Gymnastics Lately

Here are some recent pictures of Ava and Liam during their gymnastics class. 

Liam has really come a long way with his balance!  He will now climb to the top of the wall when it's time to tell the coach goodbye.  The kids are supposed to climb to the top, hit the smiley face and when the coach says "Goodbye gymnast!", the kids are supposed to answer "Goodbye, Coach!" before they get down. 

Liam can also now bring his feet all the way up to the bar, while hanging on the bar.  He does a good job on the balance beam, as well, and seems to effortlessly get across to the other side without falling (most times).  He can even get across on his tip-toes, with his arms out like an airplane. 

Ava is doing really well.  She is on the uneven bars now and gets on top of the bar by hanging on it, pointing her toes to the ceiling and then flipping her feet backward so that she ends up with her lower torso resting on the bar.  She is really trying hard at handstands.  The girls in her class have found the "powder" used to keep hands from slipping on the uneven bars.  The coach isn't over the moon happy about them playing in the powder, but usually lets them get powder on their hands once during class. Here are some pictures of Ava (she is in the light pink leotard).

They seem to really enjoy class.  They like to stay active and will request to go play outside or go somewhere to play if we've been cooped up too long.  I'm praying that their need for activity will last throughout Ava and Liam's life!

Peace, love and skin-the-cats,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Liam's Gymnastics Class

We recently enrolled Liam in gymnastics.  His class meets at the same time as Ava's class.  With Doug working on the retaining wall lately, he can use all the kid-free weekend time he can get, to make optimal progress.  I always take Liam with me to Ava's gymnastics class, where I've tried to keep him occupied for an hour.  No small feat.  I've had a few spilled cups of coffee (due to him tap-dancing around my chair for sixty minutes).  Inevitably he always got bored by the end of the hour, too.  When I saw a set of three year-old triplets enrolled in a class this past summer, my original thought was "why would you enroll a three year-old in gymnastics?  Isn't it a bit early?" 

Enrolling him in gymnastics is better than having him sit around for an hour, twiddling his thumbs... I was curious to see if he would have more fun participating.

During the beginning of the first class, he initially clung to my leg, but slowly eased up and eventually participated in class.  He seemed to have so much fun!  He did really well on the balance beam.  He wobbled across the entire length of the beam, but he didn't fall off!  It's entertaining for me to watch him in class.  :)  The second week was not a success.  At. All.  He didn't want to participate.  (I asked Ava if she would hang back with Liam before class and walk him out onto the gym floor.  She was so excited, she ran out to the floor without him.  That probably didn't help.  After a few attempts getting him to participate, I gave up.  It was seriously frustrating!  When I got home with Liam, he was "Your son" to Doug.  As in, "Your son didn't participate today.  It was seriously frustrating."  ;-) 

After some serious pep talks during the week that followed, he decided he was going to participate during the next (third) class.  He did amazingly well!  He was listening more to his teacher, waiting for his turn.  He even did a "tabletop" when Coach Alec has all of the kids (including Ava's class) stretching.  He seems to especially like the bar, from which he hangs like a little monkey.  I'm so glad he decided to participate! 

I am hoping that, through participating in this class he will:

1. Learn how to listen to his teachers even more.
2. Follow directions well.
3. Become more coordinated, to minimize future accidents!
4. Builds self confidence.

Hey, if this helps us minimize stitches, I'm all for it!  I've already seen a difference in his demeanor during the class.  He seems to be more receptive to the teacher's guidance now.  And he knows the teacher will show him how to "learn new tricks."  He's always game for that.  :)

Peace, love and more tumbling / less tumbles,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Liam's Shiner

Liam fell off the bed a few weeks ago.  We heard a bump, but I thought it was most likely his foot hitting the stepstool to his bed.  When he came downstairs to our bedroom crying, I never turned the light on, but got a blanket, made a makeshift bed for him and told him to lay down and get comfortable.  When we woke up in the morning, I realized he had hit his head on the way down to the floor, when he fell during the night.  Fortunately there wasn't any broken skin.  I guess I will be opting to turn on the light in the future... :( 

I have a feeling he may have fluid in his ear, which could be messing with his equilibrium.  He has been sleeping for forever in a big boy bed (twin-sized bed) without safety rails.  The safety rails have since been reintroduced to his bed...

