They Have An App for That

Donna & Tracy in Pink & Black

Amazingly enough, even with snow and ice on the ground, the Speller clan made it to South St. Louis County for Anna's 2nd meet of the season, Barron Invitational.  Again, the team came out and did a great job...cheering for each other and having a great time!  The scoring was tough, but consistent.  Our girls ROCKED!

Earlier in the week, I discovered that Apple has a Meet Tracker app...gotta love technology.  I put all the girls' scores in and it calculated All Around and Team scores...so much fun!  Anna placed 5th on Vault, 3rd on Bars, 3rd on Beam, 2nd on Floor and 3rd All Around!  WOW!  Her dedication and passion never cease to amaze me!   Jake didn't watch too much of the meet, but cheered his sister on, of course.  Again, technology came through for him...he watched the football games on dad's phone and Barbara's iPad.  Click here to link to my YouTube movie of Anna's meet.

Proof Jake was at the meet

Celebration dinner at Red Robin

 

Ta-Da!

Let The Games Begin!

They, whoever they may be, have always said it not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game...I have never agreed more!  Our gymnastics season has begun and our first meet, Judges Cup, was this weekend.  When I started this journey as a gym parent, I knew very little about the process, only about the numbers I saw flash during the olympics.  It is SO MUCH MORE!

Today, I watched a group of girls truly become a team...cheering for each others' successes and hugging to soothe the pain of some failures.  I am in awe.  I am in awe of my 9 year old, who after falling off the beam, got back on and finished her routine beautifully.   I am in awe of our coaches, who work with so many kids on a daily basis, but find a way to make each one feel special in their own way.  I am in awe of teammates who never got to raise a team trophy last year, and this meet got to lift up 1st place!

Judges Cup was held in Columbia, MO.  In the scheme of things, our scores were all over the board, seeming low, but actually very strong.  Anna scored 8.4 on beam, 9.125 on floor (earning her a 1st place), 8.7 on vault (also earning her a 1st place) and a 7.4 on bars (usually her strongest event, but a slip-up turned into missed skills...her coach was still very pleased with her performance.)

Halloween Festivities

The only problem with Halloween falling on a Sunday is that the sugar rush doesn't wear off quickly enough for the kids to go to bed...oh well.  Lynne & Joshua and Donna & Olivia joined us for our trick-or-treating fun and everyone had a good time...not only that, we didn't freeze our butts off like last year!

 Showing off their costumes at school.

 Allie, Celia, Camille, Spencer & Addie getting ready for the Halloween Parade

 Schuyler & Anna

 Allie and Celia

 The 3rd Graders performing their song

 Olivia (the gymnast) and Anna (the skeleton bride)

 Joshua, Jake, Olivia and Anna

A happy young lady guarding her candy!

Find pockets of tranquility in your busy life.

Life is busy...that's just the way it is.  Anna has gymnastics three days a week, Hebrew school starts this weekend, Jake is going to start math team and chess club...like I said...life is busy.  However, we wouldn't have it any other way. 

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." Sydney J. Harris

Back to school we go...this week was a lot of back to school organizing and back to school partying...and now the kids are back in school enjoying (I hope)!

As the obnoxious, picture-taking mom who I am...here are some pix from the first morning!

 

 BIG hugs from Mrs. Ganss!

Can you say HOT? I thought you could...

The Speller family headed downtown tonight for a Cardinals game!  Of course, we had to go on the 2nd hottest day/night of the year - about 95 degrees when we got there...around 87 when we left.  UGH!  Otherwise, we all had fun!

Quack, Quack, Quack, Honk

Some fun pictures from our family vacation to Duck, NC.

The view from the back deck...breathtaking at any hour of the day!

S'mores for dessert...yummy!

The view from the top of Currituck Light House

more to come later...