The problem with only blogging once a week. You always end up blogging about meets! But first let's get down to the none tragic events.

Ω Subject one Ω

We moved gyms on Sunday. I still compete for Olympic but Olympic Gymnastics Academy (aka OGA) moved locations. Dad and I went to help get all the equipment to the new building. I didn't think we had so many foam blocks until we had to move them all. The gym we are in now is humongous but it is only the temporary gym. In a month we will move to another building next to it. the temporary gym is huge but there is a problem with it, it does not have a drinking fountain. I bring a bottle of water which I refrigerate during the day. We also have to much room. I know that may sound weird but we don't have enough equipment for the gym. We are constantly running over cement. The bars are a little lower than preferred and the vault runway is short. It only goes to fifty-nine feet. Fortunately, I start at fifty-nine feet away from the vault. For other girls who start in the sixties this poses as a major problem. The run is so crucial that at meets you can run to the vault, miss a step, run to the side and it doesn't count as a vault. You can only do that once, though. you get three runs to the vault. You need to vault twice. I also decided I'm not leaving any one of my things in my cubby. I'm going to bring a gym bag and fill it with everything I need. It's much neater.

The meet was a bad one.
On bars I didn't jump to the bar once in warmups but I did it in the real thing :-) 7. something
On beam I did pretty well in warmups but in the routine the judges run the bell (which means I was over time on the routines) 6.875
I think the judging was tough on floor. 7.7 if you look back on my winterfest meet you'll notice that I got a seven from the same judge.
On vault I got 7.8 i think. On my second vault I did a weird run. I should have just gone to the side but how clearly can one think when they are sprinting towards a peace of padded wood.

Sincerly,
Theresa Leibig

I must always blog about meets. I think Julie should set up a blog when she starts to compete. It could be a tradition. My knee has occasional pains and such but it's really doing much better. I notice a pattern. Example; I go to gymnastics on Thursday and it is fine. The next day it is worked hard and I get tired more easily. On Saturday the knee hurts on vaulting and tumbling. I probably suffered on vault because of this.

The meet was called the Sweetheart meet. Gym-nation hosted it*. The meet was in the capital cup format†. I like it so much more! You are prepared to compete much more than in the traditional format!

We started on bars. So the rotation was bar, beam, floor, vault. I usually have trouble with this format but I did O.K. I jumped to the high bar three out of three. When I competed I had very bent legs but I got a 7.85

Beam warm ups were fine but I messed up a step before the leap and that messed me up. My handstand was puny but I didn't fall at all. I got an 8.OO. that is my high score. Those were some nice judges.

Floor began normally. I asked Katica if the judges were nice and she said they were tight. I did my SMILE and did my thing. B-) I got an 8.175. Later, when Katica put the meet results up on a billboard in the cubby room, I found out that only three girls got 8s on floor and I was second. This is a huge achievement.

I hit my back on the back of the horse on friday and at the meet I hit the back of my legs against the horse. Katica lowered the horse√ and I was fine. I got an 8.2


*Gyms and USA gymnastics can host meets. This means they hire the judges, decide how medals and awards will be given and what format it is in. I think the three state qualifiers are hosted by gyms (the state qualifiers are the meets that if you get a thirty two all around at it you get to go to the state meet) but I'm not sure.

† The formats are determined by how you warm up. If you warm up all the events and then compete on them it's called traditional. Capital cup is if you warm up on one event and then you compete. Example warm up on bars and compete on bars & then you warm up on beam and then you compete on beam etc etc...............

√ Gymnast call the vault the "horse"

I'm back from WISCONSIN! Before I blog I need to put in the story chapter.

Chapter five

There are two parts that I could write about in this chapter, Timothy Miller making the cross for the garden or the cake that Jane Walters Winters and Lily Miller baked. I think I will write about the cake that Mrs. Winters and Lily baked because it will be more interesting with Mrs. Winters and Lily working together. Besides, Timothy’s story would be more of details of his artistry and the problems he faces with the machinery and the wood’s quality, etcetera, etcetera and so forth. You’ll see why I chose this side of the story.

“Why does Mommy have to feed Andrew by herself. Why can’t he feed himself? Doesn’t she know that Grandma and I don’t get along?” Lily thought as she baked a cake, from a mix, with her grandmother. All she had to do was measure out the ingredients.

Her grandmother cheerfully said. “Alright sweetheart! It’s time to bake a cake! You need to get one and one third cups of water. That’s up to here” Grandmother Winters (as Lily decided to refer her as) told Lily, holding a measuring cup and pointing to the one and one thirds mark.

