Ella Competes at the State Gymnastics Meet

Ella wrapped up her Level 4 meet season today by competing in the State gymnastics meet at the Tacoma Convention Center.  This was her third year competing in this important meet and I truly love attending it and cheering her on.  Unfortunately, Ella was assigned to the last session which meant that she would be competing from 6 to 9:30 pm on Sunday night with an award ceremony that would last until 10 p.m.  Since it was so late, Ron decided that he couldn't go as it would mean that he would get to bed too late with work the next morning.  Luckily, I was able to convince Logan to go with me and be my videographer while I took pictures of all of Ella's events.  It was so nice to have his company throughout the evening and to get his help recording all of Ella's events on video.  

As for Ella, she had the meet of a lifetime!  She PR'd in all four events and got an overall score of 37.275.  Her individual events scores were:  Bars 9.5, Beam 9.0, Floor 9.225, and Vault 9.55.  This was such a huge accomplishment for her, and also so wonderful that she was able to do this at the most important meet of the season.  Sadly, she came in 13th place in her age group which meant that she didn't receive a medal at the ceremony since only the top 10 gymnasts placed in each group.  What is so frustrating about this is that receiving a medal depends 100% on the scores of the other gymnasts assigned to an age group, and Ella happened to be with an extremely competitive group of girls.  After looking it up online last night, I discovered that if Ella had competed in three other Level 4 sessions that day, she would have medaled and gotten either 5th, 6th, or 7th place.  Sadly, that was not her reality and so we are just choosing to focus on what an amazing job she did.  Well done, Ella!  We are so proud of you!

Ella and the rest of her Level 4 teammates waiting to be introduced to the crowd at the beginning of the meet.

Waving to the crowd after their gym was announced.

Ella's first event was the vault.  Here she is jumping off of the springboard.

Going into her front handspring...

and over the vault.

Ella landing it,

and saluting to the judges.

Ella's second event was the bars.  Here she is doing a cast...

and an undershoot.

Ella doing a tap swing.

Ella's third event was the beam.  Here she is going into her cartwheel...

and landing it!

Ella going into her handstand.

Doing a scale.

Doing her dismount!

Ella's final event was on floor.  Ella doing her back extension roll...

and a high kick.

Coming out of a dramatic pose.

Ella in the splits.

Landing from her round off, back handspring.

Ella's team came in second place for her session.  Here she is with her teammates receiving the second place trophy.

Ella and two of her closest buddies, Harper and Ava, after the meet was over.

Parent Skoarding Day to Crystal Mountain

After learning that Crystal Mountain was offering a $62 lift ticket on the second Tuesday of each month in honor of their 62nd anniversary, I suggested to Ron that we play "hooky" for the first time in our parenting career and go skoarding together in March.  After Ron checked his work calendar and I moved my tax appointment, we bought our tickets and waited for the day to arrive.  After making arrangements for our three younger kids to get to and from school, we headed out today for our first parent-only skoarding day since Lia was a toddler.  Although there was some ice under the three inches of fresh snow, we enjoyed our day together, exploring a ski resort that we hadn't visited since their ticket prices sky rocketed several years ago.  Besides dragging Ron up an expert-only chair lift that he didn't enjoy going down, we had a fun day and enjoyed running into my brother, Eric, who had also decided to take advantage of this cheaper, ski day!  I hope we can do this again together next year.

Ron boarding over to the bowl we skoarded down after getting off of the expert-only chair lift.

The bowl in the background that we skiied down.

Me getting ready to head down after traversing over.

Ron coming down the mountain.

The one couple-selfie that we managed to towards the end of the day.

Emmett's Last Basketball Game of the Season

After playing almost every Saturday in January and February, Emmett had his last basketball game today.  He has had an amazing first season playing this sport.  He picked up dribbling, passing, and shooting the ball really fast and made at least one or more baskets in every single game with the exception of the first one.  Emmett is just so coordinated, aggressive, and competitive.  It has been so fun to watch him excel in soccer and now in basketball.  He loved going to every Friday night practice and playing in every Saturday afternoon game.  He is just so enthusiastic about every new thing that he tries which has definitely been a change from some of his older siblings.  I am so glad that he had a positive, first experience playing basketball.  Although I had to miss his last game today in order to attend Ella's gymnastics meet in Kent, Logan and Ron went to cheer him on.  Here are a few pictures that Ron took for me to include in this post.

