Tag: colors

2021 Annual Show!

WGV Gymnastics Annual Show for 2021 #WGVGymnastics #Smiles #Hugs #HighFives #OlympicTheme #Family #Fun #Gymnastics

May 24, 2021

2021 Annual Show!

At our gym (WGV Gymnastics in Florida), we have an annual showcase for our gymnasts in May each year. Last year being what it was, this is the first year we’ve gotten to use our awesome new gymnastics facility for our show! It was amazing!

My gymnasts get super excited at this chance to show off their skills in a mock meet type show complete with awards ceremony and fun! This is our happy place! We had an Olympic theme this year (surprising, right?) and our gym dressed up for the occasion.

  • Balloons in the Olympic Flag Colors bordering the Pro Shop
  • Preschool Show Area
  • Entry to the events!
  • Lucas’ medal had a boy gymnast, Jillian’s had a girl gymnast – Lucas was ecstatic!

From the banner over the entryway to the Preschool Area and everything in between, there were Olympic rings, flaming torches, international flags, and medals.

Jaquline and Jillian showed off with the Preteam Group this year. Lucas sported his “sparkly leo” (he grew out of the begged-for black unitard a few months ago and found a black unitard with a sequined peace sign in his size – this is his “sparkly leo”) because, according to my almost 6-year-old, “boys in the Olympics all wear sparkly leotards.” Kimberly got to volunteer for the Sunday shows! Becky did her routines on Sunday with the intermediate/advanced group.

  • Covering his Leo so “it doesn’t get blue” – the rest of him was covered in raspberry cotton candy!
  • Christina coaching
  • Medals and high fives!

Lucas was super excited that he got to be with his “best friend from preschool program” in the show (he is at the age where everyone is his best friend). The gymnasts got to fill out an “about me” sheet and Lucas thinks the fact that he does gymnastics makes him awesome. (Mom thinks he’s awesome just because.)

  • “Helping” set up – aka eating gummies
  • “Helping” at the front desk – aka napping

Thea thinks the entire gym is hers. She “helped out” setting up the pro shop, the day of she spilt time between the front desk and the concession room – gummy snacks and lots of food probably kept her busier than actually helping though.

  • Becky’s group with their medals, “about me” paper, and gifts! I love the smiles!

Thousands of combined hours prepared for the six two-hour sessions over the weekend where our amazing gymnasts got to show off their skills and family members got to watch. Each session was marked with countless proud smiles, lots of clapping, determination, laughter, hugs, and friendship! (Several showed me their cotton candy faces!) I usually had a clear view of the parallel bars – I loved seeing my gymnasts do their most challenging skills! So many proud coach moments even though I was just watching them in the background! (Yes, I mean those I coach and those I know – I’m super surprised at how many of our gymnasts I actually do know!) I’m pretty sure I recognized every gymnast.

Lucas got up this morning, ready for Gym-N-Learn class, all packed and dressed. In the van he said, “is there another show today?” (He was wearing his medal, which he gently wrapped when we got to gym and had me “carefully put” in my purse.)

“No, next year.”

“Aww… That was so much fun.”

“It was. What was your favorite part?”

*Deep thought and silence from the middle seat for a few long seconds* “All of it. I can’t wait to do it again!”

(And that, friends, was the goal of those putting on the WGV Gymnastics Annual Show – that our participating gymnasts enjoyed every single bit of it!)

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Sunsets and Rainbows

What I see in sunsets and rainbows!

November 13, 2020

Sunsets and Rainbows

Sometimes when you want to feel amazed, just look up. Seriously. Up at the sunrise or for me at work – the sunset. The sunsets over the intersection of interstate 95 and International Golf Parkway are amazing. It often happens with a bold artist palette of vivid colors like deep purple, bright blue, orange, yellow, pink, and red. Because this is Florida, we often have moisture in the sky (aka raindrops) that hide clear rainbows in the opposite side of the sky.

I’ve seen more double rainbows outside the doors of my gym than everywhere else combined. God’s promise of mercy.

When sunsets come, they remind me of the awesome things God has given us that all too often we brush off. It also reminds me to slow down. I have to take the time to enjoy the blessings I’ve been given rather than race through life as if being chased. I’m not being chased by anything! I’m in an amazing point of my life where I’ve stopped chasing the pipe-dream of home ownership and realized that it really doesn’t matter. I’ve been able to slow down and enjoy. I love the job I have! (stepping outside to see sunsets and rainbows is definitely a sweet bonus) I get to work around smiling, happy faces, hopefully instill confidence, positive work ethic, determination, and excitement in the hearts of the children I am honored to coach, encourage my coworkers as they encourage me, and watch my children grow in skill and confidence (and getting to see them every break is tremendous)!

