2018 USA Taekwondo National Championships

2018 Baystate Taekwondo USAT Nationals Competitors

 It's that time of year again.  With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we are all reminded to think long and hard about what we are thankful for this year.  Topped only by our family road trip to Walt Disney World, one of the things I am most grateful for is the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah to cheer my 14 year old son on as he competed and placed 3rd in poomsae at the 2018 USA Taekwondo National Championships.  In addition to that amazing moment, our family spent almost an entire week with the other Baystate Taekwondo Competition Team families, who are like extended family to us.  So many wonderful memories were made, and for that I am also grateful.

During the week of July 2nd, seven Baystate Taekwondo Competition Team athletes and their families traveled across the country to Salt Lake City along with their coaches, Master John Alves and Mr. Christopher Alves, to compete in the 2018 USA Taekwondo National Championships. Ranging from ages 9 to 17, each of these young athletes train alongside their teammates at Baystate Taekwondo Academy in Massachusetts year-round to compete on a state and national level with only a 7-week hiatus during the summer.

From continuing on after sustaining injuries to exhibiting great sportsmanship no matter the outcome, these young athletes are an inspiration to us all. The results were as follows for each competitor in their age, rank, and weight divisions:

(From left to right) Sumeet Nijjar, Danveer Nijjar, Victoria Lewis, Abhaya Sundar, Keira Macauley, Elizabeth Levin, and Jake Coutu

• Keira Macauley, age 9, placed 5th in poomsae and 3rd in sparring, taking home her first USAT bronze medal.
• Four-time Nationals medalist, Victoria Lewis, age 12, placed 3rd in poomsae and 2nd in sparring, earning her 3rd bronze and 1st USAT silver medal.
• Three-time Nationals medalist, Elizabeth Levin, now age 13, placed 5th in poomsae and 1st in sparring, earning her first USAT gold medal, and making her the 2018 National Champion in her sparring division.
• First time competitor, Abhaya Sundar, age 12, placed 5th in poomsae and 2nd in sparring, earning her 1st USAT silver medal.
• First time competitor, Danveer Nijjar, age 13, placed 9th in poomsae and 5th in sparring.
• Two-time Nationals medalist, Jake Coutu, age 14, placed 3rd in poomsae, taking home his 2nd USAT bronze medal.
• Sumeet Nijjar, age 17, placed 1st in sparring, earning him his first USAT gold medal, and making him the 2018 National Champion in his sparring division.

Looking back on this year’s trip to Nationals, the owner of Baystate Taekwondo Academy, Master John Alves, says, “Work hard, train hard, stay focused, and last; commit to your art 100% to achieve your ultimate GOAL.”

Proud families of the Baystate Taekwondo 2018 USA Taekwondo National Championships competitors.

The achievements of these young athletes in Salt Lake City were made possible due to the endless support of the Baystate Taekwondo instructors, coaches, the Baystate Taekwondo community, led by Mary Alves, and the support of businesses, such as Google LLC, American Consumer Credit Counseling, The Fine Arts Theatre Place, Stop & Shop Supermarkets and their patrons, Orthopedics New England, and The PaisleyHanger Boutique.

What are you thankful for this year?

Tell us in a comment here.

Easily Attach Iron-on Patches Without Ironing or Sewing

 This past July, our oldest son competed in the USA Taekwondo National Championships for the third year in a row, and brought home a bronze medal for poomsae.  I was so proud of him because, although he had earned a medal in sparring in the past, he had yet to medal in poomsae, which is his true passion.

While at Nationals, we picked up some patches for his competition uniform and for his competition team jacket.  We had the patch sewn onto his uniform by a local tailor for $5.  Easy!  Attaching the patch for his team jacket was not so easy.  Since the jacket has a polyester nylon shell, I was told that puncturing it with a needle could cause damage down the road, and that it cannot withstand an iron hotter than 300 degrees.

I researched the issue online multiple times, watched many tutorials, and even reached out to Sport-Tek, the manufacturer of the jacket.  Still, I could not find a definitive answer about how to effectively and safely attach this patch, which has an iron-on coating on the back, to this polyester nylon jacket.  I did not want to experiment with any iffy methods, and risk ruining my son's jacket.

