The Howards

Blogs

Everyone is writing on their own blogs these days. See the blog roll on the left for a list.

1st Place at Cheer Sport

Nelson's cheer team, The Icon Allstars, placed first in their division at The 2005 CHEERSPORT National Cheer and Dance Championship today (20 Feb 2005)! They were up against 19 other teams in the Youth Small Novice division. At the end of Saturday's events they were in second by a small margin. Today they hit all the moves and stunts to lock in first place.

Here are some pictures:

A Few Words From Mary

Hey Everybody! I now have my own space on the Family Web Site! Isn't that so cool!

Butch has been really busy these days and has not had time to update the site so I thought I would help out. So, these are some of the things that have been going on with us lately.

Besides doing homeschool, the kids spend most of my time going from activity to activity! We are still involved in Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Nelson is now a Recommended Black Belt in Taekwondo! Hopefully the Black Belt is soon to follow! Caitlin is liking dance more then ever these days! She now dances 3 days a week, taking classes in Tap,Jazz,Ballet and Point. Her Dance Co. is doing a mini recital/nutcracker this month. Caitlin has also been taking an art class this year that our homeschool group has offered. She is very much enjoying it too. Nelson on the other hand has decided art is not where his talents lie right now! He has taken up Tap dancing and Competition Cheerleading/Tumbling this year! All of this keeps me very busy.

In addition to all of that I have started working this year as a postpartum Doula. A job I Love! I work nights to take care of newborns so the parents get some quality sleep. So far I have worked mostly with twins. It is a blast! And for myself I have been taking Knitting classes at the local Michael's Store. I have learned to knit scarves, socks and will start a sweater after the Holiday break!

As for Butch, he has succeeded in earning his Black Belt this year! And he has managed to get the upper hand on the fence project (we only need gates)!

That about sums up the Howard Happenings for the past several months. I will return soon with updates and try to add some pictures (when Butch shows me how)!

The House

I am slowly, but surely, adding pictures. It will happen faster when we have all of the interior painting done and the fence built.

Taekwondo

In October 2002, Mary joined us in learning Taekwondo. She received her orange belt in December 2002. She credits her Grandma Brown for giving her the final nudge she needed to join us. See the taekwondo pictures page for some new shots of us during the December testing and November tournament.

Starting in October 2001 Nelson, Caitlin, and I started studying ATA Taekwondo under Mr. Kevin Mende in Cumming, Georgia. Nelson had been asking for several months to be able to learn Karate. He started first and then asked Caitlin and me to take classes with him. Now we are all moving forward and having a good time. Taekwondo has given Caitlin and Nelson another physical fitness outlet to go along with the dance and gymnastics. We are trying to get Mary to join us and she says she might soon. Our Taekwondo page shows our Goals and Progress along with some pictures. Our class schedule is posted there also.