Megan is 5!

How did this happen??  Our little girl is 5?!

She's still as sweet as ever, giving hugs and kisses at just the right time.  She loves to play with her brother, can be very independent, enjoys Taekwondo, and loves to sing along with the radio in the back of our car.

She had three birthday celebrations this year: one with Granny and Grandpa and the Shripka's, one with Jeff, Tyler, and me, and a Team Umizoomi birthday party with her friends.  All were a lot of fun.  For more photos, click on the photo above.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a wonderful time at Thanksgiving as the Shripka's and Granny and Grandpa all made the trip out to see us.  The kids loved being together, spending time making inventions, posting diagrams of them all the way up our stairs, seeing Longhorns, shooting a bow, launching rockets, climbing on our wall, playing football, and swimming in a pool that was still a little bit too cold.  We had a lot of fun and are so thankful that everyone made the trip.

For more photos, click on the photo below.

Visit to the Houston Children's Museum

A few weeks ago the kids and I visited one of the best Childrens' Museums that I've ever been to; it was full of opportunities to create, learn and play.  And, since it was before Halloween, we got to trick-or-treat through the museum.  I hope we'll get to go back soon.

For more photos, click here: https://plus.google.com/photos/111368886757968637183/albums/5947111196833177921?banner=pwa

Halloween 2013

This year the kids both requested costumes that aren't available in stores, so I got the opportunity to get creative and make them (thank goodness for the internet!).  Tyler was Steve from Minecraft and Megan was Milli from Nick Jr.'s Team Umizoomi.

We spent Halloween night having dinner at our friends' house and then driving around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating (we're still getting used to this new form of trick-or-treating; you mainly see groups riding in hayrides or in the back of pick-up trucks).  It was a lot of fun!

For several more photos from the pumpkin carving, TKD Halloween party, and trick-or-treating, click here: https://plus.google.com/photos/111368886757968637183/albums/5947107803117582177?banner=pwa

Our first trip to the drive-in!

A few weeks ago we spent a family night at the drive-in watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Gravity.  It was a lot of fun and a great deal!  We look forward to going back soon.

Happy 8th Birthday, Ty!

8???? How is this sweet little boy of ours already 8?? He's still as caring, outgoing, and funny as ever, but with more confidence and even more awareness of how people are feeling around him. He makes us laugh in one way or another each day and we are so proud of him. As is traditional with his birthday falling right after a holiday weekend, we celebrated his birthday all week. This year he wanted a Minecraft theme so I did the best I could (although I still don't completely understand the game). On Tuesday he had the traditional birthday donut and present opening in the morning and that evening he had his TKD graduation (just by chance) and he got to do a birthday run through everyone in the class and we all went out to dinner.

On Saturday, we had his first out-of-the-house birthday party at TKD, with 15 of his classmates (from school and TKD) attending. They had a lot of fun learning TKD, self defense, and breaking boards (all while defeating Minecraft spiders and creepers at the same time).  Keeping with the martial arts tradition (which I just learned about), each child had to tell Tyler something that they liked about him when they gave him a gift.  I've never seen that done before, but it added something special to the time.  Mr. Cox did a great job with the party and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves.

For more pics from his birthday, click on the photo below. Since some of the activities require some explanation I added captions to many of them. Enjoy!

Megan's first TKD testing

Megan continues to LOVE Taekwondo, but I didn't expect the extreme joy that she showed when she tested and got her orange belt.  As she waited for Tyler and me to test, she insisted on showing her new belt to almost every person that came into the school.  It was fun to see.

Below are some videos (clearly I didn't think about the placement of my seat, but at least you can see a little bit around the post.).  To view a few more photos, click on the photo above.

1st Day of School!

Here are some fun picks from Tyler's first day of 2nd grade and Megan's first day of her second year of Pre-K.

Amateur Taekwondo photo shoot

If you can't tell, the kids are loving Taekwondo.  We got some great photos after class one day.  The top one is my favorite :).

Summer long weekend in Austin

For our last family trip before Tyler starts school we took a long weekend in Austin.  On the way, we stopped at Louie Mueller's BBQ in Taylor where I had the best BBQ that I've had since we moved here (and we mistakenly ordered 7 ribs until we discovered that they each had about 1.5 lbs of meat on them).  After that, we headed west of Austin to Enchanted Rock where we had fun hiking to the top.  The next couple of days we had fun around Austin swimming, hiking, and, of course, eating.

Click on the top photo below for more pictures.

...And another

Last weekend we travelled north of Dallas for another TKD tournament. It was a great venue and had alot of fun with all of the families from the school. Ty won a tiebreaker for 3rd place in forms.

Another TKD weekend...