“Okay” said Lily, following Grandmother Winters instructions while Grandmother Winters hummed and preset the oven to three hundred and fifty degrees.

Still humming and smiling as she greased the pans, Lily walked over to her Grandmother and said. “Here you go, one and one thirds cup of water.”

Grandmother Winters examined the measuring cup and exclaimed. “Wonderful job Lily! Splendid!” Now I’ll need one third of a cup of vegetable oil. That’s up to here.” She said as she dumped the water into the mixing bowl. She held the measuring cup upright and pointed to the mark on the measuring cup.

Soon Lily had fetched all the ingredients for her grandmother and was standing on a stepstool, leaning over her grandmother’s work. Grandmother Winters was not worried about salmonella poisoning and Lily got to lick the spoon. When the Cake was in the oven. The two chefs sat in front of the oven as the cake was being made. Grandmother Winters knitted while Lily watched her.

“Grandmother Winters, why are you so happy? I mean, you know, hmm.”

“Ha ha! Grandmother Winters, I like that. I know what you mean. You remind me of little Emily. I forgot to tell you about my favorite part of our tradition, silly old me. It’s optional but many people do it, after the baby’s born and after the lily’s planted, you bake the cake. At your mother’s cousin’s birth the baby was born at home so we planted the lily and your mother was four years old and six years behind her juvenile relatives. The other women didn’t want to bake a cake and left that to me. Emily was the only one who wanted to bake a cake, the other children didn’t want to bake one either. So Emily and I baked the cake and Emily did the same job that you did. It so reminded me of the old days, what we just did.” Grandmother Winters said, getting the cake out of the oven. “It looks marvelous! Help me frost it, Lily.” Lily and Grandmother Winters frosted the cake completely blue.

“Why do you need to make the cake after the lily is planted?” Lily asked.

“Because back then the baby didn’t always live after the lily was planted. Cake was really hard to make because it was hard to get the ingredients for it. If the baby died the Easter lily was killed. There, done” Grandmother Winters answered. “Lily the cake is done.” Let’s go see how your mother is doing.”

I don't know if I've kept everyone well enough informed but on Saturday, January 30 I left to WISCONSIN with my friend, Mara. The meet wasn't until Sunday but it's kind of nice to be there on Sunday and play around with the other girls. It's a four hour ride to WISCONSIN DELLS and it's very nice to spend it with a friend. Mom, Dad and the young ones went to the Lemire household and spent the night there and arrived in WISCONSIN DELLS on Saturday. After Mara and I arrived (Mara competed too) we went into the huge hotel room that we shared with three other girls on our team (all of which we know well). The room was a living room, a jacuzzi, a bedroom with a king bed with a three quarter bathroom, a bedroom with two twin beds and a three-quarter bathroom. All of the rooms had a TV and a holographic fire (that didn't produce any heat). Mara and I shared the king bed. The other three girls slept in the twin bedroom. The original plan was to go bowling at six 'o' clock but we found out that a illusion show was at Chula Vista (the hotel we were staying at) and we decided to go to it. It was very good. One of my favorites was when the magician painted a picture of a dove and he turned it into a real dove. Another was when he drew a face and it started to talk and it's eye's started to move (he complained that his ears were to small and he couldn't here anything).

Abbie and I (the two level fives) watched the entire level six meet. Unfortunetly all the level sixes except Mara abbandoned us to the water park. Mara is such a good teammate. She came onto the floor with us and helped us in every way she could. My thanks to Mara. The meet was my best ever. The rotation for it was vault, bar, beam, floor. I like that rotation. The meets are different in WISCONSIN and the group was of five so we actually talked and cheered for the girls on the other team. I am going to try to do that in Minnesota. In Minnesota girls only talk and cheer for girls on their team. The other teams don't insult your team, you simply don't interact.

I got an 8.35 on vault. My record was 8.2. My record is now 8.35.

Bar was awesome. We did something we don't normally do in Minnesota. Karen took us to bar and asked us to jump to the bar. She chose the best bar setting and we jumped at that in performance. It clearly helped. I got an 8.15 on bar. My first kip was great so that set me off for a good low bar routine. I find that it all matters on the kip. there are to kips in my bar routine. One for the high bar and one for the low bar. if there is a good first kip my low bar will be good. If my last kip is good my high bar will be good. My high bar kip was ok and so was my high bar. My record was 7.7. My record now is 8.15.

