Party

The girls had a little sleepover party the other day to celebrate their birthday. Two friends each so it was pretty mellow.  First we all went to paint pottery. Michael and I even did a little. I made a present for Julia and Michael made a much needed oven top utensil holder. The girls all made different things including a bird, a letter S, a trinket box and a candy dish. They were all really cute.

Here is the gaggle on the way home.

Once home, they opened presents.

Then we had pizza, cake and strawberry shortcake. Miranda asked for trees on her cake as well as cats and she loved her ridiculous cake.

Elizabeth just wanted strawberry shortcake, "but not the kind Uncle Eran made...the good kind you get in the package at the store"  Girl after my own heart...

Beck just wanted strawberries and whip cream.

They went to bed too late and got up too early. But all in all it was a good party and they all had fun.

Gym Meet #2

Elizabeth had her second meet this weekend, and it went well. She did well on Bars, Floor, and Vault, but fell apart on Beam. They give out as many medals at these meets as they do at chess tournaments, so everyone went home happy, including Elizabeth. I didn't get videos of everything, but here are the bars and floor.

Oh Lordy.

Birthday!

The birthday girls had a great birthday. It started yesterday when I let them open one present each and they chose the ones from my mom.  I thought they would want to swap presents, but they did not and were very happy with what they got.

This morning, they were up at the crack of dawn to open the rest of the presents.  First was presents from Grammy and Ginny, gymnastics things for Elizabeth and Kitty Cat things for Miranda. Perfect!

Then they opened stuff from each other...Art stuff for Miranda and Jewelry making items for Elizabeth.

Then presents from Amy and Eran.  A monologue book and sticker books. Miranda was very excited about her book.

Then legos for Miranda (rescue jungle animal legos), gift card to Old Navy for Elizabeth (at her request), some more gymnastics stuff including book and dvd for Elizabeth, and part of Miranda Vampirate costume for her.

The best thing about the day was NO CARSEATS! Sure, they should probably still use them based on Elizabeth's strap situation but today they were thrilled to be out of them on the drive to school.

Our school doesn't allow treats on birthdays in the classroom which is just as well with me. They sang and made cards and that was enough.  Then at night, we picked up Beck and Bauer for Fentons dinner and ice cream as well as a movie.  They wore matching outfits.

I took them to 7-11 before the movie for candy.

We saw dolphin tale 2 which was insipid but delightful for the girls. The very loud old people behind us really enjoyed it.

Next weekend is their slumber party with two friends each because Elizabeth has a gymnastics meet this weekend and I'm with Parker all weekend at a swim meet.

Elizabeth's first gym meet

Elizabeth had her first gym meet last night, and it couldn't have gone better. She's worked her butt off for the last few months gaining the skills to compete here, and all her hard work showed.  She won three medals for the evening, and came home about a hundred feet tall. She's very understated about the whole thing, too cool for school, but when I tucked her into bed last night, I said, "I'm very proud of you, and I hope you're proud of yourself," and she replied, "Don't worry, Dad. I am."

Now, let's go to to the tape.

BALANCE BEAM

VAULT

UNEVEN BARS

First gymnastics meet

I'm sure Michael will post more but Eli had her first meet tonight and did great.  6th overall in her age group. 4th on vault in her age group.

Cookies

Could her competition leotards be any more sparkly?

Snuggling

Parker had started to come snuggle with me in the morning and night. Tonight Zeke joined us.

Jamming with dad

IKEA and Miranda

Latest foster kitties...

Round-off back handspring

Elizabeth has been working hard on her floor routine, and specifically the crown-jewel of the floor routine: the round-off back handspring. I've been picking her up from practice, and coming early so I can see the progress, and while I knew conceptually that she would be able to do this, to see it in person was very impressive.

Turning 8!

Miranda is very excited about turning 8. She was thrilled last night that tomorrow would be September 1st and can NOT wait until her birthday on the 19th.    Now she and Elizabeth are re-organizing their room for big kids, because everyone knows when you turn 8, you are a big kid!