Yellow Belt

Madison got her yellow belt tonight, out there on the floor doing the things she's been learning over the last few months.  She's spent a good deal of time learning, and she's really enjoyed it.  We recently bought tickets to "The Nutcracker" at the Gainesville Ballet, and in our usual spot there (which is funny how many times we've sat in those same exact seats over the past decade).  The point is, Madison was thinking about ballet, and remembering all the good times she had there.  She misses it, but this is something she clearly enjoys much, much more.  She's been happy two times a week, ready to jump in and do some punches and kicks.

Here she is above, doing a few of those punches, among other things.  The floor had about twenty other students also in various stages of learning, each ready to move on to the next belt. Some were yellow belts, some were white belts.  You can see Madison had the orange belt above, along with the three stripes to indicate her progress.

This picture above is the last one taken of Madison while still an orange belt, just before removing it to put on the yellow belt with help from Mommy and Daddy.  We were welcome out there on the floor, along with the other parents as well, but not during moments like below:

Madison was doing her kicks and all of the choreographed combos, and all the time doing those confident screams and shouts.  It was very cool - she's grown into this very well.  Christine, her teacher, has seen good growth from her since the camp this summer.  She was a little uncertain and wavering a bit, but now she's full of confidence.

Here she is with one of her friends from KidPak.  In fact, there are a lot of kids from KidPak here, which makes for an easy time while waiting in the parent lobby.  Many of the parents already know each other, and obviously have a bit in common.

All the parents weren't in the waiting room tonight though - we were on the floor as well.  Daddy was standing against the wall watching the kids do their exercises, and then their different combos.  You can see where Mommy is in the reflection below, seated to the side.

As mentioned earlier, when all is said and done, the parents go out to the floor to help the kids change belts.  Here you can see Madison putting her yellow belt on for the first time, with help from Daddy.

In fact, both parents help out, both holding on to one end, while Madison holds the other end.  We all pull together at the same time, symbolizing our partnership, and how we all worked together to get to this yellow belt.  Achieving this moment is not something done entirely alone!  And here's Madison proudly wearing that yellow belt for the first time:

Pretty cool, huh?  She's with Mommy there, who came along and sat with Pastor Lance and his wife, who also came to see Madison and the other kids at KidPak.  It was a neat opportunity for them to see perhaps something that their daughter would be doing some day!

Here's Madison with Kate, and below, you can see a several kids with Pastor Lance and his daughter Charlotte.

It was a nice evening for the kids and the parents.  We really enjoyed it all, and it was a great moment for Madison, who we are of course very proud of.  She's worked hard on all of this and put in a great deal of time, getting more and more comfortable as the class moved along.  There aren't as many girls, but that isn't stopping her from getting in there and having a good time!

So we left after this, and we were not done yet:  no, we had to get to the Quinlan Visual Arts Center, so Madison could see her painting hanging on the wall for the Members Exhibition!

We got there just in time, and as you can see, Madison didn't even have time to change!  But she was happy to see her creation hanging up, something we called, "Goodnight Moon."  She actually did this piece of artwork last summer at the Quinlan's art camp.  It turned out pretty well!

And here's that work that Mommy did:

It's called, "You Can Learn A Lot From the Flowers," and it was created by pouring paint onto the canvas rather thickly.  She did a great job with this!  We posted this on social media and there were a whole lot of positive responses, many from people who didn't know Mommy was able to make this sort of artwork.  I'm like, "Of course she can make that sort of stuff!"  Hopefully we'll be seeing more from Mommy, in fact.  

Daddy submitted this embossed "Ariel View," one the image printed in ink.  It turned out really well, although this was really only chose because it was the only thing we had a frame for!  Mommy's work was more thoughtfully prepared, while Daddy and Madison sort of had to scramble with all the other things going on, and were pretty fortunate to have anything at all to submit.  Obviously, we're not in this to win it, but just to have something there on the walls.

We went home after this, and it was a bit more racing:  eating, getting ready for bed, reading, prayers, zerberts.  It was a pretty full evening!

The day was full too, of course.  Madison was at school, and there were tests.  Daddy was at work, writing for this weekend, and Mommy was getting the house ready for an upcoming visit - as well as a little vacation not far away.  A lot going on this time of year!