HeaBug gymnastics Turkey Trot November Meet

HeaBug had the 2nd of three in house meets at her gym. We were very proud of her. She took a pretty hard fall off of the beam and got right back up without crying. She even got the beam award, "Best recovery after a crash". Many of her skills are really improving!

LB Marathon weekend, I am a beach bum

We have been juggling through October. Trying to manage work (so much work), school/volunteer obligations, kid schedules/sports/activities, home and the Dodgers. 

Over the second weekend of October, JT ran the Aquarium Kids 1 mile Run for the 3rd consecutive year, (Here is 2011 and Here is 2012) HeaBug had her first in-house gymnastics meet, and Mr. B and I ran the Long Beach International Half Marathon.

Dads were unable to get away from work this morning (last year they biked the course) but the rest of us Booths made our way to downtown for the kids to participate in the run. JT came in 5th in his age group!

HeaBug participated in an In-House gymnastics meet. It was the first in a monthly series of three meets to acquaint the girls with the process and experience of competing. There were 4 events, Bars, Beam, Vault and Floor. These little gymnasts were so super cute!! She did a great job!

Mr B got home about 10:30 at night, we were out the door by 5:30am. Greek yogurt and red bull for breakfast.

We prepaid to park in the parking structure at the Pike. After finding a spot on the roof, we made our way down to the starting line. The waves took off at scent intervals. In truth I didn't even care if we were late, I was just so glad to be hanging out with my favorite person. 

I paced Mr B for about 3 miles and we made good time, about 9:30 minutes per mile. Then came the Powerade table where we kind of got separated. He was ahead of me, now following an old Asian man in an orange running club jersey but I had them both in my line of sight. At the mile 4 loop I had to stop to use the restroom and lost them both. At 5.5 I finally texted Mr B that running separately was not the date I had in mind. He stopped following orang shirt man and waited for me as I rounded the lighthouse. We then ran together until mile 7 when he got a horrible hamstring cramp! We pull over to stretch it out and as he does, there's ANOTHER cramp! This time on his quad. Poor guy. I know they can be so painful. We slowed our pace down a lot and did most of the rest at a walk some/jog some. Mr B kept telling me that I could go ahead but this run was about getting to be together and while I am pretty competitive, I'm not a PR chaser either. My goal for any/every race is Just Don't Die. And to finish of course.

We crossed that finish line at 3 hours on the money. Earlier when trying to convince/encourage Mr B to participate with me, I said I'd drink the free beer with him at the end. We don't drink anymore, aside from sips of champagne at a wedding or swishes or wine at a food pairing, for a variety of reasons but mostly for our health. But I'll tell you, something about sitting in that beer garden, live music and tires from running a half marathon, elated from doing something I love with someone I love, drinking our free ice cold Michelob Ultra while eating cheez-it's and a rice krispy treat from the post race bag... Well, it's going down in my mind and my favorite post race moment to date. 

We made our way to Johns first, limping in and ready to order the chili fries that we earned just burning through and estimated 1800 calories... We ended up with a chicken club and a Greek salad. Live life on the edge right?! Lol.

He enjoyed lunch with me and then this guy, he went back out to the job site Rock Steady was working on. 

Kudos to Mr B for running a half marathon on no training.

He is crazy.  He is amazing and I am glad every single moment of the day that I'm his girl. 

HeaBug turns 4!

The time is going by faster than I'd like it too. But I feel like we are getting to enjoy our children at every age and really savor them.
Our Hea Bug is truly sunshine. The is sass, she is sweetness, she is opinionated and she calls it exactly how it is.
We are so happy to be her family. We couldn't have asked for better icing on our cake. Love you girl bug. To the moon.

HeaBug LOVES going to gymnastics, she had a party at her gym. Lots of friends, lots of fun! And thank goodness for the wonderful Coaches, Ms. Whitney and Ms. Taylor for handling our 18 little ones for two hours! (And the few big ones that jumped in on the fun near the end).

Seriously, they should have gymnastics parties for adults. This would be fun.

