Kids' Eye View

Dalton got a hold of my "cramra" and took this very flattering picture of me. I forgot what I look like skinny!

California Cousins

We had a quick visit from Pat, Shannon, Joel and Leah last week.  The kids had a lot of fun.  Maggie spent the next couple days pretending to play with Leah.  This is the park just across the street from our house.

Lessons (Maggie)

I posted about Dalton's swimming lessons a couple weeks ago.  Here are some pictures from Maggie on Thursday.  She is doing great all of a sudden!

And one of baby boy for good measure.

And here is Maggie at her first dance class (Jazz Hop Tumble).

Hello Kitty Messenger Bag

I made something! No, really.  We were having a hard time finding a backpack we liked for Maggie, and John had the idea that a messenger bag would be easier for her to deal with.  So, I ended up making her one! She picked out the Hello Kitty fabric at Jo-Ann (it's actually flannel, which I somehow did NOT realize, but it worked fine).  I used black duckcloth for the bag exterior, with heavy stabilizer basted on.

I based the bag on this kid's messenger bag tutorial by Zaaberry, but I enlarged it so she can fit a folder inside - this is for Kindergarten, after all.  It looks huge on her, but the folder fits just right.

Here are the measurement changes I made:

Main bag pieces: 16x13 inches
Flap: 13.5x12 inches
Strap: 31 inches long

I used the Hello Kitty fabric on the inside, too. There's no pocket (I'll make her a little zippered pencil bag) but I did add velcro closures to the front of the bag and the flap.

Maggie Chadwick, Team USA 2024

The kids are really enjoying the Olympics, but the favorite so far is Rhythmic Gymnastics.  Maggie did an awesome routine in the kiddie pool using the pool noodle yesterday.  Today I made the kids ribbon streamers by stapling some lengths of ribbon to empty TP rolls.  Hopefully this distracted them from copying the wrestling match that was on after.

Church was over at 9:15 today, and John is gone, so we have a lot of time on our hands.

Newport Beach with Cousins

Newport Pier.

Swimming at our community pool to wash the sand off.  For another 2 hours.

Super kids!

Disneyland with Cousins

Dalton loves princesses.

Perhaps Dalton has realized he is outnumbered? 

Luigi's Flying Tires.

Yay, Pooh!

Favorite pose!

Dalton is obsessed with the bench. Bo-ring.

Here's the view from the boring-mom non-swinging gondola.

Mater's Tractor Jamboree.

Dancin' with Disney.

This is what Maggie thinks of it.

This one made me laugh, because we were also on the screen.