More Joey

Here is a partial transcript of my bedtime discussion with Joey tonight:

Me: How was school today?
Joey: It was good.
Me: What story did you talk about in 'Big Church?'
Joey: I don't know.
Me: Yes you do. We don't say "I don't know" in the Kewish family; it's a cop-out.
Joey: I'll tell you the story we have next time.
Me: Okay, but that means you'll have to listen and pay attention.
Joey: Okay, but I already told you the story we had last time.
Me: And what story was that again?
Joey: Daniel and the Lion's Dent.

...

Me: Joey, do you have any buddies in your class?
Joey: Yeah.
Me: Are all the kids nice, or are there some who are mean?
Joey: All nice. . . well, one time a girl called me a pop-head and a eyeball-head.
Me: Really? That's not very nice to say.
Joey: No, she was really mean.
Me: Why do you think she said those things to you?
Joey: Because she has orange hair.

Pain does not exist in this dojo!

Our family is definitely going through a transition from a nuclear unit together at home to full soccer-mom status with kids starting Kindergarten, pre-school, soccer in a few months, and Charles recently starting Karate.

If you find it hard to imagine Charles doing Karate, well, you wouldn't be that far off. Let's just say that he doesn't respond as quickly (or even as often) as the sensei would like him to. Then, when he doesn't do what he's supposed to do, he is made to do push-ups or sit-ups. . . except that he can't do a single one of either of those things. Should we be concerned?

We weren't holding out for Karate being his meal ticket anyway, and I guess he'll always have Joey (or Tori) to protect him on the streets. Still, he sure makes a cute karate student, don't you think?

Ready position!


Fighting position!


Roundhouse kick!


As a funny side-note, when Liz went on the first day she had to take the kids because I was out of town. Joey was of course very interested and wanted to join the class. Liz explained that the class was only for five-year-olds and above and that he'd have to wait a few years to start the classes himself. Joey defiantly said, "But I can do karate because I said 'Hiiigghh-YA!' with daddy and broke all the white stuff!" Liz was confused for a second and then realized that he was talking about breaking apart all the styrofoam in the TV box with me. . . last NOVEMBER.

He scares us sometimes with the details he remembers. In fact, just tonight, as they were getting ready to go to Karate and I was on my way home from the frozen Midwest, Joey said, "maybe the white Corvette racing car will be there." Liz shrugged it off as usual, thinking he was just babbling. Sure enough, when they pulled up to karate, there was a white Corvette parked a few spaces over. What four-year-old remembers things like this? Do I already need to have the talk with him that we are a Beemer family and NOT white trash enough to like Corvettes? I thought I would have more time than this on such important matters!

A sunny day

Today was sunny in more ways than one. First, we hit 72 degrees today after a week full of mid-40's, fog, and rain (which still wasn't too bad, compared to the rest of the country, but it kept us indoors). Second, we are all finally feeling better after a full week of a terrible flu (among some other strange sicknesses). So we took advantage by going out together this afternoon for a great lunch at Rome's Pizza and spent some time playing and hiking in McAllister Park. You might notice from the following pictures that the kids aren't all quite back to 100 percent, but we had a lot of fun anyway.

The boys found a few big rocks to stand on.

Charles is doing his imitation of a Rock Hyrax

Joseph standing on the trail--looking like he can't be trusted.



Even on a hike Tori walks around with her head down. This was one of the few times she looked up.
Tori is not only dealing with the lingering effects of her cold/flu, but she is NOT happy about the bee that keeps trying to land on her.

Patriotism

We have been a little frustrated with what Charles has been learning or should I say, "not learning" this year so far in Kindergarten. I think we were just a little surprised that when we sent him to school he was printing so nicely and very legibly. Well, now that he has been in school for a while we can hardly recognize any of his letters. We have come to realize that he is having to replace what he knows with a style of writing that the school district has decided is easier for kids to transition to cursive when the time comes. We just feel that he has not learned much this year yet. But, I must say I was very impressed when I dropped him off at school today. This is a rare thing for me to do since Joe is usually around in the mornings to take him. Today after I took him to his class room, I stopped by the nurses office to discuss some medication that I was leaving for Charles' ear infection. As I was in there they had started the school announcements over the PA system which is also broadcast via a TV in each room. At the end of the announcements they did the pledge of allegiance and of course the Texas pledge and then they played the National Anthem. As they were playing the National Anthem I noticed that the students that were in the halls had stopped what they were doing and put their hands on their hearts to show respect. At that moment I thought of Charles in his classroom doing the same thing. I may not be 100% satisfied with his educational experience so far at the school but I am glad that we live in an area that respects our country and is teaching our children to do the same.