Emmett getting ready to shoot the ball.

An action shot of Emmett shooting into the basket while several players attempted to block his shot.

Emmett crouching down to shoot again!

The darling picture that I took of Emmett back at home while showing off his certificate and the participation trophy that he received from his coach after his final game.

 

Lia's Mamma Mia Birthday Party

Although Lia's Sweet 16 birthday party was supposed to be her last friend party of her childhood, I caved and agreed to host her one more party when she pitched the theme to me.  Since she performed in Mamma Mia this past fall and their classic song, "Dancing Queen," sings about a girl who is "young and sweet, only 17," I couldn't resist throwing her a 17th birthday party based on this favorite musical if hers.  So, after some planning, preparing, shopping, and cooking, I hosted her birthday party tonight for Lia and 18 of her friends.  It turned out to be a smashing success.  Most of her friends came dressed in Mamma Mia-themed or beach attire, and they all enjoyed eating a large, buffet dinner before watching Lia open gifts.  They then ate cake and ice cream before finishing off the evening by watching the movie version of Mamma Mia in the basement.  Everyone left by midnight and I hope that Lia can now be satisfied with her long run of friend birthday parties!  I know that I am!

Lia standing next to her sign that Ella wrote wearing her Mamma Mia overalls, complete with a sash and crown.

The "Dancing Queen" balloon banner I made and hung on the kitchen windows.

Lia's cake.

The beachy vibe that I decorated the tables with.

The entire dining area complete with fish nets, shells, and balloons.

The "Young & Sweet" banner that hung in the entry way to the family room.

After the friends arrived, they sat down to eat dinner.  Here is Lia sitting at the head of the table with her friends Emily, Hope, Ani, Sienna, and Rian.

After dinner, we headed into the family room to watch Lia open gifts.  Here she is opening up Sienna's gift who is her oldest friend in the room--13 years total!

Lia with her dear running buddy, Hope.

Lia with her boyfriend, Jared, holding the beautiful bouquet of a dozen roses that he gave to her.

The entire group posing for a picture after the gifts were all opened.  Please notice how Emmett managed to work his way into the center of the picture.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Lia before she blew out the candles.

The entire group of 19 kids sitting around the table eating cake and ice cream.

The entire gang down in the basement watching Mamma Mia at the end of the night.

Lia's 17th Birthday

Since we were going to be in Coeur d'Alene for Ella's gymnastics meet on Lia's actual birthday, I planned to host her family party the next day on Sunday, February 23rd.  However, a few days before leaving for Idaho, I came down with a wicked case of the flu.  I was sick in bed all day Wednesday and Thursday, and barely had the energy to make the drive to and from Couer d'Alene on Friday and Saturday.  As a result, I knew before leaving for Ella's meet that I would not have the energy to host Lia's party on Sunday.  So, sadly, I had to postpone her party to the next Sunday, March 2nd.  Luckily, both my parents and Chris' family were free to make the change.  Although Lia was able to go out to breakfast with her friend, Alyssa, on her actual birthday morning and went out to dinner with her boyfriend, Jared, that evening, we didn't do anything celebratory for her birthday until eight days later.  Luckily, she was very understanding and patiently waited until March 2nd to celebrate with family and open her gifts.  Here are some pictures of our evening honoring Lia and her 17 years of life!

Lia requested a dinner of soft tacos with all of the fixings.  Here are all of the kids (plus Garrett who still agreed to sit at the children's table) eating dinner together.

My parents, Chris and Natalee, and Ron sitting at the adult table.

Lia kneeling next to her gifts that she had to wait 8 days to open.

Lia showing off the fancy, lip gloss that she received in the mail from my dear friend, Sarah.

Lia holding up the new dress she chose for church.

Opening up another gift.

And showing off a new swimsuit.

Lia smiling for us before we sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Blowing out the candles on her banana cream pie.

The group, cousin (and Chris) photo that we took before enjoying dessert.