During beam warm ups my knee started to hurt. That was my worst night mare. The more I did the more it hurt. I cried half the time out of pain and the other half in fear. I only did two cart wheels on the beam and one leap. I did a beam routine in tears. I got a 7.65. My record is 7.85. My record is now 7.85.

I didn't do a single warm up for floor. I took an Advil pill. I went and did a floor routine. I got an 8.525. My record is an 8.575. My all around score was 32.575 it is my high score.

I am writing a poem book. Dad is having us write poems for grammar. These following poems must have one subject and one predicate. We may only use two words. But in Teddy Bear I use teddy bear but that doesn't count.

Day one, poem one, February 3, 2010

Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear smiles.

Teddy Bear giggles.

Teddy Bear laughs.

Teddy Bear sits.

Teddy Bear hugs.

Teddy Bear loves.

Day one, poem two, February 3, 2010

Magic Show

Steam rises.

Magician appears.

Pictures talk.

Women float.

Magic happens.

Audience applauds.

Performance complete.

Day one, poem three, February 3, 2010

The Diaper

Air stinks.

Baby kicks.

Thomas cries.

He whines.

Dad wrestles.

Diaper fastened.

Aroma freshened.

I am so behind on my blogging! I have started writing a story, been to a gymnastics meet, did my first cross country skiing and Dad's birthday came along.

I have been writing a story for school recently. It is my main school activity now. I have eight pages, three thousand, three hundred and thirty six words and four chapters so far. It is about a normal family and their lives. There are four people in the family, Emily and Timothy Miller and their children, Lily and Andrew. Lily is five and Andrew is one. Here is the first chapter.

Chapter one

Our story begins with a family of four. As this is a story I believe I will start with introducing my characters.

The mother’s name was Emily. She was a woman who always raised her children as she thought she would as a child. Kind, expecting her children to do as they were asked but she seemed to always know what was the right amount of work for her two children. Her yard was a wonderland. She had a trampoline, a play set that was kept in top condition, a sand box and a bouldering wall along the privacy fence. There were many trees and flowers everywhere. Morning glories climbing the play set, rose bushes, violets and other flowers of many kinds were scattered in the yard. Her children adored her immensely.

Emily’s beloved daughter was named Lily. She was five and was the dreamy, fairyland type. She adored babies and loved kittens and could throw a story like that. She read short stories when she was four. She discovered that one chapter of longer fairytale books a day satisfied her hunger for literature. She had simple tasks given to her by Emily such as clearing the table and watering the flowers (her favorite) and keeping her room tidy. Emily sweetened clearing the table by placing her in charge of decorating the table as well, and cleaning her room by allowing Lily to have flowers in her room. Lily didn’t know why a few flowers in her room helped her enjoy cleaning her room. However, it seemed to make cleaning go by. Why fix what isn’t broken? When the chores were done, Lily would run around in the backyard or read a book until dinner

Lily had a new baby brother on her fourth birthday. Right on her fourth birthday, not a day after or a day before, right smack on her birthday. Lily remembered waking up on her fourth birthday with pancakes and bacon but she woke up with her grandma. She was panicked and scared until she saw little baby Andrew and her mother. He loved to cuddle and would follow his mother and his sister around and would rejoice when his father came home.

The father’s name was Mr. Timothy Miller. He was an earnest man who worked hard during the day as a secretary and when he came home, no matter how stressful the day was he knew his work was worth it. He was tall, handsome and thin. He had elegant ways and knew how to make people feel good. He loved chasing his children around the yard and making them laugh.

Now that we know more about our characters it is my judgment as the author to go back in time so I can better explain the birth of our darling Andrew.

“Yay! It’s my birthday! A whole day of cuddling with Mommy and being chased by Daddy, this will be great! And just wait until they discover that I can read! And don’t forget the pancakes, eggs and bacon!” Thought Lily as she raced down the stairs. She had just got to the bottom when she found no pancakes, no eggs, no bacon and no Mommy and Daddy. Just her Grandmother sitting on the couch knitting what looked to be a sweater for one of her teddy bears.

“Oh no! Where’s Mommy and Daddy. What’s going on! What should I do? If I talk I will get an answer but I really really don’t want to talk to cranky old Grandma! Besides Grandma loves it when kids like me don’t talk and just look cute and cuddle. Whatever, I’ll just go and get my answer and I’ll decide what to do next.” She thought. “Where Mommy an-and Daddy?” She asked her Grandmother.

“Why your baby brother is coming a little early, sweetheart. My what a good talker you are!” Lily smiled and then giggled. Her grandmother seemed to be in a good mood today.

