Ella Competes at Great West Gym Fest

After driving to Coeur d'Alene yesterday, Ella competed bright and early this morning at Great West Gym Fest for the second time.  When she competed two years ago as a Level 2 gymnasts, she received some of her highest scores at any meet and it quickly became one of her favorite meets of all time.  As a result, Ella had high hopes for this meet and was so excited to compete.  Although I was still feeling really weak from having the flu the past three days, I managed to get Ella ready and arrive at the hotel with Ron and the boys to check her in by 8 a.m.  We said "goodbye" and off she went to warm up with the rest of her team.  Sadly, this  meet did not turn out to be as successful as the one two years ago.  Ella received a 9.0 on bars, a 8.575 on beam, a 8.85 on floor, and an 8.850 on vault, giving her an overall score of 35.025.  Since this meet always provides medals for all of the gymnasts, Ella was able to go up on the medal stand five times and receive five bars for her plaque.  Although we knew that Ella was a bit disappointed in her scores, we were still proud of her and how hard she competed at this meet.  Way to go, Ella!

While waiting for Ella to start competing, Emmett asked to get a picture taken with the minion that was walking along in the hallway outside the ballroom where the meet took place.

Ella first competed on the beam.  Here she is doing her mount at the beginning of the routine.

Ella doing her cartwheel on the beam which is always so amazing to watch!

Ella doing her straight jump with her beautiful, straight legs and pointed toes.

Ella doing her dismount off of the beam.

Ella competed second on the floor.  Here she is doing a cartwheel into a front pass.

Ella in her splits.

An action shot of Ella doing her double backhand spring.

Ella going into her ending pose.

Although we weren't able to get up close to Ella for the vault, I was able to get some pictures of her with a balance beam in front.  You can see her flying off the springboard and onto the table in the picture.

Ella doing her front handspring off the table.

Ella landing on the mat.

Saluting the judges.

Ella competed on the bars fourth.  Like the vault, I wasn't able to get up really close to take good pictures of her.  Here is Ella jumping off the spring board onto the bars.

Going into her kip.

Ella doing her cast.

Ella at the medal ceremony where she got 4th place for vault.

Ella standing behind 8th place for floor.

Ella's team came in first place for Level 4.  Here are Ella and all of her teammates on the medal stand receiving the massive, team trophy.

A picture of Ella with her flowers after the medal ceremony was over.

Ella Competes at Charity Choice

Ella and I drove to Tacoma this evening for her to compete at Charity Choice, her third meet of the season.  This is a large meet held in the Tacoma Convention Center that is known for the umbrellas that hang from the ceiling and the free leotard that every gymnast is given.  Since I chose to video all four of Ella's events instead of taking pictures, I only took a few at the very end during the medal ceremony.  Ella received a 9.25 on bars, an 8.675 on beam, an 8.825 on floor, and an 8.95 on the vault, giving her an overall score of 35.7.  Although she was one gymnast away from winning a medal (as she came in 10th place for her age group and the top nine girls received medals), I was still really proud of her and what a great job she did.  Ella keeps on telling me how much more difficult Level 4 is from Level 3 in every event, so i am just so amazed at what a great job she has done in learning all four routines and mastering the difficult skills in each of these routines.  Way to go, Ella!

President's Weekend Family Ski Day

Since Ella ended up being assigned a Sunday evening time slot for her Charity Choice gymnastics meet, I knew that she and I would not want to get up at 5 a.m. on Monday morning to go skiing on President's Day.  As a result, we decided to go skiing instead on Saturday which meant that Lia had to miss since she needed to go to her play rehearsal instead.  As a result, Ron and I went skoarding with our two "middles" today which was a first for us.  It was a special treat for the four of us to spend the day together and we had a great time enjoying the fresh snow on the cat tracks and in the trees.  After lunch, I convinced Ella to do some serious tree skiing with me and discovered that she is not only really good at skiing on tight trails through the forest, but really liked it.  So the two of us had a great time enjoying this time together and I was thrilled to discover that I finally have a tree skiing buddy in the family.  Overall, it was a great day and I am so glad that we were able to squeeze in a day on the slopes over this holiday weekend.

Ella and Logan at the top of the mountain.

Logan waiting a top of the run with the beautiful, snow-covered mountains in the background.

Ella skiing in between some trees.

Logan and Ron following her.

Ella and mama.

The beautiful, winter wonderland that I introduced Ella to at the end of the day.  I just love this picture!

Logan's Birthday Gift to iFly

Instead of throwing Logan a friend party this year, I decided that it would be fun to gift him a cool experience instead.  So while opening up his birthday gifts last Sunday, Logan learned that he would be making a trip to iFly five days later to go indoor sky diving with his dad on the first day of our midwinter break.  Since we didn't have school today, Ella, Emmett, and I joined the two of them on this adventure.  After driving up to Tukwila, the three of us had a great time watching Ron and Logan take two turns each flying in the vertical, wind tunnel with an instructor.  They both seemed to have such a great time and we loved being able to watch them have this experience together.  I'm so grateful that Logan could kick off his teenage years by having this unique and fun experience with his dad!

Ron flying with the help of his instructor.

Logan doing the same.

Ron facing the kids and me (while his beard covered up half of his face).

Logan saying "hello" to us!

The father-son photo I was able to take after their flying experience was over.

Logan's 13th Birthday!

We had my parents and Chris' family over last night to celebrate Logan's 13th birthday a day early.  Par  Logan's request, we had nachos and chicken bakes for dinner for the second year in a row with my homemade, chocolate cake for dessert.  We had a fun time getting together for the first time since Priest Lake after Christmas and enjoyed celebrating Logan and this monumental birthday of becoming a teenager.  After eating dinner, opening gifts, and singing "Happy Birthday" to Logan and eating cake, the kids enjoyed playing several rounds of "Hide-and-go-Seek" in the dark downstairs before everyone headed home at the end of the evening  And Although I still can't believe that Logan is officially a teenager, I am so grateful that he is still such a pleasant, happy, obedient, hard-working, respectful, and funny boy.  I hope that these next few years don't change him at all!

Logan and the rest of the kids smiling from their table while eating dinner.

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

Logan opening up his first gift--a magnetic dartboard.

Logan opening up another gift.

Trenton, Logan, and Emmett posing for a picture after all the gifts were opened.

The cousins posing together for a group shot.

Riley lit Logan's candles and carried his cake to the table without even being asked.  We thought this was so funny!

Logan blowing out his candles...

and enjoying his chocolate cake!

On Logan's actual birthday, I treated him to birthday waffles with candles on top.  Here are Ella and Emmett posing with Logan before we sang to him.

Logan asked for a Chipotle burrito for his actual birthday dinner.  Here he is eating it all up!

And he finished off his birthday with another slice of chocolate cake!

A Little Bit of Snow...

Since we missed having a major snowfall last school year, the kids and I were all excited when we saw snow on the forecast for several days this week.  We kept our fingers crossed all week long that we would wake up one morning with several inches of snow on the ground and school canceled.  Although this happened in several other areas of Western Washington, we sadly only woke up to an inch or two of snow a few mornings this week.  As a result, school was only delayed by one or two hours several times.  Although the kids and I were a bit disappointed with the little amount of snow our town got, it didn't stop the three younger ones from putting on their snow boots and going out into the backyard to play in the little bit of snow that we had fallen.  This is the one picture that I managed to take of them earlier this week.  And if we don't end up getting any more snow this winter, we better get a decent snow storm next year as we have sure earned it!