Gymnastics

The kids started gymnastics classes this weekend!  Or as Mia calls it "nymnastics!"  There is a newer club/rec gym minutes from our house that I've been really excited to check out.  They have rec classes for kids on Saturday mornings, Carter is in a 5/6 year old class and Mia is in the 3 year old class.  Luckily, both classes are at the same time so it worked out perfect. 

Before the classes started I went in search of leotards for Mia.  The ones I found at regular stores were way too huge.  Then I remembered that a girl I did gymnastics with way back had a business with her mom making leotards.  I looked them up on-line and sure enough, they were still in business!  I emailed her and she said I could stop by and they would make a tiny leotard for Mia if nothing fit in their store.  We actually found a couple that fit and Mia was so excited to wear them! 

When we first got to class, Mia was fairly apprehensive and did not want to follow the teacher onto the floor.  Having Carter there was good, she ventured near him and the teachers were nice enough to let Mia tag along in Carter's class for a few minutes.

Eventually she was ushered back to her group and she seemed to be at ease.  Both of them got to take turns on the floor, trampoline, bars, beam, and foam pit.  Both of them told me their favorite part was the trampoline.  Darn, I guess we'll have to buy a trampoline for "them" soon!

The viewing area for parents is behind some glass and the lighting isn't the greatest, so I got the best pictures I could without disturbing the kids.

Carter has about 5 kids in his class.

Mia has 3 other little girls in her class.

Showing off her somewhat-handstand. Mia did very well for her first class, she loved to practice her handstands while waiting for her turn with the teacher.

As we walked into the gym Carter mentioned that there seemed to be a lot of girls.  That was a good observation, in fact, Carter was the only boy in his class or any other class at that time.  But that didn't seem to phase him, he still really enjoyed himself.  His teacher told me that Carter has great upper body strength and he's very good at cartwheels for not having taken a class yet (must be his at-home coaching).  :)  He also paid attention, stayed in line and listened very well! 

At the same time as the kids' classes, the team girls were working out.  They were doing beam and bars along with some conditioning (aka - strength torture).  One little girl was climbing a rope from the floor to the ceiling without using her legs.  It took me back to when I was in club gymnastics.  It's nice to see the torture methods haven't changed much. 

Looks like a very talented team, the coaches seem great and it's a nice gym.  I'm glad we're so close by and hopefully the kids like the classes as much as I love watching them!

Our Egg-cellent Easter

The kids really got into coloring eggs this year for Easter.  I think we did about 13 eggs and they would have done more if we had more eggs!  Out coloring kit boasted neon colors, glitter and stickers - the kids were so excited to create some egg masterpieces.  Unfortunately the glitter and stickers didn't work as well as we hoped but the colors were very bright and pretty. 

Peter Rabbit did not disappoint on Easter morning.  The kids hunted for about 30 plastic eggs full of treats and their baskets were full of candy and wii games.  Peter, you really outdid yourself this year. 

After a balanced breakfast of peeps and jelly beans, we set off for Grandpa and Grandma J's house. 


Quick photo shoot with nice clothes and hair.  (Not sure what's up with Mia's Elvis-like lip curl in this shot, but I found it cute).

The sugar was kicking in about now and it was only 10am.

  

When we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's house there were more baskets to be found (and candy to be eaten). 

We ate a fantastic (real) lunch and headed outside for another egg hunt.

Climbing the cool tree that comes up through Grandpa's deck.

We had a great day - thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for the fun egg hunt and fantastic lunch!

Sad Day
We have a few Wings fans in our house so, needless to say, yesterday was a sad day for us.  Bye Wings, see you next season.

Turning Three!

Mia turned three and she's breaking all kinds of records!
Height 36 3/4 inches = 32nd%
Weight 29.6 lbs = 40th%

We haven't had a kid in the 30th% let alone the 40th% which means we're actually growing!  She still seems like a tiny thing to me, but she is hitting around average on the charts.  Unfortunately she hasn't been incredibly healthy the past few weeks.  We're on our second round of ear infections in the past three weeks and she currently has pneumonia.  She is so tough though, she just rolls with it and is still quite a happy girl. 

