Cheer Competitions x 2!

We've spent the last couple of weekends at Cheerleading competitions. It was Hailey's first competition and I've been surprised at how much she has really liked cheerleading. She wanted to sign up even though none of her friends were doing it and she has really improved from the beginning of the season. At competition they had to learn a whole dance routine and she did great. In fact, her whole team did great and qualified for the State Competition which means more practice and reworking of the routine. We left it up to her if she wanted to continue. You didn't have to and I'm in Florida that weekend (soccer) with Austen so it's up to Tom to do "cheer" hair! She definitely was all in even with the more practices. 

Hailey's Cheer Team (back row, 4th from left)

Peyton's competition was just last weekend. Two years ago when they competed they were so bad that they got 3rd out of only two teams! You ask how that's even possible but it's true. They were terrible and the judges penalized them for it even though they were just in 4th grade. Two years later, we got rid of all the girls who didn't care and the squad actually has some potential. (Remember this is rec cheerleading.) The girls astounded us all with their performance and missed qualifying for the State Competition by 1.6 points. They all did so well though that making it to State would have just been a bonus. The amount that they've improved is enough of a win. Peyton too has improved so much. Her jumps and kicks are amazing and she really loved the dance routine portion of it. 

It was great to see them back cheering this year. It was touch and go as the practices were inside and when you stunt, you can't wear masks so the girls were often practicing maskless and unvaccinated (because they weren't old enough). Some girls opted to sit out this year but we decided that the kids already had missed so much and we didn't want to make them sit out so we took our chances and I'm glad we did. We have two very happy cheerleaders!

Peyton getting ready to compete and competition below

Hailey with her medal qualifying for State