Girls Gymnastics

Over the summer, since dance was over, we signed the girls up for gymnastics.  I did gymnastics as a child, for several years, and really liked it.  Hubby also did it a few times growing up.  We thought it might help them with strength and balance, as well as have some fun.  The last practice I took some pictures, because, at the time, we thought they may decide to do something else during the school year.  The session starts with some stretching, of course.

Then, on this particular day, they headed over to bars.

So, while there, I noticed they had a lot of training helps, and a lot of the girls wore braces and wraps.  While I understand it helps everyone stay safe, and probably allows easier learning, I kinda feel like it is cheating, since we didn't do that growing up.  We had to do it the hard way!

Then it was over to the beam.

Where, by the end of the summer session, my children, who have never done gymnastics before, were doing carthwheels off the beam!!!

And this is the new vault table.  Again, I was impressed that the girls ended up doing handstand flat backs (which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like) by the end of the session.

This particular gym we go to had all kinds of cool equipment for the kids, and it was great to see how much fun they had!

Kaitlyn ended the practice by climbing the rope.  She almost got all the way to the top!

During the summer, the girls had practice at the same time on the same day, so that was fairly convenient.  We also decided it may be time to really work with Kari on her stretching.  Poor girl can't touch her toes.  However, growing up I remember my dad watching TV sitting on the floor with a belt around his toes, so maybe it is genetic ;)

So, this is a handstand flat back.  You do a handstand, then land flat on your back.  Note the pointed toes :)

Kari was also working on front handsprings a bit on the jump track.

I must admit that I was decently pleased at the pace the coaches kept up.  They kept moving forward so the girls didn't feel bored. 

 They didn't worry about perfection and mastery at this level, but they did correct them most of the time, so they could keep working on the small things.

Yay for cartwheels off the beam!

We ended up signing the girls up for gymnastics during this school year.  It costs a bit more per month, but there are no start up costs, less equipment and no dance costumes.  Plus, the girls are at the same time and day again, so instead of multiple practices and games per week, we only have one.   Much better for me!

Markers

One day, my children wanted to be animals.  And what better way to be an animal than to color your face?

To be fair, I am pretty sure that Kelsey didn't come up with this idea by herself.  And she probably had some help with the execution.

Dylan was also a dog I believe.  

But he had already started taking the markings off....

Baby wipes are good for lots of things, but all traces of markers....  maybe not?

Kaitlyn was a kitty cat.

Meow!

As it came closer to nap time, it was time to take everything off.

Kelsey is at that fabulous independent stage where she must do everything herself....

As I am sure you can guess, that goes about as well as expected.

The problem being that while it started to come off her face, it transferred to her hands.

Guess who doesn't get to draw with markers on their faces anymore?!?!

Fairy Lights

This is the first time, in my children's memory, that the power has gone out.  At least at night.  When they are awake.  And are trying to do things other than sleep.

We had a little storm that knocked out the power for about an hour and half.  

Thankfully, dinner was miraculously prepared, and showers were already taken.

The camera flash makes everything look normal, eh?

So, we pulled out our candles and flashlights, and ate dinner by the light of the silvery moon.  And, as I looked out the window to see if the storm had passed, I saw the reflection of our candles and thought.... Fairies!

We had fairy lights with our dinner :)

Big Girl Bed 4.0

Around our house, our rule has always been that when the kids start climbing out of the crib, it is time to change it over to a toddler bed.  Kelsey started crawling out earlier than I wanted to.  But she figured out how to crawl out by climbing onto her dresser (right beside her bed) and then scaling down her dresser like a rock wall.  So, I moved her bed to the other side of the room and gained another month or two, before she suddenly started appearing in the hallway again.  This time, I knew it was time.  So, we waited until hubby was home, and took off the side, and added a rail.

We also added one of those childproof door handle cover thingys on the inside of the door.  I know it isn't incredibly safe, in case there is a fire, but it is more safe than her waking up in the middle of the night and walking out the door, or getting into something she isn't supposed to.

Because, make no mistake, this one, though cute, it is mischivious!  Also, since this picture has been taken, she has suddenly and completely given up sippy cups.  The spills....  Oh the spills.

It makes daddy sad to see his little girl growing up.

