My Bar Princess {Gymnastic Meet edition}

My baby girl is a Level 2 AAU gymnast. 

It's hard for me to believe since this seems like yesterday or at the very least last month.

 Lo started gymnastics at 18m. I was very pregnant with MW through out. I remember watching her and dreaming of the day that she would 'hopefully' decide to pursue gymnastics and compete. However, that day seemed eons away. Evidently it was just a blink away.

Gymnastic days came and went until I started working there in 2013. From then on she was a gymnast--her choice. She has worked and worked and this past May 2015 made our level 2 team. She has grown so much. I am so proud of her. And it is an extra privilege I have to be one of her 3 coaches. It's just one of those full circle moments for me that I can't even put into words.

Her first meet had us both so excited, but I think I was more-so. I really didn't care how she did, I just wanted to see her do her thing and she did. I was one proud momma.

Here are some photos from her first meet at the end of January.
Some things to note:
*The gym set up was horrible and there was little seating and made it hard to see let alone take good photos.
*After we bought our DSLR way back in 2012, we talked how once the kids got into real sports we would need to invest in a long lens...guess what they are and we hadn't purchased one yet. After seeing these photos, Chad promptly got one. Love him.
*And now the need to learn the DSLR in manual is becoming apparent, so we are still practicing to get those really amazing shots...each meet Chad gets better. {I am on the floor and not much help HA!}
*Finally, I haven't edited these as of yet. But at the end of the day it is so nice to have these and see her progress, her shapes and the joy she has doing the sport she loves.


Just a few of her teammates. Her Level 2 team is huge. It's the beginning competition level so there is always tons of interest and as the years go on and they have to work harder to move up and progress they start dropping out for other sports---I always wonder how far Lo will make it?!

The started on bars and Lo was the first of her team to compete. The other coaches and I worried how she would do at a meet, since she sometimes can have some drama at practice, but we were surprised that she walked up there and CRUSHED IT. She is our little bar princess. Weighing in at 35# {soaking wet} and 3'8" she can go into beast mode princess and rock those bars. She took 3rd. If you could have seen my face as I stood there. I was like who are you and where is my daughter? She came to compete. It was over for me then. IF she quit right then I was happy. HA! 

Next up was beam. She had a nice routine. This judge was rough. That is the tough part about gymnastics--it is just so subjective. Sometimes it is hard to understand the scores, but as I tell all my girls, you are competing with yourself right now. Get out there do your best, have fun and make one improvement. That is all I am looking for. We aren't exactly training future Olympians here. 

The Handstand dismount.

Lo finished 7th place on beam.

Ah, me doing what I do best...seriously, love my job. So much.

Floor. I just think she is so freakin' cute. She did well, but added some extra stuff to her routine--which I take the blame for, and it cost her, but again she went out there and did her thing. Another 7th place finish.

There is also vault of course but it was really hidden and unable to really capture on film.

These are my favorite photos...the end of the meet!!! All the praise hands. We did it. As a team I was so impressed with these girls. They all did really well.

Greeting her entourage.

Stop it right now...She and her daddy. 

I mean I am not sure any man will ever live up to him in her eyes.

The awards ceremony.
To break this down each girl places and medals in AAU on all 4 events and then All-around. So they go home with 5 awards, each meet. Hello medal shelf. HA!

Bar Princess taking 3rd!!

It is broken down by level--obviously, and then by age division. While she is a level 2 she was only competing against other 6-8 yo level 2s. None of the older ones. And if there were more and 12/13 6-8 yo L2 then that would be broken into 2 "heats." Meaning they would rather medal out to 12 twice than to 24th place...that part annoys me, but there are pros and cons for everyone getting a medal mentality. I will just leave it at that. HA

She took 7th in everything else.

Then there is the team award. Gymnastics seems individual, but everyone is also busting their butts to bring in high scores so the TEAM does well. Team score is based off the entire teams top 3 scorers on EACH apparatus.

As a team we took 3rd! Not too shabby out of 7 teams.

A few candids. Auntie Meg thank you so much for showing up to the meets to help capture these moments!!

Caught admiring her medals.

The hair. 

Can I just tell you I am not a girly mom. I want to be into make-up, hair, fashion--and I do try, but it isn't my thing or passion. So bless her, trying to do cute hair was definitely a challenge. BUT thanks to youtube I am starting to get the hang of this stuff...slowly. Thankfully, Lo is being very patient as I learn.

And that's a wrap on her FIRST MEET!!!

