Our Sunday

We had a wonderfully lazy Sunday morning today. We had something to do at Church yesterday, so since we would already be there, we decided to go ahead and attend the evening mass. It was a nice change of pace...and also meant there was no need to jump out of bed and get moving this morning :) Once we were all up and moving, Madeline and I did a little grocery shopping. When we returned, Ethan was sporting this awesome hat that I haven't seen in quite some time: While Doug and I were putting away groceries we heard Madeline say, "Come on Ethan! Let me show you how to draw a rainbow!" So they ran to grab some paper and crayons, and set themselves up in the family room. Ethan working on his rainbow:

Her mouth was going a mile a minute telling him how to draw a rainbow. I was surprised she didn't get annoyed that he wasn't doing it right. Sometimes it bothers her when he can't do things that she can...but sometimes she understands :)

TaDa!!

Ta da!!

There we go.... TADA!!

Our kids have become huge Sugarland fans :) They love their latest CD and know most of the words to a few songs. Tonight, I replayed Sugarland's appearance on American Idol for them. They've watched it a couple times, but were beyond excited to watch it again....and again...and again..

She kept asking me to take pictures of her clapping :)

My goal for the week is to get a video of them singing "Stuck Like Glue" and post it on here...we'll see!

Soccer Game #1, Season #2

Doug and I just can't get over the growth/maturity in Madeline just since the last season she played soccer! She seems so much more skilled, focused and brave. The entire season last year, we would have never seen her this close to the action:
Ready to kick off (by the way, although the playing with the hair was a regular occurrence last season, this had to be the only time she did it this whole game):

OUR BABY GIRL KICKED THE BALL!!!!! The ENTIRE season last time, Madeline didn't touch the ball one single time in any game... but this game, she was aiming to score!!!

The boy on our team, behind her ended up scoring for us! We were so excited for her "assist." On another note, the girl playing defense was on Madeline team last year (they were so excited to see each other!) and her little brother is there playing too! How cute!

I have to share this next picture. I took it just because I was sitting there on this beautiful day, watching our "baby" playing an organized sport...with teammates....and a coach....and a jersey... it's kind of corny, but it just gives me goosebumps sometimes to sit back and realize our little baby...is growing up:

...and her little brother is just content playing in dirt:

My Attempts at Skirt-making

Months ago, my friend emailed me directions on how to sew skirts. The warm weather we've been having the past few weeks motivated me to give it a try. I made many mistakes throughout the process and both skirts have things that need to be fixed, but here's what I have so far:
This was the first one. I attached the two pieces incorrectly, so it has sort of a bubble look. I could take it out and redo it, but I'm not crazy about the length...so trying to decide what to do:
So on my second attempt, I made the fabric longer, and attached the two pieces differently, but for some reason, cut the pieces narrower, so it fits much slimmer (which I'm not thrilled with):
But how about that model!!!!
I think the third time will be the charm. I do plan on making adjustments to these as well. And when all is done, there will be an applique on the shirt to match the skirt. Hopefully, this will be sooner rather than later!

FREE ICE CREAM!!!

March 12, 2011
Bruster's annual "wear your pj's and get free ice cream" day:
She wanted green ice cream:

I think that was one of the three bites he took before handing it over to me. The boy is just not big into sweets like his sis and mama. But he sure loved the event nonetheless:

The Rest of my B-day

The evening of my b-day, Doug and I went out to dinner...by ourselves:
Our friend Janette arranged to have our kids come over that night. She had even called Doug to make sure it was planned because she felt like would not take advantage of the offer since she had already watched our kids twice, earlier in the week during our parenting class and my DAR meeting. But that's Janette for you... such a big heart and always wanting to do things for others. Believe it or not, we actually planned on our kids having their first slumber party over their house!! So Madeline had to get herself ready to go:

...and it didn't even phase her:

The kids did awesome over there. Madeline got a little upset and nervous before we left to go to dinner, but we told her if she still felt uneasy after dinner, Mrs. Janette would let us know and we'd come back...it wasn't a big deal. But she had a blast!!! Originally, it was Ethan that we were most nervous about, but apparently he was the first asleep, and the last awake! Yay for a successful sleepover!! Woohoo!! And with such an amazing family...couldn't ask for more :)

Ok, except for Sugarland tickets (thanks Mom!!!!) and an Edible Arrangement to enjoy on the couch past my bedtime:

Thanks everyone for making this birthday so special.

I Guess I Kinda Threw Myself a Party..

Friday was my birthday and we didn't really have anything planned until the evening after Doug got home. Originally we were going to try to make a trip to the zoo or something, but things came up at Dougy's work, so we just postponed it until Monday. However, earlier in the week a few friends had mentioned to me that they wanted to learn how to make a pillowcase dress. So I invited them over on Friday morning for a play date/sewing lesson. After everyone had arrived, we had one more surprise guest. An Edible Arrangements delivery from my mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law!!! A W E S O M E !!!!!!

My friend, Sarah, saw my camera on the counter and grabbed it when she saw who was at the door....Thanks Sarah! I like how little E is in the picture!

