Gymnastics Meet/Recital

In my last post I mentioned that Miss A participated in her very first gymnastics meet last weekend.  She was beyond excited about it and couldn’t wait to show off her routines that she had worked so hard to perfect.  Just a couple weeks before that she had the chance to have a ‘practice meet’ within her own gym.  This was a way for the girls to get a feel for what the real meet would be like.  There were real judges there and everything. 

Neither Anthony or I were able to stay and watch the practice meet because there was too much going on.  Miss K and I made it for the last two events.  We saw Miss A do her floor routine and then move on to the beam.  She did great.  At the end they gave the girls their score sheets and wouldn’t you know it… Miss A scored highest on vault and got the all-around high score also.  35.2

It was called a practice meet but it had value as well.  The girls have to score a 32 or above in three intra-squad meets in order to compete the rest of the season.  I’m still confused as to whether it’s 32 at each one or if it’s an average of 32.  In any case, I think she rocked it and couldn’t have done a better job. 

The real meet was a bit more nerve wracking for her.  More gyms, more girls, more judges, more audience. 

It was so fun to see her!  My cousin watched the boys for us and we took the baby and the girls to the meet.  Miss A just looked like she was in her element.  She really is happiest when she is doing what she loves.  Right now, that means gymnastics. 

Each girl at the meet did the same routines… which means the same music for floor over, and over, and over, and over, and over…. (fun stuff!  ;) ).  Being that Miss A is only a level 3 right now her routines were the simplest.  The most complex things girls at her level do on the floor is a round off back handspring.  On bars they do a chin up pullover and a back hip circle.  She did great on every event although everyone thought she should have scored higher on her floor routine.  The judges were pretty harsh this time around.  But she still managed to score a 34 – ish.  I can’t remember the exact score.  34.something.

They divided them into both Level and age.  She was in the Level 3 ages 10 and up category.  When all was said and done, she placed 2 on vault, 4th on beam, 4th on floor, and 4th all-around. 

The very next evening they had a recital for the Beginner – Level 3.  I know I said that Miss A is level 3 but it’s different.  She is Competition Level 3.  Miss H is Level 3… not competition… yet.  Does that make sense? 

And so, Miss H got to strut her stuff.  Unfortunately, there is only a picture of her warming up because I video recorded the events. 

And boy, she did a great job!  There were no judges so she didn’t get placement medals but she did get a participation medal.  Miss A got to help give the medals and she tried so hard to be in the right place to give H her medal but missed her by 2 spots.  Darn it!!  But that’s ok, my favorite moment came at the very end.  When it was all over…

Confession… this one is posed.  I missed the ‘real’ hug so I made them do it again for a picture.  How was I supposed to know Miss A would find it in herself to give Miss H a much deserved hug?  That’s the sort of thing she usually reserves for her friends.  No matter how hard I try to get her to recognize the need Miss H has for a hug.  Melted my heart! 

 

Extracurricular Activities… Educational or Distraction?

This past Friday Miss A had her very first gymnastics competition. 

It was during the day which meant that a lot of the girls competing were missing school.

There were grumblings about that little fact.  I overheard a couple of conversations.  One mom said, “I just don’t agree with this.  When it interrupts their education I just don’t agree.” 

Ok, I understand where she is coming from.  Sort of.  I used to be in a ‘school’ mindset also.  And way back then… ;)  I might have felt the same way. 

And yet, I completely (and respectfully) disagree with her. 

Call me crazy but I don’t look at it that way.  I see the extracurricular activities that my kids participate in as part of their education.  I don’t feel that it is an interruption at all. 

There are so many lessons to be learned.  Miss A in particular has learned far more from her time in gymnastics than I could have ever taught her on my own.  I’m not talking about all the tricks and flips she does, either.  I could have taught her all of that… easy peasy! 

Ha!  That was funny, right? 

