was freezing outside!)

 

Videos That Make Me Smile

I love watching family videos, they always make me smile.  I was watching a few this morning and wanted to share some of my recent favorites:

We often have superheroes stop by and entertain us, this one features GI Joe, Shadow Ninja, and Batman dancing:

Rigdon's solo (I love all that happiness oozing out of him):

Aubrey's Stayin' Alive Ballroom Video

Connor's Ballroom Recital Video

Connor's Cha-Cha Dance to the music: Sway.
Sorry for all of the shakiness, I was holding my two-year old and trying to record at the same time. I cut out a part of the dance because some people decided to walk around during the dance right in front of me and I couldn't see a thing, so I thought I would spare you having to watch that part.

Connor's Crazy Air Guitar

We went to Connor's 4th Grade Music Performance tonight - and he definitely made it fun to watch. Connor hadn't mentioned any kind of "special part" that he would be having in one of the songs and so we were very surprised to see him going all out with an air guitar solo. Check out the video below. People got a hoot out of watching him.

Ronin's 1st Loose Tooth

Last Friday, March 5, Ronin had his very first tooth pulled. He was so excited about having his first loose tooth. Although the tooth was ready to come out a couple days before, I couldn't get it with the pliers. It kept slipping off. Since Jed was out of town for a training trip we had to wait for him to get home so that he could do the honors. Ronin was very brave and didn't cry at all - although it looked like for a moment he wanted to. Check out the video.

We forgot to remind Ronin to put the tooth under his pillow that night, so he made sure to remind us the next day about the tooth fairy coming to pick up his tooth. The tooth fairy left him $1.50 in quarters. He was pretty excited!

Rigdon's walking!

Rigdon took his first steps a month or two ago but we finally got around to recording it a couple of weeks ago. He gets a big kick out of it. He isn't to the point where he is walking everywhere all of the time - but it's coming fast.