4 years at the YMCA

Facebook has an 'on this day' reminder and I was looking at my past memories from January 7.

4 years ago we joined the YMCA. Miss E was 4 1/2(ish) and Little Man was 2 1/2. Neither kid was in any kind of organized sport, but both kids were highly active. I remember walking through the YMCA and looking at the child watch place. Back then it was located in the gym. Someone told us that we could do one gymnastics class for FREE. Who would have ever guessed where that one class would lead us...

 January 2012

 This is the first gymnastic picture I could find, dated August 2012.
Miss E was 5 and in Super Tots.
Super Tots is a 'by invitation class only'.

Fast forward 3 1/2 years and Miss E is competing Level 3.

Here she is before her first meet, August 2015.

She promoted to Team in July 2015.

Wow!! In 4 years we started gymnastics and then progressed to team. Today, January 7, 2016 Miss E is starting her second season as a Level 3 competitive gymnast. I'm not sure how long we will ride this train, but I did say all those years ago that we would ride this as long as she wanted. I'm really proud of her and how much she has grown both in her ability and as a little person.

Blessings,
Elizabeth

Gymnastics #6 {State Fall 2015}

The culmination of all of Miss E's hard work comes down to this one meet; the state meet of the season. There were 96 girls in her session so they split the session into three divisions of 32. Miss E held her own and did a fantastic job. She ended up with a medal for the vault, tying in 10th place and getting a personal best score. She also ended this season with a personal best score on the bars.

** I apologize that the videos are so jumpy.**

SoCal South State Championship

San Diego Convention Center

November 21, 2015

Level 3, Division 8

So, what is next?? We have a break from competitions until the spring. She will still be in the gym 10 hours a week and will be working on improving her skills. I wished that I had a way to record all the conversations that go on with her. One of the coaches shared how she can take a situation and find the positive in it. She is a natural when it comes to encouraging others. My heart is full. As a mom, I'm looking forward to seeing what this next season will bring... after this long awaited break. 

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Gymnastics #5 {Sectionals}

This girl...

qualified for State at the sectionals meet. She had her best meet of the season!!

Our gym ended up competing in Torrance, CA. Torrance is over 100 miles north of us. I will say it is in LA but people who knew the area will disagree with me. We made really good time getting up there; it took just under 2 hours. The trip home was a little bit longer.

Miss E was the only girl from our gym competing in her session. One of her teammates decided to make the meet extra special and gave Miss E a teddy bear with a sweet little note. This teammate was able to sit with us as we cheered Miss E on and then we brought her home. This momma's heart was filled to see the love these two have for each other.

Saturday, November 7, 1015

West Sectional Championship, Studio West Gymnastics, Torrance

Vault

Due to the placement of the vault and where we are seated, I didn't get video of her vault this time.

She got a 9.025, which made her extremely happy. This is the second time she scored a 9 on the vault.

Bars

This routine was not her highest scoring routine of the season, but it reflects a lot of hard work over the past few weeks. Her score improved over 5 tenths of a point from the last two meets.

Beam (PR)

Unfortunately the camera ran out of memory and I only got the beginning of her routine.

Of course this would be the time she received her highest score.

Floor (PR)

This is her best scoring floor routine of the season.

To advance to the state meet she need an All Around score of 32.000; she scored 34.275!!

The last meet of this season is State. The state meet is the culmination of all the hard work she has put in this season. She will be competing solo again with over 90 other girls in her session. Stay tuned for updates...

Gymnastics #4 {Spooktacular}

Sunday, October 18, 1015

Spooktacular, Cameron Family YMCA, Santee

This was Miss E's third preliminary meet. This was a pretty good meet for her. Overall she finished right in the middle of the pack as far as scores go. She was pretty happy.

Vault #1

Vault #2

Bars

Beam

Floor

The next meet is sectionals. To qualify to compete at the sectionals meet, the gymnast has to have a minimum all around score at one of the preliminary meets. Miss E qualified at all of her meets!!

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Gymnastics #3 {Tricks 4 Treats}

I feel like I need a mommy confession. I had a bad week prior to this meet. I was very emotional and distracted and I firmly believe it rubbed off. Miss E will say that the decorations for Halloween messed her up. Who really knows. We all know that you have good days and bad days; good meets and not so good meets. This meet was really rough. It is all apart of the process so we take it, we learn, and we move on. 

Sunday, October 4, 1015

Tricks 4 Treats, Oceanside Gymnastics

Vault #1

Vault #2

Bars

Beam

Floor

Next meet is 10/18. It is another early one, about 45 minutes from home. I'm expecting great things...

Gymnastics #2 {South Section 2nd Prelim}

We started our morning super early for this meet. We had to leave the house at 6:30am to be in Chula Vista (East Lake) by 8:00am. I don't really like the early morning and we had fog. The fog was so thick near the gym that it was hard to see stop lights. Let me just say I'm not a fan of fog in areas I'm unfamiliar.

We made it to the gym and found out that Miss E would be competing by herself. She is the only 8 year old competing Level 3 on our team. One of the other girls showed up at the wrong time (long story) and decided to forfeit getting ribbons to compete with Miss E. She was so sweet in saying that all she wanted to do was gymnastics and the ribbons/medals didn't matter.

This turned out to be Miss E's best meet. She raised her overall score by over a point from the Judge's Cup and had two PRs!! Overall she finished 12 out of 25.

Sunday, Sept 27, 1015

South Section 2nd Prelim, Chula Vista YMCA

Vault

 No video of the vault. I turned the camera the wrong way...

Bars (PR)

Beam

Floor

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Fun With Literature {Chocolate Touch}

Miss E read The Chocolate Touch as part of her Literature/Vocabulary lessons. 

She imagined what it would be like to have a magic touch. If she could have a magic touch she would want it to be chocolate, too. We worked together on a little writing assignment.

I also found a novel study from teacherspayteacher. For a novel study I thought this was pretty good. It was a little bit challenging for Miss E, but we had good discussions after every chapter.

Our FUN activity was to make chocolate bars.

Chocolate Rainbow

Ingredients: chocolate, fun marshmallows, rainbow star sprinkles.

For the chocolate bar we just melted about 1 cup of mini chocolate chips in the double broiler. I laid out some wax paper in a small Tupperware container in which Miss E put in a few marshmallows. I then poured the hot chocolate over the top and then she added more marshmallows and sprinkles. She was not patient enough to let the chocolate cool before she started digging into her creation. This was the best part of both kids' week.