Then one day, in a last ditch effort, I tried to Google the issue again.  I came across quotes from reviews on Amazon for a product that did not show up in my searches before, so I clicked through.  The product was called Badge Magic.  I read the reviews, and they looked very promising.  Still, I did not see any that stated that this product would work on a nylon jacket using an iron-on type patch, so I asked the question.  Several past purchasers replied that it should, but one finally replied with a definite "Yes!".  That was what I was waiting for, so I ordered one sheet to give it a try.  It worked GREAT!!!  Since I had so much trouble finding the information I needed for attaching our patch, I wanted to share how easy this process turned out to be . . .


How to Attach a Patch the No-Iron, No-Sew Way:

Supplies Needed:

Sharp Pencil

Scissors

Cut to Fit Badge Magic

Ruler

TIP #1:  Be sure the fabric item to which you will be attaching the patch is clean and wrinkle-free, if possible.

Step 1.  Place your regular or iron-on patch right-side up on the printed side of the Badge Magic sheet.  While holding the badge in place with one hand, trace the shape of the badge using a pencil with the other.

TIP #2: Using an automatic pencil worked well for me because it gave me a fine line, and I was able to trace as close to the patch as possible without making any marks on the edges of the patch.

Step 2. Following the outline you traced, cut out the shape of the patch from the Badge Magic sheet.

Step 3. Peel off the printed backing from the shape you cut out, exposing the sticky surface.

Step 4. Carefully position the patch right-side up on the sticky surface, trying to line up the edges exactly.  Press down firmly to adhere the Badge Magic shape to the backside of the patch.

TIP #3:  The adhesive is extremely sticky, so try to be precise when attaching the Badge Magic to the back of your patch.  It would be best to have an adult complete this step.

Step 5. If the Badge Magic shape is larger than your patch on any of the edges, trim the Badge Magic shape with scissors until its edges match up with those of your patch.

Step 6.  Using a ruler, determine and take note of the desired position for the patch.  (For example, I measured how far down from the shoulder seam the patch should be while my son was wearing the jacket.  I also noted that the top right corner of the patch should hit the edge of the red stripe.  Then I used those same guidelines to position the patch with the jacket sleeve laying flat.)

Step 7.  Carefully remove the plain white backing from the back of the patch, exposing the second sticky surface.

TIP #4:  According to the Badge Magic instructions, at this point you should fold back any extra adhesive seen around the edges of the patch, however, if you had trimmed the Badge Magic shape (Step 5), then this should be unnecessary.

Step 8.  Position the badge in the desired position.  When the position looks correct, press down firmly on the badge.  Rub the handle of your scissors over the entire badge, especially the edges, to make sure there is a strong bond.

TIP #5:  Since my son's jacket has a nylon shell, like a windbreaker, it was shipped to us with creases all over.  I did not have a way to remove these creases, so I used both hands to put tension on the area where the patch was to be placed to flatten the material while placing the patch on the jacket.

That's it!  The process was super-quick.  The Badge Magic is said to be washable, but I have not tested that yet.  My son's jacket is new and has barely been worn due to the warm weather.

Below is the Badge Magic instructional video.  According to the reviews on Amazon, this product works great for Boy Scout and Girl Scout badges too.

What other uses can you think of for Badge Magic?

Share your ideas with us in a comment here.

Craft with Glitter Fabric Paint Pens on Denim for DIY Back-to-School Fashion Fun

Thank you to Oriental Trading Company for providing some of the supplies used for this DIY back-to-school fashion craft.  All opinions expressed are my own.

In some parts of the country, the first day of school has already arrived, but where we live, we still have a few weeks of summer vacation left.  This is usually around the time our children start to get bored.  Well, a fun craft is always a great boredom-buster.  Check out our latest craft idea and see how easy it is to get creative!

My 10 year old daughter is very much into bling.  She loves graphic tees, emojis, and expressing herself with what she wears.  That's what inspired me to turn this basic denim jacket (that's been hanging on the same coat hook since last fall) into something she'll reach for first when choosing a jacket to wear to school.


Decorating Denim with Glitter Fabric Paint (and Charms) . . .

