Girls Only!

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Mom and I took Cadence to the uPaint Pottery Studio for some "Girls Only" time.  We had talked about an outing like this for some time, and we finally had the opportunity to do it!  It was a quiet afternoon where we got to chill out and spend some time together.  Cadence picked out a fox to paint, while Mom picked out a snowman, and I picked out a Christmas tree.  All of our pieces turned out really nicely and we had a good time making our pieces pretty!

Taekwondo!

Shortly after Halloween, the kids attended their first taekwondo class.  Baseball was over for Colin, and Cadence was attending one piano lesson each week.  I contacted the owner of the local company and found out that the kids could start in November since a new testing cycle had started - essentially everyone was starting with new material.  We were looking for something for the kids to try before basketball and cheer started up after Christmas and thought, "let's try taekwondo."  There's a location 5 minutes from home and a Westerville location that has classes on Saturday as well.  They offered a free class to make sure the kids liked it.  The instructors do a good job to make sure the kids have fun and enjoy it - they are a business after all.  It's awesome that the kids want to continuously do better and earn the next stripe on their belt.  Since starting in November, the kids earned all of the stripes for their white belt and then earned their yellow belts before Christmas.  Cadence has set a personal goal of earning her green belt by Halloween.  I think she can do it as long as she sticks with it.  The kids also want one of these to display their belts:

I'm happy that both kids have found something that they enjoy and take pride in.  I'm also happy that the schedule is flexible and we can attend as many classes in a week that we would like.  With the kids' ages and skill level, they can attend the same class.  The instructors and senior students do a great job and I hope the kids want to continue with lessons.  I'm looking forward to the days when they can break a board of wood!

During the class, they split the kids up to provide more one-on-one attention and to also keep things interesting

Cadence proudly displaying her latest achievement

The awards ceremony where the kids received their yellow belts

They're such awesome kids and I'm proud to be their mom!

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Christmas is right around the corner -- a lot of the time, I end up with photos and stories to share that don't really "fit" with a blog post.  I thought I'd share some of those photos before 2019 rolls around!

Mom and Dad took the kids to Buckeye Lake for a weekend in September.  The KOA had a Halloween themed weekend with a ton of activities.  The kids dressed up and went trick-or-treating (well, Colin showed up and was freaked out by the Bert and Ernie costumes).  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for treating the kids to a weekend of 'glamping'!

There was also a random Friday that the kids had off from school.  Mom took them to the Columbus Zoo and they found these cool eagle wings at the gift shop!

The son of our family friends had a birthday party at the gym where he has gymnastics.  Unfortunately, Colin and Danny couldn't go because of a baseball game, but Cadence had a lot of fun!

Silly sock and hat day at school during spirit week!

This picture was taken on October 6th...in OHIO.  Whaaaaat? Yes, the water was chilly, but the kids went swimming!  Who would've thought we'd get to use our new pool that late into the year?!

Colin's teacher has posted some cute pictures recently - here he is proud of his 'squiggle' work (the teacher draws a 'squiggle' and the kids have to create something

 out of it).

The local fire station went to teach the kids about fire safety at school

The kids spent a lot of time playing with Osmo one weekend

Breakfast at our favorite joint...Northstar Cafe!

Post-game huddle

Colin's sunflower artwork was featured in the school office during the month of October!  He's following in his sister's footsteps in terms of artistic ability!

Danny's poor Uncle Ricky passed away unexpectedly in October.  We visited family in Hamilton to celebrate his life.  I know visiting with the kids was a nice change of pace for Danny's parents and especially his grandparents.  Everyone is going to miss Uncle Ricky.

Here are the kids getting in a good workout

Danny took the kids to a nearby antique shop during a day off from school.  Colin was apparently a fan of a gold chain he found. 😂  He thought he looked like the violin guy from America's Got Talent! 

 

Photo fun while waiting for the bus!

Mom snapped some cute pictures of the kids during Colin's last (chilly) baseball game!

Gaga Ball at school!!

More kindergarten pictures of Colin

2018-2019 School Yearbook Photos...my, my, my, where has the time gone?!

And duh, no post is complete without some pup pics!  She sleeps 99% of the day...