rain, joining the club and a date

good thing i'm not doing that nanoblowme thing because really, my blogging frequency is all over the place, and certainly not a daily thing.

a couple of months ago the boy joined karate. i am glad for it--i think it's a good thing, positive, etc. but damned if it's not expensive. he was also still taking guitar lessons, but, the boy pretty much has a one track mind (which is going to kill his future wife. trust me, i know. he comes by this genetically, hello hubs : ) ). anyway. he hadn't been practicing his guitar and was much more focused on the karate (i want to say it like ka-ra-tay like spongebob) so we've put guitar lessons on hold for awhile.

this week the boy earned his yellow belt (yeah) and was invited to join the master's black belt club. now--the cynic in me is all like, ummm, unkay, this is just a scam to get more money out of us (which it did) and seriously? you have to be in a special club to earn a black belt? no, you don't, but this basically puts you on the fast track (like 2-3 yrs to get it instead of i don't know 20?) lol. but seriously. i am a skeptic. i just hope the boy stays focused on it--he's very very in to it right now. see?

(the blue uniform signifies students in the master program) ok. but also in this picture is something else that cracks me up. see the bike helmet there at the end of the couch? by the flip flops? you may be wondering why this is in the den right? welllllll, the boy discovered that if he puts the helmet on in the morning before school it flattens his hair and he likes it like that. boy haircare 101. check.

last night we were at my folks house for dinner and my kids were....on. sometimes, usually around dinner time i've discovered, it is like some invisible monster comes along and flips this obnoxious switch on them. they get louder and obnoxious and at some point it usually ends up that they get in trouble. so last night they were doing this and for awhile being funny. the hubs said something about putting the kids in private school and the boy said, but dad, then we'd really stick out. like in crazy public school they blend in. oy vey.

i did not get to do that which i'm not speaking of (walking) but once last week because of ida. this is what she did for most all of the week.

the first pic is actually of our neighbors yard because, dude, it was like a pond. then our yard and the dog lot. needless to say the dogs were inside most all of the week. keely used this excuse to chew up a box of crayons, some halloween decorations and a pack of sunflower seeds the girl left on the end table.

earlier this week i secretly planned a date night for the hubs and i on friday. my bro and sil gave us gift certificates for our bdays in august. one was for a japanese restaurant (you know, the kind that cook right in front of you) and the other was for my kids to sleepover at their house. friday we dropped the kids off, went to a yummy dinner where we could actually talk to each other (see above where i said my kids sometimes lose their minds at dinner) and then...yes, then we walked around lowes hardware : ) this immediately made me think about how different we are from some of my younger friend couples who would have gone out clubbing or to a bar. that hasn't been our scene for a very, very long time. regardless, it was nice to have an evening to ourselves.

so, that's what's been going on here this week. i'm hoping to catch up on your blogs today : )