Katie Hearts Gymnastics

We had a very productive day. June had the day off and was bored. She called me to check my agenda. After I told her to come on over and help me switch bedrooms, I figured that I'd scare her off. Nope. She told me that she'd be here within an hour. When she got here, the first thing out of her mouth was "where do you want us to start?" HAHA! Good question. We both looked at each other and laughed because I had no clue where to start digging. I knew we couldn't put up shelves or wall art in Katie's new room because it wasn't painted. The closet! We drug out, ripped out, and threw out. There's one thing June and I know is "PITCH IT!" We did throw out a lot, but I wished we could have thrown out more. I had to run a few things past Doug first to make sure it was alright to pitch. I had a few Fall/Winter dresses and coats of Katie's that I wanted to put in storage. While June watched Colton for me, Katie and I bee-lined it to Wally World. She took a buggy and I got one as well. We filled those two carts to the top with storage boxes, the next coolest organizational gadget ever by Ziploc the XL storage bags. It holds up to 10 gallons of stuff. I also love to keep in my cabinet - the Hefty 2 1/2 gallon bags. They are WONDER-FUL! June found a few blankets that we couldn't fine a nice cozy home for without getting all messed up, so I grabbed a box of Space Bag Cube. If you've never had a Space Bag, oh it's awesome to keep your blankets and clothes all nice and neat. Perfect for keeping your home nice and tiddy. June and I got all of Katie's special things all nicely organized. We'll see how long she'll keep it organized this time. Ugh! Minus the paint and decorations, Katie and Colton both seem to really like their bedrooms.

Tonight was a little better getting Colton to go to bed. We all got ready about 8:30PM. At first, I thought he was going to surprise me and actually go to bed without having to rock. Just when I was about to turn off the light, he said "no momma, I rock. I rock." Oh, alright. I finished getting Katie all tucked in bed and here Colton and I go to the rocker with blanket. I warned him that I would only rock him for just a little bit and then he had to be a big boy and go to bed. His answer was "K." Loosely translated it means "okay, as long as I get rocked just enough of relax." HAHA! Well, we rocked for about 15-20 minutes. He was nice and relaxed when I carried him back to his room. He was still awake, so I was testing to see how this was going to work. He should go to sleep without any problem because we made sure to put his radio and nightlight in his new room. This was the main complaint last night by both kids. Colton didn't have his lullabies playing in his CD player and Katie didn't have her classic rock music playing on her radio. I also have a feeling he didn't like her nightlight and vice versa. Tonight, this momma and daddy made sure that our little babies had their favorite nighttime accessories available for some DEEP sleep. Anyway when I layed Colton down, he told me that he wanted the door open. Ok, I left it open. As I'm getting ready for bed, I noticed he was sitting straight up in his bed. Uh oh. I just knew I was going to have trouble getting him to stay in bed tonight. I told him that he needed to lay down and go to sleep. He mumbled something, so I went into his room to check it out. He acted like he was going to cry, but he never did. He is such a big brave boy. I layed him down again and told him that he had to sleep in his new big boy bed. I assured him that it was alright and I would see him in the morning. He held tight to his blanket. I covered him up and left the room, expecting him to holler out. Believe it or not, he actually stayed in bed this time and fell fast asleep. YAY! This is only day two for him to sleep in his own bed. I just hope that he will feel comfortable enough to do this every night. Wouldn't that be great?

Katie was a little scared to go to her new room and go to sleep. After we all went in her room to wish her a goodnight, she seemed to calm down and go to sleep. I'm so proud of my big kids. They've reached a very big milestone today.

As you know by today's title, Katie had her first gymnastic class tonight. The class is Kindergym for kids 5-7 years old. I was a little surprised at all the vehicles in the parking lot for this class. They have several classes during the week for both morning and nighttime. I picked nighttime class because I thought it would help me out if Doug got home in time to watch Colton for me. I was hoping just a little that maybe these cars were for something else, but what? Katie has a huge class, but what I loved about it the kids broke off into small teams. There were 4 coaches assisting tonight's Kindergym class. At the beginning of class, all the little girls got into a circle and did a lot of warm up stretches. After stretches, each coach got a small group of girls between 5-6 each and went into their area (uneven bars, balance beams, and two different tumblings (back bends, cartwheels, round offs, and flips).

Tonight, Katie's group got to focus on uneven bars and balance beams. I got to watch her do what the instructor was telling her. I thought she did great! I witnessed her do a skin-the-cat and flip around the bar, with ease. The instructor was praising her as well. First time ever for our Katiebug! Wow! No trouble with the balance beams either. I saw her walk straight across and then sideways with ease. I'm so proud of her. The coach even showed her how to jump off the beam with her hands up in the air, as to say "I'm finished, clap for me."

Towards the end of the class, all the little girls got to jump on the trampoline. I guess this is the reward for such hard work. On the trampoline, all the coaches encouraged the girls to jump straight up as hard as they could. They did this a couple of times, then they had to jump and do the splits. Katie was all smiles. She loves it! I mean, she ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT! She told me, all give out from jumping, that she loves gymnastics and she wants to come back tomorrow. Then, she told me that she wants to live there, so she can do it all the time. LOL! As I'm getting her socks and shoes on, she asks "now, I can I finally get my leotards for my class?" LOL! I told her that we are only doing gymnastics for this month. When school starts, she needs to decide if she wants to do dance or gymnastics for the year. Unless Doug changes his mine, I think we are only going to do one activity this year. All of these activities are so expensive and I'm not made of money. Katie did tell me coming home that she likes dance, but she wants to try gymnastics this year. I assured her that she didn't need to decide today. I know how much she loves dance. She needs to finish her camp and then decide before school starts back.