Moving on Up!

Over the weekend Sophia attended her regular gymnastics class on Friday night and a make-up class on today. We have been practicing cartwheels at home quite a bit and Friday and Saturday it paid off. She landed four cartwheels in a row on Friday night and many more today.

With this new skill, she was able to move up to the next level. She can barely wait to be a "Super Tumbler" now! She came out and high-fived me after she landed the first one today. The coach was impressed and thought she was pretty cute.

What this means for us.....we have a real gymnast on our hands. It also means my little girl isn't so little anymore. I couldn't take my eyes off of her today as she demonstrated to the rest of the class how she could do a cartwheel, land it, and she even had the fancy "ta-dah" stance with her legs and arms. She just amazes me a bit more each day. I am so thrilled with her advancement, but also a bit sad. Some day I hope to be able to go back and show her the video of her first cartwheel and say, "Look this is before you grew into this beautiful young woman."

God's greatest gift to me: being a wife and a mother. What could be better!

Weekends

It has been so nice to be home and relaxing these last couple of weekends. I am trying ever so hard to not over plan and have some more time to just be at home. So far so good. The month of February has been quite busy during the week so the weekends are a fantastic treat to look forward to.

Sophia has been doing such a great job at gymnastics. She almost has her cartwheel. This summer she will hopefully be able to move up to Super Tumblers. This is more for advanced gymnasts. She gets to try this class out on Saturday next weekend while doing a make-up class. I adore watching her on Friday evenings. It is really a great way to end our week. Plus she only has one other person in her class. We hope that this will continue for the rest of the school year. Then during the summer we will probably switch to a day class. She is getting excited for her dance recital and is showing me her "brush, brush, step" all the time. Whenever music is on, my little ballerina gets her legs moving and grooving. This morning she had a great time in her dress-up clothes.

Hal has been busy with work and hanging out at home this past week with Sophia while I had conferences. We are both looking forward to spring when the weather gets a bit nicer and we can be outside more. We have both been getting some great runs in the past couple of weeks and I now have him doing yoga. He seems to be enjoying it just as much as I am.

With these relaxing weekends I have also been able to cook a bit more. Last night I made a new creation: homemade chocolate chip cookies with a Girl Scout Cookie Tagalong in the inside. It was just delicious. Next weekend, I am headed to William and Sonoma to meet my newest baking idol Bakerella. I can barely wait! Hopefully I will get some more tips on making good cake pops. Last week was my treat week at school, and everyone thought that I should open up a bakery. Who knows maybe in my future.

Today we are off to a birthday party for one of Sophia's friends. Here's hoping the snow holds off. Until then.....dreaming of another weekend.

First Sleep-Over

So it is true, Sophia's first big girl sleep-over last night was a success!! I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that she wanted another one as soon as possible.

We hired a babysitter last night so we could go out with our friends the Matzas. Well the babysitter came to their house and had a great time with all three kids. They ate dinner, watched a movie, and even had popcorn! After the movie it was time to head off to bed. The babysitter said she could hear the girls whispering for quite some time, so she went up and told them it was time for sleep. Both girls were on the bunk beads so there was no escaping the talking.

She said after a while they both fell right asleep. When we got home we went to check on them and they looked just adorable all snuggled up. I almost got a bit teary. I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating her first birthday in just a few short months she will be four and going off to pre-kindergarten in the fall. It ceases to amaze me how time flies.

This morning she got up at the same time as her friend. They had some breakfast, played, and then she came home. After that she was off to a playdate. What an exciting day!