April catch-up

I have been really diligent about trying to update the blog once a week, but since I left my camera at my dad's house on Easter, I had an excuse to take a little break. But, now I have some major catching up to do!

Both of the older kids have kicked into high gear for the spring. Cooper's baseball tournaments are almost every weekend and Kaiya has 3 gymnastics meets, which means some divide and conquer for the two parents. Cooper had a tournament two weeks ago that started off miserable and ended on a high note. They are playing teams that often have 100 kids try out and only the top 12 or so make the team. Seriously, some of the kids are almost double Cooper's size. Not sure how we are even supposed to compete. After day one of getting our butts handed to us, the boys found themselves in the consolation bracket as the last seed. Well, these guys played their guts out and made it clear to the semi-finals, losing by just one run in the last inning. Such a heartbreaker, but so fun to finally have some success at this level! Cooper had the best day of his life at the plate (11 RBI in 3 games!!!) and was just hitting the snot out of the ball. He caught all three games as well and was one tired puppy! The video is one of his best hits of the day.

Castle Rock tournament--11 RBIs in 3 games!!

Solid hit!

Kaiya had her first meet last weekend as a level 6. This is a huge jump from level 5 because every event had a new skill added. She now tumbles into a back flip on floor, does a back flip off the bars and tumbles backward on the balance beam. She was super nervous, but just did awesome! Beam was her nemesis, as usual, but even that wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it was. Enjoy the videos!

Kaiya and her teammate, Maddie

Level 6 bar routine

Floor routine--her best score of the day 8.35!!

Other April highlights . . .

--We had a really nice Easter with my dad, brother and his wife despite the fact that I had to work the night before. :(

Easter morning

--The kids all got to have one friend stay over this last weekend as a reward for good behavior. It was the first time Kinley had a friend stay over and they were so cute and got along perfectly all weekend. Kaiya got to have 2 gym buddies and Cooper had a good friend stay as well. It was a packed house and I felt like all I did was feed them round the clock! I did take them all swimming, too. Whew!! I was wiped out by Saturday night! I am so grateful for my kids' true, good friends.

Love these girls!!

Kinley and her best buddy

--I started swimming lessons in anticipation of attempting a triathlon in August. A good friend of mine is teaching me to swim and thank goodness she is patient! We have had lots of laughs and I've returned the favor by helping her train in the gym with some other friends. I can finally swim the required 1/4 mile on my own, but I am still super inefficient. Could be a long few months getting ready for this thing, plus I'm considering the Warrior Dash in August as well.

--I accepted a position to be the camp nurse at a gymnastics camp for Kaiya the last week in July. We will head to Lake Owen, WI where Kaiya will get intensive gymnastics training and lots of fun on the side and I will get to run in circles being the camp nurse. It was quite the application process (they even called my references!), so we are happy to be going. Kaiya's $1,200 tuition is waived and they pay my expenses, so it's a great deal! We're both excited.

--Kinley is gearing up for her big dance recital at the beginning of June and then she's looking forward to trying some different things this summer. Can't believe the kid only have 3 1/2 weeks left of school! We are all ready for a break from all the homework, lunch packing, getting up early, etc!

--Cooper was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society last week. He has worked his butt off for his good grades (despite the fact that it gets him made fun of by some of his athlete buddies) and we're proud of him for sticking to it. He also got selected to be on the yearbook staff and to be a WEB leader again, so he will be helping to be in charge of first day activities for the incoming 6th graders. So proud of this kid! He has taken some serious heat from his buddies about being a "goody" because he cares about his grades and likes being involved in the school, but he's finally getting better about letting their comments go and recognizing that it's OK to be good in school!