my little flipper

As of this coming Monday all of our girls will be enrolled in gymnastics classes at a local gym. Hailey and Sarah have loved it so far, love practicing what they learn here at home, spend lots of time jumping on their mattresses, doing rolls and flips in the living room and climbing the walls, hanging from the bars on our treadmill (at least it gets some use that way!) and doing all kinds of crazy stunts.

I love that the girls have the opportunity to do gymnastics- it was something I wanted to do so badly as a kid but because of finances I was never able to. My sisters and I watched the "Nadia" movie on tv and taught ourselves how to do cartwheels and other kinds of flips, the splits, etc. and practiced these around the house and put on shows for our neighbors in our front yard.

Going to gymnastics gives the girls something to look forward to each week, has helped them gain confidence in themselves and their abilities and allows them to run around and get some good exercise before bedtime.

Yesterday while Hailey was at school and Aimee was taking a nap I was sitting at home with Sarah and watching part of a gymnastics program we'd recorded from television when she asked me, "Will I be able to do gymnastics like that some day?"

Take a look at these pics and tell me what you think.

I would dare say that since she is doing these things as a 3 1/2 year old there is a chance she'll learn to do some of those fancy moves the gymnasts do. Not that we're looking to keep our kids in gymnastics long-term but it's fun for them to do for now, and I love watching them practice their tricks in my living room :)