Weekend update

Long time no blog! Life has been even a little busier than usual around here... hence the long silence. In early November I took a new position at the bank, so work's been keeping me busy! It's a lateral move, but with more growth potential than my old position. I've also changed locations; instead of working in downtown Minneapolis, I'm in a suburban location now. I'm very happy with the change, but there's definitely a learning curve/adjustment period that's been taking up a lot of time and energy. Hence the lack of blog posts!

We had a great Thanksgiving at Gramma Liisa's house, and are now getting ready for Christmas! Every year FACA (Finnish-American Cultural Activities) puts on a Joulu (Christmas) celebration, which was this past Saturday.

There's a Joulutori (Christmas marketplace), children's Christmas movies and activities, a delicious dinner, and a sing-along of Finnish Christmas carols and songs. This year, a group of kids from Suomi-koulu performed songs and dances during the dinner and the Joululaulut - including Maisie!

Isn't she the cutest little Joulu tonttu (Christmas elf)? And Grandma Liisa made the vest and skirt she wore - she got a lot of compliments on them!

She had a lot of fun dancing and singing - she really loves performing for an audience!

On Sunday morning, I realized we hadn't been to the Science Museum in a while, and their butterflies exhibit was closing soon, so we had to go check it out! Maisie's not a big fan of any kind of insects, so Ella and I went to the butterfly house without her and Aaron.

There were a ton of Monarchs in the butterfly house, and the Omni theater movie is also about Monarchs - their life cycle and migration. It was really interesting and I learned a lot from it!

Ella is a huge fan of all kinds of insects, so she was happy to let them crawl all over her. She's very careful not to touch their wings and is very gentle. She loves all kinds of insects, and has talked about wanting to be a scientist who discovers new kinds of spiders when she grows up.

So, that was our weekend in a nutshell! How was yours?

8!

Maisie is eight years old today!

We celebrated her birthday with local family yesterday, which was super fun! Auntie Laura and Dylan hosted us, Gramma Liisa, and Jim. We had dinner followed by a beautiful cake that Gramma Liisa made. Maisie loved her presents - lots of clothes, all of which she liked (everyone seems to have her sparkly tops & knit pants style down!), a beautifully fuzzy blankie and cute knit owls from Gramma Jo, and a book she'd been wanting from Jim.

8-year-old Maisie is delightful. Her favorite things right now include fencing...

She absolutely LOVES fencing! As a leftie, she's got a natural advantage. I think she'll keep up with it for a while - we just finished our first three-month session and she's ready to go back for more!

She loves reading and writing...

Maisie always seems to have a journal with her, and is constantly drawing pictures and writing about things that she sees. Some of them she shares with me, other things she keeps private. She also loves to read - we're currently into book 6 of the Harry Potter series! She's also really into the Emily Windsnap series. She likes to bring a book wherever she goes, and will happily read to herself, or read to Ella and keep them both entertained!

Maisie loves Ella...

Yeah, they do fight sometimes. But most of the time they're each other's best friends. Sometimes on the weekend, they wake up and tiptoe out into the living room to watch Netflix or build with Legos before Aaron and I get up. They're never really all that quiet, so we usually do wake up. But we stay in bed and snooze and let them play. It's pretty sweet.

She loves her Finnish dance group, Pikku Kisarit...

Kind of random, right? But she absolutely loves this activity. The Finnish-American community here in the Twin Cities is really active and a great group of people, so I'm glad that she's having so much fun. She had a great week at Salolampi last summer, and is excited to go back for more. And of course, I think it helps that she has a Finnish pen pal! They send each other little gifts and letters. It's adorable.

At 8, Maisie is growing into a delightful person. I can see the beginnings of the young woman she is becoming, and I am excited to see who she is. Even now, though, Maisie brings a lot of joy into our lives. She's smart and funny, caring and considerate, enthusiastic and creative. We can't imagine life without her!

Folk dancing at Urban Expedition: Finland!

A few weeks ago we were at Suomi-koulu when a woman came up to me and said, "You're Maisie's mom, right?" When I said I was, she said "Great. Just so you know, there's an extra practice on Thursday night, so we'll be ready for the performance on Sunday..." Wait, what? "Oh," she said, "Didn't Maisie tell you that she said she wanted to perform with the dance group?" Ha ha what?

