Maddie's motorbike ride

This little daredevil just had her first ride on a motorbike when a lovely friend of ours delivered on a long awaited promise to take her out one Sunday after church. Being that she had just had her birthday it was perfect timing and they went for a half hour spin around his neighbourhood.

She came back full of smiles and adrenalin ready to do it all again at the earliest possible opportunity. I love her so much. She is everything I ever wanted to be and I get a front row seat. 

Starlight Festival of Dance - April 2022

Random luck of the draw, but we had dance competitions two weekends in a row. What are the chances?!

I am so so so so so proud of this girl! We had the Starlight Festival of Dance April competitions yesterday and today and she did so well! This morning in her 10/U Solo category against 16 other people, she placed 5th. She was so upset because she stumbled slightly at the very beginning, but still came away with a Special Mention from the judges (which is the equivalent of 5th place). That put the smile back on her face! Considering it's only the third time she's ever done her solo, that is phenomenal!

We are so grateful to her wonderful teacher Miss Amelie. She has offered so much guidance and support as well as beautiful choreography. She's the best!

She and Madison took out third place in their Lyrical Duo

and were really stoked with that!

The troupes were all back to back to back this afternoon, what a day! The lyrical troupe came in second place with their "Missing the Mark" dance. Me being the absolute sop I am, of course teared up as my girl was lifted up high in the middle of the dance, it was gorgeous!

Their contemporary troupe was awarded an honourable mention (4th place)

and their jazz troupe didn't place. I don't want to be mean, but it was not their best run through, so I can't say I was surprised. They've made a lot of changes to the dance earlier this year as more people were added to the troupe and I think perhaps it just wasn't polished enough.

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Our girls had their last routine on Wednesday 13/5. You can't tell, but they are NOT happy as they were out of time (and they knew it) and didn't perform well at all. 

They placed third out of three and spent the rest of the afternoon moping about it. But, they did their best, there is always next time - and for goodness sake, they placed first last weekend! They are alright in my books!

mermaid costume making

bookweek is on monday and madeline has decided she wants to be a mermaid. inspired by the shell crown my mum made her to wear to her mermaid party last year, that was what she decided it needed to be this year, so she could wear it again. so. this mum got to work.

inspired by this shirt i found online, i bought iridescent iron on vinyl patches from spotlight, traced and cut a pattern from tracing my computer screen and proceeded to cut each individual piece out, one by one. shoot me now, that's never happening again. 

but it worked and oh did it work, so it was totally worth it of course.

see, piece by piece, not fun. 

i ironed each one with a tea towel over the top to prevent it melting, but i think it was just sheer luck it worked out.

the skirt was very much inspired by this skirt my friend made for her daughter years ago for a costume day at their school, i had to search back for ages on her facebook but finally found it and just guessed and kind of winged it to make it the right shape.

which also miraculously worked, so maybe i am finally nailing this barbara junior gig hahaha. i can vouch though, the famous fork pleating video online works an absolute treat - cause that is how i managed to get this fishtail skirt to sit so nicely. 

she is so thrilled and i am chuffed, she can't wait to show it off at bookweek and keeps bragging to everyone that i made her costume. well, yes i did, so i guess i can be a little bit proud of myself too! ❤

 

madeline's ctr ring

when madeline turned 8, doug and i gave her a ctr ring to wear. many people in our church wear a ctr ring, a small shield that stands for "choose the right." it has rarely left her hand since and she was sure to mention it to her teacher that year to ensure that there wouldn't be an issue with the school dress policy as it is quite strict and does say that jewellery other than small earrings are not allowed, with the exception of items worn for cultural or religious significance. 

this year however, a lot of the girls in her class have been caught out with all kinds of jewellery on, plus nail polish which is also against the rules. madeline was caught in the classroom blitz and asked to remove her ring which thankfully she did without argument even though it upset her.

her mature, level headed response allowed me an opportunity to email with her teacher and explain our religious beliefs and the reason behind the ring, which was wonderful for me. we have been told to plant little seeds wherever we go and leave things better than we found them and this was my chance to do so. 

choose the right, when a choice is placed before you

in the right, the holy spirit guides

and its light is forever shining over you

when in the right your heart confides

choose the right, choose the right

let wisdom mark the way before 

in its light, choose the right

and god will bless you evermore

-choose the right lds hymns #239

madi and maddie

maddie was dying to hang out with her friend madi (madison) from dancing before the holidays ended so today we organised for morning tea with her and her mother at maison st honore, our favourite cafe. 

i think madi's mum is just wonderful, when alex was just a few weeks old, madeline had her first dance concert and i was not at all clued in on how to be a dance mum. she was so lovely to me at the dress rehearsal while i was juggling a new born and a tutu, gave me all the tips and was just so kind and i have never forgotten it. so many of the dance mums have no time for anyone else and she was just such a breath of fresh air.

the following year and then again this year i have gotten to know them better again as our girls have danced together in the competition lyrical troupe and it's been so fun to watch the girls together, they laugh so much, dance about and just really enjoy being around each other. i'm hoping it continues as it's a wonderful thing in life to have good friends.

mermaid cupcakes

i sent madeline off to class this morning with 23 of these decorated mermaid cupcakes for her "birthday." having her birthday mud july means she will never have her birthday during the school term, but she doesn't like to miss out on her special day with the class, so we always take her cupcakes on the last day before school holidays.

but. oh the drama. the mermaid cases and tails carefully purchased for this years party theme only had 23 cases inside...

the cakes did not want to stay in their cases and were moving all over the place in the trays...

meaning i had to actually trim them into a decent size for decorating. hahaha.

