Jared Joins the Black Belt Ranks

Jared started his journey to black belt a few months after Titus so it makes sense that he would test for his black belt later as well.  Since Jared is also an instructor at the dojang, he has anxiously awaited this day as he felt it gave him more credence as an instructor being a Black Belt.

This is Jared when he first started TKD.  The first photo is with Master Kim and second with Master Ed-Lijah and Master Jang.

This is Jared with those same men today (Master Jang is on this tiptoes).... he's grown a little.

We can't forget Master Ko, he joined the dojang after Jared but has become a great mentor.

The dojang has become a second family for Jared.  We are so thankful for their love for our children.  Looking forward to the all the future has to hold for Jared on this TKD journey.

The Ides of March

I'm not really sure what an "Ide" is but it sounded like a nifty title.  

March 2nd Titus and Amber had a FIAR field trip to Walnut Creek.  This is an inner city wetland sanctuary.  Thankfully they had loaner boots for everyone, as it was still wet from the recent rains.  The kids had fun exploring, looking for and learning about different animals in the creek and wetland area.

March 3rd Lance and Amber had a "date".  They went to the ballet performance of one of Lance's friend.

March 4th was the beginning of Titus' baseball season.  Chris was bamboozled into to managing both the Varsity and Junior Varsity team and coaching the Varsity team for Titus' middle school.  It was a lot of work leading up to this day and will be till mid-May.  Titus has been playing a lot of outfield so far this month and had some serious ESPN catches, again this year he is often one of the only guys to make it home.

Titus also spent a lot of time with Frank this month rebuilding their chicken coop/run, taking down and putting up sheds.

Amber in turn spent a lot of time on horses.  I'm continually amazed at how she keeps improving.

Titus, Amber and I also started going to the park on Thursdays with a group of old friends.  We all weren't sure how it would work out but its been awesome for everyone.  These kids are great, they just play and play hard just like my kids needed.  It's hard for us to leave each week in order to get Titus to his Writing Class.

March 11th Lance and Jared went to an English Country Dance.  I'm so thankful for these events, they are such a great outlet for young people to have safe fun.

March 16th we had a FIAR field trip to the Raleigh City Museum with some interesting city history and building activities  After we went to a new (to us) park with an incredibly large slide and other challenging equipment the kids had blast playing on, while we moms enjoyed the beautiful weather and talked.

We picked up 20 new chicks on March 22nd.  The chicks arrived four days earlier than we expected so we had to scramble to get a place set up for them.  We decided to go back to the Comets we first got when we began our chicken raising journey and so far we are very pleased with our choice.

Mid March Titus decided to master the art of making Schaum Tortes, they are one of Chris' favorite deserts.

March 25th was a busy day.  Titus had a TKD event and performance at Ting Stadium.  The crowd really went wild after their performance.  

 

Then I took him to the Mc-Family for an Air-soft party I had already dropped Jared off earlier in the morning (Notice the nice air job he did painting his gun).  

In the middle of all this Amber's friend came to the house for a playdate.  Chis and Lance went to USA baseball to watch Caden play with the Collins.  When I got home I was thankful the girls play so well, it allowed me to just enjoyed the quiet till it was time to start picking people up and getting others home.  It was hectic but so thankful everyone was able to do something this Saturday they enjoyed.

Jared finished out the month taking a CPR/First Aid Certification Class at the fire department for work.  He said the class was both entertaining and informative.  Those are skills good for everyone to have.

Officially a Man

The Bible states that manhood starts at age 20.  Therefore, today Lance is officially a man, though to me he will always be my little boy.

We celebrated with friends at the bowling alley over the weekend.  Then today at home for the traditional ball pelting and spice cake (Age doesn't protect you from a good ball pelting).

His work celebrated him with a really nice Hibachi lunch, with custom deserts.

