My Grandmother Was an Oak

Today I do something I've never done in my blog:  have a guest author.  Matt's maternal grandmother, Florence Iroff, died this past April at the age of 95.  She was his last living grandparent and seeing how today is Grandparents' Day and tomorrow would have been her 96th birthday, I thought I would publish the eulogy he gave at the funeral.  Matt wrote it the night before the funeral and even though he had thought about it for a few days before doing so, he wrote it more for speaking than for reading.  Therefore, I did not edit it for punctuation, etc. but left it as is.

Matt with his grandma, Florence Iroff, at her
90th birthday party at Mt. Vernon, VA, September 2011.

My grandmother was an oak. Bear with me. There are all kinds of trees. There are tall, thin trees that bend to the passing breeze.  There are small, thorny trees that cling tenaciously to the thin earth in harsh environments.  Evergreens know not the seasons, drinking the sunlight year-round.  Palm trees exist in what most would consider paradise, and do not do well in less-than-ideal circumstances.  My grandmother was an oak.

Grandma Iroff with her three grandkids at
her 95th birthday party, September 2016.

Some trees are prized for the beauty of their wood, some for the delicacy of their flowers.  Some trees are prized for the sweetness of their fruit.  Oak is valued for its strength.  An oak tree drives its roots deep, to stand firm against the harshest gales, and to draw strength from the earth.  The oak spreads its branches wide to shelter those around it.  My grandmother's presence and strength of character are often the first things people speak of when listing her attributes.  As we all know, Florence Iroff was the pillar that supported her family.  Grandpa was the anchor, the calm refuge, but Grandma provided the strength.  Her loving support allowed her four children to thrive, each of them become successful in their own, very different ways

Florence and Harry Iroff with their four children
on their 50th wedding anniversary, March 1995.

              

Of all the things my grandmother taught me, the greatest lesson is that family is the only important thing.  We all have our distractions in life.  We all face hardships.  We bend to them or cling tightly to what we know and grimly hunker down to wait them out.  The source of strength that I have learned to use to stand strong in my life is family.  Grandma taught me that over my entire lifetime, gathering in her far-flung family around the dinner table at Thanksgiving and Passover.  Often, the table was expanded to include others, all of whom were brought in to the circle of her family, the shelter of her love.

Florence and Harry Iroff, October 1945

 As an aside, let me say something about that table.  To me, one of the greatest expressions of Grandma's love was her cooking.  I remember fighting with my cousins over the last pieces of her brisket.  I remember coming home to grandma after a very late night at work to find her waiting up for me, and to offer me a sandwich or something else to eat.  She taught her children and grandchildren the importance of this expression of love, and to put love into our cooking.  The joy I feel when I prepare a meal for those I love come directly from her.

Chef Matt presenting the Thanksgiving meal he cooked
for his family when we hosted Thanksgiving in Virginia Beach,
November 2004.

              

Back, though, to the circle of Grandma's love.  One may think four children and three grandchildren might be enough.  For many, certainly, it would be.  Florence Iroff was not most people.  One of the side-benefits to her long life was the opportunity to step in to some extent and act as a surrogate parent to her several nephews and nieces.  The sheltering branches of my grandmother's love spread beyond the immediate circle of her household to Atlanta, New York, California and Israel.  No mater how far you may be, family is family, and family is the important thing.  You will remember, my grandmother is an oak.

The Iroff clan at son Ron's bar mitzvah, May 1959.

We all know that oak is valued for its strength, and as a symbol of abiding presence.  Oak leaves are a symbol of achievement in our nation's military.  The wood of the oak is used to build homes that shelter us, and furniture to protect what we hold to be important.  The heart of the oak was used in the age of sail to form the keel of the greatest sailing ships.  Even as we all take from the oak what is useful to us, so each of us have taken something from the life of Florence Iroff.  Strength when we face adversity, love to shelter us from the storm, wisdom that helps us solve our problems.

