Sick Sunday

While I was sick today, we were thinking about doing some other stuff instead of just laying down. We decided to make a puppet movie. 

This is me during rehearsals. We filmed the movie and mommy is editing it. I will post it in my journal when it is done. 

Maddy's Castle

We got a lot of snow here in Freeport on Saturday. Maddy is loving it! She spent 3 hours outside on Saturday morning playing in the snow. Mommy came too. We built Hyrule Castle. 

It even included Guardians. There was so many, they got stuck!

This is Hyrule Castle. We were trying to make a tunnel under the Guardians so people could get out safely. The tunnel collapsed though.

This is a tunnel Maddy dug out by the road since the other tunnel took too long.

Maddy had a snow day on Friday and watched a lot of "The Great British Bake-off" with Nan. She wanted to have her own British Baking show at home. So we made strawberry cake!

Maddy found a pair of handcuffs in her room. She was messing with them for too long and got stuck!

After all that, Maddy is home sick on Sunday. She'll be ready for school on Monday though.

Maddy has a plan

I'm not sure what started it this morning, but Maddy decided what she is going to be for Halloween today. She is going to be a dog from one of the cartoons she watches. The show is called Canimals and his name is Uly.

He is an adorable little dog that eats everything. And when people are around he can pull his head and legs into his can, so he looks like just a tin of food and no one knows the Canimals are there.

So during church, she started working on her plan for her costume.

She figured out the basic design. Then she explained to me that she will need 4 socks for her hands and feet so she can have paws and she needs 2 arm cannons so that her arms will be brown. (Arm cannons are paper rolls that go around your arms. The boys make them often when they are pretending to be Mega Man.)

Then after church, she immediately went up to her room and started working on the can and the headband. This was the result.

She went back and made the arm and leg rolls after this picture. Now, to find a brown shirt and pants to complete the ensemble. I just love how she had an idea, made a plan and did it. She is so cool!

BONUS PICTURE

I was going through some drawers in the Green Room today and found this Disney shirt. I can't believe Maddy is finally big enough to use it for a sleeping shirt! She is growing like crazy!!

Make the World a Better Place

Maddy was working on a Girl Scout petal today. She had to re-enact a story from her book and this is what she came up with.

There's a part at the end that is a little hard to hear about what the puppets can do to make a difference. Maddy was rolling around on the floor for this bit, so she gets a little too far away from the microphone. She says that they should go home and make a sign about no paper bags and no juice boxes... and no paper bags. The idea from the story is that the girls encourage people to use reusable stuff instead of just things that can be thrown away.

She did pretty good though.

Maddy's Birthday

Alright, Ash took all the good pictures today, but I got this one! Tonight after everyone had left, Maddy, Ash, and I all got out our coloring books and colored with Maddy's new art supplies.

A lovely end to a lovely day.

Color Wheel

We are moving on to painting in art class this year. We started with color wheels.

The circles reminded Maddy of planets, so she decided to paint a picture for Leif's birthday tomorrow of planets in space.
 

I think he'll like it.

Three Kings Day with the boys

Tonight we went over to Carolyn and Scott's house to celebrate Three Kings Day. I do not know much about this holiday other than it symbolizes the end of the Christmas season and there's a yummy cake with a baby figure hidden in it. Whoever gets the piece with the baby has good luck for the rest of the year and gets to be the king for a day. They also have to help make the cake next year.

The "baby" turned up pretty quick this year...

In Sven's piece. He was delighted to be king. Scott made him a crown.

The other kids were a little disappointed, but at least they still got cake.

Carolyn made Sven a better crown and he is looking forward to being king at home tomorrow!

Maybe next year Maddy.

New Year's Eve with Maddy

We all needed some down time today after a crazy week, so we spent New Year's Eve at home playing games. We started with a video game and as the day progressed, we moved to board games.

I love this picture of Maddy playing Orchard so much, not because she is actually having fun playing a board game and actually played 3 complete games of this in a row with me. I love it because her new stuffed dog, Shine, and Fudge, the puppet are playing with us. Maddy and I rolled for them. They did a nice job.

Then Nan came over for a bit. Ash and I took a walk while Maddy and Nan watched Canimals. Then Maddy went to bed.

So she is ringing in the New Year with her glow-cat Pica and her dog Shine and a good nights sleep.

Some Christmas pics

This time of year is always a little crazy, but I actually got some pictures taken Christmas day. Maddy has been telling us for the last two weeks that she was going to wait until after church on Christmas to even look in her stocking and as for the presents, we were definitely going to open them after church. Ash and I just shrugged. Whatever Maddy wants.

Maddy was in my room at 7:30 am on Christmas morning asking if she could go down and open her stocking. When I reminded her that she had been wanting to wait till after church, her reply was that she was just too excited.

Ash and I were happy to oblige. We were just as excited as she was! So presents and stockings Christmas morning.

Maddy was thrilled with her presents! She got plenty of art supplies.

