Hanksgiving Hustle

Two years ago, I had this brilliant idea to start a family Thanksgiving 5k tradition.  We did the Arlington Turkey Trot and pushed the girls in a double stroller.  It was lots of fun, so we signed up the following year.  Sadly, though, last Thanksgiving was about -10 degrees outside and tons of rain (ok, I might be exaggerating a little) so we decided we weren't going to drag the girls out in it.  This year as the deadline approached to sign up again, we went back and forth. So instead of signing up for a REAL 5k, we planned our own! I made us matching shirts (and a matching bandana for Piper!) and we did the first (maybe) annual Hanksgiving Hustle!  We ran from our house to the girls' school and home, where there were medals waiting for the first place finishers in each age category! The girls had so much fun and we loved doing this as a family....we might just do it again next year!

Cheer Competition 2014

Meredith and Jillian were both very excited to get to do their first ever cheerleading competition today!  They had both been working very hard on a cheer just for competition and Meredith's team even learned a dance!  

The kindergarten girls - aren't they cute!

 They did great with their cheer at competition time!  They each had a little part that they said all by themselves and they each did great!

Jillian really came out of her shell for the performance!  I was so proud of her!

 And trophies for the girls was icing on the cake!

Can you tell she loved her trophy?

Then it was the 2nd grader's turn to take the mat! They did a great cheer, complete with stunts!

Meredith said the competition was her favorite part of the year!

The 2nd graders took 2nd place in their division!

Both of my cheerleaders!

Celebrating the Kinder Highlanders

This year was so fun getting to see these cute little pre-k and kinder girls cheer for the Highlanders!  We took a few group pics to end the year.

The girls - Kaylynn, Chloe, Claire, Kolbie, Jillian, Audrey, and Lilianne with their coaches, River and Zoe.

Then we joined with the football team for a fun end-of-year party at the Family Life Center at the church.

What would an end of year party be without pizza?

Silly girls!

This non-cheer mom could never have survived a year of sponsoring a cheer team without my friend, Kelly by my side!

Each girl got a fun gift from us and from the football team.

The girls and the boys all together!

Before we went home, the girls performed a cheer they will be performing at competition tomorrow! They had so much fun!

Final Kinder Highlander Game

Jillian was a great sport with cheerleading.  After telling me she wanted to cheer like sissy last Spring, her tune changed as we got into the fall.  Unfortunately we were already paid up and I had already agreed to sponsor the team.  So, we told Jillian she would have to give it a shot.  So, it was never her favorite activity and since we have a rule about one activity like this at a time, she told me most weeks, "I can't wait until I can do gymnastics forever!" But she would go to practices and games with a smile on her face, regardless.  So, as we headed off to the last game, I realized this might be her last experience as a cheerleader, so I decided to take a few last pics of her!  Luckily this week was SLIGHTLY warmer than the weeks before when these little bitty girls were bundled in their warmest jackets and huddled under blankets for most of the game!

The girls and their coaches

She even got to do a stunt with her coaches!