Summer Catch Up-Sarah edition

Sarah is becoming our little performer.
She received her "black belt" in recorder karate. She had a blast singing and playing the recorder in the spring concert.
Sarah is looking forward to joining Cougar claws in 4th grade and playing the flute in 5th.On sports day at school she showed her Viper Spirit in her practice gear. Field day was the best! My little diva finished cheer and then had a day of pampering to get ready for the Daddy Daughter Dance.

Summer in Baltimore wouldn't be complete with out an O's game. On the 4th of July Sarah walked in two parades with her team. Then it was off to cheer camp with the Baltimore Raven cheer leaders.
Two of the coaches from her gym are Raven's cheer leaders!

Sarah and her friend Kaiya had a blast with all the cheer leaders.
Back handsprings across the field :) Sarah and her friend Abby had feather hair extension put in. Then it was onto performance night at Raven's stadium!



Now she is working on her tuck.
You can see her in the video running from the back left corner.

Summer Catch Up - Lucas edition

Lucas started of his summer on a chilly note....

For his pk-3 graduation he decided to play the snowman.

Hmm...I guess he wanted to get on Santa's good side in case the elves were watching. He had such a wonderful year at tots.

Its hard to believe he only has one more year and then its off to the big school.
This year he made friends- real friends. Like...get upset if some one is not there friends.
Its pretty cool as a mom to watch him become a little person. For a while this summer we had a new superhero in town...

meet Shark boy! Best Buddies Luke also got in touch wit his artistic side. I have to say, he is too cute for words. At six flags he was consumed by a squid. But luckily he was rescued in time to show his buddy Woody around Philly. We also enjoyed a movie at the great Senator theater. New boots all the way from Tennessee. Two peas in a pod. Silly Bandz...need I say more. I have discovered that my kids will hug anything that looks stuffed and then Luke will look at me and say...

"There's a person in there." This summer there were a lot of forts being built... and ice cream being made. We also had up front seats for a balloon launch. Carnival Time and to close summer out... Blue hair for crazy hair day at cheer leading.

(Yes...he is in cheer leading)

Cheer Camp

Sarah's first camp of the summer was cheer camp.

She had a blast tumbling, jumping and stunting for 3 very long and hot days.

On the last day she was awarded the best hair award!

Gotta love big sparkly bows.

Going Korky?!

Recently I got together with a group of friends to make korker bow flip flops for our cheerleaders. It was a lot of work but the flip flops turned out so cute!

Here's what we used:

100% Polyester Ribbon
Clothespins
Wooden dowels( I bought the 12 inch long ones in the cake section- they were prefect)

Scissors
Fray check or Stop Fray
Thread and Needle
E-6000 Glue
Flip flops

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Use a clothespin to hold one end of your ribbon on the dowel and begin to wrap the ribbon. Once you reach the end of the dowel, cut the ribbon and use another clothespin to hold it in place.







Place the wrapped dowel on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil to make sure the ribbon stays clean.
"Bake" your ribbon for about 30 minutes. Check it at about 20 minutes to make sure your ribbon is not browning.

Take the baking sheet out of the oven and allow to cool. When the ribbon is cool to touch, slowly unwind it from the dowel.

Cut the ribbon into 2 1/2- 3 1/2 -inch lengths (choose the length that looks best to you) and apply Stop Fraying to the ends. Allow the ribbon to dry. Thread the needle and knot the end. Run the needle through the center of each ribbon segment until you have the number you want threaded. For the flip flops I made two groups of 9 for each shoe. Once you have threaded all the ribbon pieces, run the needle back through and pull it tight.

Apply E-6000 to the flip flop strap and the bow. Wait a second or two until the glue becomes a little tacky. Attach bow to flip flop. I attached a bow to each side of the toe divider piece.
Use a clothespin to hold the bow in place. Allow 12- 24 hours to dry. There ya go!

While you're at it- don't forget to make pony tail holders to match!

Final Destination!

Our season of cheer leading is finally over. But, of course we couldn't go out with out a bang! Sarah and I ventured out to Virginia Beach the end of April for Final Destination ( The BIG competition for the rec cheerleaders). All three of the teams from Parkville received a bid to compete at the finals.

Friday night Sarah and some of her friend had a blast dancing the night away at the convention center. One of the things that I have cherished the most about cheer leading is the friendships Sarah and I have both made. Sarah loves cheer leading so much that we have decided to leave rec cheer leading and to join all star cheer leading. The all star squad will provide her with more challenges and will help her develop her skills. I know she will love and learn a lot from the new team, but, above all I hope she develops friendships like those she has made over the last couple seasons.

But, that's a whole different blog post for a different day. I have to say the weather was absolutely gorgeous! I am not typically a mom that will buy a two piece for her baby girl. But, Sarah saw this one and we decided to go for it. Everyone can breathe- she will have a one piece for summer camp and all her other activities. This was a special trip and it needed a special suit!

Sarah had so much fun on the beach with her friends.I think she had the most fun doing cartwheels into the water.

I helped coach the under 6 team. I was very proud of how hard the girls worked all season. We placed 3rd place!

Sarah's team was simply amazing! Her team placed 4th! Now, we look forward to the next chapter in our cheer leading story. Tryouts are in a couple of weeks and I am sure Sarah will do great. Until then...