Moving On UP!!!

Today the Sonora Intermediate had their annual awards ceremony and Madalyn did amazing.  We are so blessed to have a sweet, kindhearted, artist, intelligent child like her.  She isn't totally perfect and she is for sure a PRE-TEEN that sometimes I would like to kill, but for the most part she does pretty darn good.

She won the Law Enforcement Memorial poster contest.  Each child from 3rd-5th designed a poster in art class for this contest.  Half of the posters were distributed to the police station and the other half to the sheriff's department, each one picked their Best of Show winner, which included a $10 gift card to Alco.  I haven't seen the poster but she described it to me and it sounds wonderful.  Sheriff Joe Fincher said the station said that she was hands down the winner.  In case you didn't know, art is Madalyn's passion.

She also received an award for Perfect Attendance.  This is the first time she has had perfect attendance usually she gets almost perfect attendance.  She received 10 free pool passes as a reward.

Madalyn loves to read but Madalyn also loves TV.  Sometimes it is real hard for her to make the right decision but usually she does which is why she has excelled so much.  This year she set a personal goal of 105 AR points which is way above the school's goal of 85.  She exceeded her goal and ended up with 111 AR points.  She received an awesome gold medal for her achievement.

Oooo's and Awww's are welcome too.  I made this dress for her to wear today.  I am so proud that it looked so good on her.  She loved it as well.  It doesn't get any better than that:)

Spring Break 2012

We are addicted to skiing.  We did so good at Christmas that we decided to go again for Spring Break.  After some research we decided to go somewhere within driving distance and settled on Angel Fire.  We loved that it was also ski in and ski out.  Each year we go to Ruidoso it is a pain to load the car each day to head up the mountain and then unload it all to ski.

David has been skiing since he was a little boy so he is much better than us.  I had attempted skiing many times over the last 10 years but in recent years I have really focused on my technique.  I can say that I am a good skier.  I can keep up with David just fine.  Madalyn is a cautious kid but that seems to have helped her.  She started off slow but now she is skiing like a professional.  She is still cautious but she will at least attempt it all.  Weston, on my sweet Weston...this kid is literally good at everything he tries and skiing was no exception.  He had only skied this past Christmas break for a few days.  He went to a day long ski school and then had 1.5 hour private lesson.  Well, that was all it took.  He was skiing down blues like he had been doing it forever.  He just lets himself go...which is great but also scares the crap out of me.  I have to look away a lot because I am so afraid but he really seems to know how to handle himself on the mountain.  His instructor at the school he took during Spring Break had them prepared to do a black run, a black run, a black run...yes, I repeated myself on purpose because I am far from ready to do a black run.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.  It was a blast and we highly recommend you try out Angel Fire.

I am a seamstress

I am a seamstress might be a bit of a white lie.  I am sewing and loving it.  About a month ago Mrs. Diann Keller gave me 6 hours worth of sewing lessons at my house.  I had already purchased a sewing machine so I knew I had to make at least one thing.  I was worried my one thing was going to be a $130 dollar (cost of the machine) mini pillowcase.  This was not sew...I mean so.  I made a cute little summer skirt that looks adorable and I am even proud enough to wear it. 

Since then I have made a dress for Madalyn, one for Averi (my niece), shorts for Weston and a few more.  Here are a few of my creations in the last few weeks. 

My second creation, a dress for Madalyn.  It was a tiny bit big but we fixed that with a little shirt underneath.  She was so proud to wear it to school.

I made this adorable dress for my my blonde hair, blue eyed niece.  She wore it this past weekend and it is perfect for her.

Weston loved the outfit I made him for school a couple weeks ago.  He picked out the fabric while we were at Hobby Lobby one day.  He was so proud to wear this dinosaur creation.

My masterpiece...this dress I recently finished and it is for Madalyn to wear to her Award's Ceremony next week.  She told me it is her favorite dress ever.  I thought it was because I made it but she said it is because it is the most beautiful dress she has ever had.  It is far from perfect but I was able to hide enough of the flaws so no one will know.

Today I finished the shorts that Weston will be wearing for his Award's Ceremony.  He picked out this very preppy argyle fabric and I am sure he will look SOOOOO handsome.

I am having a blast making all these clothes and I have so many more to make for me, the kids and my niece.