Gymnastics Today

Today was a big day for Lauren. She has always wanted to be in gymnastics class. We did the cheerleading thing which she seems destined for and today was her first day of gymnastics. I signed her up for a class for 5 years and up. I was worried because as class started she was clearly 2 years younger than all and some girls were even 10-12 years old.
They started off with exercises.




The did splits, backbends, ran around the gym, did back crawls, hops around the gym, skipping around the gym, etc. The poor girl looked pooped, LOTS of exercise and only 10 min. into class. I called Tim and said "wow, is she gonna be tired tonight!".
Then they divided the girls into 4 groups. The first group was the older girls doing cartwheels and roundoffs unassisted. Then Lauren was with the group with one of the coaches:


After her first (perfect unassisted) cartwheel they sent her over with the big girls, I couldn't help but smile!





They officially assigned her to "group 1". They got to go on the uneven bars:


She had so much fun. Even worked on a back bend and a flip before the class ended.

Then they got the parachute out to wrap up class.



Lauren was in heaven and I must say I was a proud mama. Can't wait to see how this progresses. . . .

Lesley

Disney is our Getaway and Safe Haven

People ask me all the time "why do you go to Disney EVERY SINGLE YEAR!?!" I can not put into words the happiness it brings me and my family. Tim put together a video for our trip report this year and I just love it and wanted to share it here. It sums up our happiness/humor/love for Disney. Hope you enjoy it: (shut up and drive is the first song because we have decided to drive this year) Be sure to hit the "pause" button on my music player to the left of this post to stop my normal Jason Mraz music so you can hear the music Tim put to the video before hitting play. ENJOY!!!!

Why?

Why does the Lord let bad things happen to good people? I know as a Christian that there is a message somewhere when these things happen, but it is still hard to wrap my head around. A dear friend of mine and coworker has a husband who is a pastor and is a wonderful man of the Lord. He had routine surgery yesterday that went terribly wrong and is now in a coma with bleeding in his brain and we are praying for a miracle. His poor wife and children have had their world turned upside down. I started taking a collection up for her at school today for gas cards for trips back and forth to the hospital, food, whatever her needs may be. There was a constant flow of people coming in and out of my room today showing genuine concern, saying they were praying for her and giving money. I couldn't believe the amount of money that was raised in such a short amount of time. What a testimony to how many lives they have touched. I have had two co workers loose their husbands in the past year, it is unbelievable. I never want to be in their shoes (even though I know it will be someday). In each of these cases their husbands were taken suddenly and without warning, how scary. All good people, why them??? I am still praying for a miracle for my dear friends husband, please say a prayer for Jim tonight - he and his family need a miracle!

The Great Birthday Party Debate

I often wonder in my kids minds what ranks higher than their birthdays. Every year my kids plan out months in advance, what type of cake they want, what venue they want their parties at, who to invite, etc. etc. Last year Luke had an awesome pirate themed party that took TONS of work to plan, organize, buy themed favors and decorations for, and ended up costing us a fortune. Lauren had a simpler party at an inflatable place that was fun, this year the debate has already started.
Last night we were discussing Luke's birthday that is fast approaching. You should have seen the look in his eyes as we discussed the options. We threw out movie theatre party, swim party at the local rec. center, bowling party, Lazar tag, etc. etc. As I called from place to place to get prices his eyes just got larger and larger. As I would hang up the phone he would say "so give me the options mom" and he said several times as Tim and I were discussing things "well, shouldn't I be the one to decide these things, after all it is MY birthday" : )
Kids, they crack me up. Birthday's are sure getting expensive. I guess it's partly my fault. I prefer to have it at a LOCATION so I don't have to invite people into my home, plan everything, clean everything (before AND after the party), etc. Looks like the going rate for this years shindig will run us around 150, yikes! Actually that's better than in previous years AND I'm avoiding having everyone to the house. Still waiting for a few calls back on prices of places, but I'll let you know where "WE" decide (I guess I mean that "we" very loosely : )