My very own Karate Kids!

We spent this past weekend in Orange Beach for the Hurricane Taekwondo Tournament. It was Katie Ann's first time to participate and we were all excited for her! This was Christopher's last tournament as a colored belt! He will be testing for his probationary black belt in a mere two weeks! Unbelievable! The kids had a great time at the tournament! Christopher took two silver medals (second place for his Form and Sparring) and Katie Ann took first place in Form! We were absolutely shocked that Katie Ann rocked her form the way she did! I was so proud of her! She did awesome in her One-Step combinations but the judges tend to spread the wealth in the Little Ninja category...She brought home a HUGE trophy that is half her size! haha Christopher won a huge first place trophy in Gatlinburg last year and they have been vying back and forth as to whose is bigger! Taekwondo is such an amazing sport...I truly respect those who do it! I love that it teaches my children discipline, patience and self-reliance. There is truly nothing out there quite like it!



This is Christopher and his buddy Matthew...they have been together since their white belt days!




Check out all the Little Ninjas and their trophies!
Here's my karate kids with their amazing instructor, David Holler!

Nativity Pots

I just had to show off this adorable little Nativity I made out of mini clay pots! I was asked to make these for our upcoming Advent Retreat to be used as centerpieces! I made 15 sets! Aren't they sweet?

Can we fix it?

The kids were out of school on Veteran's Day so we ventured downtown to one of favorite places...the Exploreum. We brought a friend of Christopher's along as well, Rylan. The newest exhibit is the Bob the Builder exhibit and it was right up Matthew's alley! He was in awe of all the machines and tools! He even got to meet Bob himself! He high-fived Bob and talked to him for quite sometime. It was adorable! Christopher and Rylan enjoyed the Hands on Hall while Katie Ann and Matthew played at the Wharf of Wonder. We spent nearly four hours roaming around the Exploreum and never even made it to the IMAX! I'm sure we'll be back to visit Bob sometime soon though!

Birthday Baby...

 
I simply can't believe that my baby turns two today! It seems like only yesterday he was just an infant in my arms! Matthew is such a joy! He is my adorable little man and I wish he could stay this size for a little longer! He is so much fun right now...although difficult to photograph because he is so busy! He is talking so much and learns new words all the time. He loves trucks, trains (choo choos), Bob the Builder, Max and Ruby (mostly Max), playing outside, building with blocks or Tinker Toys, and doing just about anything his sister is doing. He absolutely adores Katie Ann. He asks for her all day while she is gone to school! They play together so well and she is really a little mama to him. Matthew makes me smile all the time with the funny little things he says and does...he loves to give hugs and kisses. He loves to blow kisses from across the room. He likes to give the "gun and a wink" and "show his guns (muscles)". He is doing very well potty training and started it all by himself. He loves to cuddle on the couch and watch tv but I am the only person he will do this with! Mommies are special you know...
 
I baked him some special cupcakes to take to Mom's Day Out today! They were egg-free as he is allergic to eggs. All the kids had them for breakfast! Matthew and Christopher gobbled them down but Katie Ann wasn't to crazy about them. I thought they were pretty yummy myself! I'll be baking some more next weekend when we have his family party!
Say a prayer today for my sweet baby boy...he's growing up so fast!! 

Daisy Scout's Investiture

Sunday was our Daisy Scout Investiture Ceremony marking the beginning of our sweet Daisies' journey into Girl Scouting! The girls were all very excited! We began our ceremony with a flag ceremony and then said the Girl Scout Promise while giving the Girl Scout Sign. The girls learned the Girl Scout motto, Be Prepared!, as well as the Girl Scout Slogan, Do a good turn daily. The girls all participated in building our Daisy Petal by stating the color and petal they had and placing the petal on the board. We started with the Daisy Blue Promise Center and moved onto the rest...
Light Blue Petal for honest and fair- Katie Ann
Yellow Petal for friendly and helpful- Regan
Spring Green Petal for considerate and caring- placed for Laura Luckie (home sick) by Riley
Red Petal for courageous and strong- Savannah
Orange Petal for responsible for what I say and do- Gigi
Purple Petal for respect for myself and others- Sadie
Magenta Petal for respect authority- Lily
Green Petal for use resources wisely- Jillian
Rose Petal for make the world a better place- Mia
Violet Petal for be a sister to every Girl Scout- Sydney
I tried to match the majority of the girls with their favorite color! They did a wonderful job reciting! I read them the story of Juliette Gordon Lowe, the founder of Girl Scouts and they learned how the Daisies got their name. (It was Juliette Lowe's nickname!) We ended our ceremony with a Friendship Squeeze! We invited our parents, siblings and grandparents for refreshments afterwards! I made bows for each girl to matche their Daisy tshirts and I even found wooden daisy flowers to glue in the center! They turned out really cute! I think everyone had a great time and we are all ready to begin our journey in Girl Scouts!!!