When we went to the doctor for a flu shot, I told her I felt a little lump in the area where he hit his eyebrow.  I didn't know if it might be a piece of chipped bone, or what.  She mentioned that there is coagulated blood in the area above his eye, which may take a few months to absorb, but that he should be fine.

How is this for a shiner? 

Peace, love and midnight scuffles with the floor,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

A Frequent Sight Around Our House

Within the past few weeks, Ava has really enjoyed practicing headstands.  I mean REALLY enjoyed.  We don’t have too many bare walls in this house (we have quite a few windows), so she has found creative places to practice her headstands.  Evidence below.

What can I say?  This girl is most definitely a multi-tasker...

Peace, love and a good head on her shoulders (or is it below her shoulders?),
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Labor Day Weekend 2011

This year we had a fairly low-key weekend, which was nice.  On Friday we were pretty tuckered out from the week's activities. 


That night, after the kiddos went to bed, Doug used his new chainsaw blade sharpener for the first time.  He has been using his chainsaw so much lately (and wearing out the blades as a result), that he thought it would actually be cheaper in the long run to buy a sharpener.  He sharpened 5 blades on Friday, which would've cost $50...So, the sharpener will definitely pay for itself quickly around here!  I tried to play catch-up on the blog.  :)

Saturday we headed to Ava's gymnastics class.  Doug kept Liam home.  I was thankful he did, as the last few times Liam has gone, he's been a bit antsy.  Before we even left to go to the class on Saturday, Ava said "I want to be the best in class today!  I will try my hardest today."  Wow, all without prompting.  I mentioned earlier in the week that if she listens to her coach that she would learn to do things really well, because her coach is watching her and sees how she could become better.  (I mentioned this because she was having fun with one of the other little girls last Saturday and not really listening to the coach well).  She seriously took the conversation to heart.  On Saturday, she did AMAZING!  Coach Alec made a (good) example out of her at least four times.  She did better than I have ever seen and seemed to really enjoy it.  She has been doing headstands around the house on anything... We seriously need to get this girl a dedicated space so she can do her headstands, cartwheels and somersaults!

She stood up in front of the mat, put her hands down and kicked her feet up before I took this photo.  The coach is trying to get them to go from standing into a handstand position here.

The coach had them jumping with both feet together here, then jumping up with both feet (together) onto each mat.  They jumped up onto three different mats.

On the way home from gymnastics, she asked if we could go to a pool.  I had already been toying around with the idea of going to Whitewater, since this was the last weekend we would be able to use our season passes.  I called Doug and told him about it, asking him if he could get Liam ready before we got there.  I thought Doug might appreciate our being out of his hair, while he concentrated on the retaining wall.  So we packed our bags (complete with contraband of baby carrots, protein bars and drinks) and were off. 

We spent about three hours there, running to all of the attractions.  We ended up at the wave pool, where both kids were wearing life jackets.  Ava and Liam both enjoyed the waves.  Liam crawled  up into my lap when I was sitting in very shallow water.  While the waves were splashing against us, he fell asleep.  In a wave pool.  Yep, he was a tired boy. He had so much fun on all of the rides while we were there.  Ava went a total of 4 times to Whitewater this year (with day care once, with Mom and the boys, Alana's half-birthday party and by ourselves this weekend), while Liam and I got to go 3 times (with Mom and the boys, Alana's half-birthday party and by ourselves this weekend).  Doug was able to go once, with our family, Mom, Daymian and Jordan.

We headed home and went out for ice cream with a very tired Doug, who came across yet another rough area of serious tree roots.  He had to use his axe to chop through them, once again.

On Sunday after church I made quite a few desserts for a cook-out at the Quinns'.  It was a party to welcome everyone to their new pool / Labor Day.  It was forecasted to rain on Labor Day, so they moved their cook-out to Sunday at 2 p.m., so we could all use the pool, weather permitting.  I made a black forest trifle, a white cake with carrot cake jam between layers and frosted with a whipped cream icing, and a creamy grape salad.  I knew no one else had volunteered for dessert, thus the lengthy list of desserts.  Everyone seemed to appreciate the goods. 