Suomi-koulu isn't just about language - they also learn about Finnish culture as well, and folk dancing is part of that. Maisie loves dancing, and has been really enjoying the Finnish dance lessons in class. I knew that some Suomi-koulu students did folk dance performances at various events along with Kisarit, the adult dance group, but it was always something that was presented as for older kids. (2nd grade and up) Maisie's not quite there, but she's been working really hard at it and really wanted to perform, so the group decided they'd let her in! She just somehow forgot to mention to me and she'd signed up for the performing group. :)

So on Sunday, we headed over to the Landmark Center so she could perform at Urban Expedition: Finland!

The Urban Expedition series is a neat series that the Landmark Center hosts. Once a month they host a free series of activities and events that are centered around the culture of a specific country. Cambodia, Senegal, and Brazil are still coming up if you want to go check it out - it was a lot of fun! In addition to the performances, there was food, crafts, and even LIVE ANIMALS.

The north lobby had a "petting zoo" with two year-old reindeer, and an arctic fox that didn't really look like it wanted to be petted.

Gramma Liisa had made Maisie a beautiful costume in a fancy Finnish style - a beautiful full skirt, and a black vest with gorgeous silver buttons. Unfortunately... we didn't know that they weren't wearing fancy dress costumes! Instead, they were performing peasant-style dances in Karelian work clothes-type of costumes. Fortunately, they'd found an outfit for Maisie to approximate the pinafore type of dress. Add an apron and a headscarf, and she was all set to go!

There dancing was last, so we sat through a few other performances and things first. Ella's favorite, I think, was the language lesson from two Salolampi counselors. They taught the audience a Finnish song (Pienet Sammakot), and then taught us all to count to six in Finnish. Ella was very impatient, though - they were repeating yksi, yksi (one, one) and Ella would yell out KAKSI!!! (TWO!!!) I think they were only going to go to viisi (5), but when they got there she wouldn't stop yelling out KUUSI!!!!! (6!!!!!) so they went to kuusi. It was hilarious! And, if I had any doubts that she's actually learning some Finnish at Suomi-koulu, they've been laid to rest.

After the other programs, the children's group did three dances. The first, Tikkuristi, is almost like a game... you do a dance around sticks, and try not to step on or knock your sticks.

The music gets faster and faster... the last person left is the 'winner' of the dance.

Maisie LOVES Tikkuristi dancing! She practices at home with scarves on the floor. It's awesome to see how hard she's working at it.

Tikkuristi was followed by Seni, a threshing dance, and they ended with Helsingin matka, a dance about a trip to Helsinki.

Maisie was by far the youngest and smallest person in the dance group, but she did a GREAT job. She really kept up with the older kids and adults, she knew all the steps, she stayed focused, and she had a LOT of fun. I was so proud of her, I thought I was going to absolutely explode with it!

The program ended with an audience participatory dance called Svetit Mesjats. Even Dylan and Auntie Laura got in on the fun!

It was a super fun, and very Finnish, afternoon. I feel so fortunate to have found this great community through Suomi-koulu!

Camp Lakamaga

I think I've mentioned here that Maisie joined Girl Scouts, right? Maybe?

Maisie joined the Girl Scouts this year! She's a Daisy, which is the level for girls in Kindergarten and first grade. She really enjoys it. They meet twice a month and pretty much just do craft projects. Sometimes they do other things, too - there was a trip to the zoo for Scout Day, cookie sales, and caroling at a nursing home this year. This past Saturday, we had another special adventure: all the troops from around Lake Nokomis were invited to Camp Lakamaga for the 2013 "Encampment." (I don't think I'd ever seen the word "encampment" before this past weekend, but Google tells me it's a legit word that means "a place with temporary accomodations, usually huts or tents, typically for troops or nomads." So there you go: encampment!)



"Go Confidently in the Direction of your Dreams" - as you leave the dining hall

 Some troops of older girls spent Friday and Saturday night there, but for us, it was just a one-day activity. We arrived bright and early, ready for our scheduled fishing activity at 9:00.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate... so the girls just played outside for like an hour and a half instead.