It's so hard to believe it's been twenty years.  He's grown a lot in the last year, especially in his confidence.  The world is a crazy place, its important to be able to stand your ground, know who you are and know what you want to be.  The next year is full of possibilities, though which path he will end up taking is still unclear.  In the mean time, we'll adjust to our role as counselors and support him along what every journey he chooses.  He's ready for manhood.  We pray the journey ahead will be full of great dreams realized and adventures full of joy.

Rex Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

Our loyal family friend died rather suddenly today.  He hadn't been eating much for a week and so we had the vet come check him out on Monday.  She found some swollen lymphnodes near his throat.  Wednesday, we got the confirmation it was a very aggressive form of cancer and then he was gone.  Thankfully, we don't think he suffered, he went very peacefully.   Its been quite a shock to everyone, but especially to Amber as he was her constant companion and even slept with her at night.

Rex came to our family nearly eight years ago, he was a rescue and little frightened but Chris quickly got him over that and he adapted quickly to family life.   Even as a puppy he knew how to pace himself when on a leash with Amber on her tricycle.  He was tough dog when it came to play, Oliver would truck him and he'd always get up happy for more.  He liked exploring the woods with the kids and of course going on as many walks as people would give.  That all said, he was also a great cuddler and empathetic to the needs of the family; providing comfort and companionship as needed.  The house seems empty without him.  

We are greatly thankful for all the good years we had with him and we will all miss him terribly.

The Weeks Add Up

Every weekend this month was packed with activity.  

Week 1 Titus' Birthday!  (click for details)

Week 2 Boys had an English Country Dance- The boy's theme was "beach bums" this time.

Week 3 was Holly's Birthday and a trip to the Greensboro Science Center, and of course dinner at Wicked Burger again (YUMMM).

Week 4 Titus and Jared had a TKD tournament in Charlotte Saturday.....Jared placed 2nd in Poomsae, Titus got 1st in Sparing by disqualification.  The kid did some dirty kicks and hurt his leg but we were so proud of Titus for still competing later with his Demo team even though his leg was really sore.  It's a good thing he did since he's a key part of the team and they ended up placing 1st!

and Grandma Mary's Birthday on Sunday.

Then of course we had everything happening during the week.  Like helping Miss Berta unload all her creative supplies and finding the first batch of crawdads in the creek.

All this activity helped us get rested for the beginning of baseball season next month..... not really but it all sure was fun!  Though I do think the dogs speak for us all.

T is for Titus

Titus said he had a great birthday week.  As is tradition, he got to pick the daily meals and movies for the week.  On Thursday, we also had his best friend over for a playdate (Amber and I had ours over as well as a bonus).  Then on his actual birthday we pelted him with play balls at breakfast and gave him his presents.  Since he had tried to make pasta by hand the other day, we decided the best thing to get him was a pasta maker, drying rack and some extra attachments.  Amber and Titus went straight to work and boy is his pasta awesome, his ravioli is even better.  The bonus is he's making it with our spelt flour so we can all eat it.

Later that evening Mary and Frank came by to celebrate and eat some spice cake, which finished out his birthday perfectly. 

But his birthday week wasn't over yet..... The Mc-Family came for a final celebration and the unveiling of Lance's gift they had put together the day before - Two Potato Guns.  Titus didn't know the Mc-Family was coming for the guns or the special desert; roasting marshmallows around the new fire pit.  Titus had wanted to do this for so long but it was raining on his birthday so we postponed the surprise to today.  

The Potato Guns were a lot more powerful than I think the kids expected.  It was quite a hoot to watch the potatoes fly high into the forest. 

Titus likes things that go fast.  He loves fast cars and especially aviation.  He currently wants most to learn to fly, be a aviation mechanic and maybe a chef as well.  He's extremely smart and mechanically inclined, I have no doubt he'll be a success at anything he decides he really wants to do.  He is also very athletic and keeps improving with TKD and baseball.  However, what matters most is his character.  As parents could not be more pleased than to be able to say that his character improves each year as well.  We love you very much Titus and can't wait to see what blessings are in your future.

