Corbin's First Tumbling Class

In June, Corbin got to participate in his first Tumbling Tots class. He has had to sit and watch while Leah did may classes and now it was finally his turn to do all the activities. Corbin has very good gross motor skills. We have had many people comment on how well he can run and handle a ball (whether he's throwing or kicking it). So I knew that he would do very well with the activities as well as enjoy them.

Overall, he did pretty well with the class. At first he was really good at rotating to each station and waiting for his turn. But once he got comfortable with how it all worked, he decided that he didn't want to wait around for a chance to do something. He often would get up and run across the room to try to get a ball or cut in line on the tumbling pads. This was very frustrating for me since I had to almost be holding on to him the whole time so I could stop him from darting away. Which was especially hard if Paige was fussy and needed me to hold her. But we survived. His favorite part was always at the end when he got free time and could choose to do whatever activity he wanted. His favorite things to do during free time was to chase and kick a soccer ball all round the gym, shoot baskets in the little basketball hoops, hitting a ball off the tee, or tumbling on the slanted tumbling pads.

However, Corbin's struggles with not wanting to sit still or wait for his turn were very normal since he was only a little over 2 years old at the time. One of the goals of the class is to help teach the children about taking turns. I just figured that the struggles with getting him to stay at one station and wait his turn was part of the learning process. 

This was another one of Corbin's favorite activities. He liked it when he got a turn to do tricks on the bar. And the teacher was really impressed at how long he was able to hang onto the bar. 

Sometimes Corbin's athletic abilities even caught me off guard. We haven't figured out yet if he is going to be right or left handed. Most of his fine motor skills, like writing or eating, he does with his right hand. But when it comes to sports, he really favors his left side. Like he always kicks with his left leg and usually swings left-handed when he's trying to hit a ball. One day they had tee-ball as one of the stations. It was set up over in one of the corners and the kids would just hit towards the wall so they didn't have to chase it very far after they hit it. I told the teacher that he usually hits left-handed and we got him all set up on the left-handed side to take his turn hitting off the tee. However, when we told him to go ahead and hit the ball he ended up taking a right-handed swing and sent the ball sailing across the gym. The teacher had to take off running to the opposite corner of the room to chase down the ball. I felt kind of silly for saying that he would likely hit it left-handed (even though that is how he usually hit it) but I also felt proud that my little 2 year old boy could hit the ball so well!

Corbin really enjoyed the class. I need to get him into another session now that he is older and would hopefully do better with taking turns and following instructions. I love my little ball-playing boy and am excited to see what he's going to do with his talents as he gets older and develops them even more!

Leah Turns 5!

At the end of May our sweet little girl turned 5! Leah was so excited for her birthday. She looks forward to it for months!! She had a hard time deciding what kind of birthday she wanted to have this year. She finally settled on a Muppets theme and wanted a Kermit cake. So we asked Ross's cousin, Emily, to make a cake for her. She did a great job!!

Her party wasn't on the same day as her recital, but she really wanted wear her costume. (We paid enough for it, so she might as well enjoy it as much as possible.) Can you tell that she was super excited to open her presents?

Kylie was so excited to finally get to hold Paige. She loves babies.

Here's a closer picture of the cake. Didn't she do a great job?! And it tasted just as good as it looked. Emily has a real talent for this kind of stuff.

The day after Leah's birthday, Amy and her boys (along with Ross's mom's help) left to drive out to Fresno, California to finally join up with Kyle. He had been working there all school year as an intern and was finally able to secure a full-time position there and his family was finally able to go be with him. We loved having Amy and the boys here for so long, but we're happy that they can be together as a family again. So we made sure we got a picture of all of us together before they left.

We also got a picture of the birthday girl with my parents and grandma. We were so glad that they could come celebrate with us too.

A few days later, Leah had a birthday party with her friends. (Some were from her preschool class, some were from her primary class and others were just friends from the neighborhood.) Keeping with the Muppet theme, I made these goodies bags and decorations. Leah wanted to have some games. So we did a Fozzie ring toss, Pin the Mouth on Kermit or Pin the Nose on Miss Piggy, an egg carrying race and a failed attempt at a balloon race. The plan was to have them hold the balloon between their legs while they ran, but the grass was too long and their legs were too short and most of the balloons popped before we even started the race, oh well.

But Leah's number 1 request was that she had a pinata at her party. So here's a few pictures of the kids trying to break it open.

It was Miles who finally broke it open, which made Leah really upset because she was certain that she needed to be the one to do it. I tried to explain to her that the fun part of the pinata is not knowing who will break it open, but she was still sad that it wasn't her. But she still had fun with it anyway. Here's some pictures of the kids gathering up their goodies.

Next it was time to open presents!

Here's all the kids that came to the party: (sitting) Emerson, Katelyn, Ty, Allie, Miles, Evelyn, Heather (standing) Abby, Jeffrey, Leah, Millie, McKay. Leah has some great friends! Two of her good friends (Daniel and Parker) were sick and couldn't make it.

After presents I gave the kids little cupcakes and some snacks to eat while they watched Muppet Babies and waited for their parents to come and get them.

I have to give a big shout out to my great neighbors who helped me pull this party off. All this happened while Ross was at work and I wasn't sure how I could do a party for a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds and take care of my two little ones at the same time. But luckily Heather offered to keep Corbin at her house during the party and Lori offered to stay and help run the party. Without their help, I know the party would not have gone as smoothly. I have great friends too!

Leah's Dance Recital

A couple days after her graduation, Leah had her end of year dance recital. Leah had a lot of fun with dance this year. Millie and Kylie were in her class again. She always loves being with those two girls!

Leah had a great teacher this year. Her name is Emily and I thought she was so fun and did a great job with the girls. They did a ballet dance to the "Mortal Combat" theme song, which at first I thought was kind of odd, but she had them pretend to dance like little ninjas and it turned out really fun. They also did a tap dance to the theme from "Pirates of the Caribbean" where they danced with pretend swords. The choreography for both dances was really fun, and the girls did a great job dancing.

Leah loved that Makynlee and McKay were among the fans who came to see her dance!

Grandma Leslie and Jackson came too!

I love this picture of Leah and my parents. Leah's reaction to my Dad's antics is classic! I can just hear her saying "Grandpa!" She looks totally embarrassed. So funny!

Of course Aunt MoMo was there too!

Afterwards some of us went to Del Taco for lunch (Leah's choice). The kids loved playing on the playground. Here they are playing in a make-shift train they built.

I love watching Leah dance. She is a natural at it and genuinely seems to be having so much fun. I hope she keeps it up and really develops her talent.