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 :).