Sewing

Mads and I had a fun sewing project this past week. We used a fun pattern for a skirt just like her friend Addy has. 

 I have fond memories of both my parents teaching me how to sew about the same age as Maddie is now. I remember complaining to my mom of having nothing to do and being bored and my mom would give me long pieces of fabric and a whole bunch of button to sew on it. My parents owed a small dry cleaning/tailor shop at the time and we had an endless amount of buttons. After I mastered the button sewing skill when I would complain of having nothing to do I would be given long pieces of fabric to sew straight lines on using the sewing machine. I got really good at that as well. 

Now it was my turn to teach Maddie how to sew.

Our little skirt project lasted three nights and it was done just in time for the Primary program. She was very proud of herself when it was finished. Maddie was very precise and careful when it was her turn to sew.

Here's the end result. Cute! Cute!Cute!

The only picture I could get of Mads this morning was with a pout on her face. Sorry, she didn't get her way so she punished me back by not smiling in any of the picture I took of her. I love our Mads!!!

Brother!?!

Here's what happened to Mads last night...

Not long after letting the kiddos roam around the candy aisle at Smith & Eddie's, Maddie came up to Jason with a spinning candy/toy stuck in her hair. Apparently brother got too close to her hair while playing with the toy. I couldn't stop laughing. After Jason failed to get her hair unraveled an employee came to her rescue. 

Camping

Two weekend ago we went camping. It was cold! Thankfully we didn't run out of propane until the morning of the end of our trip otherwise we would have had no heater in the trailer.

Kati,Emma,Ethan and Kati's boyfriend Brett also went camping with us. The kids had a great time running around and causing chaos. The grown ups hung around the fire and tried stay warm most of the time.

We ate a lot of food because we didn't plan the trip very well so we have double or at times triple of everything. We also went on a hike that was really cool. We never did get to the our destination but oh well.  It was nice to hang out with Kati and catch up on life in general. 

Lion King

For x-mas this year G-ma E's gift to us was tickets to go see The Lion King. We had tickets for opening night last month. It was hard to wait 8 months to go see it but it was worth the wait. Ryan,Dena and the kids also received the same gift. 

The day finally came and we went out to dinner at Cafe Rio together and headed to the show. The costumes were amazing! We really enjoyed the show and the kids were thrilled they were able to hang out with cousins. 

Try everything at least once

Maddie's friend Marina has recently joined a karate class. Since then Mads has wanted to join in. She even had a plan where Mariana could get her a buddy pass to try it out. So we tried it. She participated in class but I could tell she wasn't fully getting into it. She was shy. Marina on the other hand was way into it and I was very impressed when I saw her kick,punch and scream and I could see where Mads got her enthusiasm about trying it from.

Try everything at least once is something we try and teach the kids. Mads now knows she likes to go and watch Marina but doesn't know if she wants to join in yet, maybe someday.