Smarty Pants

We always said Ten was a bright little bugger. Ever since she was a baby, we could see the wheels turning in her little mind. Brilliance would come in tiny kernels: "octopus" as a first word, the ability to add in preschool- although she didn't know what she was doing (look Mommy 2 Cooper cars, 3 Bugs, and 4 Elements...that's 9 cars!), and lately she has pushed herself to figure out cursive writing (2 years early) and it's frighteningly legible.

Every parent thinks their kid is smart as a whip...but it's nice to occasionally get validation. This year, Ten got an Academic Achievement Award in Jan., in Feb. she was sorted into the advanced reading group, and today she made the Honor Roll. Actually, she made the Honor Roll with High Honors - meaning that 80% or more of her 2nd Trimester grades are at "A" and nothing is below "P" (proficient).

Way to go Ten! We're SO proud of you!!

Mrs. G's Class High Honors kids: Connor, Michael & Tenley








Smart is Sexy: Tenley & her buddy Em both made High Honors!

Can't wait to frame this!

The Bunny

Spring has come once again, and with it comes our annual trip to visit the Easter Bunny. We have taken Tenley to visit the same Easter Bunny every year: he's the kid sized audio-animatronic one at South Coast Plaza. He's really cool because he's controlled by someone off site who has a camera and a microphone so he can talk to and interact with each kid individually. The other really awesome thing is that because we have gone every year, Ten's Bunny pix are a great chronicle of how much she's grown and changed during the year.

So here ( in order) are Tenley's Easter Bunny pictures. Hope you enjoy the stroll down memory lane as much as we do!

2006




2007

2008

2009

2010

Gymn Pix

So I don't think we've ever really discussed Ten & Gymnastics. Ten has always had oodles of energy- the kind that makes you, the parent, want to tear your hair out because she hits the ground running and never stops...and it's been this way since the day they handed her to us. As a result, we have constantly looked for new and fun ways to wear her out since she was 9 months old.

She started gymnastics in Aug of '08- right in the middle of the Beijing Olympics- because "China Sister" Lauren had her birthday party at her gym and Ten loved it.

In August of '09 she got her first trophy for one year of continuous attendance. She was so excited to finally get hardware!

In September, she turned 5, and about 3 days after her birthday, Coach Tiffany called to invite her to join Level 1 Team Gymn. You could have pushed us over with a feather. Really? Turns out that Ten really is really good at gymnastics...and considering the amount of time she spends vaulting around our living room, she should be!

Team Gymn is not what you see on TV at the Olympics- that's Artistic Gymnastics (and you must be at least 7 to compete). Team Gymn involves a team of no less than 6 girls and/or boys who as a group do: vault, floor routine, tumbling, and mini trampoline.

Here are some random pix of The Fireflies at their competitions!

The Fireflies

At march in

About to start their floor routine...

Ten & Em in bridge

At the top of her tumbling pass

About to take off for vault...

In flight... (check out her awesome form!!)


Ok, the last pic is a really unattractive shot...but I put it in so everyone could 1. admire her amazing form, and 2. admire her incredible muscles!

Look at her extended leg! You could bounce a quarter off her tiny booty!

Kung Fu Surprise

It's amazing to me that Christmas was only about 8 weeks ago. I know this because it was over Christmas break that Daddy bought Tenley a chocolate shake that turned out to be a mocha shake, and the resulting caffiene rush was what prompted us to enroll our child in kung fu that very hour.

Ten's been loving kung fu. For the longest time she said she wanted to "fight like Mulan"- and now she is. She pays attention in class (which has won her 2 t-shirts!), and is unafraid of taking on the boys in her class. The quality of her kicks improved as soon as we gave her a tv tray to use as a target and showed her how to send it sailing across the room.

At first it was hard for her to understand why some of her classmates were getting belt promotions. We tried to explain that each belt color had certain moves that went with it, and you had to be able to do all those moves to advance. Every 8 classes (4 weeks) you get a "tip"- a tape stripe on your belt, and after 4 tips you can move up a belt color if you can do the form! Ten takes this very seriously, and has been practicing her white belt form almost as much as she practices gymnastics. She has 2 tips, and was happy to learn that Master Tim would be back from vacation before it was time to promote her.

