August leftover stuff

Have I mentioned that Sunday is family game morning? With me trekking to ward council nearly every Sunday this tradition has been curbed a bit. We only get one good Sunday a month for a lengthy game. This is U-Build Monopoly. One of our favorites!

Macey Jane was cleared from the urologist for no more visits unless she has another infection. Here we are at Children's Medical City waiting for an ultrasound. At her visit with Dr Quan (the nephrologist) she had high blood pressure. If she doesn't have high blood pressure regularly over the next year and she continues her good water and bathroom habits she could be cleared next year for no more visits unless she has another infection.

Macey and I went to the library just the two of us. The Frisco library built this awesome kids train depot... but you have to be under 5. Lame! The sent us to these activity buckets in the back corner. Sister did enjoy this bridge and goat activity, but really we could have explored the train and not been bored either!

 Quote from Ryan, "I do not need a haircut." Does he even look in the mirror before he leaves the house?

 This is the deacons quorum camping. Dan gets to tag along on these adventures as the assistant scout master. So, to preface this, when they were loading the truck to go on this excursion it was pouring down rain and lightning. It cleared up enough for meal time.

 It cleared up for a night hike.

 The rains came down at 11pm and this tent had a malfunction which led to the boys' tent being filled with 1/2" of water.

Which led them to sleep in the travel trailer. Other unpleasantness occurred on this excursion, but I'll leave that to the imagination. I'll only say that the empty 2 liter bottles had a role in it.

 One deacon on the shore. The rest on the swimming barrier. Alex was telling me all about swimming out there and standing on the barrier. Uh-huh, I grew up next to Beaver Lake. I know all about trying to stand on the orange rail!

 Cutting it close... We waited until the WEDNESDAY before school started for haircuts. Luckily we got in and out since we arrived right at opening.

 What?! Macey is a soccer teamer! She has wanted this since she was 3. To be like big brother!  Dan is coaching 2 teams now. He is the best Dad ever! Macey's team is the Dolphins.

 Oh, look. Ryan wants to be in the picture. Not much of a surprise there.

Macers and I went to the temple after the trip to see Dr. Quan. I had to go to Beehive clothing. Sister said she had never been inside the temple before. So she and I went and sat in the lobby. Several families with small children were getting sealed and we got to see them walking inside. It was cool to talk about how families can be sealed together!

The Dallas Temple just underwent some major exterior renovations. The front is totally transformed. It is a lovely place to visit.

 Yeah, yeah, Alex is growing. Oh, and look. Ryan wants to be in the picture. We were having this nice discussion on meet the teacher night at Gunstream.

I wanted a picture of these handsome gentlemen in their dress clothes. The tie-less also took off their shoes so we could get an accurate gauge on height.

 First day of school. 2nd, 5th, and 8th grades. The middle schooler wasn't dressed for photos yet, but got in the picture anyway.

 Our sweet #1 girl.

So, Dan is traveling for work for 2 weeks, which means that another dad had to step up to run the first soccer practice. He did a great job. Alex assisted. It is exciting to think that these girls could be the beginning of a beautiful long lasting team!

Happy 7th Birthday Macey!

Macey thought long and hard on how she wanted to celebrate her birthday. I sort of pushed for a party somewhere where all I had to do was send invites and bring a cake. But alas, she settled on a Teen Titan's Go party at home.

 TTG is a hilarious show on Cartoon Network. It is not a largely marketed show, so I had to get creative on my own for decorations and whatnot. We ordered this cake topper from Etsy.

 Pizza! Oh, did I mention this party was the same day as the Black Belt Test? At 6:30pm. We scrambled to get both events taken care of!

 These were the best kids. Well mannered and calm. But I think it is because they are such a crazy mix of old school/new school and old ward/new ward. It was fine with me that they were chill. They were a tad wild on the trampoline, which is what it is for!

 Bowling for bad guys. No picture of my pins? We took pool noodles and cut them pin size and glued on character cut outs. The kids loved this activity.

 Homemade pinata of a Titan Tower. Uh, we did too good a job. We couldn't crack the thing. Finally Dan punched the side!

