Newbie in Washington

[MomChefKathleen]

Hi!

I'm Kathleen, Mom to 3 kids. We live in Eastern Washington state. My 9-year-old daughter Rachel began competing this past fall as a Level 4 gymnast. She had done Rec off and on and was asked to join the pre-team class last February. At her first two meets in Sept/Oct, she couldn't land her Back Handspring, but by State in December, she tied for fourth place on Floor. She also placed 13th in the AA.

Our coach parted ways with the owners of our old gym just after State in December and is in the process of opening a new gym this month. I've spent the last few weeks helping to build walls, paint... I even helped install the Spring Floor.

I'm excited to find a place to talk to other gymnastics Moms, Dads, Coaches, etc.

Kathleen

 

[xstitchcarina]

Welcome Kathleen. I am sure you will find this a nice place. Not very busy, but still people are nice. I am a gym mom too. And my daughter is 9 too. When does yours turn 10? Mine in October. Hope to get to know you better.

 

[Megley]

Hi Kathleen and welcome! This is a great board and it's been getting more an more active. I'm sure you'll find lots of useful information and people to chat with about gymnastics. My daughter is 5 and just recently moved up to Level 4. In fact, we just found out last night that she is definitely moving up and they are adding another class so she will be going 9 hours a week. She turns 6 in time to start competing next January. My son is 8 and is in preteam. He may be competing Level 4 next year too but we don't know for sure yet. I also have a 7 yo daughter who is into soccer. It's great that your daughter is doing so well!

Meg

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

welcome kathleen,

I am a mom to 3 WONDERFUL kids also a 14yr old boy that loves T & T almost as much as he loves football, 12 yr old boy who loves football more than life and a 5 yr old girl on pre-team... this is a great forum.

LGCM (nic)

 

[JBS]

Welcome to The Chalk Bucket...

When I started this place, I always said that I would personally welcome everyone that posts an introduction. Hopefully, I can continue to do this...but it's starting to get busy here.

Make sure to tell your friends and welcome all the new members. Once again, welcome.:wave:

 

[MomChefKathleen]

Thanks, Everyone! How do I change the thingie under my name that says Level 1? My daughter is currently a Level 4. I didn't have time last night to set up my whole profile, but I kept looking and just couldn't find it.

Thanks!
Kathleen

 

[MomChefKathleen]

Welcome Kathleen. I am sure you will find this a nice place. Not very busy, but still people are nice. I am a gym mom too. And my daughter is 9 too. When does yours turn 10? Mine in October. Hope to get to know you better.

Rachel will be 10 in September. She's in third grade because the age cut-off here is Aug 31st. I'm glad, though... I'd rather she be the oldest in the class than the youngest. She is still just about the smallest in the class. Her best friend Gabby is also a competitive gymnast and they have the exact same birth date. They are in the same class at school and we were at the same gym for the last year. Fortunately Gabby is a Level 5, so they didn't compete directly against each other. For now, Gabby has stayed at our old gym, although we are hoping she will switch to the new gym as almost all of the team is switching.

Kathleen

 

[JBS]

Thanks, Everyone! How do I change the thingie under my name that says Level 1? My daughter is currently a Level 4. I didn't have time last night to set up my whole profile, but I kept looking and just couldn't find it.

Thanks!
Kathleen

Those are just based on the amount of posts that you have. I have changed you to the "Proud Parent" group. You can go to "User CP"...then click on "User Control Panel" in the drop down...then click on "Group Memberships" on the lower right.

Also, check out this post:

Link Removed

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

Hi Kathleen and welcome! This is a great board and it's been getting more an more active. I'm sure you'll find lots of useful information and people to chat with about gymnastics. My daughter is 5 and just recently moved up to Level 4. In fact, we just found out last night that she is definitely moving up and they are adding another class so she will be going 9 hours a week. She turns 6 in time to start competing next January. My son is 8 and is in preteam. He may be competing Level 4 next year too but we don't know for sure yet. I also have a 7 yo daughter who is into soccer. It's great that your daughter is doing so well!

Meg

Hey Meg,

Congrats to you all on the official move to level 4 I bet your dd is sooooo excited... How wonderful to hear!

 

[Megley]

Hey Meg,

Congrats to you all on the official move to level 4 I bet your dd is sooooo excited... How wonderful to hear!

Thanks!! Yes, she is very excited to have it official and to be in the gym one more night a week. I only wish it weren't Friday from 5-8. Right now we have gym for DS and DD2 on Tues/Thurs and soccer for DD1 on Wed/Fri as well as CCD on Wed after soccer. Now we will be adding gym for DD2 on Friday too and DH is planning to sign everyone up for swimming lessons on Mon/Wed once soccer ends. So much for family dinners together.

Meg

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

oh boy, your house sounds a little like mine - lol between gymnastics, dance, weight training, basball, softball, speed camps, flag football, T&T, and art class my kids (between the 3) have an extracurricular activity on every single day in the month of April, and half of May... at least now we have most fridays and sundays off , well, they love it though, so its worth it... but I need to add chauffeur to my job description

 

[Megley]

LOL! In my house, DH is chauffeur. We are an untraditional family - he stays home with the kids and I work. I think we will have Mondays off after swimming lessons end so that will at least be a small break. The summer looks to be booked solid too and I am going to add dance to L's schedule on Saturdays. I finally found a program that doesn't require $$ for a recital and that won't conflict with gymnastics. It sounds like your kids are super involved in sports, which is great. I hope my kids will remain involved in sports because I know benefited greatly from being a serious swimmer as a kid and I think the discipline it teaches lasts a lifetime. I'm into running alot now and feel pretty sure I wouldn't be if I hadn't had all that sports background as a kid.

 

[MomChefKathleen]

LOL! In my house, DH is chauffeur. We are an untraditional family - he stays home with the kids and I work. I think we will have Mondays off after swimming lessons end so that will at least be a small break. The summer looks to be booked solid too and I am going to add dance to L's schedule on Saturdays. I finally found a program that doesn't require $$ for a recital and that won't conflict with gymnastics. It sounds like your kids are super involved in sports, which is great. I hope my kids will remain involved in sports because I know benefited greatly from being a serious swimmer as a kid and I think the discipline it teaches lasts a lifetime. I'm into running alot now and feel pretty sure I wouldn't be if I hadn't had all that sports background as a kid.

Is there no recital at all? We signed Rachel up for a ballet school a few years ago that claimed it didn't charge fees for recitals, but then wanted $125 for a costume that she would wear once. And it was a black tutu for a five-year-old to boot! I don't mind paying for a Competition Leo that lasts a season or two. But this was ridiculous. They were marking up the cost of the costume to cover their recital costs. We skipped the recital in the end.

Kathleen

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

Our dance school charges $50 per costume, that includes tight etc. $125 does sound steep, but some tutus can be expensive... now an option to recoup cost may be to resell the costume... that is if you/she can part with it

 

[Megley]

Yep, no recital because it is a 6 week summer program through the Virginia Ballet Theatre. There are recitals after the fall and spring seasons but none in the summer. I don't know if we'll be able to continue with it in the fall - depends on the gymnastics schedule.

Meg