Richard is a Black Belt!!!

Yay! Richard passed his Black Belt testing!! Now he is a First Degree Level One (Probationary) Black Belt! The belt has a red stripe to show that it is a probationary rank.






Here Mrs. Overstreet, one of Richard's instructors, is tying his black belt onto him.
Next to her (in the foreground) is Richard's main instructor, Mr. Overstreet.





Here is Richard and Cara, she just got her Red Senior belt, that is one level below Black Belt.







This is Richard, Lenore, and Richard's cousin Lauren. Lenore is a Red Senior, and Lauren is a Second Degree Level 3 Black Belt.







Mr. Overstreet signed one of the boards that he broke in a demo before the awards ceremony.








Richard wanted a picture with Mr. Overstreet after getting his Black Belt. Richard looks so happy!

One week until testing...

It is Saturday, in exactly one week Richard tests for his Black Belt. I am so happy for him, he really loves TaeKwonDo.

This is him in the foyer of the NMSBVI gym. After every testing I take a picture of him in this same spot with his new belt on. This was right after he got his red senior belt. That is what he is now, red senior. He has really been working hard to get his form looking nice and crisp, and to get his sparring better and better.

At testing, to get his black belt, he has to do his form, break 2 boards (one hand and one foot technique), do 2 rounds of sparring, and then spar 2 on 1 (he has to spar 2 black belts at the same time), and answer some questions. I think he is ready.

Easter Ostara Spring.....

Ok, so it is way past Easter/Ostara. But I am finally getting the pictures of our big egg decorating session posted. We had a great time, Richard's cousin Lauren and good friend Cara came over to help decorate eggs and eat lots of easter candy.


Look at those hands, definitely evidence of a great time!


They decided to dye one of the eggs after it had been peeled, and
Richard ate it!!! He said that it tasted the same, he was the only one
brave enough to do it.


This one cracked, so it needed a band-aid.

We dye 3 or 4 dozen eggs every year, and then eat hard boiled eggs for weeks afterwards. I was thinking the other day, that it is silly to only do it once a year. I guess people only do it annually because of the mess, but anyone that knows me knows that the mess isn't really an issue for me! :-) Besides, it wouldn't be any mess at all to use crayons. Maybe I will cook some eggs tomorrow.

Lego Creations

This is a Delta 7 Starfighter.


The Turbo Tank, along with the Batmobile and some Jedi, Wookies, and various other Star Wars characters.


The Four Amigos.


Arc Troopers with a Commander.


The Ultimate Arena, with Spider versus Killer Rabbit.

These pictures were all taken by Richard, and of course all of the creations are also by Richard. None of the pictures have been photoshopped or anything, they look great!

Katy