Mother's Day weekend

On Saturday, Austin, Austin's best friend, Soren and I drove to Carman for our tae kwon do promotion test. My friend, Helena took these pictures of us testing.




(me-- facing the camera)

(Austin, in front)

The test was over four hours long and we had to sit on the gym floor the entire time. They dismissed the white and yellow belts after a couple of hours, but said that if we left, we wouldn't be eligible for an award. I wanted to stay to watch our friends do their test, especially Greg, who was testing for his third dan. I told Austin that I wanted to stay because I was fairly sure that I would get an award (a little teasing there-- the awards almost always go to the kids), but we stuck it out for the whole test. Then when they went to present the first award for improved, Master Seward said that she thought this first award winner would become quite the martial artist, as he was interviewing people at the tournament in Lorette. Austin, who had been sitting in front of me, turned around and said: "Mom, that was me! I was interviewing people at the tournament!" Sure enough, Austin won the improved award.



I love the tae kwon do club that we are a part of! The people there are so great! When one of the boys turned ten in Feb, they gave him the bumps after class. Austin thought that was so cool and wondered if they would do that for him. I reminded him that he turned ten on the testing day. I requested this honour for my first born and they were happy to oblige:



On Mother's Day, we hosted a bar-b-q supper at our house-- steak, twice-baked potatoes, fried green beans, sunshine salad and strawberry jello were on the menu. We invited my mom, my MIL, my sister-in-law (who brought a chocolate cheesecake) and her family and our friends Beth and Greg (who brought the most beautiful Mother's Day cake!) It was a really good time.

I'd made cards for our moms:

And one for my SIL:



My mom brought out birthday gifts for Austin (& an early one for Jonah)-- inline skates. My brother Trevor sent me a cheque after instructing me to buy wrist & knee pads for his nephews. They are really enjoying them!



And my mother's day present?

this

Woohoo!!!

(This, apparently, is also my birthday and Christmas present for this year, too! ;)

So, I've had a little fun playing with it and have been so happy with the shots I've gotten. Here are a few of my favourites:
















And my friend, Susan, took this one of my yesterday:



Sorry for the long post!
Thanks for looking!!