My sweet Daisy Scout and me!

Katie Ann and Regan!

Our KA girls: Jillian, Mia and Savannah

Our KB girls: Sydney, Katie Ann, Lily, Sadie and Gigi

Another season has come and gone...

It's been rough at our house this week...Michael out of town...Katie Ann and Matthew have both been home sick with a stomach bug. And poor Christopher...he's been home all week with none other than Swine Flu...thank goodness he never actually started oinking at me and we never saw a curly tail but he was DEFINITELY sick! All kidding aside! He had a 104 degree fever, sore throat and miserable headaches and bodyaches. It was just awful! He started feeling bad Halloween night and woke up feverish on Sunday. It went downhill from there but we are finally back up and running! He has been fever free since Thursday and is headed back to school Monday morning! Katie Ann and Matthew are both fine as well. Maybe we will have a better week. Unfortunately, Christopher was unable to play in his last game of the season. I took him to the game but didn't feel he needed to run around and get hot and sweaty out there. It was pure torture for him...But atleast he got to go! He asked me atleast four times if he could change into his pads and cleats! We stayed after for a short pizza party and award ceremony. The boys each got a tshirt and a dog tag type momento with a football, team name, year and jersey number on it. It was a great time celebrating our second place finish for the season! Our coaches will coach the All-Star team who will compete against Corpus Christi in the Toy Bowl in December! It was a fun season but Christopher is definitely not happy that it's over for another year!

Nifty Fifty!

Last Monday was Nifty Fifty Day in Kindergarten! The children celebrated the 50th Day of School in poodle skirts, petal pushers, white tshirts and leather jackets! The moms came by and fixed Coke Floats for the children to enjoy! I made Katie Ann's poodle skirt along with three of her friends: Angelina, Ella and Grace! It was a fun day!

Trick or Treat?

Definitely a treat I would say...making my kids' Halloween costumes! I had so much fun this year! Katie Ann decided early on she wanted to be a bunny so hers was done early and it was adorable! Comfortable, cheap and super cute to boot! Matthew even loved her ears! I changed my mind so many times for Matthew...I had so many ideas that I went back an forth on but one night I was in WalMart looking for a pattern for Katie Ann and decided to check out the costumes one more time. I ran across this adorable Frog Prince costume, smiled, looked up and saw the perfect fabric on the shelf in front of me! It was FATE! I decide right then and there that that was going to be his costume! I made it over the next two days with just a tad of help from my mom! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! And so did Matthew! He never wanted to take it off! Especially the hood and the booties! It was hilarious...he would run around the house with it on! He even ate breakfast with the hood on one morning...He is to funny! He loves hats and masks too. I think he is the cutest froggie ever!! Christopher was my tough one this year...he couldn't make up his mind. We went to WalMart, Party City and Target looking for ideas but nothing struck his fancy! Finally, the Sunday before Halloween, I sat him down in front of the Family Fun website and told him to find something. He looked and looked and then got VERY excited and said "Mom!! I found it! I want to be a gargoyle!" I was like " a what?" I'm thinking "How in the world do I make one of those? Aren't they concrete?" Well, you know me...I never accept defeat in the face of a challenge without giving it a good try so I definitely tried! He absolutely loved his costume! I think it turned out rather well myself! It was really fun to make and not hard at all...a little foam, poster board and a stapler and we were off and running! It's amazing what you can find on that Family Fun Website...well we spent all afternoon at the Cub scout party, cleaned up, went to Mass in costume!, and then went trick or treating with the scouts. My troop was EXHAUSTED after about 45 minutes and we headed home...after the almost 300 pictures taken that afternoon, not one of them has me in my poodle skirt!! Michael and I dressed up like folks from the 50's! Check out his sweet little waterfall hairdo that he managed all on his own!
Hope Halloween was as much fun for you as it was for my family!!

Cub Scout Halloween!

For the past two months, my friend Christina and I have been planning the Cub Scout Halloween party! This was the first Halloween party the scouts have had in a very long time! We totally had a blast with it! I'm going to post the den pictures here and I'll put the rest on the Pack 143 Blog at http://pack143.blogspot.com so go there and check them out!!

Tiger Cub Scouts

Wolf Cub Scouts

Bear Cub Scouts

4th Grade Webelos

5th Grade Webelos

Eagles WIN!!!

Christopher's team played St. Ignatius on Halloween morning bright and early in windy rainy weather...it was COLD! It didn't seem to bother our boys though! The cheerleaders even left early because they were freezing!! The boys seem to have patched things up from our past two losses and came out on top today beating the Impalas 16-0! Christopher came off the field saying "That was really fun today mom!" He played nose guard (whatever that is haha!) and made several really good tackles and forced a fumble!