Seriously, I’m talking about the life lessons she has learned.  One of the main reasons that my kids are involved with anything at all is because of Miss A.  Life lessons are the ones I am most interested in.  It is one of the many reasons that we homeschool. 

Miss A is a great kid and she has got a huge heart.  But she displayed very early on that she has got a major case of ‘middle child syndrome’.  Woo-ee!  That girl has got the guilt tripping down to a science and the manipulation she can swing is stellar!  From the time she was tiny she displayed a need to be active.  Sure, that’s absolutely possible to do at home.  Run around and play outside, right?  But she needed more. 

We already knew she had a gift for singing, drawing, and picking up on piano pretty well but anytime she tried anything sporty or active with neighbors, friends, or at family get togethers she just picked up on it right away and was naturally good at it.  It didn’t matter if she was kicking a soccer ball around or turning cartwheels.  It was apparent that she was very coordinated and picked up on things very quickly.  This is something we may not have noticed had it not been for the fact that Miss K was the opposite of this. 

No matter how hard Miss K tried to pick up on things they just didn’t come naturally to her.  She was quite clumsy and not very well coordinated, to be honest.  Anything she tried to do required her full, undivided attention and even then it didn’t come easily for her.  This has been proven to be true as she has grown into the beautiful young woman she is even now.  She has had to work really hard for every bit of success she has had with her dancing and her drawing.  Both are things she was very interested in and has a deep desire to be good at.  And she is! 

Miss A just hasn’t had to work as hard which was somewhat of a downfall in many ways. 

How could that possibly be a downfall, you ask?  Well, it’s like with anything in life.  Human nature.  It seems that if we don’t have to work for it, we don’t appreciate it as much. 

Miss A needed something to challenge her.  She was bored at home and I was having a hard time keeping her busy.  She needed a challenge. 

So, even though I knew that Miss H and Miss K would have been fine and content to be home, we found somewhere for them to go.  Somewhere to be busy.  Because how could we do that for Miss A and tell the other girls, I’m sorry but she needs this, you don’t.  And besides, they wanted it, we just didn’t have the money to allow the kids to be a part of anything. 

There came a point when we decided (irresponsible or not) that it just needed to happen no matter what. 

And so… along came the extracurriculars! 

I think I got a little off track here.  The point I’m trying to make is that I don’t consider these activities to be an interruption in my childrens’ education.  I think of them as PART of their education. 

They have learned so many life lessons such as:

• How to work with others.
• The importance and payoff of hard work.
• Being happy for others and their accomplishments.
• Working with a leader.
• Making great friends.
• Being a good friend to others.
• How to be your own cheerleader in life.
• Realistic goal setting.
• And who knows… it could mean scholarships down the road. 

I’m interested to find out what all of you think.  Are extracurricular activities an educational distraction (if held on a day when school is in session) or an education in itself? 

P.S.  More to come about the competition. 

 

K’s Birthday/Christmas Project

Maybe you remember that Miss K had decided to give back for her birthday this year.  Well, I say ‘this’ year but technically it was last year.  But it was only this past October so… you feel me, right?  And the giving back part didn’t actually happen until Christmas time. 

She asked her friends that came to her party NOT to bring her a gift.  Instead she asked them to bring a gift that she could give to someone else.  At the time we envisioned donating a bunch of toys to Toys 4 Tots or another similar organization.  But we decided to get more people involved that might want to help.  I helped her make up some flyers which she and her sisters passed out around the neighborhood.  Just something to let them all know what it was she was doing and how they could help.  She asked for donations of toys, clothing, cash, and/or gift cards.  I also made an announcement on facebook.

In total she ended up with about 35 toys, a few articles of clothing in various sizes,  2 coats,  and just over $300 in cash and gift cards.  We weren’t sure how far the cash and cards would go but when we realized how much she had to work with in the toys we saw that she could probably do much more that just donate toys to an organization.  It was then that we decided to ask around for a family that might be in need of help. 

