Smurfs and Black Tape

How are the two related? They're not...It just seems when I look back on my week at home, it has been full of those two things. The Smurfs because that is Olivia's current favorite thing to watch and watch it she does. She giggles, she laughs loud, she yells at the TV in response to what is going on. She is genuinely entertained by the Smurfs. She has also learned to work the TV and DVD player pretty well. She can change her movies and push play/FF/Rew/Pause (for dinner and bath). She lacks a bit of confidence that she is making the correct choice, but is really getting more independent all the time. Olivia still seems to love her new preschool. She has whiny days there and has struggled with finding her words in a new environment (hence the whining), but her teacher seems very understanding and we are grateful for that.

Black tape refers to step one of Jocelyn getting her next belt color. Belt testing is offered every 8-10 weeks. Jocelyn has to get 3 black pieces of tape on her belt to be eligible to attempt for a new belt. This weekend we need to concentrate on her belt philosophy, which I wish were shorter: "The sun is beginning to rise. As with the morning's dawn only the beauty of the sunrise is seen rather than the immense power". The beginner student sees the beauty of the art of Taekwondo but has not yet experienced the power in the technique.

Jocelyn and I got to spend some time the other day at the library and it was great to be back there! Columbia has a wonderful library that is modern and beautiful. Jocelyn likes to pretend it is her house :) It is right across the street from her grade school which makes it very easy for us to stop in.

The girls seem to be looking forward to a weekend of hanging out and not doing much. We still have WAYYYYY to much Halloween candy for my temptation issues. The girls had such a great time trick-or-treating--to the point that I would've thought Olivia was an extrovert if I didn't know better. She was loudly saying trick-or-treat/thank you and then followed it up with a "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" shout at each house while she was jumping up and down. Pretty cute. She has talked about it often, usually saying "Halloween's all done. I went to the houses but now it's done".