BJJ

That would be Brazilian Ju-jitsu for those who aren't as familiar with the sport.  All three kids are taking BJJ classes twice a week.  They are all loving it.  Jon Kent and Zoey started at the first of the year and have gotten their gray and white belts.  Nathan started in July and has one stripe so far on his white belt.  I am amazed at how far Jon Kent and Zoey have come.  Especially Zoey.  She is one of the top fighters in her class.  Other parents even comment that their SONS are afraid to fight her.  She wins most of her matches.  Girl Power!!  I am really impressed with the whole program and the professor who teaches.  He has several helpers who are blue belts that assist him in class.  They all have a boat load of patience.  They take their time with each kid trying to teach proper technique and it shows with each improvement the kids make.  I am really hoping this is something the kids stick with all the way through until their black belts which if they do they will be in their late teens or early twenties before they get it.  Long but rewarding road I think.

Let's play some football!

The time has finally arrived!  Jon Kent is 7 years old so that means he is finally (finally being his word) old enough to play full contact football.  He has been asking to play football since he was 4.  Every year he would tell us only x-more years until I can play football.  So finally he strapped on some pads, put on his helmet, and bashed heads with other like minded 7 and 8 year olds.  And. He. Loves. It.  I seriously thought after he got hit a few good times he wouldn't like, but nooo.  It's what he talks about all the time.  And now that college football and even NFL is going strong he is into those.  He still won't watch a full game with Kent  yet, but Kent has high hopes that it will happen soon.  Oh, and the team Jon Kent is on is the Cowboys and he is #19.  He thinks that since he is on the Cowboys that the "real" Cowboys should be winning all their games in the NFL.

First Day of School.. for everyone! Say what??

Today all three of my babies went to school.  Yep, Jon Kent was off to 2nd grade, Zoey was off to 1st grade, and Nathan was off to 4K.  And this momma.. was "off" duty.  Well, not off duty just yet.  Nathan only went for about an hour so that he could meet the teacher, we could ask questions, get first day pictures, etc.  But come a week from today.. he will be at school for 3 hours every morning.  I. Can't. Believe. It.  All my babies are growing up and going to school, together.  I know I say this every year and I will continue to say it until they send their kids off to school.. but.. the time has flown and it just doesn't seem like they should all be in school.  I am really started to regret letting them grow up.  I should have pushed that pause button!

Day 4 of the Owens Olympics

Y'all the Olympics are killing me!  The kids of course have endless energy and would play it all day long and night, too.  But me, my word I am tired.  We went to the gym this morning and I did an hour of pure cardio and then we went swimming with friends for almost 2 hours.  By the time I got lunch served and cleaned up I was wiped out. Did I mention I didn't go to sleep until almost 2am.  Not by my choosing mind you, just have a lot on my mind and I guess God wanted me to talk to Him about it instead of mulling it over and over in my own head.  So that's what I did and I think I finally fell asleep around 2, but not before Nate came in to wedge between Kent and me.  Anyway, I said alllll that to say that we finally got some Olympic games in after everyone took a nap (myself included).  Today we did basketball, pogo stick bounce, and bike races.  What's up for tomorrow.. no idea.  But I'll think of something. ;)

Day3 of the Owens Olympics

Is it time for the closing ceremonies yet???

I kid, I kid.

Sorta.

Hand stands

This is Nate's version of hand stands since he still doesn't like going under water.

Crazy hair

Water polo

Water volleyball.

So, today we did Olympic games with swimming as our theme.  We did synchronized swimming (aka who can do the best hand stand), who can hold their breath the longest, the craziest hair do, who can swim under water the longest, water polo, and water volleyball.

The kids enjoyed themselves and the rainy looking clouds left so we could enjoy the warm sunshine while we swam.  We stayed in the pool for about two hours.  The time really flew by.  Now the O'villers are resting up for BJJ (Brazilian Jujitsu). 

And yes, the kids want to know what we are doing tomorrow.

If I only knew..

Day 2 of Owens Olympics

Instead of doing so many games today I kept it down to just two.  We swam with friends this morning after hitting up the gym.  So yeah, I am tired.  BUT the kids were so excited about doing more games that I had to do something.  So today we did the long jump (3 different ways) and then a basketball shoot out.  Again, they had a great time and again they are already begging to know what we will be doing next!  My creative brain just can't keep up!!

Long jump

"Hop jump"

"Backwards hop jump"

Basketball shoot out

Olympics.. O'ville style

My kids are all into the Olympics.  This is the first time they are all old enough to really appreciate all the hoop-la. Jon Kent is definitely more into it than his younger siblings.  On the first day of the games we were watching the USA's men archery and they were playing against Italy.  They lost by 1 point.  I was in the middle of folding and putting away laundry and didn't really think much else of it. A few minutes later Jon Kent comes up to me with tears in his eyes and says, "I'm kind of embarrassed and sad that the USA didn't win.  We are supposed to win everything."  I explained to him that we can't win at everything, but the USA still won a silver medal and that's a lot to be proud of.  He still seems to get nervous for the athletes when they are competing but he has a better understanding that they aren't going to win every time.

So in the spirit of the London games we decided to hold our own Olympics here at home.  I told the kids we would do a few different games every day and tally up the score at the end of each day. *Yes we do keep score.  The whole point is to have fun, but I am also not the type of parent who thinks everyone is a winner. Sorry, just not. It teaches them good sportsmanship and how to handle a loss.*

Today we did 5 games (planned on only doing 2, but the kids were having so much fun.. must find more games to use for tomorrow.).  We played hurdles, discus, soccer shoot out, one foot stand (left side and right side), and swimming.  All the kids had a good time and can't wait for the games tomorrow!

"Show me your muscles!"

"Hurdles"

"Discus"

"Soccer shoot out"

"One Foot Stand"