I have chosen to focus on relationships. I am trying to connect with my family and friends at every opportunity. I want my children to understand the importance of relationship with encouraging believers.

I have chosen to focus on writing again (my computer that was fixed ended up with the cable to the display being pinched by the metal bracket that supports the display because it was moved when “repaired” and now the cable is shorted… so back to borrowed computers until I can repair it myself). I felt such a surge of writing energy – going from less than 5,000 words to over 22,000 in only one story in just a few off days since it was repaired? Wow, I feel like God has opened my creativity again. Despite computer issues, I will be writing!

I sold one ebook through Amazon! First sale in over a year, so that’s positive!

My boss has graciously let me put up a display of real books at her ProShop (At least 50% of sales price gets donated to the gym program!) and I am supposed to have illustrators (*clears throat*) working on drawings for my children’s books.

At this point, I’m trying to study my children, show them how I depend on Jesus, study my husband more so I can love him better, and develop or water friendships I cherish with my sisters, brothers, and friends. We’ve been able to get Becky’s braces, get Christina’s adult dental stuff started, we discovered Kimberly needed glasses & got those, and are planning to start Jillian’s and finish Lucas’ dental needs too. God is providing as we need it. Provision will come. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Rainbows remind me of mercy.

Remember before the flood there was no rain? All the world was watered from the ground. Mists, fog, who knows, but the Bible says “the water rose up from the ground” to water the Earth. So imagine Noah and his family – they had never seen a rainbow! NEVER. This was a first for them. It was recorded as God setting His rainbow in the sky as a promise to every living thing on Earth that He would never again destroy the whole Earth by water.

That is mercy. Mercy is showing undeserved favor. Parenting teaches mercy on a whole new level.

Consider when someone is saying and doing things to cut you down constantly, hurting others you love, cutting deep into the hearts of you and those you love with their words, irritated with life but taking it out on you as if it is your fault, doing things and saying things that hurts them, etc. This irritates and saddens you. You love them still. You can’t stop loving them. You carried them and prayed for them and watched them be birthed and loved and cared for them and slowly watch them grow. You know you have to slowly release them and you hate yourself because you feel they aren’t ready but this is where you have to let go and trust God.

This is where you understand mercy. Love when you are undeserving.

You then see that is how Jesus sees you. You hurt His heart with some choices and actions or words. You hurt yourself. You hurt those He loves. You pull away when He is trying to patiently guide you yet it feels wrong or you decide to follow another. You do not deserve His love. You deserve judgement for those you have hurt. Yet Jesus showers us with mercy; new mercies each morning.

This is what rainbows show me.

My heart still hurts for the pains I feel my teens are feeling. I wish I could get them to talk openly and listen as openly. I wish I could once again kiss the hurt and it go away – but that doesn’t work anymore. They now need to allow Jesus to wrap His arms around them and comfort them. They need to allow Jesus to lead them and guide them.

I have to love them.

I also have to protect the hearts of my younger ones. Yes, sometimes from the words or actions of an older sibling. That really hurts.

I’m not going to kick them out of my house and never out of my heart; just as Jesus has not kicked me away and has loved me through all of my mistakes. I need Jesus’ mercy every day.

Rainbows remind me of this.

Thank you, Jesus, for sunsets and rainbows. Thank you that we get to see them almost daily. Thank you for love, mercy, and forgiveness. Thank you that you teach me daily in this task called parenting.

Thank you for reading!

~Nancy Tart

Sand in a Glass

Sliding Sands in a Glass Bottle: Life thoughts from Sand Art

August 21, 2020

Sand in a Glass

We were making sand art at summer camp yesterday.  As I was pouring different color sands into tiny cute plastic critters and shapes for the cute crew of younglings we call campers, one said, “I want red like in The Wizard of Oz.”

I didn’t remember the red sand in the hourglass that the wicked witch sets up for Dorothy. 

Instantly I thought of time slowly falling through a tiny hole like the red sands dropping from my spoon into the funnel to fill the little dinosaur. 

Time does just slip away.

So many times we say, “later,” or “when this is finished,” or “maybe next time,” or “when I’m not so busy.”

