Let the activities commence...

School is back in session...therefore...the activities are back in session. This in turn makes me a busy mom and leaves even less time for blogging. Love it though, and I encourage my girls to be involved and seek to find what it is they really love. Otherwise we would all be sitting at home watching Nick Jr. and staring at the computer...so this is good for us all!

So what is on tap for the Fall???

Sarah: Gymnastics, Girl Scouts, Irish Dancing, Hip/Hop and Soccer
Lauren: Gymnastics, Music, and Ballet/Tap

Luckily for me they have gymnastics on the same day at the same time and when Lauren has ballet/tap, Sarah has hip hop.

Lauren is loving her ballet/tap class. She is in there with her BFF Addison and she really gets so excited to dress up like a ballerina.



Today she took her first gymnastics class at a real gym and she was FANTASTIC. I should have taken my camera. She was so cute in her little leotard with chubby legs, she followed instruction, tried everything, and really loved it. She was even really good at everything. So much so....visions of Mary Lou were dancing in my head and I was thinking "Is it wrong to sign my 2 year-old up for gymnastics twice a week. Do I need to write Bela and starting planning a move to Houston? Does Bela even still have his ranch and still coach? Does Mary Lou coach?" Anyway...I hope she keeps it up!

As for Sarah...She is loving Hip Hop and being in a class with all 4 of her longtime BFF's.

She officially starts Girls Scouts back up next week and Irish Dancing in a couple of days. She took her 1st gymnastics class at a new gym today and loved it. Soccer is in full swing. They played their first game this last weekend. They now get to play goalie which was a highlight for Sarah. It is going to be a busy, but super fun fall!

Go Hurricanes!

Best Cookies in America: Girl Scout Cookies

Well that maybe an exaggeration, but they are an All-American icon for sure. Right now Sarah (a.k.a. Sarah's mom, a.k.a Me) is in the midst of selling Girl Scout Cookies. So far she has sold just over 100 boxes! All going to her family, friends, teachers, and the troops overseas. Sarah and I both agree that the Thin mints are the best, however, Lauren has not quite acquired the taste. She will stick to the plain old shortbread herself. While Charlie on the other hand, actually has both hands in the peanut butter boxes. One for the PB Patties and the other for the PB sandwiches. Just look at all the yummy choices!



Which ones are your favorite??

Sarah's Activities

I am so behind on blogging that it is not even funny. What have I been doing you might ask?....being mom....getting ready for Christmas....carting my Sarah all around to do Girls Scouts, dance, gymnastics, and ice skating! Ice skating replaced soccer, but hey, let's throw soccer in the mix, too! I know I am partly to blame for her (and my) schedule. But I don't know where to cut it off. I won't budge on the dance, she loves the gymnastics and the girl scouts, and well, ice skating, I just felt like if she showed any interest it was better to keep with it. She took a year off from it and has regressed some. She is really pretty good at it, so I hate to keep her from doing it if she likes it. So, well, that is how we find ourselves in this predicament! She did ask to do Irish step dancing, but I sort of pretended that went in one ear and out the next. Not that I don't want her to do it, but seriously! She has also mentioned going back to doing her art, which I love for her to do. Then we have the shocker of all shockers....soccer was hated this fall by her (although you will never know from the pics) and ice skating was supposed to replace it for the "spring", but now I am hearing how we want still play soccer...so we shall see what unfolds in the new year. I love for her to do activities but 6 different ones, I am not sure about that.

So let me re-cap what she has been up to.

Dance: She is at a new studio this year. It is hard to believe this is her 4th year of dance already. We moved studios so she could get to do a recital. The old studio does one, but it is at the beginning of June, and we will be in Ireland then, so that wasn't working. She seems to like her new class, but I have a feeling we will be back at the old studio next year (if we are still doing dance). It is her least favorite right now, and I vowed never to force my kids to do anything they didn't really love, so if she wants to take a break, we can take a break. I will probably revive the Irish step dancing talk if this happens! So here are some pics from her dance class parent show!

Sister had to get in on the action!

Soccer: As I mentioned, she was complaining about hating soccer, although you would not know it from watching her play the games. I thought for sure we were done with this one. She was such the soccer star in the spring, but came out in the fall in a funk. However, the last few games, the soccer star starting coming back. She started making goals again and started to get more aggressive. I don't know if it was the nice weather or what, but by the end she started changing her tune. Then the night of her team pizza party, the coach was talking about keeping the girls all together and what a great little team they have (they are good) and she started to talk about wanting to stay with it in the spring...so this one is still up in the air! Her are some pics!

Yes, in case you are wondering, it is Team Blondie!

Girl Scouts: Just a few nights ago she got invested into Girl Scouts with their Investiture Ceremony. It was very cute and she now has her Daisy pin. She loves girl scouts and I am glad! It is such a great activity! If you live near me...I am giving you fair warning...cookies are on the way and I will be finding you to buy!




Gymnastics: She just had her 1st meet yesterday and she did so good. She has only been doing gymnastics for 4 months now and she has improved so much. She still has a ways to go, but she loves it! At her meet she got a 8.8 on floor, 9.1 on vault, 8.8 on bars and a 8.9 on beam. (Note that the lowest score they were giving was an 8.8, but she tried really hard and did better than she had ever done in practice, so I was so proud of her! She was so excited afterwards and is already talking about doing it next year so she can win a trophy.

Little Daisy Girl Scout

I don't know much about Girl Scouts...I never was one, but I thought it might be something fun that Sarah would like. I was right! She has absolutely loved being a Daisy. She meets with her troop once a week and so far they have done lots of fun arts and crafts, learned songs, gone to a campfire celebration and earned their 1st Daisy petal. I only wish I had volunteered to be a troop leader. It is right up my alley with planning all the fun activities. It is almost like a little mini sorority! They are going to have a ceremony in December where they will be given their Daisy pin. It will be complete with speaking parts and candlelight. Very sorority! So I am so glad we decided to do it and I am so glad she enjoys it. There are 10 in her troop and they are just great!