Gone Fishin'

In the winter, TPWD stocks rivers and lakes across the state with rainbow trout. A few of these locations are right here in San Antonio, and yesterday I decided to take the boys out to Miller's Pond on the south side to see if any were left from Thursday's stocking.

It was a fun day and a nice time together. We threw a bunch of rocks, watched a cormorant eat a few trout, watched an osprey diving into the lake to catch his/her own, and the boys played often on the playground that was about 50 yards from our fishing spot. We were also one of only two people (out of about 30) to catch anything--a nice little 'bow reeled in by Charles that we promptly took home, cleaned, and fried up in some butter and lemon pepper.


Here are the boys at the lake, enjoying themselves. They were channeling the Cobb cousins with their ensembles. I could sense all the hard core (i.e., nerd) fisherman mocking me and assuming I had no idea what I was doing since my boys were in matching track pants and Gap hoodies. . . until we caught one (HA!). All of a sudden I was the genius and they were asking me all kinds of questions.

Here is a random shot of Joey, happy as usual. This was right after he ate some dirt. I asked him why he ate dirt, but he didn't have a reason.


On the way home from the pond both boys immediately crashed out in the car--in similar positions even!



After fishing I took them to a late lunch at Incredible Pizza, which is someone's attempt at re-creating Pleasure Island from Pinocchio, sans the turning into mules and being carted off to the salt mines. And while the place is pretty incredible, the pizza is just so-so. I'm not sure who was Pinocchio and who was Lampy, but the boys had a great time.

First day of School - JMK version

Today was Joseph's first day of school. We have been so impressed with how patient he has been seeing Charles begin Kindergarten this year. He never complained or threw a tantrum, and was always so excited to hear what happened that day. He would often give me a report on Charles' day when I got home from work before Charles would.


So after having been on two waiting lists for nearly a year, we finally got a spot for him at one of the good programs in our part of town. He was so excited when we told him about it. Liz bought him a backpack a few days ago and he wouldn't take it off all day long. Last night when I put him to bed he said, "how long will it be before I wake up?" I said, "the same as every other night--you'll wake up in the morning." He replied, "oh, that's going to take too long."


This morning he was annoyed that he couldn't go right after breakfast when I took Charles to school. When we finally got to his classroom he said hello to the teachers and sat right down and started on the crafts that were laid out. On my way out of the classroom I said, "goodbye Joey; be a good boy; remember to be a good example; remember that you're a Kewish; do what's right; I love you; see you later." There was a pause, with the teachers looking back and forth between him and me, and then he finally said, "later" without even looking up.


Here are some pictures:

On his way out of the house
Waiting patiently to get in the carProud of his new backpack
Actually, VERY proud of his new backpack (Mom and Dad aren't as crazy about it, but the lunchbox is in the shape of a wheel)
Jumping right in

Then, while we were waiting to complete the registration, Tori found this little chair and had a seat. She thought she was so cool sitting in a chair roughly her size, that she started to strike a few poses.

A trip to the Witte

During the break we took advantage of some free time and beautiful weather to go down to Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. We had planned to go to the zoo to verify wall heights, but ended up calling an audible at the last minute to make our first visit to the Witte Museum. It proved to be a good choice since the dinosaur exhibit was closing the next day. With how crazy the boys are about dinosaurs, they really enjoyed (once they got over their initial fear of the ultra-realistic moving specimens. Even Tori got into the act, waddling all around and roaring like a baby T-Rex. Here are a few pictures:

The boys in front of the T-Rex
All three kids on a dinosaur that looks very sad to be stuck in a tar pit...