Falls

We packed the van up and went to Palisades Falls in Hyalite Canyon yesterday. It was a beautiful day and we really wanted to camp for the night, but we just couldn't get it all together. So, instead we made a simple dinner and hung out for a few hours before heading home. I am SOOOO happy summer is here. We're thinking of all the places we want to go this year. I'm trying to get organized and get things on the calendar. We've all been talking about camping for about 6 months now, and boy are we ready!

Summer is FINALLY here!

So, here's a few pictures from our summer solstice party. We had such a great time and the weather was so amazing.
This is the nature crown making station. The kids and I went on a walk before the party to gather all the materials we needed-sticks, pinecones, poppies, daisies, dandelions, leaves, anything we could find in our neighborhood. The crowns I had cut and duct taped together so they were ready for the party guests to pluck from the line and create. (The duct tape holds 2 crown pieces of paper bag together with the sticky side facing out-the sticky holds the nature "stuff" and also closes the crown around the child's head when finished.)
Mom and Madigan with completed crowns:

Pinata time!:




These girls were so funny! During the party, they went into the dress up drawer in Madigan's room and got all dressed up and then came outside again. It was so cute and funny. (Camera fuzziness happening again!)

Solstice!

We (as in Madigan and I) decided to throw a big summer solstice party on Monday night. I want to celebrate every solstice (even just our family) and never seem to make it the priority. But, this year went all out! We had a bout 30-35 guests of all ages. We had a pinata and nature crowns and mojitos. It was so much fun and I'd really like to make this an annual party.

Below is Madigan cutting some daisies for the nature crowns. She decided to wear this ballerina costume for the party. ..But then there were swimsuits and fairy costumes and sunglasses and the ballerina costume was no longer.


And this is our little ballerina taking a nap before the party.

Biking

Madigan finally got interest in and learned to ride her skuut bike (in 1 day!) So the other morning I had my coffee on the front porch and Madigan rode her bike in the driveway. We have little orange cones that we set up at the end of the driveway. Soon, they'll be made in obstacle courses and goalie posts. (The camera was doing some weird stuff and all other pictures came out fuzzy....more to come later.)

Reading Time

Here's Madigan reading on the couch the other day. She seems so old in these pictures.

Big Brother, Big Sister

Madigan's friend Tommy became a big brother just a few months before Madigan became big sister. When he was over for a play date a few weeks ago I caught them feeding their babies (which was Tommy's idea-even cuter!).

Cat drawings

These are Madigan's cat drawings from tonight. I love them. I have looked at them over and over since she showed me. After dinner Leo was asleep and her and I painted. She started to paint a rainbow, but as soon as she got the first long stroke done, she said "it's a slide!, let's draw stairs"....so we did and it was really fun.

Now on to the complexities of cat families:
This top picture is a mama cat with a big sister cat AND all her baby cats in her belly.
And this picture is a "mama cat's belly" with babies in her belly and the big sister is "waiting" (outside the belly).
Not sure if I have mentioned it here before, but Madigan is very into every family of any kind of animal/person having a mama, daddy, big sister and little brother or baby...even trees have this family order. It's so sweet.

Recital Day

Here's a few pictures from the day of the performance. We visited lots of people. Our neighbors snapped the one of all 3 of us (he just had eye surgery, which may have contributed to the fuzzy factor-oh well). Madigan did great, and had a really fun time!

I had our neighborhood floral lady at Safeway put together 2 pink roses with lots of ribbon and girly stuff. Madigan was very surprised and very happy with her flowers.

Ballet Overload

Here's photos from Madigan's ballet recital dress rehearsal last Thursday night. (We're not allowed to photograph the day of since there's a professional who does it, and it's very disruptive to others.) Unfortunately Kyle was out of town for over a week and missed it so sad! Madigan is the youngest and smallest in her class which made her extra special cute!! She did such a great job. When I first signed her up I thought for sure she wouldn't do the recital. But about half way through she started talking about it and then she did it! she has really enjoyed this class and the new friends. Next year she may do a ballet tap combo class, but we still need to decide. I'll be sending the link to the video this week by email. (I haven't figured out how to post videos longer then a minute on this blog.)