Florence Iroff in Washington, D.C.,
March 1944

Perhaps the most important thing she has left us, though, may be thought of as the acorns.  Grandma left behind her the seeds of greatness.  The memories of her love, the lessons she taught us, the traditions she has handed down.  Our family no longer needs Grandma to gather us around her table.  We share that burden now.  And later this year and in years to come, we will gather together not only in her memory, but secure in the love, traditions and sense of family that it is now our job to uphold and pass along to our children and to theirs.

Aaron and Leah with their great-grandma, Florence Iroff,
on her 94th birthday, September 2015.

Total Eclipse of the Heart (and 85% of the Sun)

This past Monday (August 21, 2017) was the great "Eclipse Across America."  I remember first reading over a year ago that a total solar eclipse would be visible in the United States and thinking, "That's pretty cool," but not doing anything further with that information.  In retrospect, I don't know why Matt and I didn't look into making plans to go to SC back then.  We could have always cancelled our reservations later.  If we were smart, we would have made a reservation at the Disney Vacation Club Resort at Hilton Head and it wouldn't have even cost us anything out of pocket for our room.  We didn't think of it until the beginning of July and although we signed up to be put on the wait list, we knew it was a lost cause.  The more articles that were posted about the eclipse, the more excited and intrigued I became about this so I decided to take matters into my own hands and plan my own celebration.

I ordered (legit) eclipse glasses from Amazon.

I went to NASA's awesome eclipse website, https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/ and got information, ideas and downloadables like an invitation for Leah and Aaron to give to their friends and flyers.

One of many NASA flyers.

I told the kids we would have an eclipse slumber party.  Leah and Aaron invited their friends, Katelyn and Robby (also brother & sister) over for a sleepover on Sunday.  I had used the last of the space-themed birthday party decorations my friend Becky had given to me years ago and augmented them with a few new things to decorate our place.

I also got the kids activity books and space-themed pencils.

I found this "Craters of the Moon Cake" recipe on the Internet and Matt helped the girls make the cake.  I helped the kids design their own solar eclipse t-shirts using fabric markers and fabric paints.

The cake is like kitchen chemistry in a pan
(and is also very chocolaty).

.

Perhaps not Tim Gunn-worthy but
the kids were proud of their shirts.

After baking and crafts, we had planetary pizza (aka Papa John's pepperoni) for dinner then the kids played by themselves for awhile.  Then I broke out the Twister--Leah's been asking for that game for a while now--and it was on!

"Right foot where?!"

I kicked it up a notch by giving them glow sticks and
glow bracelets so they could play "Glow Twister."

After Twister they ran around the house using the glow sticks as wands and hexed each other using Harry Potter spells.  By 10 pm I had to bring it down a few notches because Matt has to wake up and leave for work ridiculously early in the morning.  He went to bed and the kids and I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1.  It was after midnight when I corralled them off to bed.

On Monday, eclipse day, the kids did their own thing in the morning.  Then they did their activity books for about 15-20 minutes and we had a light lunch.  At 1:00 pm it was time to move the party outside.

It was hot and very humid, which is why I waited until the start of the eclipse to bring them outside.  I set up a sun tent and had sidewalk chalk, Pop-Its and a Rube Goldberg rocket machine for them to play with during the event.  We also had sunscreen, cooling towels and lots of cold water to drink.

Katelyn, Leah, Aaron, and Robby anxiously waiting the eclipse.

"Aliens...oh, snap!"

"Houston, we have a problem!"

When the first glimpse of the eclipse started, everyone was really excited.  However, after about 15 minutes, the lack of sleep caught up with Robby (he only slept about 3 hours) and he just went home.  (His mom told me he went straight to bed and took a nap.)  Leah kept marveling how amazing it was and Katelyn and Leah couldn't believe there weren't more people outside to watch.  I texted Matt when it had started.  He was at work and we had bought a bunch of glasses so he could take them in to his office so everyone there could see the eclipse.  He was in a meeting for most of the time until he finally got frustrated, left the meeting and came back and put the glasses on the conference table.  Matt said once he did that and people saw he had glasses the meeting quickly adjourned so he got to see the peak of the eclipse (about 2:48 pm here).  As the eclipse went on here neighbors did come out and came by our set-up.  We let them borrow our glasses so they could see the eclipse safely.  One girl had made a pinhole viewer out of a cereal box so we all got to look through that, which was cool too.

