David took Carmen and Gabriel to their cousin Benjamin's 7th birthday party, which was themed after Benjamin's interest in karate.



(Carmen is 6 months younger than two of her cousins; this is a little weird because Paloma is also younger than two of her cousins!)

According to David, Benjamin's "Sensei" Chris was a delight, running the kids through
karate basics (see Gabe's hand strike) and not-so-basics (such as Carmen's flying kick) in a matter of 30 minutes, and all the kids loved it.


Amazingly, they all responded in a very disciplined manner, which is one of the hallmarks of karate.

Sofia was hilarious, doing the bunny hop on her knees!

I meant to scan the card Carmen made for Benjamin. It was cute, but mainly I cracked up at how she spelled karate: "c-r-a-w-t-y".

Carmen reported that she enjoyed speaking with Abuelo & Abuela en español when it was time for singing and cake.

Lety knocked herself out as usual with awesome decorations.

HI-YA! was heard all over the house last night. Now our kids are interested in karate (and David is, too). It's hard to imagine how we can fit in one more thing, however!

But that was a fun introduction, so thanks & happy birthday, Benjamin!

Where was I, you may wonder? Home with the sick and unhappy Paloma. She's been sick with a stomach virus since Monday, poor baby.

But since I had to hold her to get her to sleep at all, I was able to start catching up with this blog...

They left here at 1 PM and didn't come home until after 6, but at least they brought dinner!