It was a LOT of playing outside!

Then we had a snack and played outside some more, until we headed up to the dining hall for lunch at 12:30.

There was a little display of old Girl Scouting artifacts just outside the dining hall, which included this little diorama. I liked the gigantic coffee pot and the adorably tiny badger. So cute!

They also had posted the Girl Scout Law. So just in case you were wondering, here it is:

"I will do my best to be:
Honest and fair,
Friendly and helpful,
Considerate and caring,
Courageous and strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do,
And to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout."

Admirable goals, I think.
So - waiting for lunch to be ready, and then waiting for our turn to eat, was booooooring.

We passed the time by making faces and taking silly pictures.

After lunch, the girls had a dance class, which was going to be followed by an arts & crafts activity. But by 2:00, mid-dance, it was pretty clear that our Daisies were starting to wilt. It was a long day!

The camp staff had told us to each bring one item of clothing that they'd silkscreen the camp's logo on. So while the troop was dancing I headed over to the Old Lodge, which had the arts & crafts studio, to pick up our troop's silkscreened items. They weren't quite done, so I hung around for a few minutes while they finished our silkscreens. I saw some cool things posted in the cabin, and asked the staffer about them and about the camp's history.

She told me that Camp Lakamaga has been around since the mid to late '50s. The Old Lodge, the cabin we were in, was one of the oldest buildings at the camp. I'd figured that out from this piece of birchbark nailed to the doorframe... it's older than I am!

If you can't quite make it out, it says "Troop Stay Staff 1965" and then lists names. They're mostly silly nicknames - "Cutter" and "Needles" and "Sparky" and so on. (Cutter and Needles? Man, that is one tough Girl Scout troop.) But I think it's really neat that it's still up there from 1965.

The cabin is also ringed with these square tiles that have designs in the middle of them, each with the name of a country. The staffer said that they're also from the 1960's, and are Girl Scout or Girl Guide insignias from the different countries' girls who'd visited Camp Lakamaga.

Obviously I had to take a picture of the Suomi Finland one!

Anyway, after dance class, Maisie and I headed home. A few girls stayed, but I think most of the other Daisies in her troop left then, too. It was a long day already, and almost an hour's drive back to Minneapolis. I was pretty wiped out, and I hadn't even danced or sledded!

Maisie had a lot of fun, and proudly wore her silk-screened Encampment shirt to school on Monday. I don't know how long she's going to want to stay in Girl Scouts, but for now, she really loves it.

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Like everyone, I was horrified when I learned about Friday's school shooting in Newtown, CT. I couldn't believe it - and I still kind of can't. It's just too horrifying.

For better or for worse, I was at a CLE on Friday afternoon. It was one of the Hennepin County Bar Association's Law and Literature series - really excellent CLEs, by the way. We were discussing Pearl S. Buck's story John John Chinaman, which tells the story of John Lim, the son of Chinese immigrants living in a small midwestern town immediately prior to WWII. John lives with his pregnant wife, a recent immigrant from China, and his father. His conflicts are much what you might expect - he was born in the U.S. and is American, but isn't accepted as a "real American" by the town. He was teased as a boy, and continues to be teased and looked down on as an adult. His father worries about him, and he worries about his unborn child.

In the story, the mayor of the town is a WWI veteran who lived through some real horrors fighting in France. When he gets word of a draft, he is appalled by the thought that the young men of his town may have to live through something similar to what he had to endure.

I won't give away anything else in case anyone wants to read the story (because I don't know how to do hidden text in blogger). It's a great short story; if anyone wants to read it, let me know. I can email you the pdf we got for the CLE.

Anyway, so the CLE was for "elimination of bias" credits, so those are the issues we discussed - what John, his wife, and his father faced in their town, not being accepted as "real Americans," and to what degree those biases are still present today. But the theme that really hit home for me was how everyone was struggling to keep their loved ones safe. John's father tries to protect John; John tries to protect his wife and unborn child; the mayor tries to protect the young men in his town. But despite these efforts, John and his wife were teased and harassed, and young men were sent off to war. Ultimately, there's very little we can do, to keep our loved ones safe.

