Ella Competes at The Freedom Invitational

Ella competed in the Freedom Invitational in Bremerton this morning which was her second meet of the season.  She did a great job and improved her score in three of her four events (bars, beam, and floor) and earned a 35.5 overall score.  Since I chose to video all four of her events instead of taking pictures, I only have included photos from the medal ceremony below.  Ella placed on the medal blocks three times, earning a medal for both bars (9.025) and floor (8.95) and also for 5th place overall in her age group.  She was so excited to be recognized three times during the medal ceremony and to go home with so many medals around her neck!  Well done, Ella!

Ella saluting the audience after receiving one of her medals.

Ella's Level 4 team earned first place overall.  Here is her team receiving their medal.

Ella posing with her dear friend, Ava, after the meet was over.

Ava M, Caitlyn, Annabell, Ava H, and Ella biting one of their medals from atop the blocks after the ceremony was over.  I just love this picture!

Ella and Ava posing with the large, Freedom Invitational banner hanging in the background.

Emmett's Second Time on the Slopes!

Ron took Emmett up to White Pass today along with Logan and a few other boys from our ward.  Since this was only Emmett's second time snowboarding, Ron spent the day with him on the magic carpet slope while Logan went snow boarding with a few of the boys.  Since it is more difficult to learn on a snow board than skis at this young age, Emmett struggled a bit in the morning.  However, after a lunch break, he perked up and moved up to the longer, magic carpet with Ron and had a better afternoon.  Although he still has a long way to go, I was just excited that he was able to spend a second day on the slopes trying to master the basics of this sport with Ron's help.

MLK Ski Day at White Pass

Ron and I headed out bright and early with our three older kids today for our second family ski day of the season.  In addition, we brought Lia's friend, Jared, with us for the first time since he is an avid, snow boarder.  Although the snow was not fresh, we were blessed with a beautiful, bluebird day and stunning views of Mt. Rainier from the top of the mountain.  We had a great time skoarding together all day long, and I am still so grateful that all three of our older children are now good enough skiers and snowboarders that they can spend the entire day with Ron and me at the top of the mountain.

A family picture taken that Jared took of us at the top of the mountain with Mt. Rainier in the background.

Ella and Logan skoarding down the cat track with the stunning mountain in the background.

Ella, Jared, Lia, and Logan.

My favorite picture I took all day long with Jared, Lia, and Ella and the stunning Mt. Rainier.  That view never gets old!

Lia, Ella, and Jared in front of us on the chair lift.

Logan and Ella hanging out at the top of the lift.

Another stunning shot of Mt. Rainier.

Ella skiing down the hill towards me.

Emmett's Bluey Birthday Party

I hosted Emmett's first friend, birthday party today--a week after his birthday.  Since I was unable to host it last Saturday due to Ella's gymnastics meet, I chose to schedule this party over MLK weekend which I thought could be a problem with people going out of town.  Luckily, everyone who we invited were able to join us with the exception of two friends.  Since Emmett is still such a fan of the beloved TV show, Bluey, it made for an easy choice for the theme of his party.  Since I have hosted so many children's birthday parties over the past decade, I decided to keep it simple and just reuse a ton of my ideas for decorations and games, but with a Bluey twist.  Since it was all new to Emmett, he was happy with everything that I had planned and the party turned out to be quite a success.  Emmett had such a great time hosting so many of his friends from church, preschool, and Kindergarten for games, presents, and dessert.  In addition, since we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny Saturday, the children were able to go into our backyard to play at the end of the party since we finished up with everything twenty minutes early.  I'm so glad that Emmett's first friend party was a success and that our birthday boy felt loved and celebrated!

Emmett standing next to his welcome sign and balloons outside our front door before the party began.

The dining area in the kitchen all decked out and ready to go.

The fun decorations on the fireplace in the family room.

As Emmett's friends arrived, we started out with everyone coloring a Bluey picture of their choice.

Emmett coloring with his favorite twins at his side, Evie and Issac.

We next played several rounds of "Hot Potato" except with a stuffed, Bluey animal.

We then had the children try to throw a Bluey ball into a cut-out poster from three different distances from the room.  Emmett won this game.

We then played several rounds of "Keepy Uppy" which is a game played by Bluey and Bingo on the TV show that involves keeping a balloon in the air.  We just altered the game a bit by adding many balloons to the game.

We then played our own version of the game, drop the clothespin in a jar, except we used a miniature Bluey figure instead of a clothespin.  We played this game from three different heights, to increase the difficulty.

After finishing the games, Emmett opened up all of his gifts from his friends.  He received so many wonderful and generous presents.  Here is Ella helping Emmett read a card from Jordan, a friend from preschool.

Emmett opening up a Baby Yoda RC toy from Maisie, one of his friends from his Kindergarten class.

Emmett starting to open up a gift from Brooke, another friend from his Kindergarten class.

Emmett talking to Evie while opening up her present.

A group photo of all of the kids after gift opening was complete.

From left to right:

Raylan, Carter, Auggie, Jordan, Emmett, William

Issac, Evie, Brooke, Maisie, Layla

Emmett waiting for us to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

The entire group enjoying their cupcakes and ice cream.

Emmett and Jordan making funny faces while eating their dessert.

Logan and Ella went outside with the children to play with them at the end of the party.  A group of boys decided that it would be fun to chase Logan around and attack him.  Here is a funny picture that I took of Logan fighting off the group of boys before their parents came to pick them up.

Ella's 1st Gymnastics Meet of the Season

After months and months of practice, Ella's first gymnastics meet of her Level 4 season arrived yesterday.  Ron was able to join me and we drove her to Lakewood to compete in the Snowball Classic last night.  There is quite a jump in skill level on all four events between Level 3 and Level 4, so it was really exciting to watch Ella and the rest of her teammates try out their routines for the first time.  Ella did a great job in all four of her events!  Cheering her on in gymnastics meets is one of my favorite things to do as a mom.  She managed to land her cartwheel on the balance beam and looked so great on bars, floor, and vault.  She earned a 34.7 overall score which is a great start to the season and also qualified her for state.  I am so proud of how hard she has been working this year and can't wait to cheer her on at the five remaining meets this season!

Ella's Level 4 team lined up after entering the gym at the beginning of the evening.

Ella smiling at me as I took this close-up picture of her.

Ella's first event was vault and she earned an 8.8, her highest score of the night.  This is the first year that the gymnasts do a front handspring over the table instead of a mat.  Here she is running towards the table.

Jumping off the springboard.

Flying towards the table.

And going over it!

Landing and saluting the judges.

Ella also did a great job on bars.  This is her first year doing a difficult skill called a "kip" and using the high bar in addition to the low bar.  Ella earned a score of 8.5.

Ella jumping to the high bar.

Ella doing a kip.

Ella going around the bar.

And landing for the judges.

Ella and I were both nervous about her landing the cartwheel on the beam which is the big skill of Level 4.  She did a great job and never fell off the beam and earned a score of 8.775.  Here she is starting her routine.

Ella doing her cartwheel.

And landing it.

Ella doing a handstand at the end of the beam.

Doing her dismount off of the beam.

And finishing for the judges!

Ella finished off the evening on the floor and did a great job on her routine, earning a score of 8.625.

Ella doing her beautiful, split jump in the middle of her routine.

Coming out of the splits on the floor.

Ella going into her round off, double back handspring.

An action shot of one of Ella's back handsprings.

Finishing off her tumbling pass with a beautiful pose.

Ella and the rest of her teammates won first place for the overall team score.  Here they all are posing with their team trophy.

Our cute Ella posing for the camera after her meet was over.  Good job, Ella!