It's hard to describe seeing the eclipse in person.  It's kind of like going to Yosemite or the Grand Canyon.  They are beautiful in pictures, but when you go see them in person with your own eyes, well, it's just something you have to experience.  We were not in the zone of totality so it didn't get dark here or cool off (unfortunately) but we did get about 85% coverage and I'm glad I got to see it in person.  I don't have the right kind of equipment to take a picture but I got one from the local news website to show what 85% eclipse looks like.  (Through the solar glasses the sun did look orange.)

Photo credit: WAVY.com Report It: jmsanderlin86

As soon as the peak occurred, Katelyn announced she was going home too, which I don't blame her.  We were all tired, hot and sweaty.  We cleaned up our outside stuff and gladly stepped into the refreshing air conditioner.  When the air conditioner wasn't enough to bring our core temperatures back down, we made a milkshake run.

"Mmm...chocolate milkshake."

So was it worth it--the planning, the expense, the melting outside, the lack of sleep?  Unequivocally, yes and here is why.

Seeing how excited and fascinated the kids were watching the eclipse occur was a great feeling.  And because we made such a big deal about it, they'll remember seeing it when they study it in school or when the next total solar eclipse comes to the U.S.  (Mark your calendars for April 8, 2024!)  I remembered seeing a few lunar eclipses but never a solar eclipse.  Now I can check that off my list.

Learning to Fly

Happy 11th Birthday to my Peanut!

On February 4, 2017, Leah turned 11 years old.  She wanted to go back to Great Wolf Lodge, which is how we celebrated her birthday last year.  We were able to get her to embrace the idea of trying something new to celebrate so Leah decided she wanted to go to iFLY for her birthday.  While not cheap, it was definitely less expensive than a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge.  Plus, we wanted to try it too.  

We were able to schedule a "flight time" on her birthday.  We scheduled a family package which allows for up to five flyers so Leah was able to bring her best friend, Katelyn.  Matt's mom & stepdad, aka Sunshine & Papa, were able to join us (although they were perfectly happy just being spectators).

Sunshine and Papa helped Leah celebrate her big day.

Leah with her bestie, Katelyn.

The iFLY experience is a series of one minute flights within a vertical wind tunnel with an instructor in there to help keep you aloft.  When we first signed up to do this, Matt and I thought, "All this money for two minutes each? (Our family package gave us ten flights.) What a gyp!"  After "flying," I've got to tell you, those minutes feel long.  One minute at a time is just enough.  It's not scary at all--you never feel like you are falling--but the wind blows on you quite hard (obviously) to make you float so it's a weird feeling on your face.  (Dogs would probably love it if they weren't freaked out about the whole thing.)

Matt, taking flight.

Before they gear you up with flight suits, goggles, hearing protection (it is super-loud in the tunnel), and helmets, there is a tutorial on how to position your body as well as hand signals so the instructors can communicate with you during flight.  It sounds like it would be easy, with this powerful, controlled wind, for you to rise above the ground and it is, in a way.  The staying in the air takes some work.  Think planking but with the tiniest movements of your arms, legs, feet, or head, you can bob like a buoy in the water.  That's where the instructor comes into play.  He can give you hand signals to have you change your body position or even grab you by handles on the back of your flight suit to level you off, lift you up or even bring you back down if you start pulling a Charlie and Grandpa Joe and start rising too high like you drank too much Fizzy Lifting Drink.

Leah loved her flying time.

You can pay extra for all kinds of other perks, of course, but since it was Leah's birthday, they gave her a "High Fly" add-on for free.  On her last flight, at the end of her time, they cranked up the air speed in the tunnel even higher and the instructor grabbed the handles on Leah's flight suit and jumped in the air.  They shot up to the top of the tunnel like a cork explodes off of a bottle of champagne.  They flew around at the top for awhile before coming down.  Leah, our little daredevil, wanted to immediately do it again.  She loved her experience.  Aaron didn't really like it but I don't think he was scared.  I think he is too little and he had a hard time holding his body in position.  He was kind of like a rag doll in the tunnel.  At first the instructor tried repeatedly to get Aaron to "fly," but towards the end when he realized Aaron wasn't going to be able to fly steadily then he "flew" him around the tunnel by the handles on his suit like a kid would pretend to fly a toy airplane, complete with a couple barrel rolls.  Aaron ended up giving his second flight to Leah.  I enjoyed the experience, but I'm in no rush to do it again.  Matt and Leah can't wait to do it again.  Katelyn wished she had got to do the High Fly (as I'm sure Matt did as well).  Sunshine and Papa were glad they didn't do it at all but just watched and took pictures.

