we are so proud ...

On Wednesday, we all took our test for belt promotion in karate. I'm very happy to say that we all passed with flying colors. The look on Austin's face when Mr. Mitchell gave him a red stripe on his belt--indicating that he passed the test and was indeed being promoted--was just priceless. Aus was absolutely beaming with a smile from ear to ear. When Mr. Mitchell told Austin that he's very proud of him and all the progress he's made, noting that he's become a great leader in the class, our typically talkative son was tongue-tied ... barely able to get out "thank you, sir." Our graduation is Saturday. We're very happy that Stef will be here to go with us ... and I'm hoping she'll be able to take some photos that I can include in my next post.

Speaking of photos to post, I finally was able to cajole my disk reader into working this morning, so I'll have to sit down and do some work to get them up for you to see. (We've still got our Disney trip photos to share!!)

I did have time to get this one up ... Austin's new do. It was his idea to style it like this ... (a few kids in karate have similar hairstyles, a few of the dancers on So You Think You Can Dance wore their hair like this and he found out that his friend Daniel also has this hairstyle). I'm sure that there are people who will think I'm crazy for letting my kid wear his hair like this, but I don't care at all about this kind of thing. I figure that hair and clothes are a good and simple way for kids to be able to express themselves and explore their style. Besides, hair will just grow back and clothes and styles change all the time anyway. I think it's pretty cool!