Avoiding middle child syndrome

ok, so you always hear about "middle child syndrome." kyle always seems to fit right into this stereotype, and i have yet to figure out why! i have realized he is not as prominently displayed on our blog as the other two, and did not want yet another case of the forgotten child occuring! partly he is not in some pictures out of his own choosing - he doesn't want to participate in some of the activities the other two are involved in, or he gets grumpy about wanting to be in the photos. also, the other two are such big hams that they are always wanting their pictures taken, and kyle is usually content to not be involved. sometimes i think he has middle child syndrome on purpose! so here are a few cute pics of kyle from this year...

at disneyland getting ready to go on the toy story ride...

getting some cuddle time with daddy...

put your hands in the air and wave 'em like you just don't care oh yeah! (this is actually a direct quote from kyle himself!) 
well, ok, so the other two hams managed to sneak their way into a couple of pictures too, but i just thought these were so sweet!...



and speaking of being a ham, have you ever heard the expression you are what you eat?....

Kids at Play

a few cute pics of the kids playing outside (photos courtesy of angel)

Bowling Gal

Jordan joined a tiny tots bowling league a few weeks ago. it's so cute all these little kids (ages 2-5) rolling these bowling balls that seem to be bigger than them! she is having a blast and really enjoys her teammate - a 4 year old boy named brayden. the following are useful tips from jordanland for you would be pro bowlers out there! ha ha

tip number one: throw the ball as far out onto the lane as possible before letting it land. this is absolutely necessary if you are to reach your goal of being the noisest bowler in the center - the sound of the ball crashing down onto the lane is a kid's dream! tip number two: when you miss the spare a pouty face is essential

tip number three: leaning to one side produces a desirable outcome in controlling the destination of the ball as it rolls down the lane (many believe this is only a myth, but as jordan demonstrates here, it seems to actually work!)

fourth and final tip: when it's not your turn, make sure to amuse yourself thru other means, such as turning the bowling center swivel chairs into a jungle gym!

Beautiful Babycakes!

now i know i am biased since i am the mom, but are these not two of the most beautiful pictures ever of jordan?! (i especially like the bottom one) i can't take credit for taking the pictures, that was angel, but they just turned out so gorgeous! anybody know a good modeling agency (ha ha)

Zachary's Lost Tooth

ok, zachary is about to make a large withdrawal on the tooth fairy's bank account! i know every kid goes through this, but it is very amusing to me now that it is my own child! he actually has already lost one bottom tooth, but it wasn't really obvious because the adult tooth was already growing in behind it, and therefore didn't leave much of a gap. but this is great! the one next to it is wiggly, and his other bottom tooth is about to come out any time now. maybe we'll start calling him gaps.....?

Karate Testing

it's that time again - testing for karate! zachary is going for his green belt, and jordan will be moving up to a tiny tiger brown belt. they both did an excellent job and most of you would be surprised to hear that they both stayed quiet for most of the 2 hours! master jackson tells all the kids if he catches them talking, he will tear up their test papers and have to wait for the next testing date in 4 months - i guess that's good enough motivation for keeping their mouths closed! lolthis is the forms part of testing...

are we boring you yet, jordan?!

well maybe this will wake her up - i know it's very fuzzy (i still have to figure out how to take action shots in low lighting with my camera), but check out our instructor chris's flying side kick! he really gets up there - if you look, you will see the girl holding the bag up is standing on a platform about 2 feet high!

moving on to sparring...

and last but not least, here is zachary breaking his first board! last time he had to break it over chris's head. this time they let him break a thinner board, so hopefully the next time he will have the confidence to break the regular size one!

Jordan and Dad at Disneyland

ok it is now official - no more ride switching at disneyland! jordan is now 40 inches tall (this picture doesn't show it well because she is not standing up straight). so now the whole family can go on space mtn., soaring over

california, tower of terror, etc. all together! hooray!

this was jordan's day with daddy. it was just the two of them for the day! looks like they had great fun!

Zachary's Karate Test

so zachary managed to earn his way to the belt test for karate. he did a great job - he actually stayed quiet the whole 2 hours! unbelievable!

center punch (in korean: choon dan kong kyuck - we do actually have to know the korean terms! they are part of our test!)

i know this picture is fuzzy, but i just thought it was great anyway! this was during the sparring section of testing.

zachary has yet to break a board but since it is a requirement to break the board before passing, he got to break it over the head of our black belt instructor chris! what a tough guy! the picture below shows right after zachary broke the board, and Chris doesn't even look phased! zachary looked at our master belt instructor like he was crazy when he told zachary to break it this way - i wish i had captured that moment on camera!

Griffith Park & Observatory

we took a trip to griffith park, and the kids got to ride the miniature train (kyle is totally into trains and he rode it twice). zachary and jordan also rode the ponies, but the pictures didn't turn out.

anybody hungry for ham...?!

it was a beautiful sunset! it almost looks like we were photoshopped into this background!

this telescope kyle is looking into was actually built by the guy standing in the back behind kevin. there were several of these out on the lawn. pretty cool!

ok, so now everyone is witness to where my children get their bad manners from lol!

Trike-a-thon

kyle's kindergarten class had a trike-a-thon to raise money for the field trips. kyle chose to ride his scooter, and he did 6 laps (they laps are about a quarter mile long). zachary actually ran the first two laps alongside kyle! unfortunately this did not accomplish any drain in energy - what is with that?!

 whew! all done - time for a cool down!

thumbs up dude! he did great!

the whole happy clan!

 

here is my daughter the ham! she will pose all day long for the camera!

 

oh boy she is going to love these when i pull them out for her first boyfriend to see ha ha!