Fencing

So I don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but a while back (spring? summer?) Maisie started taking fencing lessons!

We are fortunate to live just down the street from the Minnesota Sword Club, which has fencing lessons for people of all ages. (Well, as long as that age is 6 or older.) They even have medieval fighting classes, which my friend Kyle has been taking for a while now. They're really nice people and the kids we've met there have been great, too.

So anyway, there's more to this post than just a commercial for the Sword Club :) Last night after her class, the owner of the sword club pulled me aside to chat about Maisie's progress. He told me that they have an invitation-only group that trains specially for national competition, and would she/we be interested in her specializing in sabre and joining the team?

I was super flattered, but also very surprised! When we started her fencing it was just supposed to be for fun. To hear that she has the potential for being nationally competitive? That was not something I expected!

So Aaron and I talked about it, and Maisie's interested, so we're going for it! She'll be spending more time at the Sword club, doing more group classes as well as some individual lessons. We're going to try to let her lead it... Aaron and I definitely don't want to be "dance moms" pushing her so hard that it isn't fun any more. But as long as she's enjoying it, having fun and making friends, we feel like this could be a great opportunity for her!

See you at the sword club!

Happy new year!

Belated happy new year, but the wishes are no less sincere for being late :) We had a lovely winter holiday season, and I hope all of you did too!

Maisie's Finnish dance group performed at a Joulu (Finnish Christmas) event sponsored by FACA, the Finnish American Cultural Activities group.

Isn't she the cutest little tonttu?

She even picked up some Aarikka Christmasy earrings at the bazaar!

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated the holiday over at Auntie Laura's house... I can't believe how tall Dylan is!

I swear, Ella is in the picture, hiding behind her new pillow pet!

On New Year's Eve, we hosted Dylan and Maisie's BFF Ophelia for a sleepover.

There was movie watching, popcorn eating, root beer float drinking... not much sleeping though!

So now we're through the holidays and into 2015! The girls are back at school, I'm settling in to my new job (I started a new position here at the bank in mid-November), and life continues on. The girls are already starting to plan their costumes for CONvergence this summer - Ella's going to be Beast Boy, and Maisie's going to be Raven, from Teen Titans Go!. Maisie's also going to go back to Salolampi for two weeks, and we're talking about getting a family vacation in again, since we had SUCH a great time in Chicago in October!

We're ready for a great 2015 and hope you are too! :)