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

plain denim clothing item

glitter fabric paint pens

round cans, cups, bowls of varying sizes

rhinestone heart charms

sewing needle

clear or invisible thread

scissors

craft sticks (optional)

THINK about what you want to put on your denim item.  Then decide where each design will go.

Want to add an EMOJI?  Lay your item of clothing out smoothly on a flat surface.  Then place a can or a cup down where you would like to add the emoji.  Use the glitter fabric paint pen in the desired color and carefully add dots around the can or cup to create a perfect circle.

What kind of EMOJI?  You can find all sorts of examples of emojis online.  My daughter requested a cat and a girl with sunglasses.

TIP #1: Keep in mind that the glitter paint looks much lighter when first applied.  The glue that looks white now will dry clear, leaving only the color of the glitter behind.

Want to add a PEACE SIGN?  Again, use a stencil to create your circle based on the size you want your peace sign to be.  We used a large bowl to create the design on the back of my daughter's denim jacket.

Use more than one color!  To make your designs pop, use more than one color.  You can create your design with double lines, like we did with our peace sign pictured below.

TIP #2:  It's okay to create your design freehand.  My daughter thinks it adds an artsy look to her jacket.

Express yourself!  My daughter loves art, so I added a pencil doodling a heart on one of the jacket sleeves.  My daughter also loves Taekwondo.  That's where the "Peace - Love- TKD" came from.

Say it with WORDS!  In addition to the words on the back of the jacket, I also added my daughter's name down one sleeve.  I also added the word "art" on one shoulder above the pencil.  Again, I used two colors for all the text.  Simply choose your main color to dot out your words.  Then go back and use a contrasting color to add dots in between the existing dots.

TIP #3:  I found that the silver glitter fabric paint did a great job offsetting almost any color, so I used it as my secondary color throughout many of the designs.

What happens if you GOOF?  If you make a mistake with these glitter fabric paint pens, you can carefully lift the paint off with a tiny piece of paper towel.  There may be a hint of glitter left behind, but it usually isn't noticeable.  If it is, then you can always paint over it.

Add paint effects!  Since my daughter is very artsy, I thought I'd add an abstract paint effect to the back of her jacket.  This was super-easy!  I just put 3 or 4 dots of paint on the end of a craft stick (as shown below).  Then I would tap the paint around on the fabric.  Next, I used the craft stick to spread and smear the paint around.  I repeated these steps using red, silver, and blue glitter fabric paint until I was satisfied with the way it looked.

Add some BLING!  If you'd like to add a touch of hardware to your denim item, you can sew a few charms on by hand.  I chose to add 3 heart charms to the points of each chest pocket on my daughter's denim jacket.  I let her pick the colors of the charms.

Check it out!  My daughter can't wait to wear her new and improved jacket to school this fall!

What designs do you think would look awesome on denim?

Let us know in a comment here.

Like this craft idea? Pin It for later . . .

Photos: On the Road Home from the 2016 National Taekwondo Championships in Richmond, VA

The Delaware Bridge in Maryland

This past July, my family went on its first long-distance road trip!  My 12 year old son had qualified to compete at the Junior Olympics for Taekwondo, which were being held in Richmond, Virginia this year.  How could we not go?

My biggest concern was how well our children, 9, 9, and 12, would do on such a long car ride.  I even made them each binders with road trip activities inside.  It turned out that we didn't really need them.  All we needed were phones, tablets, external battery packs, and a portable hotspot.

Homes Along the Hudson in New York

When we drove from Massachusetts to Virginia, we left at about 1:00am, so there wasn't too much we could see until the sun came up.  On the way home, although it was gray and foggy, we were able to see quite a bit.

Cloudy with a Chance of Traffic

The distance from Massachusetts to Virginia is about halfway to Florida.  Would we survive driving all the way to Florida?  I'm leaning towards no, but you never know!

The George Washington Bridge in New York

I am thrilled to report that my son won a bronze medal for sparring in Taekwondo for his weight and belt division!  My heart just fills with pride when I think about it because he worked so hard and he was quite humble when he received his medal.

Bronze Medalist at the 2016 National Taekwondo Championships

Did you take a road trip this year?
Leave a comment and share your adventure with us!

