Saturday, March 9, 2024

Skoarding Day with Logan

After realizing a few weeks ago that we would had a free Saturday in March due to Ella having a gymnastics meet on Friday and no practice on Saturday, I bought tickets for our family to go skoarding to White Pass together.  However, a few days ago, I received an email from the girls' theater announcing that Ella had a last-minute, mandatory, Annie rehearsal scheduled for the same Saturday.  As frustrating as this was to find out about this rehearsal last minute, I was grateful that Lia opted to stay home (to get homework done and be ready for her Mean Girls callbacks the next day), so that she could drive Ella to and from her rehearsal.  So, I sadly cancelled Lia's and Ella's tickets, and sent Emmett home with my mom yesterday, so that Ron and I could still go up to the mountain with Logan.  It was a fun and unusual day to have Logan all to ourselves.  We got up early again and left by 6 a.m. to get to the mountain in time to find parking close to the resort.  We then spent the morning and afternoon skoarding around White Pass with Logan.  Logan has gotten to such a proficient level at snowboarding, that it really is so fun and pleasant to skoard on the top of the mountain with him.  It was snowy and windy most of the day, so like last time, I was actually grateful that we didn't have Ella with us as she struggles so much with skiing all day long in cold weather.  Overall, it was a nice day and I am so grateful for the chance that we had to have some one-on-one time with one of our middle children who rarely gets this kind of time and attention!


Logan and I riding the Chair #4 chairlift together.


Ron and Logan at the top of Couloir chairlift.


Like in December, we decided to take a midmorning break at the upper mountain lodge for Logan and I to have some nachos together.


Logan coming down the mountain in a flurry of snow.


Mother and son pose for a pic together.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Update on Ella's Gymnastics Meet Season

Since this school year has been so incredibly busy, I decided at the beginning of Ella's gymnastics meet season to not create a post after each of her meets.  As a result, I decided to do a quick recap of the four meets that she has competed in since her first one in Bremerton on January 19th.  Since then, Ella has competed in the following meets and received the following scores:

Coastal Realm meet in Everett on February 11th:
Vault 9.25, Bars 9.3, Beam 8.1, Floor 8.6, Overall score:  35.25
Charity Choice in Tacoma on February 16th:
Vault 8.9, Bars 9.35, Beam 8.75, Floor 9.25, Overall score:  36.25
Cascadian Team Challenge in Seattle on March 3rd:
Vault 8.8, Bars 9.375, Beam 8.5, Floor 9.225, Overall score:  35.9
Ascend Spring Invitational in Auburn on March 8th:
Vault 9.2, Bars 9.45, Beam 8.6, Floor 9.25, Overall score:  36.5

Overall, Ella has done a great job at all of her meets.  She has averaged above a 9.0 score on three of her four events:  bars, floor, and vault.  Bars continues to be her strongest event and bars continues to be her weakest event.  Her highest beam score has been a 8.75 this season.  Ella has medaled at every single meet she has competed at and has really enjoyed this season.  Since she only needed to score about a 34 to qualify for state, she reached this goal at her first meet of the season and is looking forward to competing in Tacoma on March 23rd.  I took all of the pictures below of Ella while competing at the Cascadian Team Challenge in Seattle.  


Ella's first event of the meet was the beam and she received an 8.5 for this event.  Here she is doing a handstand at the beginning of her routine.


Getting ready to do her turn.


Going into her leap.


Ella doing her dismount off the beam.


Ella and several of her teammates listening to Coach Chad talk to them before heading over to the floor.


Ella's second event of the meet was the floor and she received an 9.225 for this event.  Here she is doing a beautiful handstand at the beginning of her routine.


Ella going into the splits.


Doing a backward roll.


Ella finishing off her routine in her final pose right as the music ends.


Ella's third event of the meet was the vault and she received an 8.8 for this event.  Here she is taking off from the springboard.


Ella going into her front handspring.


Flying over the mat.


Landing it and...


finishing off with saluting for the judges.


Ella's fourth and final event of the meet was the bars and she received an 9.375 for this event.  Here is Ella in a cast.


Doing a double, back hip circle.


Ella doing a bird perch to get ready for her dismount.


Dismounting.


Ella saluting the judges after landing her routine.


Ella received 6th overall for her Level 3 age group.  Here she is standing up on the award blocks after receiving her medal.