Other than the health issues, Mia is doing very well.  She is such a big girl now.  She can get dressed for the most part by herself, she goes potty by herself, can ride her bike with training wheels with no problem, and loves her independence.  We've been able to give away most of our baby stuff and it feels great to move into a more independent stage with the kids.

We celebrated Mia's birthday with two family parties. Grandma and Grandpa Jernstadt came over in between Mia and Dave's birthdays and brought a fabulous chocolate cherry cake for both of them. She got a cool lamb bank and a family of woodland frogs which she loves to play with. 

We took the kids to Meijer Gardens to celebrate on her birthday.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day - in the 70's, and we had so much fun at the Gardens.  Being able to run around outside and play in shorts on her birthday was a special treat.

Looking for butterflies.

That evening Dave's family came over for more cake - this time it was a Hello Kitty cupcake heart with LOTS of pink frosting. 

We also had another round of present opening!

Uncle Mark and his girlfriend, Traci

We are so proud of our independent girl.  Happy Birthday Mia, we love you!

Gator Country

We headed south to Fort Myers for a winter break the first week of February.  The weather was gorgeous, we did a ton of cool activities and one of our kids learned to swim!  Overall the trip was fantastic, we can't thank Grandma and Grandpa enough for having us.

The kids did well on the flights, Mia got her own seat this year and she loved looking out the window. 

Despite the fact that we arrived around bed time and the kids hadn't eaten dinner yet, Mia wanted to swim the second we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We didn't even have time to unpack swim suits.   

The water was super warm, thanks to Grandpa cranking the heat for us.

One of the first days we were there we went to the park with the endless play equipment.  We did lots of climbing, sliding, swinging and balancing.

We also did lots of lizard hunting.

The second day we took a really cool air boat ride in the Everglades.  This ride did not disappoint, we came face to face with many gators as well as some furry friends.  Captain Dennis took us out in the swamp and he seemed very at home.  I appreciated his expertise but not his fearlessness to get up close and personal with the gators.

While Captain Dennis was getting our boat ready, the kids hung out with this baby gator.

Ready for the ride!

We found some gators right away.  So creepy this close up!

We also ran into these guys - they knew from the sound of the boat and the shake of the "treat jar" that they were getting something to eat.

A view of what the "islands" look like in the Everglades.  Basically a bunch of trees coming out of the water.

At one point we passed a big gator swimming the away from us.  Captain Dennis thought it would be a great idea to stop the boat and put his hand in the water to entice the gator to come back around.  It worked!  As he slowly and methodically turned around to see what was splashing in the water, I asked Dennis what the alligator thought his hand might be.  Dennis responded "he thinks it's my hand and he wants to eat me."  Oh, right!  Despite this, Dennis kept his hand splashing around, just chatting with us like nothing was hunting him.  Only when the gator came up right next to us (I could have touched his head) and then submerged under water did Dennis pull his hand out.  I was clutching Mia so tight she probably couldn't breath.

Here is our gator friend slowing turning around to check us out.

Hello!  Say cheese.

And here he is going under, incredibly creepy.  This is where Dennis pulled up and said, "they attack after they go under."

Not only did we act as gator bait, but Dennis really got our boat going fast at times.  I've never been on an air boat before and it really does feel like you are floating on the air vs. on the water.  It was a very thrilling ride from start to finish.  We highly recommend it to anyone who wants some fun in the swamps.

The rest of the trip we spent at the pools and on the golf course (both mini and big).

As I mentioned, one of our kids learned to swim on this trip!  It wasn't the one we had originally thought might swim, but it doesn't surprise me that Mia seems to be the fish of the family.  Carter enjoyed the pool too, just not any type of lesson or the deep end or putting his head under...he did however enjoy using the swimmies and playing around the shallow end. 

Playing around at the big pool.

Most days we stuck around Grandma's pool.  The kids got in after breakfast and didn't stop until bed time.

Swimming!

Cheering on Grandpa and Daddy on hole 3.

We also had fun playing mini-golf!

We had a fantastic trip and are so grateful for everything Grandma and Grandpa did for us.  We really miss them and can't wait to see them in the summer!