DON'T JUST GO...GO XTREME!!

We had an exciting weekend around here! Chandler competed in the NCA National Championship in Dallas!! She did GREAT!!! We had so much fun and we were exhausted but it was all worth it!:)

 Her and her teammates have worked so hard all year, been to several competitions, and have given it their all each and every practice! And it all came down to 2 minutes and 30 seconds on that blue mat. They rocked it!

 She is the last one on the right:)

 After the first day they were in 1st place....now we just had to go back out on the second day and do it again- and they did! It got down to the first and second place teams on the mat waiting for the final awards.....

 1ST PLACE- SPIRIT XTREME COURAGE!!!!!

So much fun! They presented us with the trophy and banner and then....it was off to the "jacket room"

 I love this picture of her! She was so excited!

 And of course we can't stop stunting:))

We spent about 7 hours there the first day and 12 hours the second so Grami needs a shout out for all her support!!

Chandler and I love when Grami comes!! KayKay also came as well as 2 uncles, an aunt, and 2 cousins! She is well loved:)
When we came home the boys had a surprise for her....they had decorated the house, made signs and bought her roses:) SO SWEET!

 (they were already "technically" in bed but got to come down when we got home- hence the blankets:))

 A competition we will never forget!!

Happy Birthday Paul!

We had so much fun celebrating Paul's birthday this weekend! He wanted to have all of his Korean friends come to our house for a party!

 I made a scrapbook for him with all the pics (so far) that I've taken over the last 2 months.  All the kids got a party favor complete with an American flag (I thought they needed that little souvenir to take home!:) they also had tatoos in there, as you can see on Paul's face the whole weekend!

2 posters for Paul that kids from school had signed!

Lots of Texas presents:)

Paul's sister, Amy is in the middle. She doesn't like to get her picture taken either!

He wanted to light his own candles:) he doesn't like cake so I suggested ice cream cake and he LOVED that idea! (Then I called my mom and asked her to make it:))

Everyone loved the ice cream cake!

It is hard to get Paul to play for us- we asked Amy to play as well- she said no:) But she did play "air piano" while Paul played:)

John, the Miller's boy, gave him a Texas A&M shirt!:)

Daniel came up to me and asked if he could spend the night since everyone else was spending the night (Um sure you can spend the night, but what do you mean everyone else is spending the night??:)) Apparently they all wanted to sleep over but didn't want to ask:) SOOO everyone stayed the whole night! ELEVEN kids! ages 7-17! We had a blast though! I took them to a 10:00 movie (Journey 2) and they all loved it!

We seriously took up almost an entire row!

I am convinced that silly string is the universal toy of laughter! It was such a hit in Africa and I couldn't come up with anything else that kids 7-17 would like to do so I bought several cans and let them go! They had never heard of it- and they LOVED it!

Then it was bed time (ha!) Around 2:00am I went around to check on everyone and found a couple of them still up talking. Since we had church the next morning, I told them to go to sleep!! They were all so sweet in the morning and we actually left EARLY for church! We stopped by our donut store (where the owners are Korean!) They loved getting to talk to them!

We had so much fun! Thankfully they are all out of school today for President's Day so we are just being LAZY!:) Only 6 more days with sweet Paul- we will miss him!!

Adventures with Paul!

We have loved having sweet Paul live with us! He is really funny and this weekend, especially, he has really opened up and laughed A LOT! Wednesday and Thursday he seemed really down. He was tired, we'd gotten an email from one of his teachers about his struggles in her class, and I think he was homesick. But for whatever reason on Friday he was all smiles and we really did have a great weekend with him! We took him to the middle school D group on Sunday night where the Woodwards had heated their pool! He LOVED it!

 He had never made smore's before so he was really excited!

 It hasn't all been easy- he gets frustrated when the boys wrestle and just doesn't really understand that:) He is constantly telling them to "stop fighting"! Which they do argue but that doesn't bother him as much as the physical wrestling: )  Which is funny because he was the champion of noodle fights in the pool:) anyway- In school the other day he was asked to tell something about his host family. He said 1)They are LOUD- times 2!! and 2) the boys fight a lot.   Nice.  I'm sure we'll get hosts of the year! So we are still adjusting to having him here but overall it has been a good experience:) One thing Paul LOVES to do is sleep! And so, of course I've taken his picture while he sleeps:)

 At Grami's house during a bday party for Jonathan

At church in the playscape at Bridge's bday party:)

 At a CHEER COMPETITION!!! Do you know how LOUD those are???:))

 You can only imagine what he thought about a cheer competition!!:)

 We play games some nights before bed- he loves Uno- he said we should have a bet and whoever loses has to do the dishes! I loved the idea! But then it came down to me and him-- and he totally LET ME WIN! But I talked him out of him doing the dishes- it was the thought that counted!

 We took him skating and he LOVED it! They have roller blades in Korea but not the old school skates- he asked me to take a picture of one so he could put it on facebook and show his friends and family back home!

 He was really good at skating so I asked him if they have skating rinks in Korea. He said, "no- in Korea it is free, we skate on the street"  Makes sense.

We are blessed by Paul and this whole experience and I am glad we're doing it! So thankful that the weekend is almost here again and we can just relax and have fun as a family- we've been too busy lately as usual! We're going to the Tim Hawkins concert (christian comedian) on Saturday. My kids LOVE him and I can't wait to watch them watching him!!