Yellow!

Tonight was belt testing for Eric's Karate class.  Eric was very excited, and has been working very hard on his belt tying, and on memorizing his Code of Black Belt and Student Creed.  If there were any items a student didn't complete correctly for belt advancement at tonight's class, they would have Wednesday night to try again.

All the students passed tonight!  Eric will get his yellow belt on Saturday night.  They have a ceremony at the dojo for all the students.

The pictures below are for another award Eric earned.  He received the Academic Achievement patch for getting all As on his report card.  He will also get his belt tying patch, but those are currently on order for delivery.

Miss Megan

 Megan got her first remote control car from Minot Gma and Gpa

I am the Queen.  She is the Princess.

This is what Megan wore to school on Friday.  There are lavender sweat pants that match it.  She started with her hair in a cute pony tail.  This is how she looked when she came home.  Apparently I forgot that it was 'senior citizen' day at school (or at least Kindergarten).  Megan modified her look a bit to be a "Jogging Grandma"

Yum

Grandma LaFleur made brownies last weekend we were in Minot.  Note how the frosting layer is as thick as the brownie layer.  If she signed up for baking in 4-H, she would get the Grand Champion Ribbon.

Robotics

One of Eric's 4-H projects is robotics.  I picked him up a little ro-bug kit at Hobby Lobby.  It uses a pop can to make a robotic bug.

It was a success.  Kacy had fun trying to hunt it down.
I just realized I never took a 'finished' shot.  Oh well.

Baking 101

Jonathan signed up for baking for one of his 4-H projects.  Last week, we made some pumpkin bread and muffins.  Two words....

Epic.  Fail.

 Collapsed....we baked it nearly 10 minutes longer than the recipe instructed, and the toothpick test was clean.

 We blame the cinnamon chips that we spontaneously added to the batter.  They all seemed to sink in the batter towards the bottom, causing a gooey, ooey mess.

The pumpkin muffins, both regular and mini-sized, turned out for us.  They were yummy.

Puzzle Picture

Wouldn't this picture make a fun puzzle?

Chillin' out

Eric enjoying some chicken strips while reading a good book.  I hope he didn't get any ketchup on the pages!

Karate Kookies

They are actually Ninja Bread men, but I didn't use a gingerbread cookie dough....just plain old sugar cookies.  These were a gift from Amy for Christmas, and Eric helped me bake these the other night.  We will decorate them later....

3rd Place

Jonathan's team played in the BSC Youth Tourney this weekend.  His games were all at the Mandan Middle School, which was nice.  They lost their first game by 3, won their next 3 games by comfortable margins, then lost the 5th game by 3.  They trailed by as much as 9 that game in the 3rd quarter, so they were pretty excited to come back and make it competitive.

 Jonathan started the first game.  

 Eric directed facetime with Gpa LaFleur for a bit this morning.

 Jonathan passed to a team mate, who shot and missed.  Jonathan fought hard for the rebound.

 And this was the result....it happened right before the half.  

 Bonus late in the game.  

One of many black eyes he has had.

BeBop with Aesop

The boys had their school music program last night.  It was on famous Aesop tales, and the different morals the teach.  Jonathan was a narrator for the tortoise and the hare fable, and Eric was the shepherd boy in the boy who cried wolf fable.  It was a pretty cute show.

Eric is trying so hard not to laugh at the wolf!  The boy who played the wolf has autism, and did a great job.  He and Eric are good buddies.

All I Want for Valentine's Day is my 2 front teeth

Megan's mouth and Jonathan's foot had an unfortunate connection last night.

She is now missing her two front teeth.  They were both a bit wiggly prior to the run in with the foot.  Megan doesn't blame Jonathan, but she likes to point out every 10 minutes or so that she doesn't blame him, which tells us that she really does blame him.
Tomorrow I'll take her to the dentist to make sure there was no damage to the gums, or to make sure that all of the root was removed.

I can handle a lot of gross stuff, but I was pretty creeped out by this yesterday.  I kept my cool, though.

Park Rapids Gma's 70th b-day

Park Rapids Gma turned 70 on the 2nd.  She and Gpa came to Mandan on Sunday for a few days-they wanted to see Eric's karate class on Monday, and the boys' music program on Tuesday.

 This is where Gma and I told Gpa we were going for Gma's b-day gift: LaBelle Spa, for  make over and massage.

 This is where we actually went:  Tailwind Tattoos.  Mom got a violet, which is February's birth flower

I got a poppy, which is August's birth flower.

Next up on our 70/40 birthday year celebrations will be a trip to Vegas, but not until the Fall.  Maybe we can sneak in a shopping spree at Harley Davidson for a hog between now and then.

B-day party #3

Last night we had Megan's 'friend' party.  We only had 3 little girls over, which was plenty.  We stuck with the "Pete the Cat" theme, and the girls all decorated white canvas shoes.  We served one of the cakes won at the cake walk on Sunday.  Love taking the easy way out sometimes!

 Pizza and blue and red KoolAid for supper

 Zoe

 Ava

 Megan's decorated shoe

 Cat Trudy and Human Trudy

Megan got some Barbie clothes from Ava and Zoe.