Buckeye Classic 2015

Elbow's split jump in her floor routine

Another Buckeye Classic under our belts. Whew, it's a ton of work for all the team parents but when you add in our other five kids needing to be fed and clothed and a preacher husband who really needs to work on the weekend, it's amazing we've lived to tell.

All that aside, it was a great weekend for all the 3200 gymnasts... with special appearances from Buckeye's very own Nia Dennis and Gabby Douglas. 

Getting ready for the March In

Fall Highlights

The holidays are already upon us and I'm still feeling like the school year has just begun. Here are some of the highlights of the year so far:

Halloween!

The kids managed to collect 40 pounds of candy. Ugh. Most has been hidden/given away (Shhh!)

Football!

Toddzilla had a great season as QB, leading his team to the championship game and making the All Star Team. Go #75!

Breaking free from the pack...

Touchdown!

Ready to cheer for the Bears in the Championship!

The biggest and littlest of the boys cheering for the Buckeyes.

Soccer!

The Patriot loved his first season of soccer.

Cross Country!

Bobo also loved her first year running cross country. She made some great friends and is already excited to run track with them in the Spring.

Science!

Our science group is having fun studying swimming creatures. Most recently we studied primeval reptiles and had fun with fossils:

A fun field trip with Dad to the natural history museum in Cleveland. More fossils!

Gymnastics!

After six months of training, the competitive season has begun. Elbow had a good meet near Cleveland last weekend. First on beam!

 Music!

 Hubby is attempting to teach the girls to sing 3 part harmony. This may take awhile :)

Just moved up to the full size violin this Fall

 Baking!

Some friends from church taught the girls how to make cheesecake this week: chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cup. Calories anyone?

 Next up: Thanksgiving Prep!

Five Weeks In

Here it is, the end of September and I've posted nothing about the beginning of our school year or all the goings-on at Living Waters.  This has been a particularly busy - and productive - Fall with lots of changes to the normal routine at home.

The girls are each taking four classes at Veritas Academy. This Classical, Christian private school has been a great addition to our homeschool program and has given me the time needed to focus more on my four busy boys. Bobo is taking Latin, History, Government, and Science at Veritas and continues to do Math and Literature at home. Elbow is taking Math, Science, Latin, and History at Veritas and is doing Language Arts at home. They're in class all day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and home with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's been a big adjustment in many ways and I'm very proud of how well they're doing with all of it. (I can't say they love studying on the weekends, something they have happily avoided until now, but  they're enjoying their classmates, teachers, and the ability to be in a learning environment without all the interruptions of little brothers a busy household).

The boys and I have been getting our work done at the library on the mornings we have to take the girls to school. This has greatly helped the amount of distractions that seem ever present: their toys, gadgets, outdoor escapades - all of the things that I've found lure boys away from the books much more easily than girls. Currently, Toddzilla is in 4th grade, Crockett in 2nd, and The Patriot is a kindergartener. Right Hand Man is playing his role as the Dismantler-of-All-Things-Academic just as well as his predecessors did. 

We're still involved in our science co-op; this year we're studying Exploring Creation with Zoology 2 (Swimming Creatures). We had a great time on a field trip to the Newport Aquarium last week:

And it's always fun to add an element of danger when you've got boys around. Here we are tempting fate with hairdryers and water in an effort to learn about ocean currents:

Without the girls around three days a week, our afternoons are free for all sorts of explorations. We've found two new stomping grounds, both are quickly becoming favorites: an off road bike path and the local skate park. Danger seems to be the operative principle. (And yes, we've had quite a few scrapes and bruises). Who takes a two year old to these places? We do.

We've also had time to launch rockets and explore Indian Village: 

Finally, we've been busy with all sorts of sporting events. Bobo is running cross country for the first time and Toddzilla is loving life as QB of his football team.

Elbow continues to train hard for her upcoming competition season in gymnastics (pics to come after her first meet this year). She's been excited to see Gabby Douglas in action since Gabby started training at her gym this summer. 

The Patriot is on his first team ever - a little wild man on the soccer field. He spends more time on the field than on his feet; he seems to love diving and sliding.

Hubby and I are teaching a six week class on my new book, Faith@Home, at our church. Whew... I'm ready for a break after all this.

Gymnastics Girl

Elbow had a great day at her first ever gymnastics meet at the Andrea Bailes competition in Athens.  Watching gymnastics is way more nerve-wracking than I was prepared for.  It made me think of my mom at my tennis matches (I couldn't hear her as well at my hockey games, although I'm told she cheered a lot at those too).

Not sure how I'll survive this season but we're off to a good start.

Preparing to vault

Tied for first in vault,
took home second because a tie goes to the highest overall score

First on beam!

First on floor!

3rd in the all-around

First for the team competition!

Way to go, Elbow!

Check That Off The List

So now we've experienced the broken bone. (The Patriot had a slight buckle break a few years back, but it didn't require any sedation, casting, etc). Elbow is the first - and hopefully last - one to experience the full deal. She's overjoyed to be rid of her cast. It was a long six weeks: missing out on lots of lake fun on vacation, sitting on the sidelines in gymnastics, and just generally being uncomfortable. But she survived and even handled it with grace and patience.

Getting ready to be sedated :(

Flowers from her dad - he missed all the action while out of town

Probably not the best idea, but we had to let her have a little vacation fun :)

She picked her second cast to match a pair of new shoes -
(and, apparently, the sports medicine clinic)

Celebrating her birthday (with cast on) with her teammates at the gym