9 kids later (from 5 different families) she was ready to play Santa Claus!  For some she only needed to provide a few things just to supplement what the family could not do on their own.  But for others she provided the entire thing!  One family with 3 kids received 4 toys per child, 2 complete outfits each, and a pair of pajamas for each as well.  This is also the family that needed the coats.  Someone else was able to provide a third one for them.  Another little girl in Idaho received a similar set up… minus the coat.  Some of the families we did not know personally, others we did. 

There was a little bit of worry when we first took on that many kids.  How was that $300 going to spread that far?  Miss K and I prayed to Heavenly Father to help us spread the money as far as it needed to go and VOILA!  The rest is history.  I truly believe that Miss K was blessed for her efforts in so many ways.  This experience taught her so much and I watched her grow up and realize how blessed she is in her life.  Such a great kid!  I couldn’t ask for a sweeter daughter to call my own. 

Going shopping with her was so much fun.  I let her choose everything that we bought since it was her project.  She did a great job although she was indecisive at times which she comes by honestly having me for a mother. 

Decisions aren’t easy… ok? 

Anyhow, she wants to do it again next year (or this year, technically) so we are gearing up.  And her sisters want to be involved this time as well.  They got to join us on a couple of the shopping trips and really got into it.  However, they were only allowed to make suggestions to Miss K.  She had the final say on all of it. 

So proud of the young woman that she has become and I can’t wait to get to know her even better as she develops into a teenager (THIS YEAR!!  YIKES!). 

A. Singing ‘Let It Go’ From Frozen

 

A couple of years ago this little cutie of mine was able to take a few voice lessons and she loved it.  Since then she has done a couple of solos for church functions.  She sang the National Anthem at our ward 4th of July Breakfast 2013, the 4th verse of I Am a Child of God in the Primary Program, and most recently she sang the 2nd verse of I Wonder When He Comes Again in our ward Christmas Sacrament Meeting. 

Does she remember what she learned 2 years ago?  Not much.  She was only 8 years old and only had a very minimal amount of lessons (I think it was 5) but she has grown so much since then.  Her voice has matured even more and maybe I’m bias but I think she’s pretty good.  Could she use some training?  Absolutely!  But I can’t deny that she’s got some raw talent.  Please be kind if you choose to comment.  She’s a little girl. 

Frozen has become our favorite movie around here and she memorized the song very quickly.  There are a couple of spots that she forgets the words but she didn’t know I was going to be asking her to sing for the camera. 

12 Years Old {Please consider donating!}

Miss K is 12 today! This year for her birthday she would like to give instead of receive. We have been blessed by so many 'angels' in our lives over the years. K recognizes this and would like to take a turn helping others. From now until Thanksgiving she will be collecting new clothes, new toys, and gift certificates (Target, Walmart, or Toys R Us). She will be donating all items to various organizations throughout the Christmas season. (Toys 4 Tots, Angel Tree, needy families, etc.) We will keep you posted about the progress, where the items are going, and what she chooses to buy with gift certificates and such. Please let me know if you would like to donate!

 

Rocket

There I was, slumbering peacefully in the wee hours of the morning on Labor Day.  Eight in the AM is the wee hours on Labor Day.  Anthony, C, H, and K had gone for a morning run. 

Little B awoke and came in to snuggle like he normally does.  And, as usual, the questions started… Where’s Dad?… Why is he running?… When will he be home?

**Front door opens**

The first thing I hear is, “Can we please keep it, Dad?  He’s so cute!” 

Any mom knows what those words mean… it means they found something.  Either a cat, a dog, or even worse… a critter. 

B and I go out to see what all the fuss is about and all the while my mind is already made up. 

NO! 

We were not going to keep ‘it’.  Whatever ‘it’ was. 



‘It’ was a kitten.  We are guessing around 6 months old.  And ‘it’ is a boy.  We checked.  ;)

I still had the NO ready.  We already have a dog and another cat.  But C had a perfect name already picked…

Rocket!

