Madison Updates

Madison's age group has started having more birthday parties.  I love the idea of the girls getting together to hang out.  I also love the stuff they do together.  What I feel conflicted about is what to do when I don't want to have a kid party for my girls.  I still enjoy the family birthday party, and they do, too. It is just too much to have both a kid and a family party.  Yet, I feel like I should reciprocate and have these friends over for a party.  I think my plan is just to have occasional playdates and have people over in smaller groups. 

Her latest party led to a first - roller skating!  She ended up really enjoying it!  I don't know how many laps she took, but she looked fairly steady on her feet when I saw her at the end of the night.  Such a cool opportunity!

Madison also had to say good-bye to her pet Betta fish, Blueberry.  It was more emotional than I thought it would be for her, but she recovered quickly.  She purchased a new Betta fish named Raspberry.  He is not as active, but he is still a fun fish.  She bought new rocks to match her fish, which makes him hard to see.

Fun Stuff

Because Blogger is reluctant to work well with Open Writer (the program I love to create my blogs in before posting), I have not been blogging much.  But we have had some fun in the past month.  Here is the first post of such things; it is just easier to post them altogether rather than separate blog posts, I think.

The girls received shower caps at Christmas and used them for the first time.  I don't know if they like the caps or the fact they didn't have to wash their hair better!

Being sisters can be just plain fun.  It can also be horrible, lest these photos deceive you.  These two can yell, tattle, and cry about everything the other one does as well.

Ellie had a choir concert.  It is always a fun thing to watch.  This year was Disney song themed.  So, every song was familiar.  There are a lot of words to learn in Disney songs!  This is Ellie and her teacher.

Sometimes we have fun just being silly and doing things we haven't done since the girls were little - like "flying".  And sometimes  Daddy helps with craft time!

Ears

Madison asked years ago if she could get her ears pierced.  I thought she seemed kinda young to do all the maintenance it required.  Plus, let’s be honest… I didn’t know if she could handle the piercing part.

So, I put her off by telling her when she turned 9 she could get her ears pierced.  Why 9?

10 would have been a more significant birthday.

But, I was in 3rd grade when I got my ears pierced, so that’s what I went with.

After heading to get flu shots on January 2nd, we drove over to Claire’s to consider the possibilities.  She was excited but unsure about getting them pierced where “all the mall could see.”  Which, I get.  And, it did make me wonder, “Why is it such a public thing, Claire’s?”

We looked at our choices for a long time, talked to the ladies who would do the piercing (who had lots of practice on each other apparently!).  And finally, she was ready!

She climbed up in the chair.  I took hold of her hands. She took hold of her bunny for bravery.  There was an ear piercer on each side of her.  And Ellie looked on.  (The rest of the mall pretty much ignored what was happening.)

A split second later it was all over.  There were a few tears, but overall, she was a champ!

She was so proud of her new butterfly earrings!  I was so happy for her.

We celebrated with some ice cream in the mall food court.  And all was well.