The medalists saluting the audience.  Ella is the second from the right.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Love and Laughter Musical Review

Since Ella and Lia are still part of the Matilda company cast with NWTL until May, they were required to participate in their second, musical review this weekend.  Although it is the beginning of March, it was a Valentine's themed review, titled "Love and Laughter."  Like the Holiday Jukebox in December, the company kids performed in only a handful of numbers.  Both girls performed in an all-group, opening and closing number.  In addition, Ella sang a darling version of "The Ladies Who Lunch" with three other young girls while Lia sang "Forget about the Boy" while dancing and tapping (for the very first time) with the older girls.  The entire group finished off with the appropriate, closing number of "Fools Rush in."  Overall, it was a darling evening and I thoroughly enjoyed watching my two girls perform while singing these classic songs with the other company members.


Ella singing and dancing in the opening number.


Ella performing "The Ladies Who Lunch" with Evie, Rio, and Neah.  Evie and Neah are two of her closest friends from company.


Ella singing directly at the audience.


The girls finishing off their song with a bang.


Lia tap dancing away.  It was so impressive and such a fun surprise to see these older girls tapping for the first time in front of an audience.


Lia singing behind her friend, Nerie.


Another shot of the older girls singing, "Forget About the Boy."


A close up of Ella at the top of the stage during the closing number of "Fools Rush In."


Lia and the majority of the company cast performing the final number.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Logan's Last Basketball Game

Logan wrapped up his 6th grade basketball season with his last game today.  Although this is not Logan's favorite sport, he was a trooper and willingly went to his practices and played in most of his games the past 3.5 months.  Although Logan didn't make a basket, he improved quite a bit from last year and hustled as much as a he could and handled the ball several times during each game.  He enjoyed being on the same team with three of his friends from school (Bennett, Benton, and Grayson) and being coached by Bennett's dad, Ben, who Logan knows very well from previous soccer and basketball seasons.  Although Logan will officially be transitioning to running next school year with cross country in the fall (through a running club since it isn't offered at school for boys) and track in the spring with his school, I am grateful for all of these many winters that basketball has gotten Logan out of the house and moving around on the court.


Logan going for the rebound.


Logan running down the court with his friend, Grayson, at his side.


Blocking a throw from the other team.


Logan trying to stop another pass.


Running down the court.


Fighting over the ball with two opponents.


Logan dribbling the ball down the court.


The team listening to Coach Ben towards the end of the game.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Lia's 16th Birthday Family Party

After hosting Lia's Sweet 16 party the evening before, I had to rally my energy today to host Lia's family party.  Luckily, it wasn't nearly as big of a production.  We started off the morning with serving Lia and the rest of the kids our traditional, birthday waffle breakfast.  After church, Lia then went to NWTL for a 4-hour audition for their big, teen production this spring of Mean Girls (that Lia has been looking forward to for almost an entire year).  Ron pick her up at 5 o'clock to bring her back home to join the rest of us for her family birthday party.  Since my dad is at the Priest Lake cabin right now while my Uncle Doug is visiting from Utah, my mom came with her brother instead of my dad to join us for the evening.  The eight of us spent a nice evening together enjoying Lia's favorite, breakfast-for-dinner followed by gift opening, and then a banana cream pie for dessert.  She enjoyed receiving some fun gifts including a pair of Converse sneakers, a ticket to an Olivia Rodrigo concert, and a phone holder for her car.  It was a nice way to wrap up this weekend of celebrating our oldest child and this milestone birthday!


Lia posing with her siblings and her birthday waffle.


Blowing out her candles for the third time this weekend.


The family gathered around the table at the beginning of dinner.


Lia posing with Emmett and her birthday gifts.


Lia opening up her box of Converse shoes.


Showing off her pair of white, Chuck Taylor high tops.


All three kids crowding around Lia while she opened up another gift.


Ella posing with Lia after she opened up her gift, a set of Taylor Swift charms for Lia's crocs.


Lia holding up her formal dress and high heels that she wore for her party last night, but were technically a birthday gift today.


Lia and her siblings with her very bright, banana cream pie lit with with 16 candles.


Blowing out candles for the fourth and final time this weekend.


The family photo we managed to take before we enjoyed dessert at the end of the party.