On Friday afternoon... this was not a great theme for me. I kept starting to cry, and having to leave the room, then pulling myself together to go back in for another round. So glad I only needed one hour's worth of credit - I left at the mid-afternoon break.

So anyway. After all that, I felt like we needed something fun and a little indulgent, with no TVs around, so we went to the Global Market. Apparently we weren't the only ones with that thought, because the Family Friday was super crowded.

Maisie gets ALL the beverages



Cream cheese wontons from Pham's Deli



Mushroom pizza from Jakeeno's... yum!


We ate wontons and pizza, and danced to the wonderful Roe Family Singers. It was a good way to end an awful day.

We haven't told the girls about the shooting, by the way. We don't watch the news with them in the room, and I didn't want to bring it up. I don't think Maisie needs to know yet. I know, though, that she may hear about it from other kids. So this morning I told her that if she hears someone talking about something they saw on the news, and has questions or wants to talk about it, to come to me or Aaron and we'll talk about it with her. I'm interested to hear how other people are handling this with their kids, though - let me know your thoughts.

Midtown Global Market

Midtown Global Market is an amazing place. Built in an old Sears that stood abandoned for years and years, it has multiple restaurants and shops, all locally owned. It's really cool and one of our favorite places in Minneapolis.

Juusto - Finnish Cheese - at Cafe Finspang

We especially like going there on Fridays, when they have Family night. I meet Aaron & the girls there after work. We don't have to cook, the girls get to run around and dance - everybody enjoys it.

The girls like to get cream cheese wontons and chicken fried rice from Pham's, a Vietnamese deli. They also have excellent spring rolls, but Maisie and Ella are really cream cheese wonton lovers.

My favorite place to eat these days is the Left Handed Cook, which serves a sort of fusion of Asian food and comfort food. I really like their bop bowls, which are rice, greens, and meat served in a takeout container with a soft fried egg. SO GOOD.

 This picture is upside down for some reason! It looks like a cinnamon roll but was actually the Left Handed Cook's special on Friday, porchetta. It came with a fried green tomato, and a side of heirloom tomato-arugula salad. SO GOOD!! The girls also really like Left Handed Cook's edamame so I usually get them a side of edamame to share.



Cupcakes at Salty Tart



Aaron got his dinner from Andy's Garage, a 50's-style diner. He had a wild rice-turkey burger, awesome fries, and then a chocolate shake (which he split with the girls, naturally - even though they'd had cupcakes from Salty Tart!).

 After the girls eat, they dance and dance (which usually involves running in circles) to whatever band is playing that night. 

I think that the Global Market is a really special place. If you haven't been there, go! There's noplace like it in Minneapolis.



Yes, that says "local artisan prosciutto" and "local artisan pancetta" - from Grass Roots Gourmet



Dance class

The girls are taking a weekly jazz/tap/ballet class at the Y. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

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Busy summer Saturday

Yesterday was a VERY busy day at our house.

Maisie's been taking a dance class through Minneapolis Parks & Rec. Yesterday was her last day of class, which meant recital! I was a little nervous about how my shrinking violet would react to the audience...

but as it turns out, I needn't have worried.

The girls were as synchronized and together as you'd expect a class of 3-5 year olds, performing for their parents, would be.

It was also CRAZY cute.

After the performance, we'd hoped to play on the playground, but the skies were threatening rain. So we went home, Ella and Aaron took a nap, and Maisie and I decided to hop a train to the Mall of America to look for a birthday present for Maya.

Maisie was pretty excited for her first ride on the light rail train!

By the time we got back from the mall, the skies had cleared and it was nice outside, so we all headed out to do some yard work.

Ella, as it turns out, has inherited her grandmas' love of gardening and digging in the dirt.

She also shares her sister's affection for a camera.


Meanwhile, Maisie rode her bike up and down the sidewalk.


It's funny, it wasn't that long ago that she wasn't able to really pedal... she just wasn't coordinated enough. And all of a sudden, she just hopped on and was off to the races!

So anyway, that was our Saturday. Busy, but not atypically so. So if you ever wonder why Aaron and I are often tired... now you know why!