Reagan Turns 7

I cannot believe my little Missy Reagan turned 7 in April! I guess she's not so little anymore! For her birthday we of course began the day by celebrating our traditional way with Krispy Kreme donuts and presents.  

 Reagan was thrilled to receive her very own box of Cheez-Its. What a little nut! lol :)

 We ended the day with our tradition of Chick-Fil-A with Uncle Dan's family. I captured some super sweet pictures of these sweet (semi-toothless) cousins. :)

For her big birthday celebration Reagan had a "Dispicable Me 2" Minion slumber party. The kids absolutely love this movie and especially all the Minions. She wasn't saying it in April yet, but even McKinley walks around saying "Minion! Minion!" when she wants one of the big kids to show her them on their Kindles or TV. Maybe my little "Munckins" have turned into my little "Minions?" :)

 Reagan sent a note to Santa asking if Hermie could visit for her birthday. Just like with Kennedy, he arrived with a very special chair design that Reagan loved! :) Hermie not only decorated a birthday chair for Reagan he also did a small one for himself. This is one creative and busy little elf...

For the party the kids made their own individual pizzas.

They had special Minion drinks

 For dessert I made yellow and purple Minion cupcakes per Reagan's request

 

 Making her wish, sure hope it was a good one! :)  

 These two buddies are too cute - after cupcakes they headed back to Holden's house for a slumber party of their own. Thanks so much Aunt Dorothy! :)

 

 These two buddies are pretty cute too! Does life get any better than a godfather who keeps giving you sugar???

Thank you to everyone who made Reagan's 7th birthday so special! We are truly blessed by such a amazing friends and family! :)

2014 KY State Gymnastics Meet

The fourth weekend in March the Kentucky USAG State Championships were held at Legacy. All of Legacy's Level 2 team qualified for state. Here are three of the youngest (and cutest - but I may be a bit biased) of Legacy's team. :)

 Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott came in to town especially to support Reagan at her first state meet.

Grand-dad and Grammy were also there to cheer Reagan on. Grammy and Grand-dad were at all the meets and/or baby-sitting so Tim and I could both be at the meets. Thank you for all your support during our first gymnastics season! :)

 Proud Daddy and Mommy ready to cheer for one final Level 2 meet

 Warming up with Coach Dale 

Unfortunately, we had technical difficulties with the video for Reagan's bar routine. This was especially too bad because it was the first time Reagan scored above a 9.0 (I think she received a 9.1 - her first blue ribbon on bars). She was so excited she looked like she might burst. It was so cute and we were very proud of her! :)

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Reagan's Beam Routine

http://youtu.be/ut5-T6SOYkg



Reagan's Floor Routine

 http://youtu.be/8dIjk7u9SgA

 The girls talking to the judges before vault where Reagan placed 2nd - her highest placement during the State Meet. Here is the better of her two vaults http://youtu.be/SsGjkai_ZtM .

 Reagan receiving her Silver Medal for vault at awards

 Reagan with two of her best gymnastics friends, Bella and Sena (who was State Champion for the 6 and under age group)

 Aunt Arla with Reagan and all her medals

Thank you to all the coaches at Legacy and all the family and friends who supported Reagan in her first competitive gymnastics season. Can't believe we're getting ready to begin the next one in a couple of months with Reagan on Level 3 and Kennedy on Level 2 this year. We're certainly wishing them, as well as all the girls at Legacy, a fabulous season!

Legacy Level 2 Pep Rally

The week before the Kentucky State Meet the parents held a surprise pep rally for the Level 2 Team girls. We somehow managed to keep it a complete surprise and they loved it! Here's a picture of most of the girls posing with Coach Dale.

Reagan with most of the "little" girls (who are also her best buddies)

 One of the parents made this incredible cake for the girls to celebrate with. If I remember correctly, he said there were over 4,000 chocolate balls and gumballs on the cake. It was incredible as well as delicious with each level being a different flavor!

 

Congratulations to all the Legacy girls for a great 2013/2014 season! :)

February Gymnastics Meet at Legacy

It worked out really nicely that the same weekend as McKinley's birthday Reagan had a gymnastics meet in town for Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Julie to come too. Jordan and Ally also got up early Sunday morning to come and watch Reagan do her thing.

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Sweet friends! Thanks for the support Ally! :)

 Reagan has the best sportsmanship I've ever seen. She is so excited for her friends every time they win, I love her sweet little heart!

