powell family: October 2011

Titus: Preparatory Black Belt!!!

Titus tested for his Preparatory Black Belt at Anointed Martial Arts on September 30, 2011. He did a phenomenal job, and this is my favorite shot!

Here are some other air shots... none as good as the first. Why can't I ever remember my good camera?! But you can tell how well Titus was doing. I love the smile on his face in the last one. :)

Zane had fun hanging out with some buddies during the test.

I was too busy videoing Titus reciting his NINE scriptures to take still photos. So, I don't have pictures of that, but he was amazing. God has done big things in this little boy's life. He has learned to confront fear with the power of Jesus! I did take pictures of the sparring and wrestling, where Titus had to fend for himself against big mean fellas!

Mr. Kruger made a special big deal out of Titus because he was the only one at this particular belt test who was entering into the Preparatory realm. It was really cool, and everybody cheered for our boy. Here he is, taking off his old belt and getting his new one... and a whole new phase of training in Christ-Jitsu! We are so proud of your hard work, Titus. We love you so much!!! Congratulations!

Great Aunt Betty and Dane

My Great Aunt Betty and her daughter, Dane, came to visit and have dinner a couple of weeks ago. Dane lives in Northern CA, and she was staying with her mom a few days, so it was nice she could drive her up from San Diego. We all enjoyed visiting and catching up on Dane's family, whom we've never met. The boys ran off before picture time!

High Tea

Wouldn't you take a break from teaching your 3 boys school, if you got an invitation to sit down for a fancy tea like this one? I could NOT resist.

Naughty little girl ;)

NO MORE FINGERS!!!

She did it! Sulli stopped sucking her two fingers after four years of this habit. It was not easy. We tried lots of things, like will-power. She would go to sleep holding "Lamb-Lamb's" ear, instead of putting her fingers in her mouth, but the next morning, she would confess with eyes full of tears, that she had given in to the power of THE FINGERS. Finally, I got the brilliant idea of putting a glove on her right hand. Fingers wouldn't taste or feel good in her mouth, all fuzzy. It worked. But it took obedience on her part. She was told not to take the glove off... and she didn't. Here she is, modeling her glove at bed time.

To reward Sullivan's hard work and obedience, I took her on a date - just Mommy and my girl - to Build-a-Bear to find a special friend. Out of all the critters, Sullivan immediately picked the large PINK Hello Kitty! No question about it! She also picked out the fancy black dress and high heels for "Kitty" to wear.

We even got pretzels with cheese to celebrate the big accomplishment!

Loving Kitty at home...

Even Prince Charming (Daddy) loves Sullivan's "Kitty." He caught a few Z's with her while Sulli read to him.

Jackson Pollock

Every other Wednesday, we have an art and science co-op at my house. There are 5 families and a total of 17 kids, split up in 2 groups: 6th grade and under and 7th grade and up. I teach the young science (Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day), along with my friend Kristy, and two other moms teach the older kids' science. Jenn teaches art, and she is phenomenal. Our first meeting was at her house since it was to be especially messy and needed lots of grass to spread out on. The artist of the day was Jackson Pollock, and the kids painted just like he did: IN the painting. He liked to be in the middle of his canvas, literally throwing paint around. it was so much fun, and the kids painted to loud music (like Manafest and Toby Mac). Here is Jenn, explaining what's coming to the young group.

My painters in action! I am so thankful for Jenn, teaching some fun art. I am artistically challenged and don't teach a stroke of art on my own. This is the beauty of co-ops!