Road Trip!

Hey all! The kids and I went to my parents house in Mississippi over Spring Break. Joe stayed behind to work, but we did fantastic! The kids are seasoned travellers now! Little to no fighting or complaining. They watched DVD's, (mostly "Wow Wow Wubbzy") and ate snacks. We left in the afternoon on a Wednesday night and did about 5 hours of driving, stayed at a hotel in Sikeston, MO to swim and rest for the night. Then picked back up the driving around 8 am Thursday morning. We drove until 4 pm and we were there! The kids enjoyed seeing their grandparents and my niece, Christina made the trip from Alabama by herself as well! It was so great to see her! Evie took to her immediatly and the two girls played their Nintendo DS's together.


We loved the 75-80 degree weather there and Evie took time to sunbathe on the cement.



So, you know those big, fat, fuzzy bees? Forever I always thought (most of us do) that they are bumblebees or can sting you. They are much fatter and act like a bee.. but It's a type of bug.. Evie was nervous of them when we first got there.. they were flittering about everywhere because of all of the trees and flowers, but my Dad quickly educated her about it not having a stinger and not to worry about them.. and from that moment on, she never did. Christina didn't believe him so he posed a challenge for her.. he would prove it didn't have a stinger if she could catch one in his hat.. something he said was impossible.. they are too fast! She caught one.. but injured his wing a little so we're not sure he made it.. still, it was cool to see him up close with NO stinger and no way to bite.. just a big furry bee looking thing. Still can't find one online anywhere to show you or get a name.. but here's the picture I took of him on one of the flowers that Dad was holding..
By the way.. Evie picked him up freely with no qualms, as well as caught a lizard that nipped her and she just pulled him off and kept playing with him LOL


Evan enjoyed playing in the dirt...


And here are the rest of the pictures that we took with my camera.








Miss you guys already!

Evie kickin' butt again!

Hey all!!
Well.. I know that I had mentioned in an earlier post that Evie had switched taeqwondo schools last summer... long story.. Anyway, they had let her keep her current belt rank (4th) in the new school but Evie had trouble keeping up with all of the new moves.. turns out even the white belts at this new school were ten times more advanced than the camo belts in her old school.. so we made the decision to demote her back to white belt. It was for the best because she is learning the techniques and has power and conviction behind what she does.. plus she is learning WAY more steps and respect.
Evie FINALLY graduated a few weekends ago to a yellow belt (2nd rank). She has never been so proud! She EARNED this belt, that's for sure! We keep telling her.. "it's not a race to get to black belt", (it was scheduled at the last school whether you were ready or not). So she knows that she's not gonna get that promotion until it's perfect! It makes her try even harder!

Here are some pics from graduation.