Most of my friends that came over were aware it was my birthday and surprised me with a few goodies. The little cake on the left is an ice cream cake that my friend, YenWen and her little girl, Macy had "Happy Birthday Megan" written on and the big sheet cake was brought by Janette and her girls :) Oh, and don't forget the yummy brownies from Jolene :)

Lighting all 29 candles:

They crack me up:

Singing to me:

Good thing I had some helpers!!!

It was a VERY special b-day morning! We've been so very blessed with wonderful friends here :)

Gymnastics!

Our Mom's group made a visit to Gymnastics Gold again. We always love going to these gymnastics meetups!! This time, they had it divided into age groups. Madeline went along with the "older" children for teacher instructed class: Mighty Mytes. I could easily see her from where I was with Ethan for the Mommy and Me class. I would like him to do a class independently, but he is still quite shy when he first encounters new and/or unfamiliar environments. He was excited to "play" on all of the equipment, but if he noticed the teacher or other parents (actually there was only two other adults with our age group and they were a set of grandparents) looking at him, he would climb behind me and hide or drop to the ground and hide his eyes. I know this is just how he is initially as he just need time to warm up...and to know that Mommy isn't around :) Once he started getting a little comfortable, I started chatting with a friend and then eventually had that friend block his view of me. He went to get on the balance beam, but knew he needed help. He looked all around for me but couldn't see me. Miss Sparky saw me "hiding" so she walked over and asked Ethan if he wanted to hold her hand. He took one last look for me and then gave it...and never looked back. Even after eventually noticing me, he was ok to let Miss Sparky, as well as others, help him. :) Good job Ethan :)

Here's Miss Sparky giving Ethan a little help over the rock wall. This was one f his favorite pieces and something he did probably 8-10 times. He could climb up the wall himself, but needed help getting his legs over to the other side:

Every time I caught a glimpse of Madeline, she had a huge smile on her face :)

Bear Crawl:

JUMPING!!

Good times!

Soccer....Round 2

Madeline had her first soccer practice of this season last Tuesday! I was surprised by how excited about it she was, since last season she seemed considerably uninterested in playing. She enjoyed bits and pieces of the practices (primarily the socializing, as usual), but would just play with her hair, pick at the dirt, and run in the opposite direction of the ball. But when I asked her if she wanted to sign up again...she was excited! So last Tuesday we got her dressed up for practice and she ran right out front with her ball to get warmed up.I was thrilled with who she got as a coach this time!! The lady from last season was very nice and meant well...but just not a teacher, and not a soccer player. This guy coaches girls high school soccer and is awesome with the kids. There was never a second of down time, therefore no repeated herding was necessary.

Madeline has shown a lot of improvement in "class settings" with understanding the processes of things, but there's one this we still have to work on: The girl just loves to talk. I blame it on my mother. Madeline just has it in her genes and can't help it. She's getting much better though with finding the appropriate times to talk. Her ballet teacher says she's shown tremendous improvement :) and therefore her skills have shown tremendous improvement.She played the entire 45 minutes practice without touching her hair or dirt/grass once! And she looked awesome out there!!

Still her favorite part "GO BLITZ!!"

He Does it All

He vacuums:
and takes care of us:

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

...and the kids are playing in it:

Our Artist

One of Madeline's latest pieces:

Lastest Sewing Project

A friend taught me how to make this bag the other night. I love this sewing thing...

so I made us a Library bag:

Riverbanks Zoo

As a very last minute decision last Friday, I decided to take the kids to Columbia, SC to visit the Riverbanks Zoo. It's the closest zoo to us and about and hour and twenty minutes away. Another friend has planned to be there, so Ethan was excited to have his buddy Aidan:

Ethan laughed hysterically at these chickens....not sure why:

I signed Madeline up to do a little class they had there:

It was for 3 and 4 year olds, but Ethan joined them for a little bit:

He loved when it was puppet show time:

Sponge painting a shell:

We decided to go ahead and get a family membership this year. It's not only allows us admission into the zoo, but also bracelets to wear that allow us to do most of the other attractions without paying additional money. For example, we got to ride a train!!! This was one of the highlights of the trip:

Ethan was most mesmerized watching the lights and crossing:

Another favorite (probably THE favorite) was feeding the giraffes. Our bracelets got us food to give them. I couldn't believe how brave Ethan was with the giraffes!! Totally out of character!

Madeline was a little more timid with them:

...but was very willing to help her brother!

Our bracelets also got the kids rides on a pony! Ethan was nervous, but I could tell he still wanted to do it:

...and off he went:

HE LOVED IT!
As did she:

One of Madeline's favorite things, the carousal:

I asked the boys to give me a thumbs up:

We loved the flamingos, and Madeline loves telling what she learned about them during her class:

He was intrigued by them man cleaning the tank:

I felt so bad for the turtle with the duck tape!

Funny kids

Family shot:

As we were leaving, I saw Ethan go over to the Lion and this is what he did:

...and found it quite funny:

I asked the kids to sit on the lion so I could get a picture...and this is what I got:

GOOD TIMES!