After we shed our flight gear and received our flight certificates, we were off to dinner.  Leah had wanted to go to Carrabba's for dinner.  The problem is they don't take reservations, only a call-ahead wait list.  Saturday night at 6:30 pm for seven people is not the best scenario for a wait list.  By the time we were seated, we were all starving.  After dinner, they came out and sang "Happy Birthday" to Leah and gave her a free "chocolate dream" dessert, which we took to go and ate it on another day.  (It was delicious!)  At home I had made, at Leah's request, individual servings of "Mommy Love Pie" (chocolate pudding pie) which we then ate.  By this time it was late and Katelyn had to go home and Leah and Aaron had to go to bed.  I'm sure Leah was dreaming in the clouds after her high-flying birthday.

Aaron's 9th Birthday

On May, 9, 2017 Aaron turned 9 years old.

Aaron's 9th birthday was a little unusual in that it wasn't all about him.  His birthday fell on a Tuesday, and it turned out that Leah had a strings concert (which is part of her grade) on that evening.  Leah kept telling Aaron that he was special because he got to go to the concert on his birthday but he sure didn't feel like that.  To his credit, he didn't make a big deal about it and since it was his birthday, I let him play with my old iPhone on silent mode rather than make him pay attention like he usual has to at these things.  So we broke up the celebration into a few parts.  The first part was an early dinner before the concert.

Aaron requested spaghetti for dinner.

After the concert was part two, cake and presents.  Aaron requested a big chocolate chip cookie cake in lieu of cake, which I was happy to make as this is also my favorite.  Then he got to open gifts.  He received many nice gifts from family members but I've got to say that Matt and I got him the coolest gift ever:  an electric guitar!

Welcome to the jungle, Aaron!
Here is your own Epiphone Slash
"AFD" Les Paul guitar & amp.

Aaron has been wanting to learn how to play electric guitar for nearly a year now.  We've been using it as an incentive to get him to behave well at school.  He really does listen to music while he rides in the back of the car and has his own opinions of songs he likes and dislikes.  He'll even sing along and play air guitar to the ones he really likes, which is funny because he pretty much refuses to sing during music class at school and at church.  Matt came up with the idea to give him a guitar for his birthday rather than an elaborate Lego set or the like.  Aaron LOVED it and wanted to rock out on it right away.  It's still a little big for him but he'll grow into it.

"It's Aaron's World,
 it's party time, it's excellent!"

The last and final part of Aaron's birthday celebration was a trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg.  Last year, we all did something special for our birthdays but Aaron couldn't really decide what he wanted to do so we really didn't do anything.  We wanted to make sure we did something fun.  Initially, we were going to play hooky and go on his actual birthday, but unlike Busch Gardens Tampa, which is open year-round (and what I'm used to), Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) is not open on weekdays during May, only Friday-Sundays.  We wanted to go on a weekday so it wouldn't be crowded and we wanted to go in May before it gets too hot.  Matt was able to get the day off on Friday, May 12 so we called the kids in sick and we all went to BGW.

The weather was not optimal, but we really didn't have the time to reschedule so we went anyway.  There was an almost constant light rain, but since it was light, all the rides were still running and we just wore our raincoats and dealt with it.

The grey skies and near-constant drizzle
made us believe we could be in England.

