Gymnastics

Maggie chose to do gymnastics for her 2 month activity trial (we have started letting the older ones choose an activity to do - one at a time - for a few months) Then we don't have a lot of running around and they get to try a number of new things. She really loved it. It helped that she was really the only one in her class so she got a lot of one-on-one attention! She also happened to be in at the right time to be a part of the spring show. Nothing like a trophy to make a kid smile :)
For her next turn she chose a dance class - which she didn't like - and switched back to gymnastics. She's adjusting to that because it's a larger class with a different teacher. She will get to be part of the Christmas show for this one.
Jackson will start Parkour again in Jan. so he will probably get to do the spring show this time around. He did the Christmas show last year. He really like Parkour so after his round of Flag football he's ready to go back to it.

A long, long way to run

At the end of 4th grade there is a mile run for 4th and 5th graders who want to participate. I was pretty surprised when Jackson said he wanted to do it. Not a lot of distance running happens around here :) Matt ran with him a couple of times beforehand to 'train'. Jackson was completely wiped out at the end of the race and hated it but not long after he was smiling and said he enjoyed it. I think that had to do with the ribbon and the cookie. I will be kind of surprised if he chooses to do it again in 5th grade but I also get surprised by these amazing kiddos fairly often. There is a short kid friendly tri-athlon that I am going to try to get everyone to participate in...... the problem? who will do the running portion????

May 2014

I thought it would be fun to document how they go to school each day. Hailey rides on Jackson's pegs because it's hard for her to keep up on her bike :) Although now that it's a new year she rides her own bike and Jackson takes the neighbor boy on his pegs. In MD they rode a bus so this is a little different. They only go about 3 blocks to school here though so they don't have to make it far. It takes them far longer to get home than it should because they get distracted by everything! Sometimes I start to wonder where they are and have to go looking along the route for them. They are very good about staying together.

Throwback....

I found this picture when I was getting the files off of one of Maggie's old cameras :) I think it's from a trip to Florida when we lived in Maryland. WOW - they've grown since then :)

Maggie (8)

Maggie turned 8 at the end of April. She wanted a cake from the movie Frozen. It was pretty fun to make. I've never made hard candy before so it was a new experience :) We found the Elsa as an online printable that you cut out and glue together.
Since this was her 8th birthday she was also baptized! She was so excited. It worked out well to have some family around to attend.
We love this girl. She adds so much spice to life :) She loves to create and read, read, read. It's getting hard to keep a supply of library books on hand for her. She also loves to play with friends, Legoes, her siblings and outside.
In the bottom right picture she is getting ready to swat one of her 8 birthday balloons with a dollar inside. They all love that tradition.