And so, before I could even put up a fight the dumb thing was already named and had food in his face.  They had found the poor little guy on the parkway.  He was starved for both attention and food.  A couple of other people had already come across him.  One couple was going to take him to the shelter and a couple of elderly ladies had gone to get him some food.  They were returning just as the kids came upon the cat. 

And the rest is history!

Never mind the fact that I’m allergic.  We have a cat already so what the heck!  Twice the itchy eyes, runny nose, sneeze attacks, and periodic hives… BRING IT ON!

But really, the kids were attached before they even got in the car to drive home from their run.  How do you say no to that?

We tried introducing Sissy, the other cat, after Rocket had a few minutes to get to the know the main floor of the house.  How did that go, you ask?  Let’s just say… Sissy was not amused. 

Next we brought in our gigantic lab, Moe.  We knew he would be gentle… and he was.  He sniffed, Rocket hissed, Moe backed off, came in for another whiff, Rocket relaxed a bit and then…



Rocket got a slobber bath. 

Isn’t that what everyone wants?  To be covered in dog slobber and wet nose snot from head to toe?  {Yuck!}

Anthony thought he’d take a turn, too.  ;)



But Rocket loved it!  To this day he still waltzes over to Moe and begs for a ‘bath’.  They are good buddies now. 

This kitty is super playful.  The kids are having a blast with him!  Just yesterday he climbed into this empty water bottle package.  C called it Rocket’s ‘portal’.  I’m not even sure where he picked up the word ‘portal’. 





Welcome to the family, Rocket!

 

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Half Marathon

Have I ever told you how much I look up to my kids?  They may be shorter than me for now but WOW! they really amaze me!

 

Ever since last August when Miss K ran a 10K with Anthony she has been dying to do a half marathon. 

Dying… WHO BEGS TO DO A HALF MARATHON?  SERIOUSLY?

Well, since Anthony was going to train her up for one, little A wanted to do it as well.  Yes, I have crazy kids.  At first Anthony thought it would be best to have A do the 10K while he ran with K for the half… Great plan, IF you have someone to run the 10K with the other child.  He tried to convince me to do it. 

PSHHHH!  See how well that worked out for him?  Ha ha! 

So, he had no choice but to train her up for the half as well, which is what she really wanted so she wasn’t at all sad about that.  :)

I admit I was nervous.  I even asked their pediatrician if it was ok for them to run such a distance at their young, tender ages.  He said it was fine so long as they listen to their bodies.  As long as they can talk while running they are fine. 

I was still nervous.

During the training runs Little A had all the energy in the world which is nothing new to us.  She’s always been a little firecracker.  When it comes to anything athletic she just seems to have a natural ability to do… whatever.  K has to work harder for it but I think she appreciates it more for all the hard work she puts in to it.  Little A would run circles around K (all this according to Anthony, of course… I wasn’t there ;)) and still have energy to spare when they got home. 

CHILD!… you do realize you just ran 8 miles, right?  Sheesh! 

And Miss K surprises me every day!  She just really loved every exhausting training run they did.  The jealous bug bit her in the butt for only a short time until she came to me one day and said, “I’ve decided it’s a lot more fun to be happy for somebody than to be jealous.”

Proud momma moment right there! 

Her runs were even better after that epiphany, too. 

The night before the race, Little A was so nervous.  She came out of bed to us sobbing.  She was scared and couldn’t sleep.  We assured her that this run was absolutely not a mandatory thing.  She was welcome to back out at any point.  A little lavender on the feet and hug later she was feeling much better. 

I had been told the night before to be at the park where the race ended at 9:30.  That way I would be sure to see the girls and Anthony cross around 10:00 am. 

Well, that only works if your children cooperate and VOW to not cross the finish line until at least 9:45. 

There I am, 9:32, parking… right then!!  And my sister calls to let me know that she just watched Little A cross from a distance.  She hadn’t made it to the finish yet either.  UGH! 

So, I have no pictures of her crossing the finish line.  :(  And I just knew I had missed Anthony and Miss K. 

