Ryleigh had her gymnastics "meet" this weekend. She did great! Each girl had to do the same routine on the floor exercise, vault, beam, and a parallel bar. I apologize for the picture quality, but taking pictures through the glass after fighting with all of the parents and grandparents for a spot near the glass just doesn't yield the best quality. Still, I think you get the idea. If you are wondering about the pictures where Ryleigh is the farthest away and it appears to be kicking into a handstand and then flopping onto a map, that is part of the vault. The girls had to jump off the springboard onto a tall mat--but a column blocked that view, so no pics in the video. Then they practiced their form by doing the handstand and flopping. Eventually, the goal is to go from the springboard to hands on the mat and then flopping. Then much later down the road, actual vaults come.
We also snuck in a trip to the symphony and the regular ballet, Ninja Zone, and Robotics classes during the weekend. The kids had dentist appointments and their annual health check-ups. They are both doing great!
Tomorrow night we are off to Massanutten for a few days in the (artificial) snow and the water park. As always, pics to come. Until next time, cheers!
As predicted, we had more snow this week. The schools made the call Tuesday night that Wednesday would only be a half day for the kiddos. By late afternoon, it looked like this when I peaked out of the front door.
It was just enough to make traffic really bad for Jip's commute.
Wednesday night the wind howled and we ended up getting another round of snow that the weather predictors didn't see coming. So, no school on Thursday. I had four kids for lunch (my two, plus two neighborhood kids) and there was lots of noise and commotion. Thankfully, the warm-up in the afternoon on Thursday was lovely and melted nearly everything away, save for a few spots in the shade. Schools were back to normal on Friday--just in time for the weekend.
The weather continued to warm, and the kids took full advantage. The kids had a bit of time outside on Saturday and Sunday. It felt very Colorado-ish this week, with snow one day and bike-riding weather just a couple days later.
This week *should* be back to normal with kiddo activities. Throw in dentist appointments, annual physicals, the symphony, and Ryleigh's gymnastics "meet" and we have a very full week. As always, pics to come. Until next time, cheers!
Ryleigh went back to school on Tuesday. RJ did not go back to school until Friday. I wasn't kidding when I said Hampton Roads wasn't prepared for this! Cars could get around most places Tuesday through Thursday, but school buses were a different story. Yet, by Friday morning, everything was clear. The kids only needed light jackets. It was as if the snow never happened. RJ's school district has announced that they only have to make up 2 of the first 3 school days they missed. The school is waiting on announcing make-up days/time for the other three days until we get through this week. Why? Because, yes, we are supposed to get more snow mid-week. Good times.
Despite all of the togetherness we had through our snow days and the long holiday weekend, I took no pictures. So, instead you'll have to settle for videos I posted on Facebook in the last couple weeks. One is another video that Ryleigh made for the contest that was being run by her dance studio. The other is an anniversary video I threw together after seeing the one that Facebook automatically put together and asked me if I wanted to post it. The Facebook version used photos Jip and I were both tagged in and gave only a few choices of photos I could switch out if I didn't like a photo. When Facebook chose a photo of Ryleigh's 2nd birthday shirt and tutu instead of a photo of us or us with our kids, I decided their algorithms needed some work and I should just make our own.
This week is a short one for the kids because of the MLK holiday, but hopefully not because of snow. I'm crossing my fingers that activities will all be back to normal and that we can finally find our routine.
We had an honest-to-goodness blizzard strike on Wednesday and into Thursday. The wind howled. The snow was incessant. It reminded me of Eastern Colorado. It was still pretty windy for the next couple days, but the kids were able to get out and enjoy themselves a bit.
Friday was more of the same...
On Saturday, Jip pulled a UPS truck out of the snow-covered ice in our cul-de-sac.
We were able to get to Ninja Zone on Sunday, but no BrickHeadZ. The kids got a little more time outside.
Of course, there was no school on Thursday or Friday. And no school tomorrow (Monday). Hampton Roads just doesn't have the snow removal equipment for this mess, especially when the bitter cold prevents decent melting and just leads to freezing slush and super rough and slick roads. The buses just can't handle it. We'll see if the temperatures getting above freezing for the first time in many days can make enough difference and allow kids to get to school on Tuesday. This mama sure hopes so!
The rest of the week, once the snow melts, should be pretty normal. Dance, gymnastics, and BrickHeadZ should all be a go once again. Phew! We need to find our groove for 2018. Anyway, as always, pics to come. Until next time, cheers!
It was a quiet week in our house. The kids went to BrickHeadZ camp in the mornings Tuesday through Thursday and all day Friday. They had a great time! The kids also had lots of playtime over the weekend with Aless and Ryan. We played a little Xbox, a few board games, taught the kids rummy, watched Ferdinand in the theater, watched lots of movies at home, and more.
It was a week or organizing for Jip and me. The Christmas decorations were down a little bit earlier than planned in order to get them down before the bitter cold set in. Everything was back in the storage unit Saturday. Then Jip went to town in the garage, building more shelving, moving his tool bench, and generally rearranging things to make room for bigger kids' bikes and just for things to make more sense. We are waiting for a new outdoor shed to arrive to make things even better. We found a local organization that will take the old kids' bikes, polish them up, and GIVE them to kids who need bikes. The bike trailer is on Craig's List, and hopefully we have a buyer who will be coming by on Wednesday and helping us clear out even more space. I sorted kids' clothes and got things that were too small put in bins to hand down to cousins. The playroom got cleaned multiple times by this mama, too.
We didn't take any pictures this week, but I did make a little video of Ryleigh doing a little dance in our driveway. We posted the video on her dance studio's Facebook page as part of a contest. Ryleigh won a tutu for it and won a Barbie video for another entry that I made on another day. Ryleigh can't wait to get her new lavender tutu!
Everything is back in full swing this week. Dance classes, gymnastics, Ninja Zone, and Robotics are all waiting to welcome the kiddos back. As always, pics to come. Until next time, cheers!