 

then my piping bag broke and icing went all over the place...

but we somehow got there. a generous topping of aqua cream cheese icing, a dash "midnight" sprinkles from the queen range at coles supermarkets and the mermaid tail on top? good to go. i was pleased with the end result and that's the main thing right? plus, i was  volunteer in the school canteen today and somehow walked past at just the right time as the kids came out for recess holding them. i got lots of compliments, so they obviously tasted okay. hooray! well. there's the start of birthday month for you miss madeline! 

a little scramble

sometimes things come out of your kids mouths that are so epic that you just have to record them to read back to them in 10 years time. 

here's a conversation i had with madeline last week:

maddie: (comes in and sighs dramatically) everyone hates me! penleigh (a girl in her class that she is very friendly with) hates me!!

me: i am sure penleigh doesn't hate you, you were playing together this morning when i dropped you off to school?

madeline: go and ask her in the morning and i am sure she will say (and she put on this very mocking voice) "oh madeline? i hate that little scramble!" 

i am not going to lie, i struggled to keep a straight face, and to be honest i don't know if i actually did! the next morning when i dropped her off to school, i said to her, where is that little scramble? do i need to have a chat with her? she nearly died. her face went so red and she quickly stammered, no! mum! you need to leave now! with pleasure my dear child. 

the word scramble is now being used in our house on a regular basis and i am loving it as it's always met with giggles from both children.

oh kids. they really do say the weirdest things! 

what an honour!

well the day has come, miss madeline received her first honour certificate today at their junior school assembly. it was adorable, they don't tell the kids beforehand, so she went up to get it with a look of absolute joy on her face, she was thrilled beyond words. of course i am a proud mum over here too... especially seeing as her teacher miss hannah said something so lovely about her "being a kind and caring classmate who is always striving to bring the best out of herself and those around her!" wow. lucky miss hannah has never seen her at home! hahahaha.

we celebrated (shhh there's no need for her to know that it was already planned) with the pinker girls this evening watching mamma mia 2 at the cinema. maddie and i love the first one and we have watched it over and over (and listened to the soundtrack in the car a million times) so it was a perfect movie to take her to. we loved it. i especially thought the younger cast were amazing, i feel like they got it so perfectly spot on when they chose the actors. it's just lovely. cheesy, but great. a definite must see if you like musicals!

a gold class party for maddie

there have been many childrens parties that i have put a lot of effort into... we've had paris, milk and cookies, princesses, my little pony, pineapples and moana for madeline, we've had dinosaurs, cars and planes for joseph... and this year i just wanted something small and simple. i didn't want to be baking all day and night and setting up until the early hours of the morning... so i went with something easy, but fun! 

a "gold class" party!

we bought this house, complete with a lovely fully decked out theatre room... a screen that spans almost an entire wall, projector, surround sound... and recliners. so what could be more prefect?!

our guests arrived and collected their bottle of water, tub of popcorn (empty yoghurt containers with microwave popcorn), tube of mini m&ms and a small container of starburst lollies.

then we settled in after much giggling, to watch our feature film...

disney zombies! it's the newest disney channel original movie, complete with singing and dancing (because lets be honest, it wouldn't be disney without it!) the girls loved it and sang and danced their little hearts out. perfect!

after the movie, we moved into the dining room for pizza and lemonade... also easy

and cake! aunty jenny was given the year off this year... as we decided on a simple gold star theme - and this mini cake from woolworths was perfect! just $7 and cut beautifully in to 8 pieces for our 8 kids. plus, in the middle were more of the gold balls as a cool surprise. the kids loved it!

all set up and ready to go, gold star decs left over from isabels first birthday party... gold polka dot plates, cups, napkins also left overs, but available at red dot. so cute and just right for the theme!

our birthday girl! ♥

hanging with her mates from school and church... they are such a cute little bunch and had the best time. it was definitely a good choice for a party!

happy birthday miss maddie! ♥

play dates!

there is nothing that makes me happier than little voices laughing and calling as they run and skip along. maddie and her friend brooklyn from school had a play after school yesterday, we went across the road to "our" park and i watched the girls build castles and swing the afternoon away...

they were super excited to find a ring of mushrooms (maybe, they may have been toadstools, there was no way in hell that i was letting them take them home and try them!) and insisted that they must be there for fairies to play in them. oh to be five again! ♥

our pre-primary girl

this morning i delivered this little girl to her new pre-primary class, where she will be attending full time! i can barely believe it, but my little girl is growing up so fast. we had a lovely surprise when we arrived at her classroom, to see her teacher is none other than her alternate wednesday teacher from last year... hooray!

what a cute kid! but seriously, do not let that sweet smile fool you, she is full to the brim of so much sass, that i am amazed it doesn't stream out her ears when she is sleeping...

here is hoping she has another great year and makes more great friends. we found out yesterday that she won't be in the same class as her two best friends this year, but i know she is strong enough to make plenty of new ones.

and just to prove it's not an issue, she and isabella found each other the minute the final bell went and posed happily for me... different classes? no problems! we've got this!

let's go 2017! ♥

off to school

look at her!!! our little girl was so super excited this morning and could not wait to get into her uniform and rush off to "kindy school"

she looks so grown up i can barely stand it. wahhhhh.

me and my favourite little girl

with mummy and daddy and raring to go

and getting a little nervous... but daddy was there to reassure her

she and joseph have spent every day together for so long that i thought he would be a little more upset at her disappearance but he took it well and was fairly calm all day.

her school bag that's almost as big as her hahaha

we all took her to school to drop her off and she was a little rockstar... she ran in, said hello and go straight into the activities, chatted to the other kids and didn't bat an eyelid when i said it was time for us to go. then when we picked here up she was full of stories about her class, classmates and her wonderful teacher, miss wheeler. we are so excited for her and what this year will bring. 

go little kindy girl! the world is yours for the taking!