My Only Sunshine

Handy

I know that this isn't so much a hand photo as a funny glove pic but I wanted to use it for i {heart} faces anyway.  My Bug, she is one sassy kid.

i Heart Faces - Dance

Wow, this week at i <3 Faces they are doing a dance theme.  Made for me, isn't it?

 
Here's Bitty as the Brown Mouse in this year's Nutcracker.  This was her dream role and she got it.  Go Bitty.

Geaux Saints!

I live in Dallas.  I love football.  You got it, I'm a diehard Cowboys fan.  Having said that, today I will be cheering loud and long for the New Orleans Saints.  Go Saints!!!

(Don't you love my little Cricut made Saints sign?  I was taking a break from cutting out the pieces for my kids' valentines for school)

The Mushrooms

Bug has three BFFs at school.  They eat together, play together, email each other, and have sleep overs as often as they can talk the parents into it.  They call themselves the "mushrooms" and love to make each other little crayon pictures of mushrooms and things like that.  They each have a color for their own mushroom persona.

Bug and I decided to make necklaces for each of the mushrooms in their colors.  While Bug was stringing beads onto Stretch Magic I was making little mushroom charms out of polymer clay.

 

The green one is for Bug.  I didn't want a head pin to show at the bottom so I used an eye pin stuck almost to the bottom of the mushroom and then added a drop of jewelry glue to hold the pin in after the curing was done.

 

The beaded cord matches the 'shrooms and is stretchy so it will fit over the kids' heads.  This is the first time I have used Stretch Magic and so far it is holding up really well.  They have been wearing their mushrooms for a couple of weeks now with no breakage.  These are 4th graders; they aren't the most gentle jewelry owners.

 

I tied the cord in two knots to secure it and applied a drop of jewelry glue between the knots.  The place where the cord is tied off is not noticeable at all.

I've been having fun with the polymer clay the last couple of weeks.  I got burned out on it when I was working with it every day for my knitting needle business.  I guess it has been long enough to get back to enjoying it.

Here's a pic of the 'shrooms in their necklaces.

iPhone Thursday

Here's the Bug in her swim warm-ups at the end of the first day.  Doesn't she look like the cutest little athlete?

This is the way the swimmers remember where they need to be and when.  The big numbers are the events and the smaller numbers are lane and heat number.

Isn't this costume for Bitty's tap recital cute?  Her sassy little personality should pair with this perfectly.

Last but not least, my favorite little elf pixie face at the pet store playing with the 8 week old ferrets.  Think the little critter liked my Bit?

Swim Bug

So obviously my kids are involved in lots of stuff.  If you've ever come around here before you can't help but notice that I have two little ballet dancers, a couple of tappers, a jazz and lyrical jazz dancer or two, a swimmer, a volleyball player, two girl scouts, and I'm probably forgetting some.  Yes, all of that in the form of two tiny little girls.

Today I'll just be showing off my swimmer Bug kid.  A couple of weeks ago she had her first big meet and boy was she great.

She swam two mornings in a row, 3 events each day.  This was her first time and she was thrown right in.  The kids are expected to know where they need to be, when they need to be there.  The meet doesn't stop once it has begun.  One event (some with many many heats) is run right after another.  Also, no parents on the pool deck so us moms can't be helping them get where they need to go, when they need to go there.  Bug didn't miss a step though, not even in a room with hundreds of swimmers all moving and talking and swimming at once.

Here's Bug swimming her 100scy (short course yards) Freestyle.  For a kid who has only really been swimming for a year or so, she has great form.  She also did the 50y Free.

Here's the little sweetie Bug dipping her feet in the warm-up pool.  She was very patiently waiting to swim her 100y IM (Individual medley).

Bug is pretty slow in the Breast Stroke but she went for it in the 100y IM and the 50y breast anyway.  I was a very proud Mommy.  She was DQ'd for each but that was to be expected.  She hasn't had much time practicing how to get her breast and butterfly rhythm correct or how to turn and touch at the end.  On top of that, Bug hadn't ever jumped off the blocks until the warm-ups for this meet.  She's a big, brave Bug.

Backstroke is Bug's best stroke and she competed in the 50 and 100y back.  It was so much fun to watch.  Meets can get pretty boring in between the heats your kid is in but it still made for a great weekend.  The next meet is Valentine's Day weekend and we are looking forward to it.  There's just one problem...

...Bug was diagnosed last week with anterior tibialis tendinitis.  

She is supposed to rest for 2 weeks which means no dance and no swim training that involves her feet.  Her coach has her doing dry deck arm and core work and next week she will be swimming with a pull buoy so that she won't be using her legs or feet at all.  We'll see how it goes.