 Miss Reagan excited and saluting for a medal she won

 A picture of our little gymnast and IL cheerleaders

 Reagan thought she was pretty funny stealing Uncle Chuck's hat

Thank you to Grammy and Kelly for staying home and riding herd on all the little guys so the rest of us could enjoy and watch the meet! :)

Circle of the Stars Gymnastics Meet

The Circle of the Stars Gymnastics Invitational was the largest gymnastics meet in the country in 2014. It was also the meet where Reagan won her first gold medal with a 9.150 on vault. She placed 5th over all with a score of 35.250. We had one extremely happy little girl! :)

Legacy Gymnastics Camp - Summer 2013

We are fortunate enough to belong to a fabulous gym here in Lexington; Legacy All Sports ( http://www.legacyallsports.com/ ). The staff is absolutely incredible and the girls love every minute they spend in the gym!

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I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when I signed the girls up for a 1 hr/wk class two years ago. I have questioned our sanity more than a couple of times as the girls have progressed but I guess athletics in general is pretty intense these days.

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Kennedy is currently a "Hot Shot" and has gymnastics twice a week for 2 hours at a time (total of 4 hours). Reagan has joined the first level team (Level 2) this year and is now in the gym for 7 1/2 hours per week. It's amazing to me that a 4 or 6 year old can spend that much time at the gym but they love every minute and would go more if they could work it out! Because Reagan joined team she had the opportunity to attend a camp at the end of the summer. The girls did gymnastics for 8 hours each day and even that wasn't enough for Reagan! After the second day she did finally admit to being a little sore... lol :) 

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Here are a couple of the amazing coaches Reagan worked with at the camp. On the left is Cassie Whitcomb. She was previously on the US National Gymnastics team and currently attends college on a full gymnastics scholarship at UCLA. She is also the daughter of one of our favorite coaches at the gym, Ms. Cindyrella. I can not say enough about what a fabulous coach and person Ms. Cindyrella is, I have no doubt that both of the girls will look back on her for the rest of their lives as being a special and important teacher. On the right Reagan is with Courtney McCool who was a member of the 2004 US Olympic Silver medal team. When the camp was over we had the opportunity to get Courtney's autograph. When Reagan walked up Courtney surprised me by asking Reagan "Hey, where's Kennedy?" Unfortunately I had no idea that Kennedy had also had the opportunity to meet Courtney through another of our favorite coaches, Osh, and she was already in the car with Grammy and Grand-Dad or I would have gotten a picture with Missy K and Courtney as well.

 Reagan working on her "front hip circle" with coach Robin (this comes after the "back hip circle" and "mill circle" in level of difficulty)  

 One of Reagan's good friends working on her "mill circle" with the Level 2 Head Team Coach, Ms. Angela

 The girls receiving instructions from Cassie regarding the beam

 Cassie helping Reagan with handstands and dismounts on the beam

 Reagan having fun flipping off the beam into the foam pit with her coach, Ms. Angela

 

 Reagan having a good time with Coach Osh after not quite making a floor combination of some sort (back handspring/round off maybe I can't quite remember)

 McKinley had a good time watching the gymnastics activities with Grand-Dad

 Jackson and Kennedy rolling down the track

 After the camp was over the girls had the opportunity to play on a giant inflatable that they turned into a waterslide.

 Waiting to head down the waterslide

 Kennedy didn't attend the official camp this year, but we did let her go to the Legacy Day Camp the days Reagan was at camp. After the second day when we got home I asked the girls to hop in the shower while I got supper ready. I washed their hair really quick and asked them to come down when they were done. Reagan came down pretty quickly but when Missy K didn't appear I had Reagan go in search of her. It turned out she was so wiped out from camp she had fallen asleep on the floor of the shower! On top of that she had used up all the hot water so it was freezing cold water that was beating down on top of her! Poor girl, she must have been positively exhausted!!! 

 My sweet (and cold) Elly Melly :)

It will be interesting to see how long we stick with this and exactly where it takes us. My understanding is it's not until Level 6 (the new Level 5 - I'm not sure) that the rubber really meets the road so we have a couple of years before we'll have to make any major decisions. As long as the girls are enjoying the experience and we can afford it (thank you Grammy and Grand-Dad for your support) I guess we'll stick with it. Especially since we are so happy with Legacy and their coaches! :)