“Can I have some breakfast Gamma?” Lily asked. Her grandmother got up from her knitting and made her some cheerios.

“This day isn’t all that bad. Wait, what am I saying, what about my plans! Will Mommy be okay? Will they forget about me with the new baby around? My birthday has been ruined! It is most definitely not okay!” Lily knew better then to misbehave because her birthday wasn’t going the way she wanted it but she wanted to misbehave so much.

After her breakfast, Lily went outside to water the flowers and to stare in wonder at the morning glories.

“They are in bloom in the morning but in the after-noon they go away. Why is that?” Lily thought as she looked at the morning glories. She then went to the play set to swing.

“It’s my birthday so I should enjoy myself. However, I don’t feel like jumping, exploring, climbing or digging. All I really want is to find out about Mommy and the baby.” So she went and did that.

“Gamma” Lily said, being careful to talk like toddlers. “Can you tell me ‘bout wat happening wit Mommy and new baby?” Lily continued, secretly smiling at how she was talking.

Her grandmother frowned, she did not want to explain too thoroughly but enough to satisfy her inquisitive granddaughter. “Why, your mother and father’s doctors knew your parent’s baby was coming so they are helping them get the baby at the hospital.”

Lily nodded and asked. “When will dey be back?”

“I don't know honey.” Her grandmother came up with an idea to keep Lily out of trouble. “And it’s our job to give them a warm welcome!”

I went to the gymnastics meet, Winter-fest. Winter-fest has a very high reputation with Olympic. Last year (according to my team mates) they were very decorative and instead the traditional pedestal you see at the Olympics, they had a bridge! They had a bridge with a fog machine. This year they had a new location and looked and felt like a school basketball court. They had stools with a black material on them. Mom has posted some videos on Olympic gymnastics fans. I have a link to it (as always). The level six's are with the level fives at winterfest. Unfortunately Geza Pozsar, was at our gym and he was choreographing floor and beam routines for the level sixes who made it to level seven. Our team was composed of six girls, four level fives and two level sixes. We started out on beam. It was a steady routine up until the end. I fell on my dismount. It is the easiest skill for me on beam and I fell. I got a 7.8 my record on beam is 7.85

I was the last up on floor. It is a huge diadvantage for me. All the mistakes my teamates made the judges were looking for. The juges basically thought they needed to teach my gym and that effected my scores. Nothing much to say except I did my best performance ever (according to my Mom, who has seen all of my meets). I got a 7.475 my record is 8.575. I ripped up my ribbon. Katica said the judges were stingy.

Vault! Three days before my meet I totally botched on vault. I was terrified when Gergely stopped spotting. The next day I didn't do vault and the day before the meet I did a vault with Gergely spotting. On vault during the timed warm ups Katica and the other gyms coach decided the order for warming up. Katica asked the girl at the front of the line what she vaulted at. She said she vaulted at four. Katica said she meant the vault height. The girl said four. Then Katica said "We better go first." It was embarrassing. I vaulted as low as the horse can go, this is called vaulting at zero. I normally vault at one but I wanted it to be a little lower considering what happened at the gym. I did a wonderful vault! I didn't quite stick the first one but not to much of a step. The second one wasn't quite as good although I stuck it. I got a 8.2! My record is 7.95. It is now 8.2.

Time for bars my worst event. I actually made the jump. I just barely made it in warm ups! It had bent legs though. I got a 7.0. My record is 7.7 Katica said the judges were stingy.

At the awards ceremony I got fourth place on Vault! I was the only one on my team who got to stand on my pedestal! I even was in the ten and up division. I felt short next to the 12 and 13 year olds next to me.

I was going to blog more but I am getting tired.

The meet was awesome! It was a state qualifier. Vault was up first. I got a 7.7 the first vault wasn't bad but the second one was wonderful until the end. I was really high and far from the horse but with the momentum I took two steps and then I fell. So that explains the 7.7

On bars the warm up was good and I was pretty confident. I got a 7.75! It was over so quick I don't really know what I did to get it. I said that I would be happy with this meet no matter what happened next. I actually didn't mean that

I fell on beam and got a 7.85! I fell on the straight jump split jump. My feet were so turned in I fell!

On floor I got a 8.575! It was my usual floor. Although my arms were bent on the back-extension roll.
I got a 31.875! A 31 will get you into level six but 32 will get you to state. I did not really appreciate being .125 below state and went back on my word from bars. But I can do the level six dismount and got a lot of team support for making it to level six.