End of the school year 2017-2018

Garyn and Ansley had a great school year with lots of learning. Layne also started learning a lot this year in mother's day out.

Garyn had Mrs. Elrod for 4th grade. He liked his class and was with several kids he had been in class with before.

He ran cross country and track again this year.
He was able to decrease his running time to less than 8 mins.

 Garyn also had his first "job" this past year. He had to "interview" he said to be a tutor for the Kindergartners and First graders. He actually just raised his hand and volunteered. It was super cute though to hear him talk so big about his "job". At the end of the year, he also was given the job to help all the 5th grade girls down the steps at graduation. He did so well acting polite throughout the graduation. I teared up thinking what a good young man he is becoming!

For the first time, Garyn played football last fall. Tyler was an assistant coach for the team. It was a fun, learning season for him. The number 52 was Tyler's number in high school; it was neat to see him with "Rich" on the back as well. He says he wants to play again next year and eventually play college at UTK! Big dreams!

Ansley cheered for the Soddy Kids Club and was able to cheer at a couple of Garyn's games. She still loves gymnastics and cheering.

He also did Science Olympiad for the second time. While he didn't place in any event, he and TJ, his teammate, barely missed the mark.

Garyn played basketball for the 4th-5th grade Basketball school team. Tyler coached him and they had a good season. Garyn has gotten better at defense and offense being much more focused; in tune with the game and where he needed to be.

Garyn played 9/10 baseball this spring and while they didn't have a winning season, they played hard and came close several games. Garyn has gotten really good at being the catcher.

Ansley had Ms. Dent this year. Garyn had also had her in 1st grade.

Ansley did really well learning to read more fluently. She struggled some in math but will be doing some tutoring this summer to help her stay on track.


Ansley hopes to play basketball for the school next year. She played for Upward this winter to get herself prepared for next year.

Ansley also played soccer for the first time. She hadn't ever asked before but seems to be getting into sports more. She catches on quick; never complaining about practice or games.

Layne also had a great year in preschool. He continued at Rechoboth in the 3 year old room since he will be going to Kindergarten just after turning 6 years old. He loved having Brinkley in his class.

After Christmas time, he started asking if he could go to school on days he wasn't supposed to. So he started attending Stuart Heights preschool program 1 day a week; meaning he went a total of 3 days a week to "school".

Layne started learning to write his name well this past year. We also worked on counting to 30 and reading some sight words. Layne recognizes at least half of the alphabet letters now, as well.

Layne played baseball for his first time this spring. He absolutely loved it and did well.

Now we get to enjoy summer hoping it never ends!

Gymnastics and Soccer

This fall Garyn did soccer again and Ansley started doing a little gymnastics class. It has been fun watching them learn and play!

Garyn's team was the purple chameleons.

 

 

He did somewhat better this year in actually getting the ball and knowing which side his team was supposed to score on! They are so fun to watch cause it is more like organized chaos than an actual game! He did score once this year! Most importantly, he loves soccer and was always excited to go. The Y is very relaxed with coaching and scores so there isn't any pressure on the kids. I think that helps. He didn't have pressure placed on him at baseball by any means, but he hated when he would strike out or not get on base. With soccer, he was only concerned with whether they won or lost. Most of the time he kept score and we had no clue! He is going to be a competitive kid, we believe.

 

 

 

Ansley has loved her gymnastics class. It is a mommy and me class so I stay with her and help. Otherwise she would be all over the place! Most of the time, she still is everywhere but the spot she is supposed to be! But when you can get her attention, she does a good job with it.

 

 

Her friend Brenna goes as well, but with an older group.

This past Friday they had their fun meet which was a mock gymnastics meet with a judge and all. She had to learn routines! Nana, Poppa, Daddy and

Garyn all got to come watch her since they don't get to see her in class.

These teachers had the fun job of keeping a bunch of 2-4 yr olds in line!

 

 

 

As wild and crazy as she does in class and here at the meet, somehow, she got 2 first place ribbons and the best all around award! As you can see, she was so excited!

Here are a couple videos of her events

 

 

And just because I can't leave him out, here is Layne doing some of his exercises.....

 

He was flapping his arms and kicking his legs the whole time Ansley did gymnastics. He enjoyed watching. Which I must add, Garyn was attempting to do rolls and tabletops in the floor while we were watching. Then he was very concerned about Ansley's scores and whether she would win. Cute brothers supporting their sister!

 

 

Layne lays on his play mat often and on this particular day his floor exercises wore him out!

The Orioles, Garyn's 1st baseball team

I have talked a little of Garyn's baseball but nothing specific about Garyn's season.

Garyn didn't act interested in playing sports much up until this past year; probably because we didn't talk about it being an option. He did have friends playing, though, and he never complained about not being on a team until recently. We started with soccer in the fall and then signed him up for Red Bank Dixie baseball this spring.

Garyn's team obviously was the Orioles. His soccer coach actually saw us at the try-outs day and picked Garyn since we knew him. We had some other kids from church on there we knew, too, but there were a lot of new faces we got to know.

 

Ansley wanted to be a part of the team, too.

 



 The first couple games were a little stressful. Garyn's excitement wore off quickly when he didn't do well at bat. In fact, the first game he cried and I about did. I didn't know how to fix it for him! It was that realization that this was real life and he couldn't just keep trying at bat until he hit the ball like we do at home. He instead was out. At one point, it was my fault according to Garyn because his sunglasses were keeping him from seeing the ball. As you can see from this picture, we naturally posed him to hit right handed.

 

After that first game, Tyler got him out to practice with his helmet (which he had not done) and discovered that he did better left handed. Tyler hits left handed, as well as golfs left handed. They both write right handed, though. Sure enough, the next game he got a hit and was much happier! I never felt so excited about a hit in my life after! 

(Playing second, he is the one with his hand on hip)

 

            Out in the field, he was attentive but didn't know quite what to do. Besides messing with his hat some, he really paid attention to the batter. He (and most of his team) would try to get the ball no matter where it landed. This age was real entertaining to watch. Sometimes, they would actually fight over the ball in outfield! Tyler and the other coaches tried to instruct them but you know how much time it takes to teach young ones! Garyn would always get so upset, too, when he did something wrong especially if his daddy was the one correcting him. I fear he is going to be very competitive and has a Type A personality. There is nothing wrong with either of those, I just hope he doesn't always take things so hard. We are going to have to watch what we say and how we handle things, I guess. 

(running the bases)

 

His team won some. Garyn usually based the success of the game on if they won or if he got a hit and was able to score. He was happy as long as one of the two happened. We enjoyed watching him grow throughout the season. It was amazing to see what he and his team did learn in the short time frame. They made a lot of progress in how they stand at bat, throw, and hit. Next year, I'm sure he'll have ups and downs still but I know I will be more prepared for the failures! Tyler, I feel, has learned he isn't coaching high school and they are going to respond differently to his coaching!

 

 

Here is a quick video of him getting a hit.

 

So Garyn is officially in the sports world now. He can't wait to play fall soccer again. And I officially have a "ball field bag" now. Many more years of that to come and I can't wait!