She did really well sleeping in bed for about 3 months.  Then, she figured out that she could get out of bed, and since then, we have found her in front of the door many times.  

Good thing she is a cute little sleeper!

Alton Brown

Remember, back in February, when I told you that I would tell you all about my Valentines day date with hubby?  And remember how I told you the pictures were on hubby's phone, and therefore next to impossible to remember to get?  And remember how my brother convinced me to get a cell phone while he was here?  And remember how I said that we took a trip to Chile?  And, remember that my brother taught me a few things about my phone while IN Chile?  Whew!!!  That is a lot of remembering!  K, maybe you don't remember that last point, because I haven't told you all about Chile yet, but....  it happened.  I swear.  Jonoman taught me how to share things by touching phones, so, suddenly, getting the pictures off hubby's phone because significantly easier!  Cool, right?

So, back in February, hubby and I decided to get each other tickets to the Alton Brown show that was coming somewhat locally to us.  We arranged for our friends to watch the kids in an overnight adventure sort of thing.  We figured we wouldn't be getting home until 2am, and rather than having them wait up for us, we just asked if the kids could spend the night.

Supposedly, the kids behaved and our friends still talk to us.  So...  I guess they weren't that bad.  I had our photographer (AKA Kari) take this picture because I wanted a good shot of my new boots, which were still fairly new from, ya know, last Christmas).

After fishing around on the book of faces (AKA Facebook) for some good recommendations, we settled on Ted's Montana Grill.  We warmed up with some bison nacho's that were pretty darn good.  Then we each had an entre that I honestly don't remember at this point, but we weren't super impressed.  Not bad.  Just not GREAT!  Then we headed to the Fox Theater in Downtown ATL.  All of the following pictures are from hubby's phone, and therefore may not be up to the usually pixilated par that the blog is.  I didn't want to try to carry around my fabulous camera, and I wanted to be able to just enjoy the show.  So please excuse our somewhat blurry, and not so focused pictures.

To be honest, hubby and I had no idea what to expect.  I knew he was touring, but there isn't a ton of chatter about what the show is exactly about.  At least, not in the circles I frequent.  But, we both know that we love him from his good ol' days of Good Eats, so...  we figured we would give it a shot.

The things we like about Mr Brown is that he is humorous, and teaches about food (who doesn't love food?!?!) but brings the science in and explains it that way too!  During intermission and before the show started, he had these yeast puppets that burped (because yeast releases carbon dioxide).  It was kinda amusing :)

See?!?!  Its all about the science!  He is also kind of known for doing experiments that are waaaay over the top, so part of his show was making icecream in 15 seconds.

And baking pizza under stage lights!

The first hour of the show there was some music (that he wrote and sang himself) and a discourse (humorous of course) of the 10 things he "knows" about cooking, which he said changes every few weeks.  I am not 100% sure I can describe what exactly the show is.  You kinda just have to love Alton Brown.  And we do.  We both really enjoyed the show and the time we had together.  We stopped for some icecream afterwards and headed home.  It was a great show, and I would totally go see it again....  maybe :)  If the tickets were less expensive, and I could find another willing babysitter.  I highly recommend it if you have no expectations and an interest in cooking, science, humor and music!  

Welcome to the Future

While my family was here we did all kinds of fun things like bowling and gymnastics (and before you ask, no everyone didn't do gymnastics...  most of us just watched).  But mostly we just hung out.  While they were here, my brother was able to convince me to get a cell phone.  Yes!  Me!  A cell phone!  I had a pay as you go little number before, so as I was driving around I could be safe.  But I had a land line (sorta) at home.  It was a VOIP phone that allowed me to have unlimited local and long distance for somewhere around $25/month.  No cell phone plan can beat that!  But, I was paying about $10 for the cell phone, so that totals $35/month.  My brother said that he would put me on his plan.  By doing so, it would lower his and my sisters monthly payments, and only increase mine by a little bit....  And it gave me the ability to text, which is all I really wanted.  So, I took the plunge, bit the bullet, and bought myself a Galaxy S4 mini.  I didn't want something huge, because I wanted to be able to carry it in my pocket.  And, because I was in a girly mood, I got myself a pretty pink one!

