Four on Friday

Nathan and I were on the road yesterday (will post about that in a bit) so I missed my Thankful Thursday post. Instead, then, here's a Four on Friday list...

1. A solid foundation. I've been particularly thankful lately for the thirteen years of karate experience that Asher and Micah have so far. Just incredibly grateful for all they've learned and the family they've gained and the confidence they've built. And now, they've both continued their karate experience in college...with each of them joining his college's Taekwondo Club. I love that this foundation has helped them find their people. 

Before I get into more, here's a picture from their very first class at Karate West in June of 2010. Aren't they adorable?!

Anyhow. As I said, both boys are enjoying their Taekwondo Clubs...the people they're meeting and the familiarity of regular exercise and practice.

Micah's club at CU Boulder has about 100 students and is, um, well funded. They have large-ish membership dues and do a lot of fundraising that carries over from year to year. Last weekend, they were able to fly about 50 students to Chicago for two nights to compete in a mock tournament on Saturday to gain some tournament experience with four other college teams. The students stayed in AirBNBs and had a great time in Chinatown after the mock tournament. Of course, Micah says there were so many people that he only did one form and had one sparring partner/match and his AirBNB didn't have enough beds so he slept under a table, but it sounds like he had an awesome time getting to know his own teammates better. :) He's also joined the team demonstration group and is surprisingly one of the flyers. They boost/throw him in the air where he flips and breaks boards on his way down. Fun?

Meanwhile, Asher's club at UNC is considerably smaller with about 10 students total (which is a size Asher prefers). They meet throughout the week and are having a great time. They're currently trying to raise some money for new gear (they don't even have a dedicated space/room). Here's Asher's fundraising page if anyone local is interested. Note. The items apparently will be delivered to Asher who must then be able to deliver them directly around November 9th, so please don't order if you're not local. If you'd like to just donate cash directly, let me know. That's what we'll be doing since we don't "need" baked goods. ;) 

Anyhow, I'm just so glad that both boys have found clubs that "fit" so well. 

2. Fall prep. We haven't done our fall clean up yet and all the leaves in our yard are probably going to be buried in snow tomorrow. But. In terms of fall prep, I did clean and treat all my boots this week...that's what's important, right? 

I try to do this at least every few years to keep them in good condition. Now I just need more occasions to wear them all... ;) 

3. Halloween credit. I didn't do any Halloween decorations this year...because why bother when your neighbor routinely does this?

And this year the neighbors just next to him tried...with witches and zombies and even a crime scene on the sidewalk (complete with ketchup "blood" and crime tape). But it's just hard to compete, ya know? My contribution to Halloween for my neighborhood, then, is that we give out whole candy bars. One, it's fun to see the glee on the kids' faces. And, two, it's easier to keep myself from breaking into the candy because I know I don't need a full bar. (Traditional bite size candies are just too easy to snitch from, lol.) 

And I just want you all to know that I haven't opened any of the Halloween candy packages yet! I should get extra credit for that. :)

4. Christmas. And, speaking of Halloween...that means that Christmas is less than two months away! I feel like I have a decent handle on my shopping and lists at the moment but am always looking for more and new ideas. Grown(ish) sons are harder to shop for than little boys (when legos pretty much took care of everything, lol)...any cool new things I don't know about?

Okay, that's my list today. Happy Friday to you all! I'm off to soak up the last of the day's sunshine before the forecast snow.