Games and exercise and fun. That's what I'm talking about. After hosting JT's birthday with every imaginable sweet, tasty, tummy aching indulgence... We decided to go the opposite for HeaBug's party. We had two giant trays of fruit (Strawberries, Mangos and Pineapple in one and Strawberries, Pineapple, Oranges and Watermelon in the other). We had bionico toppings, crema de leche, granola, coconut and raisins -eh on the raisins. (If you've never had one, I have just the place for you to go.)
Two trays of veggies (Broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and peas) dip, hummus and this amazing herb popcorn from Trader Joes. Seriously, it's the bomb. We had only waters and then the best part was the 108 mini cupcakes from Sweet Embellishments! Tasty, tiny and adorable. They were perfect!

Always a fan of the birthday song, it was extra special that we were singing to her.

On the morning of her actual birthday, she woke up to a decorated hallway and breakfast table! The balloons had qualities that we love about her written on them. Intelligent, Clever, Sweet, Witty... Brother was awesome in helping read them to her.

I picked girfren up from school to a Surprise Car Party. Thank you dollar tree and being 10 minutes early. I popped in there for some balloons, party hats, blow horns and necklaces. Pack all that in our mini cooper and we had a downright shindig goin' on. She was so surprised and just loved it!

Kids get to choose birthday dinner. She picked Sashimi from Tokyo Hibachi. It's our favorite sushi spot. Very traditional and not jazzed up with too many sauces. Mr. B has been going there since he was smaller than HeaBug. He took me for the first time when I was 15 years old! And Yuki still makes the very best spicy tuna salad!
For the kids, we generally go to Fusion Sushi. It's close to the house, they have happy hour specials and  they're cheaper lol. Which matters when they eat sushi like grown folks! But she wanted to go to the Buddah Place. I knew exactly what she meant and we were happy to oblige. They were excited to see her in her crown and with her balloons so Auntie Meg and the ladies were sure to bring her out a candle and some ice cream. They sang to her in English and Japanese and our HeaBug was beaming ear to ear!

We sure are blessed to have this girl in our lives. She makes me laugh out loud, literally, many times a day. She also makes me want to pull my hair out at times, as  a daughter should. We love her more than she'll know and we will embrace each day of her being 4 years old the same way we did when she was three and two and one... With patience, gratitude and adoration.

AGA Secret Santa Party

HeaBug is on the Hot Shots at AGA, the gymnastics gym that they both work out at. They hosted an International Pot Luck Dinner and Secret Santa Exchange for Christmas. They girls picked names and then they were responsible for picking out a gift for that girl and bringing it to the party. HeaBug and I attended the party as Mr. B and Jack ran errands. We brought Kalua Pork and rice as our cultural dish to share. There was SO MUCH food! So much delicious food. I took tiny bits of many things and my plate was overflowing and I STILL didn't get to everything.

Once we arrived, she headed out to the floor to play with the other girls and have a good time. They actually had their own little party out there. HeaBug was paired with an older gymnast that was to help her get her plate, eat her food and pretty much take care of her. Yeah, I spent a lot of time on my iphone that night. lol.

We had a great time and her secret santa got her an Our Generation/American Girl doll named Audrey. She's still loving it to pieces. It was a fun night.

AGA Holiday Show 2012

The AGA Holiday show is something our kids have been participating in for the last 3 years. They both thoroughly enjoy gymnastics, their coaches and their pals. HeaBug is on the Hot Shots, 

a pre-competition team that teaches her the team mentality in addition to learning new skills.

HeaBug's team danced to "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones. Oh My Gosh. Oh My Gosh. 

It was ridiculous cute.

I'm so consistently impressed at the skill levels of the girls at our gym. HeaBug totally looks up to them and the sweetest thing is they take care of her too. During the 3 (THREE!) shows that they performed in, she only came to ask me for help with something twice. Here's HeaBug with one of her coaches, Ms. Nicole. I love seeing how much they've grown! 

Here's last years Holiday Show (2011)

and for good measure

Holiday Show (2010)

Part of being on the team is at the end of the show, ALL the team girls participate in one big finale. Our HeaBug was one of a few that got to be a part of the opening when they performed to 

Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas"

Found this video that another parent loaded on to YouTube!

JT performed with his group to "White Christmas" by the Drifters.

He's getting really good at his round offs and can do pushups for days. 

This is one of their coaches, Ms. Whitney. They LOOOOVE her to bits! Both of them. 

It was such fun to have so many people there supporting the kids. They work really hard at their activities so to have events like the holiday show where they can show what they've learned, it's really exciting for them.