We skipped lessons for this...!

Yesterday school was canceled because there was one area in our school zone that the buses couldn't get to because of a little snow. So yes, I stayed in my pajamas just about all day and the boys loved getting to stay home from school. We had to finally get dressed when it was time to go to lessons. But today it was a half day of school because of teacher training. Because I am already half day I got to pretty much go home when the boys did. So we hurried home because of the weather reports stating that we were going to be getting a big snow storm tonight and right as we walked in the door it started to snow. After about an hour of the snow we decided rather than driving to lessons we would just stay home and the boys were even more excited because they were going to be able to go out and play in the new fallen snow. Last year the snow wasn't the type that you could make snowmen, but today's was. The boys talked some of the bigger kids into helping them make snowmen. My kids were the experienced ones when it came to making them, and the larger kids were the brawn, so it worked out quite well for everyone. And the snowman turned out pretty cute too.

Broken, broken, broken

Friday night was exciting night for Isaiah as he was tested for his Yellow belt at Tae Kwon-do. He was asked to break three different boards in addition to passing off his forms. The first board generally used for Kindergartners which he broke through with no problem, then was asked to break through another which had a crack which he broke through. So Master Song asked him to break through a third thicker board. By this time Isaiah's hand was hurting as he attempted to break through the more challenging board, but he did it after a few attempts he focused passed his pain and fear and did it. We are so proud of him and what he accomplished.

Turkey day fun!

We decided as a family to go to the Turkey Trot here on post. They had a 5K and a 2 mile walk. Braxton really wanted to participate in the 5 K like he had last year and went for it with Brandon. Braxton was the youngest participant his year. His age group was 15 and younger. He came is second to a kids who looked to be in high school. We are so proud of him and how determined he is to compete in these events. Isaiah and I walked and we sometimes ran. Isaiah was so funny after about a mile he was ready to be finished. But then he looked back and saw that there were a few kids behind him and kept on going. He was the youngest kid and came in first but somehow they put the tags in the wrong order and the girl that he was determined to beat took the trophy home. He and Braxton both came home with teddy bears and all were happy. Then we went to stuff ourselves with goodness on post. This year they decided to add King Crab to the Thanksgiving meal and Braxton was one happy boy. Maybe this will be a new tradition. Crab with trukey! Yum!

50 Nifty!

This month Isaiah's multi age class have been working on state reports and Isaiah was given the opportunity to have Utah to work on. He keeps talking about how all of his grandparents live in Utah and so his teacher just assigned him this state. He worked his little tail end off night after night completing the assignment. And finally got it done. The first and second grade put on a wonderful program for the parents along with a little feast from each of the states. Being from Utah we were supposed to come up with a special food that state is know for. Hummmm! Green jello, I think not so I went for the beehive state theme and put honey butter on crackers. Isaiah was perfectly pleased with the brownies that someone else brought in. He had three of those. And they sent him home all sugared up. One funny fact about Isaiah is that he has a problem with wanting to be in the front of each line. It doesn't matter where he is. It can be getting on the bus each morning or getting in line for our branch's potluck dinners. He somehow makes it to the front. I took a picture of him standing right behind his teacher ready to head for the food! So proud of my little first grader.

Star Kid!!!

Braxton was awarded the Principal's Honor Roll Award this past week. He was under the impression that he was getting an award for his grades and didn't quite know what he was getting. They had called all of the Honor Roll kids (A's and B's) from the fourth grade and hadn't called Braxton's name. He was getting very worried and you can see it in the first picture. He was worried that they had just forgotten about him until after the fifth grade Honor Roll kids they then talked about how each of these students they were about to call had gotten all A's on their report card and so he has an extra special honor. We are so proud of him and all that he is working so hard on in school. His teacher has really helped him to grow and develop these past few years. He has had the same teacher since we have been here and she is so willing to work with his need and his special talents. Yay us! We don't know what we will do next year when she doesn't move up with him. But I bet we'll manage!

Boom! We're Yellow!

Braxton had an advancement test in Taekwondo this past weekend. He was so nervous and wouldn't talk the entire way to his test. When we got there, we found that he was the only white belt that was advancing and so he was having to do a lot of the steps and moves by himself where the other advancements had others passing off the same belt and they all got to go together. He did so well for his first time and we are so proud of him. When it came time to break the board Master Song told us that the board Braxton was going to be breaking was for a student who was a little more advanced than he was but that he knew that Braxton could do it. Braxton broke right through that board and we could just see the relief on his face. It was the part that he worried about the most. He has been practicing and helping his brother out at home so that he can become better. Way to go big guy!

Halloween 2012

Halloween happened here the Saturday before Halloween. Our ward invited the Korean branch to come out to a fall festival here at our building. There were quite a lot of activities for everyone. We had a great time. Then here on post they have a trick-or treating day set aside and thank goodness it isn't ever scheduled on a school night. So the boys have already been out trick-or-treating. They both came home enough cany that it filled an entire gallon ziplock baggie full. The cool thing here is that the army is more lenient onto the amount of guest that each family can escort onto base and so we have quite a lot of korean children who are able to participate in an American tradition. It is so fun to see. We were able to bring a friend and her friends two children. My adult friend was trick-or-treating with the rest of them. And the two small children were so cute. My favorite phrase of the the night was when one of the kids went to the door and said, "Trick or Trick", gotta love it.