Bumpy Beginning

Advent is an important time of year and I try to make it really special.  One traditional part of our advent celebration is to go on "Mom's Wild Goose Chase Adventures" to see the Christmas light displays around the Triangle.  Last year's trip went two hours longer than expected for a five hour drive.  As a result, we thought it might be better this year to try something new and drive only three hours round-trip to see the light display at the Greensboro Science Center.  Unfortunately, life and the weather kept getting into the way of these plans until we only had one day left - January 1st.  Since we had season passes, we didn't have to leave too early and arrived at the zoo about 1:30pm.  We weren't the only ones who thought a day at the zoo was a nice way to spend Sunday/New Years Day but as we all milled about confused, we realized the zoo disagreed.  After some phone calls and some searching on the internet we discovered the light show would begin at 5pm, but the regular zoo was closed.  Now we had to figure out how to spend the next four hours.  Since it was New Years Day it seemed everything was closed.  Then Jared had a brilliant idea, to go walk around the Guildford Court House Battlefield.  We had seen the park and walking trails next to the zoo, so without even having to get back in the car we began our walking journey.  This turned out to be a great idea.  The weather was perfect and exercise invigorating.  

After the first memorial, the kids really started to get into the mood.  Everyone found a stick and started doing stuff with them.  Next thing Chris and I knew the kids were doing a mini-reenactment, including marching in-time and multiple dramatic charges.  

Needless to say, all this activity worked up everyone's appetites.  We had been given recommendations on where to eat the last time we came to the zoo, so we preceded to the first one on the list.  It one was in a sketchy part of town in a shop attached to a gas station, so we kept driving to the other options; they were either closed or equally sketchy.  Chris parked outside the last one and I got on my phone to find somewhere to eat. Thankfully, I found a place close by that was open and had GF options. The restaurant was called "Wicked Burger" and boy was it good!  They even had goat cheese option and awesome sweet potato fries.  Once we were all stuffed it was time to head back to the zoo to finally see the lights. 

The lights were very pretty.  Chris and I had a big laugh, when the spinning globe was playing "Christmas in Hollis" with dancing reindeer and other animated animals - we of course jammed a little with the tune.  The kids then ran down the psychedelic tunnel and it was time to bring our trip to a close - or so we thought.  

There were one more treats on the horizon, the gift shop they filter you through at the end was 75% off and the carousel outside was free!  Titus and we girls girls took a ride while the other boys enjoyed watching on a comfy bench to the side.  Holly said she couldn't remember the last time she rode a carousel.

On the way home, Jared said with a smile that it was the first time in years we had told to him to "Pause" - playing with sticks and nerding out about history was so much fun.  Lance said the day was so great; he felt like a kid again.  Titus loved getting his little stuffed penguins to add to his collection.  Amber loved the lights, stars and carousel.  Chris and I were just thankful to see our kids so happy.  What a wonderful day of "making lemonade."

Then the month started to get back into a traditional flow.  The Mc-Family was over for dinner on the 4th. Titus tried-out and made the TKD Demonstration Team and had a great time at the Teams party afterward playing dodgeball and dancing. Additionally, we finally finished up the Christmas puzzle (less one missing piece) on the 11th.

On the 13th was our first FIAR Field Trip of the year to the Museum of Natural Science Downtown to go on a Creation based docent tour.  

After this, I went down for the count with some serious health issues that took into February before I could even manage to get out of bed and go downstairs.  During this time, Chris did an incredible job of keeping the house running with the help of ALL the kids.  Lance and Chris took turns getting Amber to riding and the boys to TKD.

Amber and Titus spent the sunny days outside, working on trying to make a creek dam that could handle the water load of the rains, moving all the daffodils into the backyard to concentrate their beauty and creating a fire pit for the back yard with old bricks we had laying around.

Titus spent the rainy days trying out new recipes; he even managed to make fresh linguini from scratch.

These are the times I'm really thankful we homeschool.