Judo & Tae Kwon Do Tournament

Tyler participated in his first karate tournament this past weekend with his dojang.  He is studying the martial arts form called Kyuki-do (cookieee-do).  They teach judo, tae kwon do, jiu jitsu, and  sparring.  Tyler enjoys studying Kyuki-do, and looks up to his instructor, Mr. Allman.  He performed quite well over the last couple of days.

The Judo tournament was Friday night.  Tyler and his opponent are both white belts in Judo so they were equally matched.  They fought a good battle, and ended in a tie, even after the Golden Rule tie breaker.  The judges had to call the match and the winner was Tyler's opponent.  The next randori (match), Tyler learned quick to not give away his move and flipped and pinned his opponent within 10 seconds.  He won that match and walked away with the bronze medal. 

 Saturday was the Tae Kwon Do part of the tournament.  Tyler performed his form well.  He was quite nervous.  He did a great job.  In the sparring portion, Tyler's first opponent were neck and neck during the two, two-minute matches.  Tyler came out ahead 9-8.  In his second match, they were back and forth again.  It was a close match and ended 8-9 for his opponent.  Since Tyler won his first match he took 2nd place.  I am so proud of how well he prepared and performed.  He is looking forward to next year to participate again.  We will have to travel a couple hours away next year and I will definitely get a babysitter for Maleina.  A big thanks to Aunt Mikaela who saved Maleina on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Maleina!

My baby girl turned 5 this year!  I cannot believe that she will be starting school in the fall.  Maleina is still full of mischief and loves to get into things that maybe she shouldn't get into.  She has learned her ABC's and is working on all the sounds that go with them.  She wants to start reading like her 'best buddy Tyler'.  She still loves all things pink and purple.  Although she has expanded her favorite colors to now include blue and red. 

 (Unicorn Castle Cake)

Turning 5 is a big deal in our house, it's the first time Maleina gets to have a friend birthday party.  She has been planning her party since August. She invited a  few (11) of her friends over.  She wanted a unicorn party.  I searched high and low for unicorn stuff that didn't cost a ton of money.  I had no luck, so I made my own stuff.  I made a unicorn poster for 'Pin the horn on the Unicorn' game, unicorn sugar cookies to place around her castle cake (again).    Maleina had a lot of fun with all her friends over.  I managed to survive having 12, 4&5 year olds running around the house. 

We also had a party for family that night with her favorite kind of pie, Banana Cream Supreme!  She is a well loved daughter of God.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  She is a joy to be around and we love her so much!  Happy Birthday Maleina!

Fun in the Mud!

A lot of snow has fallen this year, much to Maleina's delight.  She loves to play in the snow and can play for hours outside.  One day, we had a fairly warm day and she was outside.  I could see and hear her.  I was checking on her periodically.  The last time I checked on her, I found her jumping in the mud puddle created by the downspout coming off the roof.  She was having the time of her life!  My little princess who hates sticky, messy fingers when eating dinner, just loves to play in the mud!

Holidays!

 We had a fantastic Christmas this year.  My parents came up from California and stayed with us for just over a week.  Tyler and Maleina loved having them over.  They hadn't seen them since September, which is a long time for them.  Nine Christmas's in our house and we finally put lights up for the first time.  The kids loved them! 

 Mr. & Mrs. Claus came to the McNeil family Christmas party.  The looks on their faces tells the story.  Tyler is doing it to make mom happy, while Maleina is very attentive and listening to everything Santa has to say to her.

  was invited to an ornament exchange party at my friend's house.  It was so much fun.  I made salt dough music notes for it.  Sprayed them black and them put a gloss on them.  I made a few extra and my little artist had to make some her own way.  Maleina loved painting them. 

Christmas morning the kids enjoyed opening their gifts.  Highlights of their gifts were a snowboard and New York Giants hat for Tyler.  Maleina got roller blades and an art kit.  They loved their gifts!  Santa was very good to them. 

It doesn't matter how long the Christmas break is, it is never long enough.  We sure loved having family over and spending time with them.  New Year's Eve we had all my siblings and their families over.  I started a new tradition with a New Year's tree and it was a huge hit.  I will definitely continue this each year.  Although the gifts inside the balloons will have to change I'm sure.  Every hour starting at 8:00 pm the kids picked a balloon and popped it to get a prize.  I was impressed that all the kids ages 3 and up stayed awake until well past midnight.We even had Grandpa & Grandma Jensen on the phone and rang in the New Year with them UT time.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler turned 10 this year and is all about video games.  His favorites being Minecraft and Skylanders.  He is growing up way too fast.  He loves to hang out with his friends.  I wish I could say he loves going to school but that is not the case anymore.  He enjoys his teacher this year (mom likes her too!!!), he completed his first project on the Black Tailed Jackrabbit, and has started doing monthly book reports.

Tyler's birthday landed on a Sunday this year so he got a three day celebration.  To kick it off, he had a friend party on Friday.  His cake was a Creeper from the game Minecraft.  (Talk about a challenge. I swear I punched out like 1000 small squares out of fondant, in 6 different colors, to give it a pixelated look.)  I had pictionary to play with them.  Let's just say I should not have planned anything.  All they wanted to do was go downstairs and mess around. So that's just what they did until the pizza arrived.  Then they ate pizza, opened presents, ate cake and ice cream.  For the party favor, I made marshmallow popcorn balls with sprinkles and placed them on a ice cream cone filled with M&M's and Reese's pieces.

On Saturday, we took Tyler to Chuck-a-Rama his favorite restaurant.  We had them sing to him for his birthday and he loved it!  (Seriously, he really did!)  Finally on Sunday, we had Mark's parents over, Justin, Emily, & kids, and Mik & Joe.  I made his favorite foods: lasagna, garlic cheddar rolls, and cupcakes.