Since the previous post on karate did not include shots of the actual class, I took a few at their second class to give you a better idea. Here’s Leah practicing her punch.
And here she is practicing her high block.
Molly is learning her stances and punches.
Molly’s foot is moving too fast for my camera.
Nice punch form, Molly.
The girls have started a new activity - karate. Here they are ready to head to their first class, which they enjoyed a lot. And even better, we found an all-female dojo for them to join - no boys allowed. In case you’re wondering about their faces here, they’re showing off their kiai!
Thursday was the girls' last swimming lesson of the year. It's amazing how far they've come, particularly Molly. At the beginning of this year, we were worried about her being too scared to put her face in the water. Now, she's underwater all the time and spends her lessons working on technique rather than fear.
Leah's come a long way as well, and is becoming a great little swimmer. She still has some trouble coming up for air (she prefers to just hold her breath for the entire length that she is swimming), but she's getting better at it.
Here are a couple of shots of Molly swimming during her last lesson.
And here she is showing me her underwater handstands while Leah is having her swim lesson.
Hard to believe she didn't like to put her face in the water just a short time ago.
Now, to really give you an idea of how they're doing swimming, here's a short video of both of them from their last swimming lesson. Enjoy!
Outdoor swim season is fully here, and the girls are loving it. You'd never know that Molly was so afraid of putting her face in the water just last year.
The girls are now taking swim lessons at our neighborhood pool. Since the girls are now comfortable in the water, these are focused on learning strokes now. Here's Leah swimming toward her teacher's arms.
While Leah's in her lesson, Molly's practicing streamlining and kicking.
We're looking forward to a summer filled with a lot more water fun and a lot less water fear.
This week, Leah tried out soccer for the first time by going to a UK Elite Petite soccer camp. The coach was fantastic and very creative. Here, he's given the kids pinnies to wear as super hero capes.
Leah had a great time, and was an excellent listener.
In this game, the kids were mice and the coach was a cat. They had to dribble around to collect "cheese" and then bring it back to their cone. Then they had to hide behind the ball so the cat wouldn't see them.
In this game, the kids had to run into the "cuckoo's nest" and dribble a ball back to their team's base. Leah's got her ball and is moving quickly back to her team.
She's moving so fast she's a blur.
Nice dribbling.
In this game, the kids had to steal balls from other teams. Leah's just collected this one and is hurrying back to her team's base.
She had a great time at soccer camp, and now wants to do soccer again in the fall. Right now, she really wants to be on a team, but she may decide she'd rather do some more clinics before getting competitive.
It’s dance recital time again, and this year it’s much more serious for Molly. She was in three different numbers - one ballet, one tap, and one jazz.
Molly’s jazz dance was to I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair from South Pacific. So, they had big tubs for doing just that.
Molly is back in lessons at the swim school, and this time she’s brought her sister along for the fun.
The girls are doing fantastic, with new firsts every lesson. Molly swam the length of the pool for the first time here.
Not long ago, she wouldn’t put her face in the water. Now Molly is swimming with her head down.
Leah got to wear flippers for the first time, which was loads of fun.
Molly’s getting pretty good at making a splash when jumping in the pool.
Hopefully, this will make summer swimming season much more enjoyable for both of them.
In addition to her newer activities, Molly’s still taking and very much enjoying ballet. We were excited to go to her class’ visitors day to see what she’s learned.
They do a lot of barre work in the beginning.
We need a ballet dictionary (or at least this Wikipedia page) to understand all the movements she’s doing. I believe this is a Chassé.
Molly’s not the only one taking ballet. Leah still very much enjoys it. Her class does not use the French names for things, and instead opts for little-kid-friendly terms. Here’s her “mermaid stretch.”
Here she is galloping. They even get props to help them understand what to do.
And, of course, we got a lot of waves. Note that Leah is still walking on her toes most of the time. Ballet is the one place where she isn’t constantly told to walk on her flat feet :).
We interrupt our usual programming of pictures and activities of our family to say
The year after the worst season I've ever seen, Auburn wins the SEC championship again.
Great job tonight Michigan State. Thanks for giving us our shot at the title again.
For this year's ballet recital, Leah and her class were snowflakes dancing to "Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Winter." She did great… at the rehearsal, which is where these pictures are from. At the actual performance, she was in a mood and refused to do most of the dance. Ah, 3 year olds.
Snowflakes fall.
Happy ballerina
And… bow.
Molly and her class danced to "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast.
Nice moves.
"We tell jokes! I do tricks with my fellow candlesticks."
Molly is one of the smallest in her class. The class she was supposed to be in didn't have enough girls, so they combined it with the next class up. She did great, though.
"Heaven's sakes! Is that a spot?"
Mid-air.
Beautiful dancing, Molly.
Ready to kick.
Finishing pose.
Grams joined us for the performance.
Leah was still in a mood after the show, but we eventually got her to cheer up a bit.
You can see the video of both performances here.
