Opening day at the pool!

The Saturday before Memorial Day, our neighborhood pools opened for the season.  We were there at 10:30am, suits on and ready to swim! Everyone is done with school, so we will likely be at the pool practically every day for the rest of the summer!

Last day of school!

Will finished up his last day of Teddy Bears preschool in mid May.  He had an amazing spring concert! In the past, Will has not sung the songs that they have worked on at school at home. This spring, however, he would often be signing his songs and wanting me to watch him do the hand motions. I could tell he was really excited. The concert was the beginning of May, and he did great! He sang most of the songs and knew the hand motions as well! I remember last year he would often do the hand motions but couldn't sing at the same time. So I was really proud of him.  Will will have one more year of preschool next year.  He is technically eligible for kindergarten, but he has a summer birthday and will really benefit from another year of preschool.  He is really excited to be in the Polar Bear class next year.  They are the big kids at school, and have a special classroom located downstairs! If you ask him about school, he will always tell you that he will be going DOWNSTAIRS next year! Several of his classmates this year will be going to Polar Bears as well, so I think he is really going to have a lot of fun. I'm really glad he will have another year of half day school before he has to go all day long (I'll miss my little buddy!).

Laney will also be starting preschool next year.  She will go to the Pandas class just like her older siblings did.  I will have two kiddos at BEARS Preschool and no one at home two days a week!  What will I do with myself? Laney is really excited and can't wait to start school like her big siblings. She has already told me that she will be taking her fox lunch box and Paw Patrol backpack to school.  She's ready to be a big girl!

The preschool has a picnic to celebrate the end of the year, and this year included snow cones!  Will had a blast running around with all of his guy friends (which I don't usually get to see).  He has really blossomed this year and made a lot of friends.  I'm excited for him coming back and doing one more year as a Polar Bear!

Gymnastics for All

This winter and spring, all three kids participated in gymnastics. The younger two basically took a tumbling class t ogetherwith the gymnastics equipment, but it was absolutely perfect for them.  Will and Laney loved it so much.

Laney really liked wearing her leotard for class

While it was fun to have a class they could take together, this was a constant problem - Will wanting to wrestle Laney.

Assisted handstand! Laney was fearless and loved doing things that involved going upside down (this handstand mat and hanging upside down from the bars).

About halfway through the class, Will decided gymnastics were actually a ninja training class.  He loved jumping from different equipment and doing ninja kicks and chops.  He wanted me to capture him in action in this picture.

Ninja chop!

Eliana's class was much more structured and geared toward learning actual skills, not just running around. Eliana also enjoyed her class, but she is definitely not as fearless as Laney.  A gymnast needs a certain amount of confidence and lack of fear in able to commit to some moves (like a cartwheel - you can't do that slowly - you have to basically throw your body into the move or you can't get enough momentum to carry your legs around). She definitely improved as the year went on, but I'm not sure she is exactly Olympic gymnast material! She does have great balance though and always excelled at the balance beam.

I'll definitely continue gymnastics with Laney next fall.  She will have a lot more choices of classes besides just a tumbling class since she will be three.  Eliana said she might be interested in trying soccer again (because her friend Adele is playing now!) or possibly tennis. We will see what Will wants to do.