We Need A Little Christmas Now!!!!

As many of my friends and family know, I am a nut with decorating and even more so at Christmas time. This year again is no exception to the rule. We have added some new features to our holiday decor! We or should I say Eddie, began decorating the weekend after Halloween. I strive to be the first one in the neighborhood with their decorations up. However, the rule is the lights and inflatables do not get turned on except for testing until Thanksgiving night. SO.... Happy Holidays everyone.... we are all set as we put our finishing touches on today. WOOOHOO!!

Eddie surprised me with this today, our NEWEST INFLATABLE!!!

Brandon and Ryan getting in on the action posing with the decorations!

Our "Politically Correct" Tree in the front window all silver and white

A view up the stairs, garland, multi-colored lights and mini stockings on the rails

The "kids" tree in the family room, all kinds of Disney and Kids ornaments

Moving outside to the front stoop with our new penguin this year to greet you!

Just a little something to add in my personality!

The View at Night WOOHOO!

Straight shot at the front of the house

The backyard crew at night!

We will share more later with posts from the Fredericksburg Christmas Parade that Brandon will be marching in for Tae Kwon Do and the Christmas party after that.

Many Things to be Thankful For

We have many things to be thankful for this year..... family is definately top of the list. Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Corey, Cousin James and Grammy made the trip to visit us for Thanksgiving. Brandon and Ryan were going nuts waiting for them to arrive. We all got up early and followed our normal traditions of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and had breakfast. Then I started preparing snacks and getting the turkey ready for the oven. We had tons of snack food... chips and dip, cocktail wieners, cheese and crackers and a Mexican layer dip. Then came dinner, a 22lb turkey with as Eddie said this year.."the best stuffing ever", mashed potatoes, gravy and a sauteed squash and zucchini dish that was so so. Dessert was my newest masterpiece pumpkin roll and homemade apple pie.

Brandon and Ryan had a ball with Cousin James and their Aunt and Uncle. They were attached to Grammy like a second skin. Grammy stayed with us for a couple of days. We kept her busy with shopping, decorating our Christmas tree and a fire pit on Friday night where we roasted marshmallows and made smores with Grammy and I sipping on a little wine! We were singing Christmas and other songs too.


Aunt Jamie getting some much needed snuggle time with James while everyone else cleaned up the dinner dishes. How cute is he??!!!!!!

Aunt Lindsay attached to her cell, texting and resting after a big meal!

This was such a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was so much fun having Grammy back for a few days. The boys, especially Ryan were pretty upset when she left this morning. Ryan rode with me this morning to my Aunt Lindsay half way to pick her up.

We hope your Thanksgiving was happy and filled with family and friends!

We Couldn't Be More Proud!

Announcement of Black Belts for November 2008

Warming Up Before Testing

Hoshinsool

Sparring

Ssahng Jeol Bong (Short Knife Form)

The hard work, practice and commitment that Brandon has put in for the past three years came full circle yesterday when Brandon wore for the first time his new Black Belt uniform and received his First Degree Black Belt and certificate. Our day started with Brandon taking his 1st point test (in working toward becoming a 2nd Degree) at 10am. The testing lasted about an hour and a half and included roughly 15-20 other black belts. Brandon was asked to demonstrate his two highest forms (Choong-Moo and Koryo), the complete 11 step self defense techniques (Hoshinsool), his first two, black belt one-step self defense techniques, his short knife form, his Ssang Jeol Bong (Nun-chuck) form, hand/kicking board breaking and finally sparring techniques. He was absolutely amazing. Both his dad and I were beaming with pride. Ryan was cheering him on from the sidelines too. Brandon received his new belt embroidered with his name and a Pan-Am Federation Black Belt certificate during the belt ceremony. It was really cool. A tradition for Black Belts is that a Master will tie your belt for you the first time. Of course, I was crying as I always do because I was so proud of him. Brandon really takes this seriously and loves going to class and learning new techniques. He has been assisting at lower rank testing and wants to become an assistant instructor one day.

2008 Black Belts Posing with Supreme Grand Master

To celebrate, we went out for Korean Food for lunch at our favorite local place here in Fredicksburg... Choi's Korean Kitchen. As a Gift to Brandon, we framed in shadow boxes his blue training uniform and his old white testing uniform as he will never wear those again. They look really cool on his wall in his room.

We are now getting ready for Thanksgiving and looking forward to a visit from Grammy, Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Corey and Cousin James. We have decorated the house for Christmas already and will post pictures after Thanksgiving.

Until next time.....

Bradon Takes the Prize!