This weekend we had two fun TKD events.  Tyler got to participate in his school's instructor demo at a local festival (Tomball Night) and then the next day we had an "in-school" tournament at the school.  For the first time, both Megan and I (yes, I'm training now too...it's a great bonding time with the kids) got to compete.  Everyone did great and had a lot of fun.

Here are the pictures (linked) and the video from the instructor demo (they were supposed to be on the stage, but there wasn't enough room).


Click on the photo below for the tournament pictures.

In our side yard...

More TKD - Worlds 2013

The weekend after we got back from our trip, we drove up to Little Rock, Arkansas so that Tyler could participate in the first (and biggest) tournament of the season--the World Championship.

This was Ty's first time competing in sparring and he did a great job.  He came home with a first place in forms, 2nd's in traditional weapons and sparring, and 3rd in combat sparring.  It was a great experience.

For more pictures, click on the photo above and for all of the video action, click here (our favorite is Sparring Round 2...he's the one in the black gear).

Summer "Road" Trip 2013

Once again, we enjoyed a wonderful (air and road) trip Up North and to Palatine to see the Burke's, Chernesky's, Shripka's, and Granny and Grandpa. We had a great time tubing, swimming, hiking, go-karting, mini golfing, and relaxing. The weather was beautiful, too. 

After our time Up North, the Shripka's were nice enough to drive over to Palatine for a day of fun at Granny and Grandpa's house. It was a perfect ending to another very memorable summer trip. For lots of pictures, click the top photo below.

Giving Friday returns (again)

I finally got organized again and to the kids' delight, we're back into the habit of Giving Friday.  I'm so thankful for the community of support that we have through Big Hearted Families that keeps me motivated when life gets busy.

Last week's project and this week's project are both supporting an organization called Family-to-Family.  Last week, we participated in their Birthday Giving Project in which you put everything that a child would need to celebrate a birthday (including homemade cards, as shown below) in a shoebox and wrap it.  Family-to-Family connects you with a local shelter to which you can deliver your boxes.  We plan to do this once a quarter or so, with our next two times being Sept. and Dec. (special months for the kids; why not celebrate your own birthday by helping someone in need to have fun celebrating theirs?).

We also signed up for a year-long commitment to Family-to-Family's Books for Life project which involves them pairing us up with a child in need to whom we send a book with personal notes each month.  I can't wait to see what the kids put in their notes and look forward to the regular commitment that will help to keep us focused on giving throughout the year.

Fun visit with Granny and Grandpa

A few weeks ago Granny and Grandpa came to visit us and we had a great time visiting the NASA space center, watching Ty at his Taekwondo class, playing golf, eating ice cream, doing a little rock climbing :), and having a Memorial Day BBQ.  We had a lot of fun and were so thankful that they came to spend the long weekend with us.  For more photos, click on the photo above.

Finally made it to Austin!

We've been wanting to visit Austin (beyond the airport, which I visit monthly) since we moved here and finally decided to make a last minute weekend trip.  We loved it!  We explored a roadside BBQ (of course), Reimer's Ranch, the Barton Creek greenbelt, Pedernales State Park, and, of course 6th street and Rainey Street (which we loved).  We also tried to see the bats come out from the Congress St. bridge, but they decided not to come out that night :(.  For more photos, click on the picture below.

Easter 2013

Well, since the Easter season is almost over, I thought I'd finally get around to posting our pictures.  We had a wonderful day with another outdoor egg hunt and a very fun dinner with the Raney's.  Enjoy the pictures by clicking on the photo below.

(Lots) More Taekwondo

Last week was a big week for Tyler in Taekwondo, as he earned his yellow belt and also participated in his first tournament where he earned 3 first place medals.  We love the passion he has for it and his focus and intensity (you'll see what I mean in the photos).

Warning:  These photos are unedited and there are quite few :).

To see all the action in video form, click here.  To see more photos, click here.

Megan's 4th Year--Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Tae Kwon Do for Ty continues

Ever since we moved from Virginia, Tyler has wanted to get back into Tae Kwon Do.  We finally signed him up and he's loving it!  He just recently had his first belt test and also had a chance on another day to break a board. 

Pinewood Derby

Tyler and Jeff had a great time creating and racing Ty's first Pinewood Derby car.  Tyler even won a trophy for "Best Scout Themed Car" for the Tiger Cubs.

For pictures and videos, click on the photo above.

Christmas 2012

We had a very relaxing and fun Christmas break!  Although we were sad that Granny and Grandpa couldn't come, we were thankful for the power of technology (Skype) that allowed us to still share the fun together.

We got to spend time with the Raney's twice, played lots of games (Monopoly, in particular), rode our new bikes outside (something we're not used to doing on Christmas), built lots of Lego creations, made way too many cookies, watched caterpillars turn into butterflies, played golf, and had a wonderful time overall.

For lots of pictures, click on the photo below.