Unlike Busch Gardens Tampa (BGT), whose theme is Africa, BGW has a European theme.  Most of the rides are roller coaster rides so like BGT, I'm good for going like once a decade.  I do not like roller coasters!  Matt and Leah can't get enough of them.  Leah is our little daredevil.  Her favorite ride was the Griffon, located in the French section.  This thing is ridiculous with a 90 degree free-fall drop and speeds up to 75 mph.  I think Aaron was glad he was too small to go on it so he didn't have to be embarrassed by admitting he was too scared to ride it.  I was not embarrassed; there was no way in hell I was riding this thing!

Before they drop you, they hold you at the
 top for a few seconds so you can get a good
 look down towards the ground.

Seriously, the Griffon is insane!

Aaron's favorite was the first one he rode, the Loch Ness monster (in Scotland, obviously).  He also liked the Verbolten in Germany although when he first got off it, he said he'd never ride it again.

By lunchtime, it started raining more and after lunch, they closed down all the roller coasters.  Only the kiddie rides remained open.  Leah and Aaron were desperate to ride some rides so they even rode the Li'l Clydes.

"Giddy up!"

By 2 pm we called it a day and after getting the kids' picture taken with a real Clydesdale, we left the park.  Leah was disappointed because naturally she wanted to ride all the roller coasters but Aaron seemed satisfied and that's all that really mattered.

Sweetheart's 11th Birthday

Wow, how time flies!  Leah's "pet" dog, Sweetheart, turned 11 on May 1, 2017.  And yes, we held another party for her.

Sweetheart, getting ready to celebrate.

 What is more amazing:  the fact that Sweetheart doesn't look a day over 7 or that we're still throwing birthday parties for her?  Granted, they are not as elaborate as they used to be; we have it down to dinner (with brownies for dessert) and a few cards and Sweetheart-appropriate gifts.

Sweetheart likes hamburgers and
hot dogs for her birthday dinner.

I think Leah is just in it for the brownies.

I used to decorate for her birthday with leftover themed birthday decorations and tableware, but now she just gets the generic "happy birthday" tablecloth that we all get on our birthdays.  When we lived in Japan, it was easy to buy her gifts.  Japanese people love all things cute and the 100 Yen stores always had a great selection from which to choose.  Now I have to keep my eye out and collect things when I find them.  It was challenging, but I found her some appropriate gifts.

Sweetheart received a new bed, a tiny
 (working) Rubik's cube and her own
pet cat (with carrier).

I'm not sure how long we'll keep having parties for Sweetheart.  I guess that depends how long Leah keeps playing with her.  Knowing Leah and her love of chocolate, though, she may just keep celebrating Sweetheart's birthday so she can get brownies!

Valentine's Day 2017: Books, Tacos & Tae Kwon Do

I like Hallmark as much as the next person.  Actually, I probably like it more.  What I do not like is Valentine's Day, that Hallmark-induced holiday.  I've never really liked it past elementary school with the tiny Valentine's Day cards and chalky heart candies.  The problem with Valentine's is there are such high expectations, much like New Year's Eve.  I mean New Year's Eve is supposed to be this end-all, be-all celebration; it's hard to live up to expectations.  Once, in my early twenties, I was at a party at my friend Joe's parents' house and my friend Susan's sorority sister, Virginia, plummeted (yes, she actually plummeted) from a tree in the backyard.  That was pretty awesome (and funny--Virginia was not hurt).  But it's hard to live up to a party where people plummet from trees and I feel that Valentine's is kind of the same way.  Don't get me wrong--I've had an awesome Valentine's Day.  On Valentine's Day in 2003 Matt, after showering me with flowers and gifts for the previous week, proposed to me.  He set the bar pretty high.  So when I found out Leah had a Battle of the Books preliminary tournament on Valentine's Day, it didn't even bother me.

Battle of the Books (BotB) is like a quiz bowl competition with the questions limited to a pre-announced list of books.  Leah's school had three BotB teams.  Leah team was called the Bookmarkers.  There were about ten books on the list and over the course of "training," Leah read about 75% of them.  The competition was from 5:00-7:00 pm at the local community college and there were about 10-12 teams in total between her school and other nearby elementary schools.  There were four rounds of about ten questions each, with each round becoming progressively more difficult.  Leah's team was at a disadvantage because their fourth team member dropped out about a week before the competition.  All the other teams had four players and one team even had five.