At the Quinns', Ava, Liam and I were able to swim in the pool, while Doug continued working on the retaining wall.  I had bought some new floaties (on clearance) at Target for Liam, so he wouldn't have to use Ava's fuschia ones any more.  ;-)  With a floatation vest and some floaties, he was able to keep his face out of the water.  Until we put the floaties on, though, he WOULD NOT let go of me.  Once he had the arm floaties on, I showed him how to kick.  And he was off... He really got around the pool well after that!  I was so glad to see him getting around by himself, confident in doing so.  Doug joined us later for dinner.  It sprinkled a little bit while we were there, but we enjoyed hanging out with our neighbors and catching up.  Carine took the cutest picture of all of the kids (including some of their friends that don't live in the neighborhood) up at the edge of the deck they just built.  Seeing this picture, I think Gerald plans on enhancing this area of the deck by building a bigger counter.  :)

Ava, Liam and friends of the Quinns. 
Matthew and friend enjoying a root beer.  This area is part of their new deck.

The Quinns' new pool and deck! 

They are gracious hosts and have invited us over quite a few times already!

Monday it rained and it rained.  There were flash flood warnings for our area.  We weren't affected at all, thankfully.  It did put a stop to Doug's backfill plans for the retaining wall (levels 3 and 4).  He plans on going 9 levels, so he still has quite a bit of work ahead of him.  Luckily the worst of it is over, though, because the remaining dead-men he will have to install won't require much digging. 

We headed to McD's for a quick lunch and were going to go to the dollar show.  The rest of EAST COBB had the same idea we did...We decided not to wait in line, but did decide to check out the regular show and see what was playing.  Spy Kids 2 was playing at 1:30, so we did some browsing for shoes for Liam before heading back to the theater.  Wow.  Everyone in East Cobb must've seen a movie today!  The movie was so cute.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.  We walked out into the rain after the show, too.  We got home and both kids napped. 

After dinner, we continued on with Ava's reading homework.  She has a sheet that has 12 pencils on it.  For each 15 minutes she spends reading with us (or us reading to her), she gets to color in a pencil.  Once she colors in all pencils, she can bring the sheet back, signed by a parent, and will receive a charm ring/bracelet, to which she can add future charms for reading.  She colored in one pencil on Friday night.  Tonight she said she wanted to read 10 books!  We set the timer on the microwave for 15 minutes and would read with her.  She read "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Hop On Pop" by herself, with Mom or Dad occasionally helping with a word.  She is SERIOUSLY reading these days!  We kept resetting the timer for 15 minutes, whenever it would go off.  One hour and 45 minutes later (!), she was able to color in SEVEN more pencils.  She wants to be one of the first to turn in her sheet of pencils, all filled-in.  :)  I think this homework exercise is just what she needed for motivation to want to read.  When she went to bed tonight, only FOUR of the pencils were not filled-in.  I told her I would help her finish them tomorrow after school, if she wanted to do that.  She was excited.  I am so happy that she has such confidence about reading now!  For the longest time she seemed paralyzed and intimidated that she couldn't do it. 


The Christian-based phonics program they used at Lighthouse seems to have given her a leg-up.  At first she seemed frustrated because she didn't read "sight words" quickly.  Now she seems to have passed that up and is definitely using the A Beka phonics teachings to her advantage.  She considers herself to be reading now...I'm thankful for that!


Doug just came down from putting them to bed and mentioned how excited Ava is about her reading.  He said she wouldn't stop talking about reading, and she mentioned that Mrs. McKenzie said she is the "best reader" in the class, as well as the "best singer".  Ha.  That's my Ava-girl!  She has quite the vibrato, if she's trying to be dramatic.  If you see her, ask her to sing "Once Upon A Dream" from Sleeping Beauty!  (She sounds like she is 20 years-old singing it...)

Over this weekend...

