We went camping last weekend with friends- somehow we managed to avoid camping last summer altogether and we have really missed it! It was fun to get out and enjoy some quiet time, although we did not enjoy the rain both mornings! Hopefully next time we go (probably in August sometime) we can enjoy some rain free camping! We went with some friends who have an annual croquet tournament. Neither one of us came home with the championship, but then again, we hadn't really brushed up our croquet skills either....
Maddie had a taste of a s'more and decided it was not for her, but she did like the toasting marshmallows part. She just preferred to eat strawberries and the hershey bars and leave the rest for the other kids!
It was a fun weekend with lots of kids, but also lots of great cuddle time with our sweet girl!
Baba was certainly not exempt from the cuddle time either!
This was Maddie's formal look earlier this week. We have two giant hydrandgea bushes on the side of our house, and I love putting flowers in Maddie's hair in the summertime. She has braids or ponytails every day, so it's easy to do. it was a bit of a cool day, so I had put a long sleeve dress on her and put some flowers in her hair. She didn't think it was fancy enough I guess and opted to add the necklace and headband while we're at it? Don't forget the flower rainboots. It was chilly that day, but not raining. I have recently found out that Samuel (you've got to say that with a swoon....) wears his rainboots to school sometimes, and Samuel (swoon) is her best friend and Samuel (swoon) likes to take her shoe off and be silly...etc... etc...To finalize the ensemble, pink plastic turtle (A gift from my dear friend Tita in China while I was still in China with Maddie) had to make a trip to school that day, although he DID have to stay in the car.
Remember that picture at the top of this posting that I said she did last week? This is one she did tonight. Yes, only a week later. Baba saw it and thought I was being silly and drew it- but no, she drew it completely undirected and without any help from me. This is Violet. She drew it as this:her eyes, these are her eyebrows, now, her mouth ("is it a smile?")- no, it's a sad mouth because she is in China and not here, and her eyes (the dots). Finally she drew the hair, then made the mouth look "open" but still it was a sad mouth she told me. Then, she said she wanted to send it to Violet. So we tore it out of the book, and I have a little package being handcarried tomorrow, so she will get it, although I will probably just give her a copy and keep the original!
Crazy huh? Jeremy said, "I don't think I was drawing eyebrows until I was 8...."
These two photos are in the last few weeks as well- they already went over to Violet for this second care package we are about to send- in the form of a photo book. Yes- that's a part of our garden behind Maddie. It's only a few weeks ago, but everything is much larger now!