Once I found A at the finish (and apologized for not being there just 5 minutes earlier) she told me that it was just her.  Anthony had run her across the line and gone back for K.  A had finished in 2 hrs. 21 min.  About a half hour later Miss K came along.   2 hrs. 50-ish min. 

WOW!  13.1 miles… CHECK!  They inspire me.  So much so that I even went and got me some running clothes.  Not so much because I really want to run.  I still think it’s devilish.  But for the sheer fact that I would like to see my husband once in a while!  I figure I have to run to hang out with him.  Tuesday night was our first run.  It was the devil!  But I finished a 5K.  Go me! 

But back to my girls… they are amazing!  So inspiring that complete strangers asked to have their pictures taken with them.  They got 1st and 2nd in their division.  (I think they were the only ones in their division to be honest but who the heck cares!)  Still #1 in my book! 

 

Training Wheels and Two Wheelers {and potty training}

B was a beast to potty train!  We started trying several months ago but he just wasn’t going for it. 

He absolutely could, but he absolutely would not!

It was extremely frustrating.  He would be wearing big boy underwear, wet in them without telling anyone, then go change his pants.  We were constantly walking in random puddles on the floor and his bedroom smelled like a urinal. 

It was bad!

So… back in diapers he went! 

And then one day a couple weeks ago he just decided, on his own terms, that he was going to be a big boy and start using the potty.  He had a few accidents here and there but nothing like before.  We promised him that if he didn’t have any accidents at all for a week we would buy him a new bike.  He has admired C’s since Christmas. 

Long story short… he did it!! 

And now he has a new bike.  It’s not the Lightning McQueen bike he preferred… we may have steered his little eyes in another direction when we saw the price difference.  ;)

And of course he needed a new helmet to go with it.  What a stud!  These pics were taken Sunday evening in the parking lot of the church.  On the way home he said, “I like my new bike.  I love it!  It’s my favorite toy.”  And he was so proud of himself when he fell and just brushed it off and hopped right back on the bike. 

One more important thing to note is that Mr. C is now riding a two wheeler!  He didn’t do the training wheels very long at all.  About a month and a half ago we were at the church riding bikes when one of his training wheels fell off.  He seemed to do just fine without it so Anthony took the other one off and that was that!  It was pretty incredible.  C never even needed anyone to hold the back of the seat. 

It’s amazing how quickly these little boys are growing.  I love them so much! 

A Catch Up Post

K and A had a dance recital at the end of May.  They both did great! 

And in order to get her hair looking Annie-ish A had to wear her hair like so… (She hated it!)

K in her clogging performance.

And her ballet dance.

K was thrilled to start a new dancing adventure… on POINTE SHOES!  Classes started this summer and she couldn’t be happier about it.

This was a quick pic taken right before she was leaving for a Super Hero party. 

… THIS Super Hero Party to be exact.  They all left as ordinary people leading ordinary lives but they came back all hero-ed up!

My little Sasser turned 8 in June. 

She had a fun little party with some friends.

She also got baptized just this past Saturday.  Her sisters gave the opening and closing prayers, Grandma H. gave a great talk on Baptism, and Aunt Wendi gave another great talk on the Holy Ghost. 

The three of us on her baptism day.  Probably can’t tell but I’m sporting braces these days.  I hate them… the end!

The girls outside our church on the 4th of July.  Our ward has a breakfast every year.  This year, A got to sing the National Anthem and she did great! 

C is throwing a fit in this one.  I couldn’t get the boys to stand with the girls for a pic. 

This was back in April (or May?)… Anthony and his sister did a triathlon.  Yeah, it pretty much kicked their butts!  ;)  Neither of them were very confident with the swimming portion.

And then they ran the Ragnar with our good friend, Kevin just a couple weeks later. 

The one in the middle is Kevin and Tiffany’s son.  All three of them are being The Hulk… hence, no shirts.

And this little guy is growing up way too fast!