Hi everyone! I know it has been a few weeks since my first ever post, but I wanted to make sure I had some things to share! Brandon and I hit the road again this past weekend for his second Tae Kwon Do Tournament. We stayed with Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Corey, Grammy and Cousin James again!

Brandon, Best Friend Wyatt and Grand Master Seong

I am so PROUD of my little man! This time he came away with 3, yes 3 trophies! He took 2nd place in forms, and 3rd place in both board breaking and sparring. He continues to amaze me with his courage and determination to do well and win! Brandon broke five boards in the breaking competition which was so nerve wracking to watch. The even harder part is watching him spar. He is not the aggressive type so when he starts punching and kicking and mom is saying in the backgorund (kick to the head buddy it's two points) it seems so crazy!

While Brandon and I were at the tournament, Eddie was with Ryan at the Richmond Colliseum.... front row center for the Disney on Ice show! Ryan had a blast and was treated like a little prince by Daddy. Cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, a program and finished off with a cars Lightening McQueen Hat. We were texting each other throughout the day with all the good news so that we could kind of feel like in a small way we were all together.

This coming weekend is a BIG ONE for Brandon. He will be going through his 1st Degree Black Belt ceremony and taking his first point test in working toward his 2nd degree which is all goes well, he will earn in 2010. Ryan is waiting in the wings to start taking lessons too in the New Year. Brandon has already started teaching Ryan some of the forms.

I will post again after this weekend! Hope you all are doing well and getting ready for Turkey Day!

Brandon Waiting for First Event - Forms

Brandon Lining Up for Trophy Presentation - Sparring Event


Brandon Thanking the Judges and Getting Congrats!

Aunt Jamie Snuggling with James!

Happiness Is Family!

Couldn't Resist This Shot!

This is my first attempt at blogging! I thought it was time that I move ahead and tried something new. Eddie and I want to be able to share more of our precious moments with Brandon and Ryan with our family and friends more frequently since we are not around the corner anymore. What a better time to start... Halloween. We had a lot going on in October.... Brandon's First ever Tae Kwon Do tournament and Ryan's first Pumpkin Patch field trip.

Through all of this, I have had to take a break from "Supermom" mode to have knee surgery. The kids and Eddie have been terrific in helping around the house and running the stairs for me. Eddie even braved the grocery store with Brandon and the bookstore to get me my Martha Stewart magazine. How sweet is that!?? My last big events before the surgery were the Pumpkin Patch and the Tournament. I made sure to get them in before hand so that I could truly enjoy those moments with the boys.

Brandon, Ryan and I headed up to Maryland on October 10th to stay the weekend at Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Corey's house since the Tae Kwon Do tournament was in Yok, PA the next day. Ryan spent Saturday with Aunt Lindsay, Grammy and his new baby cousin James while Brandon and I went to the tourney. (Daddy had to stay behind with our dog Bailey). Aunt Lindsay and Grammy kept Ryan busy with a trip to the pumpkin patch and lots of things going on at the house. He was their big helper with James that day.

Ryan Helping to Keep James Happy & Playing

Brandon's first event was board breaking. He was a little crushed as he broke 2 of the 3 boards and was mad at himself because he said "Mom, I know I could have broken that last one". As soon as his little foot stepped onto the gym floor, I was in tears and beaming with pride. I was truly a nervous wreck all day! His second event was forms. AND man he did AWESOME!! Brandon came in second place earning his first trophy! His last event was sparring and again, I was nervous and cheering him on. While he did not get to the trophy round. He did GREAT again, and lost his match by only 1 point! He was so proud of himself that day as of course were his dad and I that he is now preparing for his second tournament on November 15th.

Brandon Takes 2nd Place!

Ryan takes his first Pre-K field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. This was a very special day for he and Mommy. While the weather did not cooperate, it was raining and very cold. We still had an absolute ball. Ryan scoped out his pumpkin then chose one for his big brother.

I Want the PERFECT Pumpkin!

Taking a Hayride Through the Pumpkin Patch

Jumpin' in the Hay barn!

After school on Halloween Day we carved our pumpkins. Below is the finished product. The boys designed the faces while Mom carved them out.

After a yummy dinner of homemade veggie soup to warm our tummies, we got the boys into their costumes to take our annual picture out front with our decorations. Batman and Harry Potter, what a great duo the boys made!

Since I was still recovering from surgery, Eddie took the boys out to get the treats. Loaded with flashlights in hand my three men took off into the night and I sat on the driveway in my witches costume to greet all the neighborhood ghouls and goblins! We hope your Halloween was as fun filled as ours! Stay tuned for more..... down here in the burg!