Another Belt Promotion

Last night, our Livvi tested for her next belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Master Strickland seemed pleased with her kicks.

The girl can really get off the floor!

She sparred well.

She broke well.

Time for the new belt!

Then it's time for pictures...

They worked her hard, but she did really well and came through with the brown belt rewarded to her.  Congratulations, Livvi!  Also, congratulations to the 14 other kids getting promotions!

More pictures here.
Form video here.
Sparring video here.

Dance the Night Away

Friday night was the annual Father/Daughter dance for the west side troops of American Heritage Girls.  While I have been to at least three others with Livvi, this year Joie wanted to go as well.  I had two dates!  This year's theme was Winter Wonderland.

If you recall in a previous post, Jo now plays soccer.  When does she play soccer?  Friday evenings from 5:45 - 6:30 p.m.  When did the dance start?  6:30 p.m.  Fortunately, the dance was 5 minutes from soccer.  After a quick change, we were ready to boogie!

My girls were beautiful and we had a great time!  It was sweet and special being able to slow dance with both at the same time!

Also, I'm pretty sure I had the best looking date there that night.  Agree?

Even though she was working the event, we were glad to have Heather there, too!  So, you could say, I was there with three very lovely girls!  I'm one blessed human being!

Packin'...almost

Earlier this month, Heather and I decided to take a class necessary to be able to apply for our concealed carry permit.  We do not own a gun (yet) but wanted to be more familiar with the whole concept.  On Feb 2, we took the classroom part of the class and on Feb 9, we took the actual shooting part, where we tested to get our certificate.

My family made up 70% of the class attendees:
 

My father

My mother

My mother-in-law

My sister-in-law

My brother-in-law

Heather

and, me.

 
The three others were good friends of ours.  We had a lot of fun and we all passed!

We had to hit an 8.5"x11" piece of paper from 7 yards with 5 shots in a row.  Heather set the bar pretty high by hitting her first 5 shots right off the bat.  Fortunately, I was able to follow suit, but I'd better keep an eye on her!

Finding Something to Do

For years, we've been trying to get Joie interested in an extracurricular activity.  She never wanted to do anything!  We suggested all the things Livvi did:  dance, gymnastics, soccer, tee ball, tae kwon do, etc.  She was too shy to try anything.

For her annual physical around her 5th birthday, her pediatrician told Jo she had to pick something because she was home schooled.  Well she did!  She picked soccer.  There is an indoor facility close to our house that offers Kiddie Kickers for her age group and she had a blast!  They meet once a week for 45 minutes and run around, learn the basics of soccer, have fun, and play a short game.  Each session is six weeks.  Her first one was Feb 17, 2012 and she is on at least her 6th session (there were some lulls in there as some classes didn't have enough kids signed up).  Kiddie Kickers only goes through age 6 (which she turned Dec 22, 2012), so we'll see if she wants to move up to a little more competition.  So far, she has no interest in that.

Call Off the Search Party! We're OK!

I know it has been a while since I posted something out here, but I had no idea I missed the entire year of two thousand twelve!  Time to get on the ball!

I hope to do more shorter posts with more pictures.  I realize, though, that these posts are more for our family's benefit than anyone else's.  In fact, it's been nice reading some of the previous posts and remembering some great times!  I love my family!  God is good!

Let's Be Careful Out There

As Heather and Livvi were leaving the house to go to Tae Kwon Do class, I yelled to them "Be careful!"

Joie looks at me and says, "Daaaddy...There aren't any dragons there!"

Whew!  Good to know!

Compassion

Jo: I want a cat for a pet.

Liv: We can't! I'm allergic to cats.

Jo: Yeah, I know, but too bad.