But I’ve learned that if it’s something I want to do, I need to do it now.  As soon as possible.  Before the person I want to do it with moves away, grows up, changes schools, changes jobs, etc. I’ve learned to live life in the now. That doesn’t mean I don’t plan for the future and have goals. It means that when it comes to relationships, I always choose now over later.

When someone is gone, it is too late.

You never want to live with regret.

We used to measure time with sand in a glass. Hourglass. That’s an old concept for most of us. I mean, really, how many of us have even seen an hourglass unless we happen to be a fan of “The Wizard of Oz” or play games like Scrabble, Boggle, or Guesstures? It isn’t just a 3-minute timer (it is in the aforementioned games). An hourglass historically was used as a reliable measure of time. It was flipped every time the last grain of sand slid into the bottom and someone yelled out the new hour. On ships, at military forts, etc.

That is how life was measured.

Now we have digital everything and except for a few traditionalists like me, constantly glancing at a timepiece on my wrist governed by fancy cogs, we seldom know how to read that analog device sitting somewhere in the distance. We certainly don’t depend on the flipping of an odd shaped sand-filled bottle.

Our life on Earth is like that hourglass though.

We have so many grains of sand before they run out.

Those few seconds of distraction were enough to finish my spoon of red sands into the plastic reptile. “What color now?” I ask. She picks blue, dark sparkly blue, and I ask, “a little or a lot?”

As I pour a little line of dark sparkly blue, I think, “and God fills our life with different layers or seasons.”

Yellow and dark sparkly purple follow with “all the rest” a black that looks like someone shredded a jet stone.

I think of how we are blessed with so many seasons of time with those we love. Some long – some short – some impact our lives just for a day. Each season of life we spend with each other is like a different layer in sand art; unique and special. Something to enjoy. Something to treasure.

I pray that I take time to treasure each relationship I have and those that will come.

One of the campers is swinging his sand art furiously – “mine’s all rainbowed!” He had a perfectly lined rainbow; red, two orange tones, yellow, two green tones, blue, indigo, violet, lavender, and black at the top. Now it is a fusion of color that looks like gray muck with spots of brilliance.

Wow. My writer’s brain goes into overdrive with that one. Bright spots in the mundane. This is what time spent in relationship is. For instance: we spent 3 days at a winter getaway with my family once and talking to my kids you would think it was an entire 3-month winter season! Those memories together is a bright spot in the normalcy of life that they bring out fondly whenever they please.

Thank you, Jesus.  Help me to treasure today, build relationships that last, and make memories for tomorrow.

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

My Little Learner

March 29, 2020

My Little Learner

Our gym has an after-school program where our comfy vans pick up from several area schools and bring little athletes back to gym. They do gymnastics, crafts, eat snacks, and do homework. Thea and her other gym baby friend sometimes hang out there. Thea loves it and thinks she’s a big kid! Just like at home, she tries to do school with them!

Especially when someone wants to play teacher! Ellie loves to play teacher and Thea loves to “learn” and she likes the chalkboard.

At home, Thea knows not to eat coloring tools like pencils, crayons, markers, and even paints! At Aunt Becca’s she got introduced to big sidewalk chalk and tasted it. Sister-cousin Anastasia laughed and said, “eww, gross Baby Thea, you color with it like me!”

Once Thea saw that, it was like “aha! this is an outside coloring tool!”

Sitting with Becky one day, she pulls up a pencil and paper and says “yeah!” and starts babbling in her own way, giving us serious glances as she explains what her work is. Jillian said, “Thea thinks she’s doing school!”

Thea and Becky are quite alike. Becky understood before her first year that coloring tools were not to be eaten too. Baby Becky never ate Legos (except for the black squishy tires, she called them gum and we had to remove them temporarily – I think she still secretly stashes them somewhere and chews them). Baby Becky was my earliest potty trainer (at 14 months telling us when she had to go & by 18 months in regular underwear – I have no clue how!) and Thea is already potty training herself. She got super excited when I bought a baby potty for her tiny self – and knows exactly what it’s for (showed us by pulling at her diaper so we took it off & she used the potty, I teased Becky that she may lose the designation of youngest potty trained).

I love watching my little love get more independent. Each one of them unique and special. Each has different strengths and weaknesses. Each helps the other in various tasks to make us a cohesive team – we build on each others’ strengths.

This is how we all should be. Learning, assisting, encouraging; each doing what we do best and helping when and where we can. It isn’t just for siblings or families. This understanding of the learning and growing and maturing process is an important life skill.

