girls without limits

today was by far the day of the holidays that miss madeline has looked forward to the most... the day she fiiiiiiinally got to go to girls without limits! we heard about the program from one of the teachers at school who we are good friends with, her daughter goes and loves it. it is to teach girls ages 8 and up about self-worth, mindfulness, acceptance, respect etc., all values that seem to often take a backseat in todays world.

they do run after school programs, but with the amount of dance maddie does, it makes it a bit difficult to fit other things in, so we booked her into one of the school holiday day programs. 

the girls chatted, made clay figures, painted them, made bliss balls and a collage. madeline just loves anything arty, so she was thrilled to bits with all of the above.

as was i when i arrived to collect her and saw the gorgeous set up and how happy all the girls (including mine) looked. we will absolutely be coming back for more of their holiday programs and maybe even do some of the after school drop in ones, it looks like there is a lot of fun to be had here, with other things like meditation and yoga also part on the menu.

she didn't even want to come home... "oh good, here let me hold alex, i want to show you this and this and this." with pleasure maddie, with pleasure.

i truly hope this girl goes places in the world and doesn't see limits, she certainly has a very bright future in front of her and i am so proud of her and everything she does. she throws herself fully into everything and i am sure it will get her places. go maddie, shoot for the moon! ♥

art in april with kelly canby

my mum follows a super fun childrens author and illustrator on instagram called kelly canby... then a few weeks ago, mum sent me a post of hers, saying that she was running free drawing workshops at the subiaco library for school aged children during the coming holidays. i quickly tried to book them in, was super annoyed to see that it was booked out, then saw that there was a junior workshop too - and madeline just scraped in. hooray!

kelly was so much fun! she encouraged them to get as messy as possible and to have a huge imagination! she began by asking "just to make sure" that no one had worn their best clothes or arrived in a wedding dress. haha. joseph was pleased, he looooves to get messy.

one of the first activities was to draw an alien. each child was told to draw a body and we watched them carefull do exactly what they wanted, only to be told that they had to move one paper to the right each time they finished drawing something. kelly had a few dice and would let the kids roll them, to decide the number of whatever they were adding next. 3 mouths! 12 ears! don't forget, they can be anywhere, not just in the normal place. 

the kids had so much fun at her workshop. she was so easy to like and interacted with them all as she went around the room. 

one happy messy boy.

their final task was to draw a special character of their own with everything they had learnt today. this is joseph's, a boy called kyilem (kylam) after our friend kylam parsons. (em he still talks about him nonstop! haha)

and madeline's a very flexible girl called isabell (i swear she is going to call her daughter that one day. every girl thing she ever has to name is either isabel, or isabella) yes. that is he leg she is holding up like a ballerina/gymnast whatever she is. 

my favourite part of the morning was when kelly got the kids to come up and tell everyone about their drawing. "come up here and show off your picture, but i'd like you to do it like this: i'm joseph and this is my picture. everyone: wow joseph that's amaaaaazing. joseph: i know right! then tell us about your picture. okay go." so much fun!

kelly canby, you are a national treasure. i truly hope we get to meet you again one day! ♥

and one more thing from my book loving self... how cool is this wallpaper in the bathroom! obsessed! i need some for my bathroom!

funning at bunnings

there is nothing, i repeat nothing, better than free local events to entertain kids during the school holidays... and our local bunnings has come up with the goods. after booking our kids in online, i met a bunch of the other mums from church there so we could gasbag while our kids participated in some easter fun.

but first, some silly photos.

the staff had organised some easter crafts and colouring followed by minute to win it games in their kids area. such a pity i can't upload videos to my blog, this one was a challenge to place an oreo on your forehead and get it into your mouth using only your facial muscles. what the heck.

just so you know, he did not manage to do it, but the oreo ended up in his mouth regardless.

these two nuggets had the time of their life trying to do it

failing miserably

and then laughing about it afterwards.

the easter bunny also arrived to hand out eggs and pose for photos. how i hope that if the easter bunny is indeed real that it is a magical rabbit (that actually looks like a rabbit) that hops around with a basket, rather than a horrifying looking adult in a bunny costume. yikes. the kids didn't seem to mind though.

mads and my little bub. so cute. 

today was a great day ♥

christmas in elfenbrook

a week or two ago, the owners of madeline's dance school posted in their parents page that the school would be participating in the annual ellenbrook christmas pageant "christmas in elfenbrook" and asked for volunteers to be part of their group as they danced their way down the main street. maddie was thrilled to pieces and instantly said she'd love to do it, so i put her name down... i must admit though, i actually thought it was unlikely she'd get to be in it, as she was one of only a handful of kids who only do one class - and therefore only had one costume from the concert... which is what they would be wearing.

to my surprise though, a sheet came out with their allocated costumes and positions in the parade and there she was! i actually had a laugh with one of the teachers, who said she'd internally groaned knowing she had to put the tutus in, as they are so huge they require extra space around them, and therefore only allowed for three of them in their line, instead of the five in all the others. oops.

i was incredibly proud of myself, as i managed to do her makeup myself this time, full stage makeup, with the heavy eye shadow, liner (with added glitter at little miss's request) and bright red lippie. (maybe i can do this dance mum thing after all. haha. also, maybe not? i am the least dance mummiest person there is!)

we had a great time at the parade, watching all the people go by, (my favourite was the gingerbread man below, oh and of course, my daughter! tehe) eating icecream (we tried the ones that are little balls in a cup, if you haven't tried them, you should, they are yum!) looking at the stalls - and buying crystals for miss madeline... it was a fun afternoon.

the adorable gingerbread man

and miss madeline in her bright blue tutu... such a good colour for her! if only the makeup didn't make her look like she is twelve all of a sudden! i can't cope...

merry christmas elfenbrook! we love where we live!