Logo Loops Headbands for School and Taekwondo

Thank you to Logo Loops for sending their comfy headbands for our daughter to wear and for providing the prize for our giveaway.  All opinions expressed are our own.

I may have mentioned before that our daughter is quite active.  She likes to run and play basketball during recess, plays hard during gym class, and gives 100% (at least) at Taekwondo.  Keeping her hair neat is difficult some days because it's super-straight (something she inherited from me), which causes it to fall down and gets stringy easily.  Logo Loops wide headbands, an item featured on The View as a back-to-school must-have, turned out to be the answer to our problems.

We have only been able to find one or two styles of headbands that stay put in our daughter's hair, while feeling comfortable the whole day through.  Many are too tight and she ends up taking them off after an hour or two.  Last week, our daughter tested for her orange belt in Taekwondo.  The students work extremely hard during their belt tests to show their instructors and their parents what they can do.

Our daughter wore her TKD Logo Loops headband during her belt test and it kept her hair out of her way and neatly in place.  The headband didn't start to slip at all and remained comfortable throughout the warm-ups, the blocks and kicks, the patterns, sparring, and board-breaking.

I must also mention that it is extremely difficult to find Taekwondo-themed items for girls.  Our daughter received so many compliments on her Logo Loops TKD headband that I actually think it gave her an extra boost of confidence to wear it.  She did amazingly well on her belt test.

Logo Loops TKD headband

Our daughter has also loved wearing her Logo Loops headbands to school.  Here she is in one of the nine Initial Loops headbands available.

Logo Loops Oval Flower Initials headband

There are so many different Logo Loops available, there's something for every girl, from grade school through college.  Which one is your favorite?

Our daughter's favorite design is the Cool Cat headband.  It's probably because she's such an animal-lover.  Don't see exactly what you need?  Submit your own artwork to custom order Logo Loops for your school, club, team, or organization!

Logo Loops Cool Cat headband

To learn more about Logo Loops, visit www.Logo-Loops.com or Logo Loops on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  Logo Loops sell for $13.99 each.  Visit their online store to shop!

Share your thoughts about these fun headbands with us on Facebook!

Fun & Trendy RMLA Girls Fashions {plus 20% Off Sophia's Style Promo Code}

Thank you to Sophia's Style for providing a gift code for us to shop their site for girls summer fashions and for providing a 20% off promo code for my readers.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Have you and your daughter ever shopped on SophiasStyle.com? This online boutique offers everything from school uniforms to formal wear and everything in between for both boys and girls.  Be sure to set aside a chunk of time because your daughter will want to look at everything her favorite brands have to offer, such as KidCuteTure, Hello Kitty, Sophie Catalou, and more.  One brand our daughter owns quite a few dresses from is RMLA.  She loves them all because this brand adds a lot of special touches that make their clothes especially fun for girls to wear.

RMLA Colorful Kaleidoscope Knotted Top Hi-Low Sleeveless Dress

We spent quite a long time shopping on Sophia's Style.  Of the many things that were added and removed from our shopping bag, this RMLA Kaleidoscope Knotted Top Hi-Low Sleeveless Dress was the one item our daughter was not indecisive about.  It was love at first sight for her.

Our daughter wore this dress to a birthday party this summer.  It was a country-themed party with straw hats and mustaches.  This was really the perfect dress because the knotted denim top with the rhinestones on the faux flap chest pockets gives the dress a hint of country western style.  The high-low hemline and lightweight colorful printed fabric makes this dress ideal for summer.

RMLA Stripe Flower Lace Skirt Cardigan Top Outfit and Bixbee Pink Sparkalicious Girls Medium Duffle Bag

In addition to the RMLA dress, we ordered this super-cute and sporty RMLA Cobalt Blue Stripe Flower Lace Skirt Cardigan Top Outfit.  Lace overlay seems to be a huge trend this summer.  This outfit features a faux tie-front cardigan trimmed with lace at the sleeves and has built-in shorts underneath the skirt.  The floral applique on the striped top is also embellished with rhinestones.  This RMLA 2-piece set also comes in Pink, Purple, and Seafoam.  I was tempted to get one of each color because this is such a cute outfit and it's playground-friendly, making it perfect for back-to-school.

