Katie Anne's Tennis and Swim Camp

This week, Katie Anne went to tennis and swim camp at the Country Club.  VJ has been taking Katie Anne to tennis lessons with Mysti Lancaster at the club for several months, and Katie Anne's really good at tennis! This summer, VJ wanted to send KA to tennis and swim camp, and Katie Anne was so excited about it!  She couldn't wait for Tuesday to arrive so she could go.  

 A little nervous and very excited!

She did an awesome job at tennis - Mysti said that she's got excellent ability and a real future as a tennis player if she continues learning and practicing.  

KA struggled a little with the swim portion at the beginning of the week - she was a little afraid of the water and insisted she couldn't swim.  She was still relying on a swim ring by Friday, but she was jumping off the diving board and putting her face underwater, so we're really proud of her progress!  

 Getting a medal from Mrs. Mysti!

 KA was so proud!

Most importantly, she had an awesome time and felt like a really big girl this week!  

Thanks so much to VJ for this experience!

Katie Anne's Cheer Camp

This week, Katie Anne went to the CHS Varsity Girls' Cheer Camp.  I was a little nervous about letting her go, but she was cheering up an age level so she could be with Lily, so I knew she had a friend.  I also knew most of the cheer coaches and moms that were helping with camp (a lot of those ladies teach at CPS with me), and lots of the cheerleaders are my former fourth grade students!  That makes me feel old! 

Katie Anne learned a lot at camp and had a really fun time.  On Thursday, she had a little cheer performance, and we were able to watch her do some of the things she'd learned.  She's an awesome little cheerleader!

My mom took most of the pictures of the show on her nice camera, and I don't have those.  But, I did take a few of KA on the first day, and I also took one of her with Lily on Crazy Outfit Day!

Tutu Cute!

Today was Katie Anne's first day of Princess Ballet Camp!  She has been asking to take ballet classes for several months, but our local ballet school - the same one I attended as a little girl! - doesn't have classes for anyone younger than three.  So, we'd told her that we'd enroll her when classes began this fall, but then I heard about the summer dance camps!  For 3 and 4 year olds, the school offers a half-day dance camp that's based around princesses ... so I knew that would be absolutely perfect for Katie Anne!

We told her about her week of camp a few weeks ago when I heard that she'd gotten in, and the wait has been so hard for her!  She has asked and asked and asked when ballet camp started.  Last week, she and I went shopping for all her leotards, tutus, and tights - and we picked up her cute little ballet shoes last night.  Having all the ballet stuff in her room has only increased her anticipation.  So, she was all ready this morning and was soooo excited!

Can you sense the excitement?!?!

Showing off a "ballet move":

Precious ballerina:

The cutest bun ever:

 In the car, ready to go!

In front of the school - barely able to contain the joy at this point:

Climbing the big steps:

Sitting down, waiting for class to start:

So happy!

And that's all I got to see!  This is a real camp, so that means Mommy has the mornings off this week!  I was very excited about some time to check off things on my long to-do list, but I was also a little nervous about leaving Katie Anne there!  However, when I picked her up at lunchtime, she had nothing but good news and fun to report.  They'd read a book about the princess of the day (Cinderella), watched a portion of the Cinderella ballet on video, done a craft, had a snack, and  - of course - did lots and lots of dancing! Her favorite part of the day was practicing leaping over the little ballerina bear and learning the "ballerina walk".  She can't wait to go back and learn about Sleeping Beauty tomorrow!

They're having a little performance on Friday, so be on the lookout for more pictures of her then!

Something funny - Before camp started, the whole concept of "camp" had her confused at first ... her idea of camp means "camping out", so she would ask, "Do you roast marshmellows at ballet camp out?"  and "Do we have tents at the ballet camp out?"  We finally talked about it enough that she realized summer camp and camping out weren't necessarily the same thing.  :)