So, we were totally shocked and unprepared at kung fu last Tuesday when Master Tim announced that he was promoting Ten to yellow belt 8 weeks early!! Seriously?? apparently he and Master Dan discussed it and felt that she was deserving of her promotion and felt no need to make her wait. She was over the moon- at last she too was getting a new belt!

Master Tim presented a very happy Tenley with her Yellow Belt certificate.

...and Master Dan got the challenge of tying the ginormous yellow belt around the very tiny warrior princess.

Afterwards, Ten and Master Dan posed with her certificate and new belt, and we did our best to get a good picture on our cell phones!!

Congrats Ten! We're proud of you!!

The League of Extraordinary Bowlers

Sat. Feb 20th marked a first for our family since Ten came home: this was the first year we have not gone to a Chinese New Year celebration. Although we welcomed the Year of the Tiger on the 14th, it seems that most public parades and celebrations took place last Saturday...at the same time as Alyssa's 6th birthday party. So, Ten had to make a choice: CNY or bowling with Alyssa friends. The bowling won.

Here we have The League of (Less Than) Extraordinary Bowlers who gathered for pizza and "Cosmic Bowling" (disco lights, glow neckalces and balls, loud dance music) to celebrate Miss Alyssa turning 6.

The League includes: Michael, Thomas, Isaiah, Briley, Makeda, Ashlyn, Emilee, Tenley and Alyssa.

The bumpers were raised, and they did have a slide to help them lob those oh so heavy 6lb balls down the alley, but they abandond the slide after the first couple frames and went with the "Fred Flintstone" softball pitch instead. Hilarious. I think there were at least 5 of them on each alley, and I'm not sure they ever actually completed a game; mostly because there were frequent stops for pictures, dancing, pizza and games of chase.

Jeff and I played 3 games on a neighboring alley, and were shocked to find that someone ( we have no idea who) managed to convince Ten to sit down and eat something. Had we suggested something so outrageous as stopping for food, the idea would have been immediately dismissed.

Getting them to stop bowling and sing "Happy Birthday" and therefore eat cupcakes piled high wih sugary frosting was not a problem at all.

2 hours and 20 minutes later we left with a tired, happy and hopped up on sugar little kid. Mom and Dad needed Ben Gay for their arms and wrists and some real food (ie. not bowling alley pizza), but a good party was had by all!!

Rainy Day & Tenley-isms

The Daily Tenley:

Having apparently spent too much time in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, Tenley has become convinced that the drawing of Mulan by Eric Robison that hangs in her room is blinking it's eyes and watching her. So at 10:30 last night, Dorian Gray called me to her room to cover the portrait and upon waking this morning reminded me not to uncover it. Apparently, it's companion piece, a portrait of Mushu the Dragon, is not evil and may remain visible.

For her viewing pleasure over her breakfast of waffles this morning, Tenley chose to watch Big Cat Diary and was treated to watching lions have zebra for breakfast. Then she saw cheetas have some sort of antelope thing. Feeling very confident, she told us she could outrun a lion. We told her she might if it was old and had a bad case of rickets. But this prompted a drive to school discussion of which animal was more dangerous: tarantula or black widow? Black widow or "brown culoose"? "Boa constructor" or rattlesnake? Python or "anacondo"? I'm going with "anacondo" as they seem to attract bad tennents and can be a bitch to unload in a good economy.

I Dressed Myself!

Cheerio !

Mommy bought the Wii Cheer game and now Tenley has decided to become a Cheerio!

The Ice Cream Slurp

Diggin' For Wormy Friends

Today was a great day for digging up some new friends. Tenley raced outside and immediately dove right into the fresh mud and started pulling out worms. She got some really nice fat ones. Somewhere in the middle of all this she had time to stop and pose for the camera once or twice. Now she is just one dirty but happy little girl.