This afternoon was a pirate party for a friend in Hannah's class. The invitation said you could come dressed as a pirate if you wished. Already having some pirate gear in our costume box, Hannah went as a pirate! The funny thing is Steven and I had a Pirate Costume party we went to last night. So it's been a weekend of Pirate adventures for our family!
We had our first adventure of Hannah being off track today!
Our friend and neighbor, who is on the Freshman Volleyball team at the local high school had a game in Palm Springs, we went to her game and made a day of adventures out of going! It was us, Christy, Emily, and Gracie. That's a whole lot of estrogen contained in one vehicle! 
First stop was the Cabazon Outlets for a little shopping, finding some shoes for Hannah, some super cute outfits for Rachel, and some killer milk chocolate truffles for the mommies!
After having lunch at McDonalds, chosen not for the food, but for their current Happy Meal promotion, toys from The Little Mermaid, our next stop was the Cabazon Dinosaurs. This place is cool because you can go up inside the dinosaurs, one has a gift shop and museum, the other you can look out it's mouth at the view, which sadly, is closed on weekdays. The girls, although a little hesitant at first because of their size, loved seeing the dinosaurs.
We continued our road trip to Palm Springs, stopping a few places along the way, making our way to the high school where Kayla would be playing. It was a short game, but fun none the less. 
Following the game, we found a Super Walmart!! This wasn't exactly high on Hannah's mind for an adventure, but it was for us moms! We stopped for dinner, and then headed home. Seeing a beautiful sunset along the way.
We had a fun day. Lots of talking, lots of laughing. Lots of me thinking how in the world women with more than two children handle a van full of loud and noisy children!! LOL.
As of 11:30 this morning, Hannah is off track and on vacation! She'll return back to school on October 24th. It's hard to believe she's off track, let alone has 1/3 of her 1st grade year behind her.
She came home with her report card for this trimester. She got marked "strong performance" in all areas except two, and was said to be doing "very well academically" by her teacher! We are VERY proud!
Hannah completed her sight word program today. She has 220 sight words she can recognize just by sight. A few weeks ago, a list came home with 10 sight words. The assignment was to be able to recognize those 10 words in under a minute. Once we felt she was ready to be tested, we sent the list back and she was tested, if she passed, she was given a new list to study. She has brought a new list home everyday, with the exception of one list this week, and has been at the front of the pack of kids in her class. We will now start back at the first list and she will now need to be able to spell them.
Another academic accomplishment this week was moving up a level in reading. She's getting really good at reading and sounding words out. Which poses as a challenge when we drive past questionable billboards on the freeways, and don't necessarily want to explain what certain words mean. LOL.
We've been talking about what things she'd like to do while on vacation and here is a list of some of the things she's looking forward to:
Tonight was the Karate Belt Ceremony. And once again, Hannah had quite the cheering section, Gramma and Papa, Gramie, and us. She made a comment this morning about how lucky she was to have her Gramma and Papa and Gramie coming to see her get her Yellow Belt. We told her it's because she's so loved. Perhaps she's starting to notice not everyone has the cheering section like she does.
The instructor called groups of kids up and presented them with their certificate of completion, then awarded them with their new belt, and finally awarded each kid with a medal. Hannah's yellow belt has a black stripe on it, which represents a higher degree of a yellow belt. She earned this by competing at the tournament.
This afternoon, we went to a Hawaiian Luau party in honor of my uncle turning 50. For anyone who knows me and knows how I love to plan parties and totally theme them with all the matching accessories, etc, this party was done 1st class! I enjoyed it all the work that went into it! As did my girls, who were spoiled by all of the goodies that Great Aunt Judy had for them.
We arrived at Karate this evening to discover there would be testing for the next belt level.
After warming the kids up, and practicing with them a bit, the instructor sent all the parents out of the room out into the hall so the kids could test without the pressure of their parents sitting there. It didn't keep us from watching through the windows though and wondering how our kids did.
After all the kids were tested, the parents were allowed back into the room. The instructor told us this was probably the best class he's ever worked with and despite the need for some perfection, all the kids had all the basics down and everyone received their yellow belt!!!! And because Hannah went to the Tournament yesterday she'll get a stripe on her belt showing an extra degree. We are so proud of Hannah!
Next week, there will be a belt ceremony were the kids will get their new belt, a certificate, and a trophy. And then will perform for the parents, grandparents, and who ever else comes to watch.
McKenzie and Haylee came to spend the weekend with us so their Mommy and Daddy could go away. Hannah could hardly contain herself with excitement on Friday morning before heading off to school. For she knew, when school got out, who'd be there at the gates waiting for her.
Our weekend was full of fun. Friday they just played together and enjoyed being with each other. Saturday we met Uncle Bart and Peggy at Disneyland. Yes, you read that right, we took four girls to Disneyland. It went well, we had four adults to four children, so it wasn't bad. It really was a fun day, and the girls had a blast together. And today we had Hannah's Karate Tournament. After that, the girls came home to play together some more before our weekend came to end when Uncle Robbie and Auntie came to claim their girlies.
Of course, Hannah is already asking "when can we do that again?" The girls were great and we enjoyed having them, but I sure have a greater respect for mothers of more than two children! Four is a lot to keep your eyes on when you're not used to it!!
Today was the day!
Hannah has been nervous off and on all week leading up to today, but when it came down to competing and performing her forms, still being nervous, she did an awesome job!!
While she didn't place in trophies, every kid who competed walked away a winner with a participation trophy. A trophy in which she is extremely proud of this evening!
This was Hannah's first ever individual competition and boy did she have a cheering section - her parents, both sets of grandparents, two cousins, and Rachel! We're all so very proud of her for going and competing!
Today is Labor Day, a holiday pretty much observed by most everyone. We had forgotten to ask last week if there would be Karate tonight, but on an off chance there would be Karate, we went ahead and went. We figured worst case scenario was we'd show up and no one would be there, so we'd come home. No big deal.
So we arrived at Karate, to find no one there. We waited for a few minutes and then the instructor showed. Hannah ended up having the entire 45 minute class one on one with the instructor as no one else showed up! It was an awesome session of Karate. He worked with her on her kicks, forms, and her 8-step.
There is a Karate Tournament coming up this weekend and the instructor really feels Hannah could place if she competed. He said she was doing an excellent job. So we're going to the Tournament and Hannah has agreed to compete! She's pumped now, knowing she'll get a trophy just for participation.
One of Hannah's top front teeth has been loose for the past couple of weeks, getting looser and looser the last couple of days. This afternoon she sat and played with it for a while...until it finally came out! 
It's amazing how different loosing one of your top teeth can make you look. Hannah looks so different with that tooth gone. It's an obvious reminder that she's getting bigger and growing older! 
