The girls expressed interest learning to sew this summer. So, I have started “Mommy Sewing Lessons” with them. I created a seven week lesson plan, gathering ideas and printables from several blogs. Since the girls' new machine was still on the way, our first lesson was with my Bernina.
To introduce the basics of the sewing machine, we started with sewing straight lines on paper.
Molly is doing a great job of keeping her eyes on her project.
After the girls mastered the straight lines, they moved on to practicing turning corners and angles.
The finale of their first lesson was completing a Connect the Dots, sewing version!
They then requested more Connect the Dots to practice with. Looks like they've caught the sewing bug!
It’s been almost 10 months since Molly headed off for her first day of second grade, and the end has finally come. School ran until June 19th this year, which seemed late though it was actually one day earlier than last year. Molly loved the school year, but she was definitely ready for summer vacation.
Leah recently requested a watermelon dress. So, in true Mommy form, I delivered. A Blue Ribbon dress for the win!
Once Leah’s request was made, Molly echoed it too. I had just enough fabric to oblige and make her a Too Cute Tank dress.
There is a lot of sisterly love for watermelons because who doesn’t love watermelon, right?! Oh yeah, Daddy, that’s who. (The girls love to show him anything watermelon to get a reaction!)
You may have also noticed that the girls' hair is shorter. The house rule was that we'd go get hair cuts after Molly's ballet recital (her hair had to be long enough for a bun!), so Thursday was the day. :)
These dresses are perfect for the start of our summer!
Molly had her ballet recital last week. She has moved up to the Ballet II/III class this year, where she is one of the smallest of the group. That didn’t stop her from being a star.
Here’s the video of her fantastic dance.
And here are a few pictures of her throughout the performance.
Molly loves getting flowers. She starts anticipating getting them well in advance of the recital, wondering what she’ll get.
Leah dropped ballet this year so she could try other things (soccer, tennis), but she was very excited to come see Molly. She usually doesn’t get to see her live since she is backstage preparing for her own dance.
Here’s the whole crew that attended the performance, including us, Grams, Aunt Caroline, and Almost Uncle Charles.
To celebrate the end of preschool, Jen organized a party at Leah’s friend Norah’s house. They have a creek in their backyard, so all the kids spent most of their time there.
Squirt guns brought smiles.
Both Molly and Leah have this little boy in their crosshairs.
Playing in water can be such fun.
Towards the end, after many people had already left, the kids finally got out of the creek to play in a dry place.
Thanks so much to our hosts for such a great time!
Last week, Leah attended a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese’s. As Jen is not a fan of the establishment, I went along as her parental supervisor. Leah loved playing all the games. She was especially good at this basketball game.
Not long ago, Leah would have been scared to death of Chuck E (as the birthday girl here was, which is why she’s not pictured). Now, Leah’s giving him a high five with a smile on her face. She’s come a long way.
The week after graduation, Leah attended camp at her preschool. It was a Jungle Book theme, and she had a great time. Here she is with her shirt, hat, and binoculars after the last day.
The camp was lots of fun, educational, and served as a good way to delay the pain of goodbye.
For some time, I’ve wanted to get the girls some Snap Circuits. So, when we saw a deal on this set, I snapped it up. Snap Circuits are educational toys where kids can build circuits by snapping together resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, etc. The girls immediately started building some of the examples in the book. This one includes a speaker and a spinning fan, which you can see spinning right here.
Oh, and the fan spinner can also launch it into the air. Up it flies.
The girls have built lots of different circuits. They love being able to build lots of different stuff, and I enjoy getting to explain a bit of the basics of electronics to them. Fun and learning for the win!