She's hoping to turn in her sheet on Wednesday! :)

I also signed her up for the Sunshine Math Program.  It is done outside of school hours and with a parent.  They send home a packet which has to be completed and sent back within six weeks.  It doesn't count for or against her grades, but her involvement in it is seen as beneficial.  She will also receive special recognition for being involved with the program, and also if she turns in her completed packet.  She is seriously interested in patterns lately, so I think this type of program might be a logical next step for her.  I'm sure the math problems won't be too tough in the beginning.  If she doesn't want to continue on with it, we don't have to do it.  I pray she will be able to learn perserverance through involvement in this program, though.  The program continues through 5th grade, so I thought it might be nice to start her out early in it.  We'll see what it's all about!

Ava is excited to go back to school after a long weekend.  We were bummed that not as much progress could've been made on the retaining wall on such a long weekend.  We know it will happen, but we're just anxious for the end result to get here!

Back to the grind tomorrow,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Ava the Gymnast

For the longest time, I had been meaning to check into gymnastics classes for Ava.  After her swimming classes were over last winter, we took a break from classes for a few months.  When I mentioned to her that gymnastics classes were available, she was over-the-top excited about the prospect.


I called Modern Gymnastics, on Johnson Ferry Road.  The person with whom I spoke mentioned they had two more Saturday classes left in their current session, but we could pay for just those two classes if we'd like to attend.  I thought it was perfect timing.  If Ava enjoyed those two classes, we could enroll her in their summer session.  If not, we wouldn't have invested in a whole session and have her hating it...


Ava. LOVES. GYMNASTICS.  She seems naturally-talented at it!  I know I sound like one of "those" parents.  But HONESTLY!  To watch her on the balance beam, she has beautiful posture and is very graceful.  With her natural athleticism, I think gymnastics is a perfect fit for her. 


The class is an hour long.  An hour seems like an eternity compared to her half-hour swimming classes.  Within the hour, though, they use:

• The balance beam
• The uneven bars (or just one bar)
• The springboard, to jump onto the pummel horse
• The floor (which has springs in it and is soft)
• Two trampolines that are built into the floor
• A Swedish (?) wall, that looks like a huge wall with short wooden shelves on it. 
• Padding and padded ramps on the floor, to practice tumbling.

They stretch first, do handstands and cartwheels on the floor.  They do "skin-the-cats", and then reverse themselves in-air while still holding on to the bars.  They go backward and face-forward on the balance beam, on their tip-toes, holding their arms in the air.  They practice straddle jumps, pike jumps off of the balance beam and also on the trampoline.  They use the climbing wall to do handstands (she's REALLY good at handstands, if she can put her feet against a wall!) and then try to stretch themselves as far up the climbing wall as they can. 


Leaving it up to Ava, I asked if she wanted to continue into their summer session.  She did.  After the summer session (and missing a few classes due to vacation or one illness), I asked Ava if she wanted to continue into the fall session.  At first she thought she might like to take dance instead.  I told her she could decide, but mentioned that she might not get to do much in dance, other than tap her feet to music and move to the music, that she might learn more tricks in gymnastics.  I told her she didn't have to decide right then, but to let me know.  She chose gymnastics.  I was so glad she did, as I can see can really improve if she practices.


I can tell Ava loves it, because she bounces in place while she is waiting for her turn on the next activity.  It's entirely too sweet to watch.  I'm so glad we picked this place.  It is a full-fledged gym.  Coach Alec is a very skilled gymnast himself.  He mentioned that Ava has quite a bit of upper-body strength.  (It's amazing what these little girls can do on a bar, for an extended period of time!) 


During the last class she attended, the coaches split the class of seven kids into two groups, each group trained by a different coach.  When I called to enroll Ava in the Sept/Oct session, I asked if Ava would have Coach Alec again, mentioning that Ava seems to do so well when Alec coaches her.  The gym contact mentioned Ava was in the more advanced of the two groups, that they split them out based on their ability.  He said if she continues to do as well as she is, she will stay with Coach Alec.


I hope she continues to enjoy gymnastics.  I hope she is able to learn something from it, as well.  For the time being, she seems to be having so much fun with it!


We're waiting just a little bit more to get Liam involved in something.  I'm hoping he enjoys baseball or something like that.  I know our neighbor Matthew is seriously involved in it.  Hopefully we can put his hand-me-downs (they've graciously given to us) to use on the baseball field!


Peace, love and "skin-the-cats",
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam


Here are some pictures I found on their Web site, as well as some I have taken.

From the Web site: