Today’s outfit:
Waiting with her classmate:
Warming up:
Category Archives: Sports & Exercise
Katie leveled up!
Her instructor told us she was getting close…but then we had three weeks of nothing happening. So today, mid-lesson, she leveled up! Of course I missed her super excited face but here she is with her new cap! It took just under six months.
Play time!
Gymnastics Day!
Pigtails again!
Peek!
We arrived early enough so she could take a quick run on the balance beam.
Katie’s eventful walk in the woods.
We all went out for a walk since it was such a nice day. It was also a test for Katie—she always wants to go with me/Owen but it’s two miles and I know she’d want me to carry her…and that ain’t happening. (Daddy usually ends up carrying her so she’s spoiled…but I can’t do it.) So…off we went. Some days she likes to be the Line Leader. Today she wanted to be pokey and hold daddy’s hand.
And before we even completed the first mile, her legs were tired and she wanted to be carried. See?! I knew it! So Tom carried her off and on. And then…she had to go potty. So off they went for her first potty in the woods! Which didn’t go very well and she peed on her pants (but we were almost finished by that point so no biggie).
Katie’s second time at gymnastics
And she loves it. LOVES IT. LOVES LOVES LOVES IT!!
Enjoying playtime before lessons.
Katie’s taking gymnastics!
I got a deal on a 12-week (12 session) class and knew she’d love it. Thankfully it’s pretty close to home.
Warming up and stretching.
A few stills from the videos.
As predicted, she LOVED it and can’t wait to go back. She keeps asking about her “shimnashtics” class and would probably go daily. Yay!
Katie showed me!
I was actually considering stopping Katie’s swim lessons because I wasn’t sure she was still progressing and $75/mo is a decent chunk of money for her to just be splashing around for a few hours. So of course she completely amazed me today! I asked the instructor to have her practice her floating (since she hasn’t done that in months) and she did great at that—along with actually swimming!! Holy cow! So…lessons continue!
Playing together after their lessons were over.
Snow Day 6: Flight
I had to get them out of the house to burn some energy. Thankfully it wasn’t crazy busy when they first opened.
She really catches some air when she jumps. It’s VERY impressive!
Owen catches some decent air, too!
Katie really wanted to play basketball with the kids, but they were older and weren’t interested in giving her a chance. The few times Owen gave her the ball, she immediately handed it off to someone else. 🙂
Katie’s fall really looks much worse in slo-motion.
Do you see what I saw?
Can you see it?
How about now?
From the big picture:
Two got spooked off. The buck remained perfectly still as I walked up the trail and around where he was.
So apparently this is what dedication looks like?
Walking in 17° weather. Who am I? 🙂
New year, new trail!
Owen and I started the new year with a great hike on a neighborhood trail (we’ve been on parts of it before, but not the whole thing).
And we saw the Whomping Willow!!
And a baby Whomping Willow according to Owen. 🙂
Go Sparty!
She’s in Owen’s old jersey/pants outfit since her cheerleading outfit is getting very short.
This is what it’s always like trying to get both of them to pose:
I got Owen in one shot:
Everyone in Sparty green, even though you can’t see mine.
I just ran a mile.
I haven’t ran a mile in, um, EVER?!
I got on the treadmill tonight for my usual mile walk and at about .75 miles I thought “Hey, let me try running the last quarter mile.” I’d run two, walked two, run two, etc., a time or two before, but it was always hard and not enjoyable in the least.
But tonight I felt good and I wasn’t winded so at the one-mile mark, I thought “Hey, let me go to finish out a full 20 minutes” (a mile would have been about 18 minutes, so I was adding another two minutes of running.)
At 20 minutes I was still feeling good so I just kept going. And then I thought “Hey, what if I ran a mile? NAH. I can’t run a mile. But what if I did?” I had a good song on repeat so I just. kept. going.
So tonight I walked .75 mile and ran one mile.
I’m gobsmacked.
Family Walk
He brought the sword but then found a bow and arrow.
Awesome December weather for swim lessons!
Infielder camp!
We signed Owen up for an infielder camp to get him ready for spring baseball. He’s decent enough at batting, but his fielding definitely needed work. We lucked out in that none of the other kids showed up for the first lesson so he had an hour of one-on-one coaching! (It’s a very small class anyway, but any one-on-one time is welcome!) And as it turned out, it was great that it happened because Owen REALLY needed it: after a few minutes of frustration (Owen couldn’t understand how to “mirror” was the coach was doing) Tom stepped in and told him that Owen was only 6 and the coach, as expected, was gobsmacked, saying the kid who just left—who was the same size as Owen—was 12. But Owen had fun and now we have like 9 more weeks of this on Friday nights!
These were the few pics Tom snapped during practice.
Sparty green day!
Even Maggie!
Gov. Snyder proclaims Friday ‘Spartan Green Day’
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has proclaimed Friday as “Spartan Green Day” in honor of the No. 5 Michigan State football team.
The celebratory day in Michigan is one day before the Spartans play No. 4 Iowa in the Big Ten championship in Indianapolis.
Walking and watching
Katie loves to bounce in the bounce house…except she wants you to watch her. 🙂 So whenever I walk on the treadmill, she bounces. She’s actually a riot to watch—with jumps and kicks and tossing big soft things around. Tonight she had to run and get her bear so they could jump together.
Afterward, heading upstairs:
Me: Katie, you did awesome in there!
Katie: I know, I had awesome kicks!
Sunday Swim
The kids’ lessons are progressing nicely…but today we just get a video of Katie going down the slide during play time. It’s funny—last week was the first week she was even somewhat interested, and one of the instructors made sure to help her climb up and wanted to wait for her at the bottom of the slide. I had to tell them she’s an old hat at big slides and they didn’t need to worry! She showed them today!
Owen helping her up the first time:
Owen is leading us into war.
With a ruler for a sword, of course, because that’s what he picked to bring today. 🙂
And a shot of his new haircut, courtesy of daddy this afternoon.
Today’s views on my hike
The color is getting pretty faded and the leaves are fairly sparse…but it was still pretty.
A walk after a long drive
After two kinda long days in the car—and a week of no real exercise—we pulled in, unloaded the car, then headed directly to the park for our favorite hike!
Time change + pool time = wiped out
Letting our little fish swim!
After the events of the past few days, we wanted to let the kids have some fun!
And a compilation of slides…
Last T-ball game of the fall season!
I love that his tongue is out the entire time. Click photo for larger image:
He was in the pitcher position for an inning and he did REALLY well getting the ball and throwing it to first base! Click photo for larger image:
And this is what Katie is busy doing during the game…sitting on the sidewalk by the parking lot, co-opting someone’s mitt and running around, and playing with someone’s dog. 🙂
Stay tuned for the team photos! The fall season didn’t have official photos but the coaches wife took some!
Sunday walk with my protector.
It was COLD this morning—in the high 40s, I think—when we set out. We were in multi-layers, Owen had gloves, and we both had our hoods up. 🙂
Today’s weapon was a lightsaber. 🙂
As we were walking along, I was getting the usual commentary about weapons and which bad guys are in the forest and why the minotaurs are no longer there…and then suddenly he stops, turns around, and says “Shhh! We’re in skeleton forest!”
I love this boy. :heart:
Practice and game at-bats
Most of the videos I post I edit down so we only see Owen’s actual hit. But today I left in the whole thing—sometimes he whiffs it, but mostly he smacks it the first time!
Let’s get this game over so we can get home and watch Sparty!
I ran out of time at home before the t-ball game to set up the tripod to take our picture, so we grabbed an MSU-alum (a dad!) at the game. 🙂
I’m wearing Tom’s jersey…because mine is way too big! 🙂