Kyle's brown belt

Kyle tested for his next belt level in karate and is now a brown belt.  He did a running jump side kick to break TWO boards!  He did it on the first try and was one of only a few in his class that were able to break 2 boards with the kick on the first try. 

Snow!

The boys ended up being off school on Monday and Tuesday due to the snow we got on Sunday and additional snow overnight Monday into Tuesday.  It wasn't a ton of snow but enough to build a small snowman and have a family snowball fight! 

The Polar Express

Max LOVES the movie The Polar Express.  We watch it year round at our house.  This year we got him tickets to ride the Polar Express in Elkins, West Virginia for his birthday.  Our train ride was on December 8 at 7:15pm.  We ended up driving there on Saturday and spending two nights due to an ice/snow storm expected on Sunday.  This turned out to be a great idea since we got quite a bit!  We arrived before the storm hit and left on Monday after it was over.  We stayed at the Iron Road Inn.  It was an independently owned place that was train themed.  They had a nice lobby/sitting area with board games for families to play and a buffet style restaurant within walking distance so we had a nice dinner and played games in our downtime.  We headed to the train station early on Sunday and had dinner at the Railway Restaurant.  It's on the second floor of a building so you could look out and see the Polar Express train pull in to the station as you're eating dinner.  We got some souvenirs in the gift shop and then walked around the winter lights display outside the station.  After that we headed inside the train station where they had some activities for the kids while we waited to board.  The ride itself was AMAZING!  We had hot chocolate (complete with the "Hot Chocolate" song and dance similar to the movie . . . it felt like you were in the movie!) and cookies.  We stopped at the "North Pole" where Santa boarded the train.  He gave each of us a bell as a special Christmas gift (just like in the movie).  The conductor punched our special tickets.  They read the story.  We got to check the stocking from Mrs. Claus to see if we were naughty or nice.  Max was a little worried, but luckily he pulled out "nice."  :)  They had a lot of little things planned throughout the ride so it was never boring.  We all had a great time!

 

Happy 6th Birthday Max!

Max turned 6 on November 8th!  We had lots of birthday celebrations this year.  He had a party with his friends at Bounce U on Thursday.  There were lots of kids and lots of fun had by all!  Max was thrilled that his favorite friends could make it.  They ran, bounced, climbed, slid, and had a great time.  We ate pizza and cake . . . Monsters University was the theme he picked for the cake.

On his actual birthday we took him to dinner at the restaurant of his choice . . . California Tortilla.  We also gave him his birthday gift from us . . . a ticket to ride on the Polar Express.  This is his favorite movie/book.  We watch it throughout the year even though it is a Christmas movie.  There's a place in West Virginia that recreates the movie and some of the scenes from it.  You get to ride the train in your pajamas, drink hot chocolate and eat cookies, hear the story, listen to song and dance, meet Santa, and see the "North Pole."  We'll be going in December and he's really looking forward to it!

Ma and Pa came up to watch Max for the day a couple of weeks ago and gave him his present then . . . a Nintendo 2DS which he LOVED! 

And Grandma Luster (who shares her birthday with Max) and cousin Michael came up to visit the day after his birthday and we all went out to lunch at Red Robin followed by leftover cake at home.

He's still working on thank you notes for all his many presents . . . he's a very loved little guy!  

Happy Halloween!

This year Kyle was a green ninja and Max was Mike from Monsters University.  Both boys got to participate in the school parade this year and I helped out in both classrooms for their parties.  The boys had a great time.  Max ate lots and lots of food with his friends.  Kyle played Halloween bingo, decorated cupcakes, and danced with his friends.

 

 After dinner we went to the Harvest Festival at the Soccerplex.  We go to this every year and it's always a fun time!  The boys played games, jumped in moon bounces, and slid down slides.  They get candy at each station as well.  It seems to get more and more crowded each year but they managed to do everything they wanted to do before we left.  We have LOTS of candy to last us for quite awhile.