Presents. I put this present on the blog because, though it looks cool, it is the hardest child's craft I've ever had to do. Curses!

 Cake!

 Num num with Dad!

 Meatball and Waffle toss.

Macers and I made this. We drew (cough, traced) these characters and transferred them to this cardboard. We then painted it with tempura paint. We spent the most time on this and they only played on it like 10 min. Drats!

 Dad and Mace making the terrarium she got.

Her actual birthday was on Tuesday, the 2nd day of school! She admitted she was disappointed to find just clothes in this bag instead of a big American Girl Doll. But she says she thinks the outfit is adorable and it makes her happy too!

Grandpa got to experience all sorts of fun kids activities while he was here. Including having Macey wave to him from the top of the rope ladder at gymnastics!

We said that Macey had to pick a restauraunt for dinner, no fast food! She settled on dinner and a movie. We watched Pete's Dragon at Studio Movie Grill.

And to finish the day she opened the rest of her presents and cards. She only got clothes and accessories. No toys! Ha, I didn't even think of that when I divided up her gifts. We gave her the Teen Titan's tower at her party. Something to consider next year!

Black Belt

August 20, 2016

To Black Belt Review Board:

Hi, my name is Ryan Black and I’m 10 years old. I have been taking Tae Kwon Do for almost 5 years. I am in 5^th grade at Gunstream Elementary. I have a 7 year old sister and a 13 year old brother.

I started my Tae Kwon Do journey when I was 6 years old in kindergarten. I was excited when I opened my birthday present and found my gi and white belt inside. My favorite thing about Tae Kwon Do is Ma Ht Kye Ruh Kee and one steps. Something that challenged me in Tae Kwon Do was sparring. I didn’t like doing it, but Mr. Henry pushed me to keep trying. Now I like doing it.

A trait I got from Tae Kwon Do is respect for all living things. I also learned to never give up. When I get my black belt I will focus on teaching others on their way to be a black belt.

My parents have encouraged me to do my very best at Tae Kwon Do. I am proud of my parents for driving me to Tae Kwon Do every day. Mr Henry and all the black belts have taught me all the skills I need to get my black belt. I thank them for helping me reach this day.

I’d like to thank my family for supporting me today, especially my grandpa for coming from Arizona. I wish the other testers good luck and hope that we all do our best today.

Sincerely, Ryan Black

I am not sure why we each had an individual picture taken with Ryan, but here is everyone that went with him this day!

Dan watched from the instructors side of the room. He read Ryan's letter out loud to the audience. Testing this day (from right to left) Ryan, Dodson, Webb, Arnold (Shelby), and Hemata.

 The rest of us sat in the audience watching.

A Black Belt test is a grueling experience. Ryan arrived at the gym at 1pm and left at 5:45pm. He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything during the test. They started with basic punches and blocks and worked through katas, kicks, one steps, bo staff, and sparring.

At Ryan's gym they do not break boards regularly. Ryan had only practiced on the Thursday night before this. The theory is you are strong enough to break a dry board after 4 years of training. Ryan was one of the lucky boys. He broke his board after 3 kicks. Some boys had to take breaks and try many times before they finally got it. Stressful!

Did I mention this was a 4 hour test? Sister was awesome. She sat quietly watching. She started a movie during the 3rd hour when the testers were sparring. Exercise mats make for a cozy movie spot.

Sparring took forever. The kids were sweating and over heated. Webb threw up twice and begged to quit. But thankfully his big brother is a black belt and his family kept cool and pushed him on.

Amen! Hallelujah! He did it! Although, I guess it is not AMEN as in "the end", because I was informed that this is really the beginning of his martial arts journey. Becoming a 2nd degree requires teaching and growing as a leader. (And will take just as long since you have to be 16 to qualify!)

I am so, so proud of my son and this great accomplishment! We did encourage him to stick with TKD, but he never really asked to quit. He did take summer breaks. He did inquire about playing sports. But he always gave his best while in class. He is a different child in the gym than anywhere else. I am glad for the character building he has experienced from this sport.

This is his specially embroidered black belt.

And this is Ryan Vincent Black, Black Belt Instructor!