And Thea is playing in the grass without eating it – amazing! She is totally a little Becky… until Uncle Buddy came along and taught 2-year-old Becky she could eat dollar weed (and then she wouldn’t quit eating them!).

Thank you for Reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Playtime Patterns

February 15, 2018

Playtime Patterns

Normally, Lucas’ idea of “playing trains” is to build a train track with the little tykes track and run every vehicle with wheels on the tracks in a line saying encouraging bits as they crest the one hill.  Lately, he has been making patterns. (This is great practice for colors, counting, and future math skills!)

This time, we had just left a duplo building where he’d made single color stacks of blocks and laid them out in blue, green, red, blue, green, red, blue.  He quickly built something and said, “take a picture of my rainbow man!”

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This came with a huge Lucas grin.  (I had to go get my phone with this builder trailing behind until I snapped the picture – then he raced back to the playroom.)  When I returned to the playroom, he had the train track laid out in a color pattern.

“Mom look!” he called and pointed out each color with a shout as he walked along, “red!  Yellow! Blue! Green!  Red! Yellow!”  This continued along the length of the track with all thirty or so pieces.

I told him, “good job with your pattern!”

Jaquline ran in while he was shouting to notice the pattern and hurried back to her snack.

“Mom!”  Jaquline smiled and showed me her orange slices, “look, a rose pattern!”

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Lucas clapped his hands, “I can have one-two-three-four-five!”  And he wiggled his fingers as he streamed the numbers together.  Jaquline laughed and shared her snack, saying, “it is for everyone, Lucas.”

Jillian built a puzzle we’d found to “check the pieces” (puzzle pieces get lost like socks in the washer) and discovered two missing pieces.  She checked the odds box without luck but left the puzzle on the table.  Lucas found it and gasped, “Oh NO!  MOM, we HAVE to find the lost ones!” (He really doesn’t like broken or missing items.  He is the only one who won’t do two mix-matched socks.  He knows if he doesn’t get his own, I will just grab two from the sock box that look similar: he takes pains to bring me the matched pair.)

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Kimberly was using the shape blocks for geometry and left a bright pile on the table.  She came back after gathering the rest of her papers to find Lucas had sorted them by color.

He was helping Christina and Rebeccah with the candy machine (someone – aka Lucas – stuck two pennies in at the same time so they had to do some repair) and while they took turns sorting and counting the coins for their savings goal, they guided Lucas in sorting the favorite blues into the center of the bowl!

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“Mom!  I love blues!” Lucas claps.  Rebeccah rearranges the bowl by moving a few pieces and says, “perfectly balanced.”

(Maybe we all like perfect patterns.)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Counting by Twos

My preschoolers turn our birthday tradition into color and counting practice for the toddler! 🙂

January 31, 2018

Counting by Twos

“Mom, you have to change my doll so we are all twos!” Jillian bounced this morning.  Jillian turned six on the 29th.  We’ve been very busy with school, work, and two events (Jillian’s cake and ice cream birthday on Monday & Christina’s CAP movie night on Tuesday), and  we’d forgotten to change her age doll.  (My Aunt gave me the first three of these collectible figures as a toddler, I began filling in my collection when I was twelve, and although most are half super glue from the effects of pets’ tails, sisters and children “playing” them, and moving accidents, I now have one of each age and am collecting the “Growing Up Boys” figures to keep up with Lucas.)  What started with Christina, we have continued.  (I display the figures that match the girls’ ages.)

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When Lucas was born, we discovered they used to make a boy version and we started collecting those too.

Now, since we have Anastasia’s age doll in the lineup too, with this birthday, the dolls change to 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2.  They will stay that way until Lucas levels up in May.  Jillian and Anastasia call it “the twos.”

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Lucas likes to find patterns in things right now.  Each of the dolls has one of four dress colors.  The clothes colors are blue, lavender, blue, lavender, blue, lavender, blue.  Lucas calls them “blue, not blue,” and giggles when the girls say “lavender.”  He’ll repeat, “la-ven-der!” giggle, and say “blue, not blue!”

This makes Jaquline, Jillian, and Anastasia say, “no, Lucas!  Blue and lavender!”

He laughs because that is exactly the reaction he wants!

But when they point out the numbers, Lucas says, “two-four-six-eight-ten-twelve!”  (He yells them all together like one long number and misses the fourteen.)

Anastasia and Jillian clap, “yeah!  He can count by twos!”

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

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