Rachel, the Gymnast?

As you know, I make sure my kids stay very physical active (could it be over-compensation for their mom?). We have tried many different kind of activities, each in efforts to find the perfect activity for that child without extending myself out too much. Rachel has always been a bundle of energy. In fact she has many nicknames... energizer bunny, hurricane Rachel, you name it... she has THAT much energy. She can't even sit still for her meals... always fidgeting, moving around... on top of that she's one STRONG girl. She can lift up her brothers & sister. She's just 8 years old, not even 4 ft. tall, and under 50 pounds and she can lift up Chris who is 5'7" and almost 120 pounds! She's strong! Plus she's always climbing things... when she was just 1-1/2 years old I found her on the TOP of the piano! an upright grand piano! Yikes!

As a toddler I used to take Rachel & Lizzy to our neighborhood community center for their tap/ballet class... she enjoyed it, but it wasn't enough for her, but she managed to keep herself busy... after all she has 3 older siblings! But last year after a repeated request from me to stop tumbling in our family room (our WHOLE house is hardwood floor) I decided that it may be safer for her to learn to tumble in a safer environment... and she would also learn to do it properly. So one day in January 2007 I took both girls in for their "free session". Rachel LOVED it! Lizzy wasn't too sure it was for her, besides she was already in TONS of extracurricular activities.

Rachel has been going to Pozsar's Gymnastics since February of this year (once a week). She loves going to gymnastics. It's an old, converted market... with high ceilings, etc. I didn't know it at the time, but Geza Pozsar, the owner of the gym, is a famous coach. Pozsar defected to the United states with Bela Karolyi in 1980 during the Nadia Commaneci exhibition tour. He was the team choreographer for the gold medal-winning women's Olympic team. Geza participated in four Olympics and eight World Championships as a member of the coaching staff for Romanian and American teams. And to think that Rachel is training in his gym... how cool is that!

Today she was just promoted to level 3... that's the highest level for recreational gymnastic program here. Starting level 4 it's at a competitive level... I'm not sure about that. We'll see. For now she's enjoying gymnastics and I like the fact that she eats so well afterwards. So will you see her in the future Olympics? Only time will tell...

Happy 10th Birthday Lizzy!

Our third child, Elizabeth Sarah Choi, was born on September 25th, 1997 in Loma Linda University Medical Center via C-section. She was our first girl and was a petite 6 lb. 12 oz. baby. She, like her brothers before her, went into preterm labor but with the help of drugs & bedrest was delivered full-term (39 weeks). From the moment she was born, she was different... she looked a lot like her brother, Jeffrey, but more feminine and delicate. It's hard to imagine that it's been 10 years! She's double-digits! Wow! Anyhow, we celebrated her birthday over the weekend at our local bowling alley (Country Club Lanes). We had a blast playing glo-bowling, eating pizza & soda lunch followed by cake & ice-cream, and playing arcade games. It was a blast! Friends from both school and church came to celebrate with her.

Here's Lizzy... make a wish!

Beautiful cake

Alright... let the games begin!

Here's Lizzy rolling her first ball

Lizzy with her friends Brynne & Courtney

I think the ball is too heavy for Rachel

Erin, Rachel and Courtney waiting for Miranda to bowl
(she's on the left side of the frame)

In one other lane, Chris & Jeff bowled with Joanne, Jane & Esther

Chris, Joanne & Jane... I think they had fun too!

Aly getting ready to bowl

Group photo...

Birthday girl, Lizzy!

Our neighbors... Miranda, Aly & Erin

After lunch all the kids got a handful of tokens and headed into the Arcade... how fun!

Happy 10th Birthday Lizzy!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

That basically describes my life. Yes, I'm glad that all the kids are back at school and I have a moment to myself, but those hours seem to disappear in a blink of an eye! I don't know how? One minute I drop them off, a cup of coffee and few e-mails later it's already noon! Then couple of errands later I'm already picking them all up! It's when they are done with school that life become chaotic again. This is pretty much how my day looks like...

• 6:40am... get up... start packing lunch for kids
• 6:50am... Jeffrey gets up... feed the dog... gets ready for school
• 7:00am... Chris gets up... gets ready for school
• 7:10am... Chris & Jeff eats breakfast
• 7:20am... Jeffrey leaves for school (he carpools with our neighbor... whew!)
• 7:30am... Girls get up and start getting ready while I take Chris to school
• 8:00am... Girls eat breakfast
• 8:20am... drive girls to school
• 8:35am... I'm back home... I FINALLY get to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, and maybe some breakfast... take care of some bills... take care of some soccer stuff (I manage a soccer team)... make some business calls... check e-mails... read papers kids brought home the night before... you get the picture... do a load of wash... load up the dishwasher... maybe grocery shop, or buy supplies kids need for school... on a rare occasion maybe lunch with other moms...
• 2:40pm... Jeffrey out of school... rides home with neighbor (whew, again!)
• 3:00pm... pick up girls along with our neighbor. Once a week Lizzy stays after school for Band, in which case I will be back in 40 minutes to pick her up.
  
• 3:30pm... after a brief break, kids start on their homework. depending on the day Chris is either practicing soccer after school or playing a game against another school... Once a week all the kids will have to go to piano lesson (on two separate days)
• 6:00pm... Jeff, Lizzy & Rachel goes to soccer practices on Monday & Wednesday... Rachel goes to Gymnastics on Thursday...
• 7:00 - 7:30pm... everyone is FINALLY home... takes a shower
• 8:00pm... we finally get our dinner... then kids finish up their homework and whatever else they may need to do... did I forget piano practice? or flute? or oboe?
  
• 9:00 - 10:00pm... everyone to bed...
  

After 10pm... I try to get some laundry done, clean up the house, veg out in front of the t.v., trying to catch up on some news... check the e-mail again...Well, that's my life in a nutshell. So if I haven't been particularly good about updating my blog, now you know why.