The Bookmarkers:  Ian, Leah and Aliyah

 You may not know this of Leah, and might be surprised to learn but beyond that uber-polite and huggable exterior, deep down lies the heart of a competitor.  Seriously, the girl does not like to lose.  And she does not like it when she cannot master something new after the first try.  And she really, really likes to win.  This BotB was a winner-take-all sort of thing with the winning team only advancing to the next round.  Sadly while the Bookmarkers did well in the first two rounds, the last two rounds separated the herd.  The team that won was in it to win it and even had matching printed t-shirts.  They probably assigned team members books while Leah's team just read whatever they wanted.  (In fact, the boy that dropped off their team was the only one on their team that had read one of the books.)  Remember when I mentioned that Leah really likes to win?  Well, during the later rounds tears were just streaming down her cheeks.  She was so upset as they kept getting answer after answer wrong.  I think it was a combination of fear, frustration, stress and really wanting to win.  The only thing that could console her?  Going to Moe's for dinner.  (I know, you were thinking chocolate and chocolate is the best answer, but it was after 7:00 pm and we hadn't eaten dinner yet.)  After two steak tacos and a chocolate chip cookie, Leah was back to her old self.

Welcome to Moe's!  Nothing says Valentine's Day
dinner like a bunch of tacos.

So that was our Valentine's Day and I was fine with that.  Matt and I did exchange cards.  He was going to get me flowers but I asked him not to because we are now a family of Tae Kwon Do-ers.  Remember when we were signing Leah up for Tae Kwon Do (TKD)?  Well, we did  Then we signed up Aaron.  Then Matt and I decided since we have to be there for all the lessons then why don't we do it too.  The pricing structure is discounted for each additional family member (Matt was actually free) but collectively it's still a chunk of change so that's why I asked Matt not to get me something for Valentine's Day.  We're giving each other the gift of family activity and good health.  And it's really fun.  There are family classes where any belt color can attend and that has quite a bit of adults in it.  There are also white & yellow belt classes and at those classes Matt and I have been the only adults.  At first it was weird, especially when a 10-year-old high-fived me after a kicking drill.  I didn't know how I felt about that.  (My friend Michelle told me I should just take encouragement where I could get it.)  The novelty of us being in the class seems to have worn off on the other kids so they don't even give us a second look anymore.  (The bright side is I am the second tallest person in the class.  That never happens.)  So we are all working towards our yellow belts and we'll see where it goes from there.  It is really fun and I love that it's something we can all do together instead of Matt and I sitting on the sidelines during some random sporting practice or game that Leah and Aaron are doing.  And I love that Leah and Aaron are doing a sport.  And isn't Valentine's Day supposed to be about love anyway?  💖

As Aaron likes to say,
"Let's Tae Kwon Do this!"

My Shining Stars

February has been a great month in school so far for Leah and Aaron and I feel I need to take a moment to share their accomplishments because they deserve the praise.

In a ceremony on February 2, Leah was named Student of the Month for the month of January for the theme of fairness.  There was a ceremony in the cafeteria where each student winner (one from each class in every grade) shook hands with both the Principal and Vice-Principal while the guidance counselor read aloud what each child's teacher submitted.  Leah's teacher, Ms. Samuelson, wrote this about Leah:

Congratulations Leah for being chosen as our student of the month for fairness!  Leah is a great advocate for fairness in our classroom.  She has a great sense of what is right and wrong and is always willing to stand up for herself and her classmates.  Leah is a role model in our class when it comes to fairness!  Keep up the good work, Leah!

In addition to Student of the Month, Leah was just named Captain of the safety patrols and she was chosen to participate in the Virginia Beach All-City Orchestra Festival.  She was the only cellist from her school chosen.  Leah always does well but this month she's knocking it out of the park.

Leah, our outstanding citizen!