A new cat nightlight that she is calling Pica and a crazy fat stuffed dog she named Shine. Pica and Shine immediately started playing with the puppets and their new camper. The only problem was Pica and Shine are huge, so they had to ride on the top.

The puppets called them monsters, but as long as they were nice, the puppets were happy to give them a ride.

Shine even hitched a ride to church with us in Maddy's coat.

After church, Maddy broke out her new spa and spent most of the afternoon soaking her feet.

She is a pretty lucky girl.

Happy Birthday to Scott

Today was Scott's birthday, so we all got together for a party at his house.

It was nice getting everyone together.

Carolyn made a beautiful cake! (Actually, this was the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten!)

The kids made sure to put 34 candles on it. (Possibly a fire hazard.)

It took Scott 3 breaths to blow them all out!

Then everyone enjoyed a rich bounty of cakes. Chocolate and a gluten-free blackberry cake.

Afterwards, we played Scott's birthday present - a game called Bean Boozled. To play the game you spin a spinner and it tells you what color of jellybean to pick. Now each color has two different flavors. One flavor is good - like buttered popcorn. The other flavor is terrible - like rotten egg. You never know which flavor you are going to get when you pick your colored jelly bean... until you bite down that is.

We learned a couple things from playing tonight.

#1. A normal person can go about 3-4 rounds before refusing to play anymore because the bad flavors are just absolutely terrible.

#2. A stubborn person, like Scott, will continue to play, but requires a trashcan nearby to spit out the nasty ones.

#3. Dad will eat anything and like it... kind of terrifying really.

Maddy in slo-mo

Here's a video that Ash put together from some of what he shot at the park on Saturday. Not bad for a cold grey day.

Maddy at the park

We got out today as a family and it was so nice. We had a great time at the park, especially Maddy. She got to do her favorite activity which is swinging.

After about 20 min, she was freezing though and snagged my sweater. She looks really cute in it. 

Ash was getting video today and Maddy turned out to be a great subject!

A flying leap across the creek ended Maddy's day. Not because she fell in. She didn't. She actually made the jump, but it was time to get home.

We had a great time today!

Maddy reads!

Maddy has been working hard on her reading this month. Here's a quick video of how she is progressing.

Sorry it's a bit sideways. She's still cute though.

The Sassy police

We had a Halloween party at church yesterday. It was a lot of fun. Sadly, my phone died in the middle of it, so I didn't get many pics. Here's a few I did get though.

Scott and Carolyn and the kids helped us decorate the night before.

The night of the party, there were some great costumes! Carolyn's was my favorite. She went as Kiki, the witch from Kiki's Delivery Service.

Here's the original. I thought Carolyn did a great job!

And, of course, Officer Maddy looked great!

The best part though is that Maddy was up this morning playing with her walkie talkie and "taking calls" from people needing assistance. Mostly it was just Benjamin Bunny, but if a real emergency had happened, Maddy would have been ready.

Maddy gets a package

Just a quick pic today of a very happy girl who got a package in the mail. Ash set it up perfectly too! He came in the house with a box and said, "Well, it's not for me."

Then to me, he said, "It's not for you. So that means it's for..."

"Maddy?" I supplied.

Maddy practically leaped out of her seat. She tossed her video game controller aside and launched across the floor.

She was thrilled!

 And shared her treats with everyone!

Maddy Marching

Maddy's Girl Scout troop marched in the Homecoming Parade tonight. Maddy has been looking forward to marching in the parade for the last week. I could not imagine why. To me it just sounded like a lot of walking, but in Maddy's mind it was a magical experience that involved candy.

I half expected that I would end up having to carry Maddy through the parade, but I was wrong. Their leader had decorated a wagon for their troop and filled it with candy for the girls to throw and those girls threw candy like anything. They even occasionally had to be reminded to throw it gently. It was hilarious watching Maddy scamper from one side of the street to the other, tossing candy at everyone she could see. It didn't matter if you were old or young or not even watching the parade. Maddy would throw candy at you. Here's a few pictures that I took.

Maddy's leaders are brilliant. At the end of the parade, each girl received a bag with their own candy and a patch. Maddy was the happiest girl ever!

Looking so big

Maddy is growing like crazy. Today her and mom came to meet me with the dog when I was walking home from work. She just came up looking so big in her shorts and tennis shoes, hauling the crazy dog along... or being hauled by the crazy dog depending on if another dog was walking by or not.

I would just like to point out that I made the shorts that she is wearing!! She is so sassy!

The Scouts

I managed to get a picture of the all three kids in their scouting uniforms today. They are all so cute and excited about what they are doing! Well, OK, Maddy looks less than thrilled, but that is because Leif is walking around behind the three of them and she is trying to see what he is doing.

She and Leif get along really well. It still makes me nervous to see her pick him up and haul him around though. He is getting so big!

It's so nice having some of the cousins close by!