A big congrats to our 1st Degree Black Belts!!!

 

Early June, Neil and our older boys, Fone and Mario, received their first degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do.  It seems like yesterday that they were testing for their temp black belts.  We are so proud of them and the 3 years of hard work, determination, and practice of their TKD tenets....

We had a small gathering today in celebration of their accomplishment, including laser tag and then lunch/ cake with some friends and family, along with their Master, his wife (Mrs. Master) and one of their sons (also a black belt).  A great time was had by all!!! 

Isn't this cake great?!!!!  Olde Towne Bakery did a fabulous job with the TKD theme! 

We cannot recommend their TKD school enough!  Great teachers, fair price, very flexible schedule, and fellow classmates/teachers who become part of the "family".  What a blessing they are!! 

A productive afternoon

A huge thank you goes out to my sweet nephew and oldest son, Fone, for all their hard work this morning.  They weeded and sweat and raked and sweat and spread mulch and sweat some more!  I wish I would have taken "before" pictures, but didn't even think of it.  But, here's a look at the wonderful job they did - after a few hours of hard work and 27 bags of mulch....

++  Thank you, God, for boys who aren't afraid to do a little hard work, get dirty and for the fruits of their labor!!  ++

8 months baby!

Eight months ago, I gave birth to this sweet little girl.  She was 5 weeks early and 2 tenths of an ounce shy of 7 pounds.  She is our delight of a daughter - Rose!

Although the first month was rough since her little mouth couldn't latch well for nursing, I hung in there despite the struggles.  I continued "practicing" nursing, pumped, and fed her a bottle for EVERY feeding in hopes that her teeny mouth would grow enough to get a good latch.  Well, it did!  When she hit her due date, 5 weeks after birth, it was almost INSTANT!  She could latch and has been nursing perfectly since.  Lots of prayer and grace got me through those hard times.  But, it was SO worth it!  And, look at her now.  Can you tell our chunky girl was a preemie?  Can you tell that she had nursing struggles and lost some weight that first month.  Not really!  Thank you, God, for your grace and strength!

She is such a smiley, giggly, happy, squealy, chunky, pinchable, lovable, adorable little girl!  How blessed we are!!!  Love you, Rose!  Happy 8 months today, dear!  :)

++Thank you, God, for our sweet Rose, who has brought so much JOY to our family these last 8 months.  Please continue to bless her and bless us as we strive to model the Holy Family.++

A fun night with Daniel Tiger

We have a great local public tv station and thanks to my in-laws who donate generously every year, we get invited to a party with one of the PBS kids characters.  This year, the kids got to meet Daniel Tiger, whom Pookey just adores!!  And, one of the best parts about the evening is that their young cousins came as well - so there were 13 out of the 16 young kids together.  It was so sweet! 

First, we started out with some yummy food...

Hanging out and waiting our turn to get to make some really fun balloon creations...

Two proud daddies with their babies...

We played a couple games - "Daniel says" and a fishing game....

Made a commercial - we're FAMOUS!  I wanted to link it up, but I'm having a hard time finding it on the website.  However, I did find a commercial that our kids were in from a couple years ago (do you notice the kids in the video wearing those cool tie-dye Sacred Heart shirts??)...

And, last but not least, a photo of the 13 young cousins before leaving....

++Thank you, God, for the fun night we had!!++

Look what she did....

Miss Melody and I "fight" over who gets to snuggle and love Little Rose sometimes.  She won the battle this morning and danced and danced and danced our sweet little baby until she fell asleep.  Wow - how incredibly blessed I am to have the helpers I do in my children. 

++Thank you, God!!++