Olympic Fever

I am trying so hard to find the motivation to catch up on my blog, but I can't seem to get much of anything done these days!  I seriously can hardly get off the couch!  Right now, I am GLUED to the TV watching the Olympics.  Every night I am up so late watching EVERY event - I even saw a little synchronized swimming tonight - HOW do they DO that???  I LOVE the Olympics!  I get so wrapped up in all the stories about the athletes and I love watching all the different sports and all the real drama of competition! Its even better than reality TV!  My favorite thing to watch is gymnastics and the USA was so awesome this year!  (I did cry when Jordyn Wieber didn't qualify for the all around though...)
The best part about the Olympics this time around is that my kids are so into it, too.  We decided to do a little friendly competition at our house and have a medals race at our house, so we are keeping track of the medals the US wins, but the kids also all picked another country and we are seeing who can win the most.  We made a big poster and are using coins (quarters, nickels and pennies) to track it and it has been really fun.  Logan picked Japan, Avery picked Italy and Rylee picked Australia. Logan is a little annoying about cheering for Japan and becomes very upset when they lose!  He is one competitive kid.  I have no idea where that came from...
The kids usually have to go to bed every night before the good stuff is on TV, but Logan will get up early the next morning and turn on the DVR to watch what he missed.  He loves watching Michael Phelps and cheers for him so loud and can't miss any of his races.  He told me he calls him "mikey", like they are on a first name basis and he gave most of his primary class a play-by-play of all his races.  He also loves watching track and Usain Bolt and today at the park, I caught him practicing his starts just like they do in the Olympics coming out of the blocks.  Such a funny kid!  He knows so much about so many different sports now from watching things with me and has even taken an interest in fencing and table tennis and was bummed that they don't show them more often.  He also was very upset when Justin Gatlin won the bronze medal in the 100 because he heard them talk about how he was suspended for doping and so then I had to explain to him about steroids and how that is cheating and so he really didn't want him to get a medal.  And anytime anyone runs really fast, he tells me that he thinks they might be using steroids. 
Rylee also has been really into it and likes to watch the gymnastics with me, which I love.  She decided she wanted to try gymnastics instead of dance this year, so I took her to the gym this week for an assessment so that they place her in the correct level for fall.  She LOVED it!  They wanted her to try some skills on the beam and she jumped right up there.  She looked so cute!  I was really nervous for her, but she did great!  She also loved the bars - especially using the chalk!  The next day, she wore her leotard all day long and pretended she was Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglas and Makayla Maroney.  It was so cute!  Even Avery got into and Rylee was helping her do some tricks and Avery told me she wants to be a "nastic girl" when she gets big.  She also is a big fan of the US swim team's "Call Me, Maybe" video on Youtube.  It is Avery's favorite song right now.  She sings it SO cute!  Have you seen the video?  Its pretty catchy...
Rylee also had this conversation said to Logan, "When I'm in the Olympics, you might not be able to come and watch because they might be really far away."  Logan's response was, "Well, I'm probably going to be an Olympian, too.  I'm not too good at swimming, but I can do something else."  Later on he decided that he would like to be a skier at the winter Olympics.  I guess at least they set their goals high... 

 Today, I had the kids watch Oscar Pistorius run the 400 meter semi-final.
 
 He didn't qualify for the finals or win a medal, but I wanted them to see how amazing his race was.  I'm sure everyone has seen him by now, but he has no legs and runs with special blades.  Even though they are little, I think they understood it was something special.  It is so inspiring and a great lesson for anyone watching to see him compete against the fastest men in the world!  I was especially touched when the other runner switched numbers with him after the race because of all the respect he had for him.  Such great stories and sportsmanship!   I think it was one of my very favorite moments from the Olympics so far. 
Still a few more days of the games, so if you see my kids in their pjs or my messy house, now you will know why!  We are wrapped up in all the excitement of the Olympics right now!