I haven't loaded any games on it, and I don't plan on it.  For one, I don't want to have to share it with the kids all the time and for two, it is a phone!  That is all I want to use it for.  I haven't loaded a ton of apps, and for now that is ok with me.  I HAVE personalized all my contacts, and if I like you enough, you have your own ringtone.  :)  

Things I like: I love to text!  It is a good, non verbal/non-loud way to get in touch with people.  And I like being able to call people whenever, wherever I want.  I have a small amount of data to share (because it is a smart phone, and therefore you have to) and have used it when I unexpectedly stopped by to register the cars and needed proof of insurance.  Bam!  Done!  I also use it at church fairly often because one of the few apps I have downloaded is the gospel library with scriptures, music, etc.  That is pretty convenient.

Things I don't like: I hate all the oil and fingerprints on the touch screen.  Boo!  I also think it is uncomfortable to hold against my ear, mostly because it is so thin, so I have to practically touch my ear to my shoulder, and that isn't comfortable for long periods of time.  I don't like that I feel like I have to carry it everywhere in my house, because if I am downstairs I won't hear it ring.  I am thinking about looking into one of these, so if any of you have any experience with something like this, I would appreciate it.  I also don't really like when someone else wants to make a call, they have to use my phone.  I hate to think that in a year or two I will have to get a land line again...  But, I refuse to have all of the kids friends calling my phone to talk to them.  So I guess we will see.  

So, that is my story.  I am finally where everyone else was years ago, and it feels so good.  Well, strike that.  Maybe it just feel alright.  :) 

Kaitlyn's 7th Cake

We celebrated Kaitlyn's birthday down in Orlando, but didn't do a cake because I couldn't make one, and we didn't want to buy one, and we didn't want to have to try to transfer what was uneaten home.  When we got home, daddy had to turn around and go right back to Orlando the next day, and he only got home one day before my family came to visit.  So, I asked Kaitlyn if it was ok if we waited to celebrate when everyone was here, and she said sure.  This year, she asked for a cake with pink frosting and My Little Pony toys on it.  Pretty simple.  Also a sneaky way to get more toys...

I tried using some of the Frosting Creations from Duncan Hines in the flavor of bubble gum.  And, in case you want to know, it really did taste like bubble gum.  In the words of my children "Like, for real, for real."  So much so, that it was almost overwhelming.  *almost*

Make a wish birthday girl!

Happy Birthday middle daughter.  May your 7th birthday always be the one you remember as bubble gum flavored alligators :)

Thompson Visit

We got home in time to unpack and clean up a little bit before my mom, dad, sister and brother were coming through on their way down to Chile.  We would be joining them a week later, so all the family (minus grandkids {for both financial and time reasons}) would be down in South America for a whole week.  But my brother and sister had the ability to go down for 2 weeks, so they went ahead of us.  They stayed at our house for 4 days (I think).  And, honestly, most of the time we had so much fun, I forgot to take pictures.  However, the first day everyone was here, I did take some group pictures.

And they warm my heart as much as anything else does because it just shows how much we love to be together.

During that week, I had signed Dylan up for Pirate Camp.  I am not really sure what they did there.  They did look for treasure, and sang some pirate-y songs.  But he had lots of fun, and enjoyed going.  And because my family was here, I didn't have to load all 4 kids into the car every morning to drop him off.  Score!

We made food for each other while they were here (of course... I mean, ya gotta eat).  And with a group this large, you make things that stretch.  One night, we had meat loaf.  And Piko got the opportunity to mix it.  Which, based on the picture below, you can tell that she enjoyed immensely.

She was also nice enough to share her iPod.

Repeatedly.  Which was nice because the big kids had things to do (like gymnastics and read) and she didn't always.

Of course, because it is something we do, whether it is logical or not, we stayed up too late most nights.  That lead to tired kids, and often cuddling.  (Also, grumpiness, but we don't need to mention that)

The kids also took turns trying on Grandma's reading/crafting glasses.

And a good time was had by all.

Dylan and Kelsey also made up a fun "game" with Aunt Piko.  They would ask her to "hode tight" to the string and try to "pull pull pull" it away from her.

What can I say?  We are a crowd that is easily amused ;)