Oh, I can't forget to tell you about the Bixbee Pink Sparkalicious Medium Duffle Bag!  Can you guess what's inside?

Yes, this pink glittery duffle bag now houses our daughter's Taekwondo uniform for her to bring to and from class.  Just because she can break boards with her hands, elbows, and feet, doesn't mean she can't have a pretty Taekwondo bag, right?

Do you have a confident, colorful, girly-girl who would love RMLA fashions as much as my daughter?  Before you shop, grab SophiasStyle.com promo code: KARENSFRIENDS to save 20% off your entire purchase through 7/6/2015.

5 Tips for Keeping Your Children on Schedule Throughout the Week! #GetGoing #MC

I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Influence-Central for Jif To Go Dippers. I received a sample to facilitate my review and a thank you item for participating.  All opinions expressed are my own.

One of the things that has become obvious to me over the past year or so is that our family of five is only going to get busier and busier as our children grow older.  Every grade they advance means more homework.  Every year they mature means they want to be more social and may want to try new extracurricular activities.

At the moment, all three of our children study Taekwondo.  If you can somehow manage to have all your children take part in the same activity, I highly recommend it.  I do not miss the days of dragging all three children to soccer practice and dance class when only one of them was participating.  Still, life is hectic because there's 3 of them and only 2 of us.  They outnumber us!  Let me share a few tips I've come to find very useful over the past few years . . .

5 Tips for Keeping Your Children on Schedule:

1.  Try to always be at least 15 minutes early. If you always try to be early, that means you might only be late about 50% of the time despite having children who try to leave the house without remembering to put on their shoes or need to use the bathroom as you're pulling out of the driveway even though they swore they didn't need to just 10 minutes before.

2.  Take homework with you.  I know it can be a little stressful to help multiple children with homework while you're out of the house, but it really is a smart way to use your time.  While our twins are in Taekwondo class, their big brother does his homework.  Then while he is taking his class, the twins do their homework.  It works out very well and it may free up an extra half an hour for down time later on, something my children hardly get any of on most weeknights.

3.  Complete homework in advance.  It may not always be feasible, but if your child gets a week's worth of assignments at once, then it could help if he or she completed an extra assignment or two on a night when there are no activities outside of the house.  This makes it much less stressful on the school nights when you do have to leave the house.

4.  Keep any gear you need by the door or in the car.  No, you probably won't see a big duffel bag full of gear by the front door at Martha Stewart's house, but . . . I'm not Martha Stewart.  We keep a rolling duffel full of sparring gear for Taekwondo either inside the back door of our house or in the trunk of our car.  By doing this, it's very rare that we show up for class unprepared.  My sanity is more important that someone thinking less of me because my house looks lived in.

5.  Keep portable snacks on-hand.  Something we always kept on-hand were little single serve pouches of fruit snacks.   This is something that we could just grab on our way out the door when we're running late for Taekwondo class.  However, since our children had voiced how tired they were of having the same snack all the time, I started to look for other options for portable snacks.  We recently tried Jif To Go® Dippers and will be adding them to our very short list of on-the-go snacks.

As a parent, I found both the contents and the packaging of Jif To Go Dippers to be very well-thought out.  This product was made with children in mind.  Sometimes we just have enough time to get the children off the school bus, have them change into their Taekwondo uniforms, get their backpacks, grab water bottles and a to-go snack, and head out the door.  When unwrapped, you get a container of 10 to 12 pretzels with a separate container of dip.  The container of pretzels is perfect for putting in one of the cup holders in the car, which works out great because our children usually finish their Jif To Go Dippers in the car before we go into class.  That way, we don't need to worry about being rude by eating in front of others when we don't have enough for everyone and we don't have to worry about other students having peanut allergies. Did I also mention that my children can eat Jif To Go Dippers without making a mess on their white uniforms?

Now, what did our children think?  Not only were they thrilled about having something different to eat for snack, they made sure we put Jif To Go Dippers on the list for our next trip to the grocery store.  Although they enjoyed both the Creamy Peanut Butter and the Chocolate Silk Peanut Butter, they all seemed to liked the Chocolate Silk the best.

Do your children need something new for a to-go snack?  Look for Jif To Go Dippers in grocery stores nationwide.