October Update

So it looks like we will be doing monthly updates of life with Madison and Violet until somehow more hours are found in the day...so here's October :-)

In October I was able to have a glimpse of what it's like to be a soccer mom... Since Madison really enjoyed Webby Dance class offered at her Montessori Pre School we signed her up for a character ballet dance classes offered by the Long Beach Parks and Rec. It was only 4 sessions for the month of October but every Thursday I was one of those Moms:-) In the class Madison got to be different princesses and do a ballet routine with other girls... She had lots of fun but we think she would really enjoy more fast paced hip hop kind of dance so let's hope I can find her something in the future...:-)

Madison was Princess Odette from the Swan Princess, Princess Cinderella, Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, and lastly a fairy... The ones I don't have pictures to share with you means I had to be outside trying to sooth Violet:-(

Here is Princess Odette

Princess Aurora

I filmed Madison being a fairy on the last day... Here is Madison posing for a picture but I was actually trying to film...:-)

For this year's Halloween we decided to go as the Gru Family. Madison was Margo the oldest girl and her costume was the easiest since we had the ballet tutu and tights, we found the pair of glasses on sale at Claire's. Dave's Mr. Gru costume was easy except I had to brainstorm how to make his long nose and decided on a molding clay. I shaped it into a nose and painted it after air drying it. Since we had 3 opportunities to dress up this year I had 3 noses laying on our work table for a few weeks which was kind of weird...:-) Violet and I were the Minions(or as Madison calls them...Corns) and took a little more effort to complete the costumes.

Here is Madison's Margo costume...

Violet's Minion costume...

 

Halloween Dress Up Opportunity#1 was at the Sea World where we got to trick or treat with our friends from Church...:-) We walked around the park going through the candy stations all day:-) We were very happy with the quality of candies they had and our very first official all day outing with Violet went really well...

The second opportunity was at the Halloween Party hosted by the Borlands:-)

 

Madison did good with her donut game... Her parents are way more competitive though!

 

 

On Halloween night we were able to take a good Gru family picture so I was really happy:-)

And of course I can't finish the post without sharing more pictures of our girls right? Here they are!

Let the pictures do the talking...:-)

We want to keep you updated on our girls but really hard to find time for blogging these days we will just let the pictures do the job for us...:-)

Still adjusting to a fragile baby... Madison is adoring her little sister but often gets in trouble for touching/kissing/bothering/loving her too much:-)

 

This picture was taken on the last day my mom was here as we attempted to go to Downtown Disney to enjoy her last day but our car battery died when we stopped on the way at a park to nurse Violet... Our friend Donna got Violet the pretty dress and Madison was so excited to be with her little Snow:-)

Here are some pictures of Madison and Violet at similar age for your comparison pleasure!

Madison's going home outfit... She looks quite small... Just under 7lb.

Violet's going home outfit... She was born almost a pound heavier and maybe that's why Violet is filling it out more but I think the outfit shrunk quite a bit from going through the laundry many times prior...

Violet, around 2 weeks old...

Yawn!!

Madison loves chick Fil A!

I don't know why but thought it would be hilarious to put on a clean undie over her head and take pictures...

Through Groupon we found this shaved ice place that is just so delicious! The chocolate lover Madison of course got the fudgeicle(chocolate sauce and chocolate ice cream with of course the shaved ice)... Dave got the Coconut something and I enjoyed my strawberry shortcake, YUM!

After so many attempt to submit the coloring pages on time we finally made our September deadline!! and Madison's owl looks quite good so we are crossing our fingers!

You know which one right? The colorful happy owl!

After particularly a difficult night with all the fussing, the sleep disturbed big sister paid back by accessorizing her baby sister:-)

It's a little early for this but she can hold her neck up quite good for sometime now so a few weeks ago we gave the bebe pod a try...

8weeks! The baby acne is almost gone and her parents are quite happy about that:-)

 

After washing our cars with Dave, he left Madison alone for a bit and we watched her give herself a wash through our office window and grabbed my phone as soon as we can to try to catch some of the funny moments...:-)

Madison's Summer Report! Part2

During the last week of our Summer break we were able to fit in a few more Science Experiments Anna found online...:-) BUT most of them did not have successful results...

One of them exclaimed that with simply Baking Soda and Hydrogen Peroxide you could turn ordinary Mountain Dew into a glow stick...

 

So we tried and eagerly anticipated the amazing results...but they never came...apparently it is a trick where they put a glow stick at the bottom of the Mountain Dew and just neglect to mention that part...

 

Another one Anna found involved drawing a picture with glue...

  

Sprinkle Kosher Salt and then...

By dabbing paint the paint is supposed to spread throughout the drawing...

This was a bit of a dud as well...

Then we tried one I (Dave) had done in my classroom and even this one doesn't work...it is a simple illustration of diffusion using gummy bears...the gummy bear in salt water shrinks a bit and the gummy bear that sits in tap water expands to like 20 times its size...but perhaps due to the heat in the house...all the gummy bears disintegrated...very disappointing!!

 

And lastly, don't think we posted this experiment we did right after Violet was born...

Making moon dough using cornstarch, shaving cream and food coloring!! 

This one was a bit more successful!!

Madison was able to use it like playdough and cut out shapes...

Another thing we put some effort on teaching Madison until Violet arrived was playing Tennis but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of her cuteness... I will do better in the Fall though:-)

And lastly our little fish really became like a Dolphin this Summer so see it yourself:-)

After our Sea World trip we took back in June Madison turned into this amazing Dolphin girl and started to spin in the water, dive down to the bottom to pick up toys, etc... She pretty much started to do these things on her own so we really can't take the credit for it...:-)

Here Madison is getting comfortable standing on a body board...:-)

 

Sometimes this happens but it's okay...:-)

Here Madison is getting thrown far by Daddy...:-)

Here Madison tries to swim like Daddy...:-)

This is nothing new but Madison jumping into the pool with Daddy...:-)

It was tough to film, but Madison also loves to dive down and retrieve her diving sticks...she often comes up doing a spiral like a dolphin :-)

Hope everyone had a great Summer!!