Because let's face it it took me a month to post on her first meet let's just toss in the second one too.
This was our HOME meet. These poor babies didn't compete until 7p Saturday and the meet ended at 9p followed by awards. AH!! Let's be honest that is too late for me! HA!

I will just let the photos speak for themselves.

Oh, this is how MW does meets. I don't think he looked up once. HA! #gymnasticbrother

Me and my awesome coaching glory. ;)

She took 3rd on bars again!!! She really wanted 1st, but we will get there...

 Placed 5th on Beam, and 10th on Floor and Vault.

Once again well done. I couldn't be more proud of her. I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Happy Birthday MW and Lo! {Party Style}

Hello.
I am back to share about MW's Fifth Birthday and Lo's 7th {early} birthday party.
I decided on a joint party because two different family parties within weeks of one another is a lot of work for me and our schedules. Thankfully they don't seem to mind.

Lo went low key this year with just brownies. I asked if she wanted anything special on it and she kept saying "No, just brownies and ice cream." Thankfully I found this cute little bunting at Target to dress them up a tad, along with a name candle. She was thrilled. I love you baby girl for being so simple and easy!!

Next up was MW's cake. He requested spiderman. He wanted a red cake with a web, but I didn't realize that no matter how much red dye you add to white frosting you still get pink! Apparently I learned later that you have to buy a special red dye to get the desired red...who knew...cake people that's who. Thankfully MW was so sweet and said "That's ok mom, I still love it! Thank you for trying." Oh my sweet boy and THAT is why I love you. Your tender and understanding heart.

I have to include this--we ran to Dollar Tree a few days before the party for supplies and we saw these balloons. I mean how do you say No to a $1 balloon for the birthday kids? You don't. So we were talking about his party and the following transpired--

Touche buddy. This kid cracks me up. His wit is on point like his father. 

{Shhhh don't tell Chad I said that. ;) }

On a side note---we still have Lo's balloon going strong a whole month later. Her real birthday is on the 15th. We wanted to see if it makes it. So dollar tree balloons are where it's at for future reference.

The party consisted of family going out to eat at Chick-Fil-A, a little play place fun; finishing off with cake/brownies/ice creams and gifts at home. The party stage is set.

These two are just two really great kids. I couldn't feel more blessed.

Ready to sing Happy Birthday!

This boy was surprisingly not interested in cake, only presents---actually I am not at all surprised. He loves to get gifts. I feel like he gets a "high" from receiving stuff. He could care less what it is, just that he gets something...

Now this girl loves gifts, but she {mostly} cherishes what she gets. When she wants something you know she really wants it. Like this puppy dog. Last year, she wanted another Our Generation tiny puppy. I said not right now, for your birthday. Well, when her birthday rolled around it was out of stock--EVERYWHERE! She was heart-broken. She eventually found another one she liked just as well. Fast forward this year she finds another Our generation puppy she really wants. I said no, we need to wait for your birthday...only this time I got smart and had Chad distract her while I sneaked it to the checkout. Over the month she would go and check on her dog at Target---he was gone. She was so sad---and then this happened on her birthday!!  She couldn't believe I "found" her dog...well, let's just say baby I learned a lesson last year.

The carnage...they made out like bandits. 

Playing Legos with Auntie Meg. 

Lo made MW these worksheets. Such as tracing his name, a color by numbers and a connect the dots. She is just so clever and sweet. 

Back to MW and his love of getting stuff. He wanted this Jake Skull Rock/Ship thing we found at Tuesday Morning. He begged for it. I said no--maybe for your birthday. Unlike Lo I knew he wouldn't be disappointed if it were gone. He moves on to the next thing like a butterfly. But as his birthday rolled around he asked again--I really tried to say "no." I knew he wouldn't play with it. So we got it. He doesn't play with it. Look for it in my garage sale for $5. ;) And now I learned another lesson about trusting my gut. HA!

We have very limited family time due to crazy work schedules. So when we are together we try to have a game night or movie night. Lo really is into Monopoly. We taught her how to play the adult version--but as you know that takes for-evah to truly complete. So she asked for this for her birthday--the Jr. version. We have spent many an evening playing. She is so good at it and somehow usually wins!

Well that sums up their party. Next Monday on her actually birthday we plan on going out as a family to celebrate more. I just can't believe they are 5 and 7. I can't even handle this. MW is going to Kindy in the fall. Lo is reading Junie B Jones all by herself. Stop growing. 

I love you both so much! Happy Birthday to my two favorite kids!!!