Here's their first touchdown...Christopher is #8 and ready to celebrate!!

Halloween at SDS

Halloween is a huge event in Kindergarten at St.Dominic's! We have a Halloween blessing, a parade and a party! The kids always have a great time! Katie Ann was in her element all afternoon singing "Little Bunny Foo Foo"! She hopped and wiggled her nose and would've eaten carrots if we had had some! She was so cute her in bunny suit!






Katie Ann's buddy, Grace, borrowed the poodle costume Katie Ann wore last year! We laughed and said this year we had a "Fifi and a Foo Foo!"

Here's Katie Ann and her class mascot "Ken Bear" who was in his own costume of course!

Unfortunately, over in third grade the festivities are not quite as lively! The third graders wear black and orange accessories but aren't able to come in costume like the little ones...it didn't put to much of a damper on Christopher and his friends though. They had fun with the treat bags I made for them! The vampire teeth were quite the hit!

October...

This has definitely been one of the busiest months I've had in awhile...between all the crafts I've done at home with the kids, the crafts and parties to plan for school, making three Halloween costumes, and planning a Cub Scout party for roughly 100 people...it's been crazy! And of course don't forget all of our "normal" activities...Katie Ann's piano on Monday, dance on Tuesday, and karate on Wednesday and Friday...Christopher's football on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and karate on Tuesday and Friday and go ahead and through in homework and projects to the mix! woo! I'm tired just thinking about all I've done the past few weeks! It has truly been a fun month! Here's a quick look at a few of the things I've been up to!
Matthew and I visited the pumpkin patch one day after Mom's Day Out and picked up a pumpkin or two...we never made it as a family! We tried about four times to go but it's been raining so much that each time we've tried to go it pours! Oh well, there's always next year!


Michael and the kids carved the pumpkins one night last week and it was quite the experience for Matthew! He was so excited and kept saying "pumkin" over and over...he is to cute! Well...he stuck his hand inside to check it all out and quickly made a face and said "EWWWWWWW!!!" It was HILARIOUS! So glad I captured that moment!!!



Katie Ann came home from school the other day and said "Mom, we HAVE to do something fun this afternoon because tomorrow I'm a reporter!" She is so dramatic...each day the "reporter child" reports on their previous day's afternoon and most of the time it's all the same...snack, play outside, dinner, bath, bed. It gets "published" in the kindergarten news at the end of the week. haha Well, MY child wanted to have something to REPORT! So I kept her busy all afternoon! We played outside, painted, made our own clay and made ghosts, made cupcakes, and finished up the kindergarten treat bags! She had so much to report the next day she couldn't remeber it all! So here she and Matthew are with their homemade play dough ghosts! It was really easy and lots of fun!



Here is my pumpkin patch of treat bags for KB! These are super easy and so adorable!! Try it out next year for your own pumpkins on Halloween!

Defeated again...

Christopher's team lost to St. Mary's on Saturday in a really rough game! Those boys were big and fast! Our defense worked hard but couldn't hold them and they scored three times on us. We finally scored near the end of the fourth quarter but could never seem to do much with the ball. Christopher was excited to be able to run the ball at the end of the game and recovered a fumble. The boys were sorely disappointed but that's the way it goes sometimes.. Unfortunately, I think we are now in third place so I'm not sure how many players will make it to the All-Star team...the future's not looking to bright! We still have two or three games left to play so we'll just have to see how it all ends up!








It was cold and windy but I backed my Expedition up and the kids played in the back almost the entire time! Katie Ann was tailgaiting with Rusty, Regan, and Matthew!

Black and Orange Day...

 
Friday was McGill Toolen High School's Homecoming and to celebrate our school had Black and Orange Day! The kids were able to wear black and orange accessories to school with their uniforms. My kids were so excited! Katie Ann's favorite was the pair of black and orange tights! Christopher loved his orange sunglasses and they both loved the black teeth I found! They shared a pair of black and orange gloves and each wore black spider rings! It was a super fun day to dress up and celebrate!

Halloween crafts

 
 
 
 
I worked in the KB classroom Friday morning and somehow made my least favorite subject work for me! I taught Math! Now for those of you who know me...I am TERRIBLE at Math! I get it wrong using a calculator so it was quite hilarious that I was teaching kindergarten Math! It wasn't anything terribly complicated thank goodness! They have been studing patterns and we incorporated a Halloween craft into their Math class. The kids made Halloween bracelets for their moms out of black, orange and clear beads. I had them all bagged separately with the correct amount of beads and the string tied on one end to the clasp. Several moms came to help and the kids loved it! Our pattern was black, black, clear, orange, orange, clear and repeat! I was able to handle it quite well and didn't end up needing the calculator for any of it!