So Grace can sew

Embroidering has long been a passion of mine starting around high school with back packs, jeans and t shirts. I've been sewing and embroidering more and more in the past few months. I've been anxious to pass my "skills" on to Grace (and Lucas eventually). So, I was excited to find some advice on teaching your children to sew in a new book that Steve got me a book called The Creative Family. There was a picture of her 3 year old sewing and I couldn't wait to get Grace started. We used burlap and DNC tied to a large, blunt tapestry needle as suggested in the book. She really got the hang of it fast.
Her first attempt. Concentrating.....concentrating.....concentrating......
It took me a while to get her to look up from her work so I could snap this picture. I think her favorite part of the whole process was----using mommy's scissors to cut the thread. Hopefully that will change as we try other projects in the future.
And what was Lucas doing, you wonder. He made off with my extra thread stash. So silly. He had been sitting on the little couch when he saw me with the camera taking pictures of Grace. He immediately got up and came over to see what all the fuss was about.
Can't you just hear his little grunts? "Uh-uh, mama, uh-uh". Oh, this baby boy is so sweet!

Children's day at Symphony Square

So, I packed up the kids and headed down to symphony square for Children's day. They have events every Wednesday morning during the summer. Pretty cool. I'm only sad that we missed the ballet folklorico. I think Grace would have loved that. It was really, really hot. At least there are trees to shield you from the direct sun but still. Whoo. It's not easy cooling off after walking 2 blocks carrying Lucas and trying to coax Grace to walk quickly.
Sitting patiently waiting for the show to begin. I think this is the best of several pictures I took, none with Lucas looking at me despite my yelling his name. He was more interested in the wood chips. Notice that Grace is holding her ballon. It promptly floated up into the trees above us after I attempted to tie it quickly to our back pack (Lucas was attempting an escape). "I'm gonna miss my balloon Mama, because I never had one like that before". Grace never misses an opportunity to be dramatic.
Beto y Los Fairlanes were the band of the day. They played after a quick song by a string quartet and a story about a cloud that says "ho,ho, ho" and a sun that says "tee, hee, hee." Grace really got into this story as there was a singing part (swinging, swinging, swinging high up to the sky, swinging, swinging, swinging high--that's to remind me). She made sure to remind me that santa says "ho, ho, ho", not clouds. See the jester at the top of the stairs dancing? Grace thought he was pretty silly.
A picture of the bridge that goes over the "moat" to get to the stage for those of you who have never been here before. It's a neat little outdoor auditorium. I think Steve would really like it because Serrano's is just a step away.
Lucas paying attention (briefly) to the music. I kept him busy with fruit loops and he kept me busy with fruit loops, dropping a handful on the ground. I think a few made it into his mouth before I noticed. He had dirt all over his hands and probably all over his tongue. To be honest, I just couldn't bear to look. Ignorance is bliss, right? He's still alive, so whew!
Grace listening to the music before it got too loud and she began covering her ears. She is so noise sensitive. It wasn't really all that loud. Needless to say we only made through a song and a half before she declared that she was ready to go home. "Not yet, baby", I said. To which she replied "Mommy I have to go pee pee" while jumping up and down. And that was that.

So not a complete disaster (she made it to the bathroom) but not a complete success. Maybe we'll try again. Seems like a lot of trouble for 20 minutes of entertainment. I have to say though that I really enjoyed the music, so much better than listening to "Dora, Dora, Dora the explorer" for the millionth time.

Please tell me it gets easier.

Fairy tea party

Grace and I attended our first fairy tea party at Terra Toys. She didn't dress up like a fairy but was sad when she saw the other little girls with their fairy wings and skirts. My fault for 1--not having a fairy outfit and 2--not thinking that others would show up with their fairy attire. Bad mommy. We had a good time despite my lack of foresight.The goal was to make your own fairy, get your face painted and have a cup of tea without losing your parent amidst the crowd and toys. They had various tables including a hair assembly table, a dress assembly table and the last table for wing/arm assembly and the final touch of adding fairy dust. Sprinkling (or should I say pouring) the fairy dust was Grace's favorite part. It took me several tries to get her away from that fairy dust (glitter). In the above picture she had just attached the hair.The final product after getting her away from the glitter.

A close up of the fairy now named fairy Myla (at least for today). Those eyes kind of creep me out but I couldn't convince her to cover them up with smaller google type eyes.

Enjoying a cup of pepperminty tea and a cookie. Neither was that great but what do you expect it was free. Like a good guest she drank the tea and ate the cookie but later confessed to me in the car that she didn't really like tea---"only milk mommy". Noted.

Getting her face painted. She did really well waiting patiently in line. She spoke up when asked what she wanted painted. "I would like a flower on my cheek, please." I was such a proud mama.

When she got a look at the finished product in the mirror she gasped (very dramatically) and said "Oh it's so beautiful". Of course.

On our way out the door. What a fun tea party, but next time we'll bring some fairy wings and milk.

This is what we found when we got home--Lucas hanging out with Grandpa watching cartoons.