Break Board - Jack

I should post video of Jack when he first started.  He could barely stand on one leg and kick...let alone with any sort of strength.

I knew Jack would do well breaking the board but he did a lot better than I expected.  When I was at EA, I was able to watch Jack in Tae Kwon do when he was a white belt.  With my new job, I haven't been able to watch Jack much in his yellow belt and he has gotten so much better.

Break Board - Stacy

I didn't know the kids had to break a board to complete their yellow belt test.  In fact, the kids didn't know either until a few days before their test.

They had one class session where they had to break a board.  I was pretty sure Jack could do it but I didn't know how Stacy would do.  The kids got to pick what kick they wanted to perform.

Stacy kicked the instructor's hand on the first attempt but she didn't give up:

Yellow Belt Test...

Jack and Stacy are both doing well in Tae Kwon Do.  I think both are getting stronger by taking Tae Kwon Do.  I have noticed that Jack's core balance and footwork have improved in basketball since he started doing Tae Kwon Do.

Here is a video of the kids doing their white belt and yellow belt forms:

X-Lanes...

Jack went to X-Lanes for Mason's birthday party.  It was pretty cool...kind of like Lucky Strike and Dave and Busters all combined into one.  The party got started with some bowling:

Jack was tired of bowling and decided to be like his mom and line up first for food:

Time for some video games:

Touch screen video games...talk about a gigantic iPad!

I am THOR!!

New Car...

Have you ever seen those car commercials where someone get a new car for Christmas and there is a big red bow on the car?    Booyah...Aya got a new car:

It really wasn't a Christmas present but it was the Mercedes Winter Event...it just so happened that Aya's lease was up so we renewed and got the newer E350 model.  Stacy practicing on closing the deal:

Wedding...

We had a great time at the wedding.  Aunt Yoshi from Japan came for the wedding:

Family picture:

Fun times:

Flower Girl and Ring Boy

Jack and Stacy both participated in Uncle Su-chan's wedding.  Jack was the ring bearer:

Stacy was the flower girl:

Christmas Tree...

Hahhaha, so when I am trying to go back and catch up from missed posts they end up getting mixed in with recent posts and I totally forgot to write up us decorating our Christmas tree.

We got our tree early this year, thanks to Grandpa.  The kids are now old enough to all participate in decorating the tree.

Maybe one day we will send out a goofy picture for our Christmas card:

Flutterbye Fairy...

Stacy got a Flutterbye Fairy last year but either she was too young or this year's model seems easier to control.  Nevertheless Stacy has been having fun with her fairy:

Batting Cage...

Jack is getting ready for player pitch baseball this year so I took him to the batting cage.  Jack has decent eye hand coordination so I expected him to do okay at the batting cage...but he was terrible.  He only managed a few hits.  He had nice form but he just could pick up the ball soon enough:

A+

Aya and I went to Jack's 3rd grade parent teacher conference.   Aya and I are really happy with Jack's teacher this year and more importantly, Jack seems to really like the 3rd grade this year.

Jack's teacher had nothing but nice things to say and gave Jack an "A+".  She made it a point to highlight the "+" and said that Jack consistently gets perfect or near perfect test scores to get the A+.

The only negative comment Jack received was that, "He needs to practice more kindness everyday."  hahahaha...I guess the teacher doesn't know who Jack's dad is!

Nails...

Aya was sick over the weekend and the weekend is when Stacy gets her nails done, so I had to step up and do her nails:

Not too shabby:

If I do say so myself:

Christmas Santa...

This year Santa was good to the kids.  Stacy asked Santa for Snow Glow Elsa and Olaf and Jack asked for SkyLanders Trap Force on the Wii:

Christmas Trash...

The kids were awfully lucky this year and got a lot of nice gifts. Stacy made out like a bandit:

Jack did well too but he is about that age where gift cards and cash is king for him:

The kids rolling around in the Christmas trash:

Christmas...

Okay, I need to catch up a bit from last year, so lets start with Christmas.  We took the kids to the mall to visit Santa:

Even Aya got in on the Santa action: