Emily's Gymnastics Meet...

Emily had her first gymnastics meet last Sunday, she had a lot of fun and did really well for her first time!

She won three red ribbons and one blue.

Judging wise that means:

definition: apparatus is the area they presented in: floor, beam, vault and bars

skill is the actual thing they did on each apparatus (i.e. straddle, flat back, partial handstand, mounting, dismounting etc)



white ribbon=participation
red ribbon= did all three skill and at least one of them well
blue ribbon= did all three skills correctly
Purple ribbon=did all three skills exceptionally well

stretching before meet



dismount off beam




receiving her medal



This is a video of her vaulting.  She usually does her straddle perfectly not sure what happened there but she corrected herself.    On the next skill, a handstand into a flatback, she has never done it UP on the mat and she misjudged her distance and was actually falling off.  But my favorite part of the video is the end... you know how I feel about the "STICK IT"!

all the Discover Stars Team

Sooo for her first meet, her coach feels she did well, they know what skills she needs to work on as well so that is great!  Her next meet is Dec 12  but they will require a few different skills... we will see how it goes!

Emily @ Gymnastics

And that is my girl!

She was excited to go on the high beam today for the first time!

 She also got to go on the springboard and flip over landing flat on her back. Doesn't sound like much but as she flew over the pad and landed I held my breath.  I will try to get pics of that next time!

Swim lessons, Gymnastics and Volleyball OH MY

So for being such a "NON" sporty family we sure are in the thick of it right now! 

Matt is doing swimming lessons, Kaitlin started her volleyball practice this evening and Emily is doing gymnastics and ballet!

We are just all getting out and doing stuff.  The bonus- besides the kids being active, is that it means I "have" to be at the YMCA which means I work out!  I even get to work out twice some days.
 

I am watching THE BIGGEST LOSER, via Hulu right now.  Not sure why I never watched it before, beside I wasn't ready and sitting and watching THE BIGGEST LOSER while I am fat and not doing anything about it is not real appealing!  So now that I am doing something about it, I am watching it with interest!  I do not like ANY of the drama and they stretch the weigh In's so much it drives me nuts but the core of the show is great and very encouraging.  I know there weight loss is astronomical and unattainable for me, but I still like the premise.  I told Dave I might buy the work out video to do at home with the kids too.  There is a Wii game also which looks neat.  They had product placement and branding down to a SCIENCE!

So sports are expensive... and I am not even talking about extreme baseball leagues or private ice skating lessons.  Just doing three classes at the YMCA and gymnastics, once you "get" everything you need, adds up!  We need practice balls, swimming goggles, leotards, knee pads, gas to drive to practice three different nights a week, plus the swimming 2 weeks, eating out if I cannot manage to eat at home- which I have actually done better than my menu plan with that, then there is snacks weekly for the games, ballet shoes, snacks at gymnastics (cuz where there are snack machines we must spend our coin), the list goes on....this is why we don't do "this" every year. We have so far spread activities out which I think backfired on us because we have "inactive" kids.  But we will try to find the balance over the next couple of months.  Also having three kids is obviously different than having one, just the logistics is 3x the amount of time spent doing "X" things.  Anyway, I am not complaining I am actually quite happy with our current choices but just want to give fair warning for any who decide to jump into activities!