Aaron is having an awesome February as well although as I am always telling Leah, fair is not always equal and Aaron's benchmarks are different from Leah's.  Leah says she doesn't like school but I secretly think she does.  Aaron says he doesn't like school and I tend to believe him.  I think he is partially bored, partially over-confident of his ability to pick things up quickly and, well, Aaron being Aaron.  As a result, Aaron's behavior in school can be challenging and the way it is addressed is by goal setting and visual reminders.  Every morning, Aaron sets a reward goal he can earn at the end of the day for good behavior.  His choices can include computer time, Legos, drawing, reading, puzzles or free time.  His behavior is measured on a scale of Jedi levels (as in Star Wars).  He starts every morning as a Jedi Youngling and if he reaches Jedi Master or Jedi Council Member by the end of the day, he can earn his reward to spend his time at the very end of the school day.  If Aaron earns Jedi Master or Jedi Council Member every day for a whole week then in addition to his daily rewards, he earns a prize like a Lego mystery mini figure, a Minecraft mystery box or a Hot Wheels car.

Aaron's Jedi Behavior Scale.

Last school year started off just dreadful for Aaron, but by the last couple months he was regularly earning his weekly prize for making Jedi Master all week (which was the highest score at the time).  This year has been better than last year overall, but inconsistent scale-wise.  His teacher this year has implemented a "Glows and Grows" tool to help Aaron visualize his strengths and weaknesses and take ownership of his actions.  "Glows" are things he has done well or positives during his day and "Grows" are things he needs to improve on, or the negative actions he has done that day.  Aaron and his teacher review the Glows and Grows after lunch and at the end of the day.  Aaron has not only made Jedi Master or Jedi Council Member every day this month, but for the past two days Aaron has had all Glows and no Grows, which is a first for him.  We are super-proud of him, as are his teachers, but I think he is proud of himself too.

Aaron with his first-ever "no Grows" day.

Leah and Aaron are working hard and we're happy that they are seeing the rewards of their efforts.  Sometimes a mom just has to brag a little.

Pan Asian Day

Today is Chinese New Year.  This year is the Year of the Rooster, which is my year.  Since a majority of my friends are also roosters, I thought I'd share some lucky/unlucky things to know from this very informative website called China Highlights.

We don't usually make a big deal about Chinese or Lunar New Year, but we usually celebrate by Matt cooking a stir-fry.  We couldn't do that this year, however, because we had plans at 5 pm tonight:  Leah's Tae Kwon Do "graduation" ceremony.

For the past two weeks Leah has been participating in an after school (at the school) introductory Tae Kwon Do program which culminated in a graduation ceremony today at the dojang, which is conveniently in a shopping plaza only a couple miles away.  Today's event was really just a demonstration for the parents and to get them to sign their kids up for more lessons, but Leah absolutely loved it.

Of course we were already planning on signing her up for more lessons.  Master Park, the instructor, was great with all the kids but more importantly, this is the only sport Leah has tried that she wanted to continue.  And trust me, she's tried a lot:  soccer, cheerleading, tee-ball, running club & field hockey.  Plus, she broke a board today.  Even Aaron was impressed.  We tried to get him to take the after school lessons but he didn't want to.  We're "encouraging" him to try a lesson when Leah begins her lessons but he is reluctant.  He says he only wants to take karate lessons but I think Leah breaking the board today helped to make him agreeable to taking a trial lesson.

Leah with Master Park.

Leah focusing on her task.

Hi-ya!  With Matt holding the board, Leah
 successfully breaks it.

Aaron was duly impressed as Leah was the
only person in her class to break their
 board into three pieces.

Having spent the first part of the evening of Chinese New Year celebrating Korean martial arts, it made perfect sense to then eat Japanese food at the hibachi & sushi restaurant located in the same shopping plaza. (We had a coupon, after all.)  Although teppanyaki is not the same for us since living in Japan, it's still fun and the kids love the fire.  (Really, who doesn't enjoy seeing an onion volcano?)  This was our first trip to Super Ninja Steakhouse & Sushi and we had a tasty dinner.

Our chef performed all the usual skills...

...including fire.

He threw in a new one that Matt & I had never seen
or experienced before:  catching sake.

So that was our Pan Asian day:  Chinese New Year with Korean martial arts and Japanese food.  I hope you have a lucky and prosperous new year.  And if you're a rooster--be careful!  This is not a lucky year for you.  Take heed of diagram near the top of the page.