Youth sports

Through the years, we've tried lots of things with the girls. Beth tried soccer when she was 4 years old and wasn't a fan...not at all...and she has no desire whatsoever to try it again. She tried Gymnastics later that year. The year started great with only 3 people in her class so she got plenty of time with the teacher and plenty of times on the beam, bars, mats, etc...but by March, there were 15 kids in the class and her impatience grew into major frustration and a fight just to go to class each week. We were done by that point. She is doing ballet this year and just hasn't enjoyed it and begs me to let her try Gymnastics again. Problem is....well...the only two remainign gyms in town both have some majorly competitive cheer squads. The cheer squads are basically the next step up from tumble classes and the tumble classes are where they basically "groom" their next cheerleaders. First let me say- I don't have a problem with Beth being on a cheer squard if she is good enough to make the team. HOWEVER, I DO have a problem with all the traveling they do to go to competitions and the $500 that families probably pay out each weekend they have to go to Chicago, Memphis, St.Louis, Nashville or wherever for a competition. OUCH!!!! So, I'm stuck between a rock and a hardplace. Do I let Beth take a tumble class at one of these places next year, knowing full well what the outcome "could" be?? I can tell you - I'm not a "cheer mom." :-) And I can tell you, if Beth is anything like me (I never "got" gymnastics- I just couldn't do all that tumbling and flipping and stuff)...she may not do well at gymnastics either. I'd really like to see her stick with dance, but she is driving me bananas wanting to do gymnastics again. And in all honesty, she really did LOVE it when her class was small and she got to do all the activities and not sit on the mat and wait her turn like it was at the end of the year.

Okay - all that brings me to my original reason for posting - Beth is a YMCA cheerleader this spring. Her squad is made up of girls 7-10 years old that cheer for the YMCA U-11 Flag Football teams. This is the first time we've done YMCA cheer...and probably our last. While I think its awesome and it gives everyone who wants to be a cheerleader the chance to try it, I think it teaches absolutely ZERO fundamentals. NONE. They even had to go to a 2 hour "cheer clinic" where they learned cheers and a dance, problem is no one bothered to correct any of the girls if they were doing something wrong and show them HOW TO DO IT. I completely understand that YMCA sports are all about fun and being a team, but I'd like for her to learn SOMETHING!!! Its frustrating to watch......

Sarah Katherine, on the other hand, is my athlete and wants to do it all! She is currently in ballet and loves it. She played YMCA U-5 soccer last fall and is playing this spring, too. While she LOVES soccer, she isn't learning a thing this spring. We have a rather disappointing coach who knows nothing about soccer and doesn't really care. Again...frustrating to watch. However, Sarah could care less and just loves to be out there running around kicking the ball. She is getting faster as she grows and can totally get in there and play with the boys! I have no new pics from this spring soccer season yet, but she is on the same team as last fall....

Beth's party...

I had somewhat of a "social experiment" with Beth's birthday "not-so-slumber PJ party", I guess you could say. She wanted to invited ALL of the girls in her class + 3-4 others from her FUMC Kindy class last year. Since the party was at our house and I wasn't necessarily paying "per person" for the party, I went with it, thinking that at least I would FINALLY get to know the little 1st grade girls she was always talking about. I'm so glad I did it, but I'll never do it again! It was a lot of different personalities and it wasn't necessarily a great blend...but again, it really helped me get to know the girls that I did not know. I already told Beth that next year, when she wants to have her "real" slumber party, that we will have no more than 3-5 girls at the most and we would keep it an EVEN number people! :-) I didn't get many good pictures because 1) it was chaos, and 2) I was also using the video camera option of my phone for most of the "big" moments like blowing out the candles on her cookie cake! Oh well!

Beth and her "BFF" Maggie:


Eating pizza and actually sitting still for 10 minutes!


Eating cookie cake!


Impromptu Limbo game...

Happy 7th Birthday to my Beth!!

Today she turns 7.....SEVEN!!!! EEK! Happy Birthday Beth!

Kids Closet time again!

Sorry about the lack of posting much of anything in February! We've been busy....or sick!

Its Kids Closet week! While it IS a super busy week, its also fun. I got to do my shopping last night. The committee gets to shop very early, since we end up working the other shopping nights. Its also a way to say thank you to the committee members for putting in 25+ hours...sometimes 50+ hours this week alone!

I went through both girls closets last week...and the ample supply of spring/summer clothing I already have in storage for Sarah. Beth, as usual, needed the most clothing....and as usual, it was slim pickins' in her size. And even for Sarah, I didn't go nuts, either. So, here is the breakdown:

For Beth, I spent $60. For that $60, she got: 3 dresses (1 Garnett Hill NEW never worn dress!, 1 Limited Too dress and 1 FlapHappy dress), 2 pair of Old Navy capries (1 pair still new w/ tags), 1 3pc purple PJ set (not pictured b/c she wore it to bed!), 4 bathing suits (all 4 totalled $15), 1 pair Old Navy pink shorts, and 4 Tshirts (2 Circo, 1 ON, and 1 Gymboree).

Garnett Hill dress (new- never worn!)



For Sarah, I spent $70.50. For that, she got: 1 pair Keds maryjanes, 1 pair pink flipflops,1 hand-made woven pink/white headband, 3 bathing suits (all 3 totalling $8.50 - 1 Circo, 1 Gymboree and 1 LeTop), 1 Carters nightgown, 1 Disney PJ set, 3 "play" dresses (one Kid Crew green gingham, 1 floral Carters, 1 J.Khaki flipflop dress), 1 Jumping Beans capri 2pc outfit, 1 Children's Place 2pc shirt/skit butterfly outfit, 1 Mis-Tee-V-Us pink/white dog 2c outfit, 1 brand new 3pc Kids Headquarters white top/plaid shorts/headband, 1 Healthtex pink/green ladybug capri outfit, Old Navy blue jean shorts, 3 pairs of Gymboree bike shorts in varying shades of pink (all 3 for $2! - will be great to wear under dresses!), and one Gymboree Strawberry fields blue/white top.

I'm sure that won't be ALL, as I always pick up a few more things one Saturday hits and things go 1/2 price. Also, Sarah picked out a SwanLake Barbie and pegasus for her toy ($3!!) and Beth saved up her money and bought a Hannah Montana tour bus w/ 3 dolls, a Hannah Montana stage w/ 1 doll and 1 additional Barbie - all for $17. She was PUMPED!!