E update 2012

E has also been very busy. She is currently 8 yrs old and will be entering 3rd grade this fall.  She is no longer on the competitive Gymnastics team but is doing the recreation program.  She is still playing the violin and has been a member of a Youth Orchestra.  She has also been doing Chinese dance.  Below are photos of what E has been up to since Jan 2012

E's first Chinese dance performance at a Chinese New Year celebration.  She is the one kneeling in front.

E's orchestra also played that evening.  You can barely see her.  She is the one at the far right.

Happy 8th Birthday!

Chinese Dance Recital in March.  She had a great time performing her group dance.

E was a little flower at her 2nd grade Musical in May.

E had her recreational gymnastics show in May

E's end of year violin concert. 

E concentrating very hard on her music.

Having some fun in our little pool on the deck.

Dressing up on our vacation to Mackinac Island.

E attended a week long music camp in July.  She performed a solo piece called Humoresque.  Here is a link to a youtube video of her playing.

http://youtu.be/IfSv4Lh7-ao

That's E's summary for the first half of 2012.

M update 2012

It's been such a long time since I've posted anything on this blog.  I thought I would post a photo update on M and E.  This first will be of M.  She is now 10 yrs old and will be entering 5th grade.  She is still doing gymnastics and had a very successful level 6 season with many 1st place medals.  She is also still doing Chinese dance.  Below are some photos of what she has been up to since Jan 2012:

At her first meet of the season, M won her first ever 1st place on any event.  She was 1st on bars with a 9.375. She also placed on beam, vault and all around. 

The X-cel gymnastics club performed a little exhibition at the Pitt gymnastics meet in Feb.

Happy 10th Birthday!

 

M had another successful meet at the Buckeye Classic in Columbus, OH.  She placed 3rd on Bars, 4th on Beam and also in the all around.

M's first ever all around 1st place!  She placed 1st on beam, 3rd on vault, 2nd on bars and 1st all around.

M's Highest beam score of the season was at this meet.  She scored a 9.725 on beam.

Chinese Dance Recital in March.  M's group dance, Red Lanterns

M's trio dance, March.

We visited Valley Forge on our way to M's level 6 State Meet.

M did an awesome job on the Beam at state.  She scored a 9.675.  This is a photo of her doing her leap.

M won 2nd Place on Beam at the State Meet.  Awesome way to end the season!

Two weeks after M's State meet, she dislocated her patella.  This injury kept her from doing anything but conditioning for almost 2 months.  She is now back in the gym full time trying to regain her strength and abilities so that she can compete level 7 next season. 

M learned to play the flute this year.  Here she is playing at her band concert in May.

M was beautiful for her Gymnastics Banquet at the end of May.

Having fun in their little pool we have on the deck.

Our first little vacation this year was to Hershey Park and Gettysburg.  M was real thrilled with the Historical visit at Gettysburg.

Our second mini vacation was to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island with  friends.  We are taking a carriage ride tour through Mackinac Island.

M and her Dad attended a Pittsburgh Pirates game in July.  A coworker had these great seats that he graciously gave to M for free. 

And that pretty much covers the highlights of the first half of 2012.

Round Robin #2

I had so much fun doing the Red Thread Quilters Round Robin last year, that I joined again for Round Robin #2.  Below is my center.  It is made up of small log cabin blocks.  Some of the strips are only 1/2 inch finished.  I love bright fabrics so I will be excited to see what borders are added to my center.  It has been mailed off to the next member and in July/August of next year I will finally get to see my finished quilt top. 

This is my center square. 

Unfortunately I can't post any photos of the quilts that I will be working on throughout the year, because we don't want to spoil the surprise of seeing the finished quilt top.  You will have to wait until next summer to see the photos

Round Robin #1

In June 2010, I joined a Quilting Round Robin with some people on one of my Yahoo Quilting Groups, Red Thread Quilters. I made my center square and then mailed it off to another member of the Round Robin. She added border #1 to my center and then mailed it off to another. After 5 borders were added by 5 different people, I eventually received my quilt top a year later. I in turn added borders to 5 other quilt tops during the same year. Below are photos of my quilt after each border was added. I just loved how it turned out. I also loved the challenge of adding borders to someone else's quilt. I loved it so much that I joined another Round Robin for 2011-2012.

My Center

Border #1 by Jennifer

Border #2 by Robin

Border #3 by Deb

Border #4 by Candy

Border #5 by Karen

My Finished Quilt top

End of Year Shows

E had 2 End of Year Shows, one for Kindergarten and one for Gymnastics. For her kindergarten show 2 of the 4 Kindergarten classes, went on stage and sang songs and recited some poems for the parents. Afterwards, the parents saw a slideshow of the kids throughout the year. It was fun seeing how much they have grown from the beginning of school to the end. Here are some photos of E..

As you can see by this photo, E is the probably the smallest one in the whole kindergarten class. She will just have to get used to being in the center front.

E's teacher, Mrs. W. E just loved her!

E's second end of year show was for Gymnastics. She is currently on our gyms 1st level pre-competition team. She has come a long way this year. Her class was small with only 4 girls and these girls became the best of friends. E also became quite the little gymnast this year gaining some very good skills. This summer she will be moving up to the next level of pre-competition team. She is excited and nervous at the same time, but I'm sure she will do fine. She no longer cries in class (she now says crying is for babies and she's a big girl now). Here are some photos of E demonstrating some of the skills that she has worked on during the year.

E right before the show.

Showing some of her bar skills that she learned this year. She's pretty strong so she does well on the bars because it requires lots of upper body strength.

Doing pullovers. She did 5 of these in a row.

One of E's strengths is her handstand. Here she is doing a handstand to a forward roll.

Backward Roll

Beginning of her little floor routine.

They have to climb the rope in class. She is now coming down with no feet.

Beam

What you don't see is E holding her handstand on the beam after the coach removed her hands.

Some vault skills. They really don't work on vaulting too much at this stage because they are so small. They just work on some of the skills needed like handstands and such.

E with her trophy and flowers at the end of the show. She was so proud of herself and so were we. Last year she didn't want to do some things (like dance) in front of the crowd but this year she didn't have a problem. She has grown so much!!