More art from Maisie

An octopus family:

Maisie likes to draw me pictures to bring to work. I like it too, especially now that I'm working in a somewhat bland cube. Mostly it's a lot of princesses, but every once in a while I get a gem like this one.

But even when the pictures are predictable, they always make me smile!

Pictures from this weekend

Last winter was awful. Cold and CRAZY snowy - so much so that the Metrodome collapsed (remember that?). This winter... not so much. I feel like I should write it as "winter," because in my Minnesotan mind, it barely even qualifies as such. I think we had one, maybe two days total where the temperature stayed below zero. Hardly any snow at all, for better (less flooding) or worse (the farmers' fields are going to be super dry). And it's already gotten hot out! We've had a five straight days of record high temperatures, and it looks like today's going to be #6.

But to look on the bright side of climate change, we were able to get out a lot this weekend... that's something, right?

On Saturday Maisie rode a trike from Auntie Laura's house to a nearby park (after a visit to the Children's Museum, if you're wondering what is up with her face).

It was an absolutely beautiful day, and she looked so cute on the red trike, with her color-coordinated dress! If it weren't for the painted face she would've looked like something out of a catalog, or a lifestyle magazine about the joys of simpler living. As it was, she was adorable and so happy and proud to be able to ride so far on the trike.

Sunday was also beautiful. During Ella's nap, Maisie and I went on a bike ride (me on the bike, her in the trailer behind me) that ended up with us at Chris & Rob's Chicago's Taste Authority, a Chicago-style hot dog/pizza restaurant. Once Ella woke up, she, Aaron, and Gramma Liisa came and joined us.

We sat out on the patio and shared tater tots and drank lemonade and enjoyed the beautiful day. This picture was taken before Ella fell while running... she made a perfect four-point landing, skinning both knees, her nose, and her forehead! But she quickly recovered, thanks to Gramma kisses, and some fun bandaids. Now she just likes looking at her scabby knees and telling us that they're getting better.

It was a fun (though busy, and kind of tiring) weekend. If this is what the spring and summer are going to be like... bring it on!

Seeing Stars

Maisie drew this picture for me yesterday.

It's me (in the middle), her, and someone else (not sure who that is on the left!) looking at stars, the moon, and a planet through a telescope. She likes to read and learn about stars and planets, but we've never actually looked through a telescope.

Carleton has open observatory nights every month... I might need to take her down to Northfield for that, to get a REAL look at the stars!

Who's been playing in the mud?

We have!!!

Disney on Ice

I took the girls to Disney on Ice last night. It was completely exhausting, but the girls loved every second.

Children's Museum

The Minnesota Children's Museum is one of our favorite places to go. We've been members since Maisie was about 14 months old. Now Ella loves it, too!

The water tables are usually one of the more popular exhibits, and it can be hard for Ella to get in there. But for whatever reason, the Museum was surprisingly not crowded yesterday. Ella got to play at the water tables to her heart's content!

Hanging at the East Lake Library

Maisie begs to go to the "liberry" - she loves to get new books. A girl after our own hearts!

Your daily dose of cute

She's a pretty princess!

Science Museum trip

Yesterday was that most festive of holidays - Presidents' Day! Maisie and I both had the day off, so we all celebrated with a trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota. We wanted to check out their new Real Pirates exhibit, and I figured the girls were probably old enough for an OmniTheater movie. So off we went!

Unfortunately we weren't alone in our idea... there was a huge line! But we braved the crowds and got our tickets.

We had some time before our 11:00 movie so we went through various exhibits. The dinosaurs are always a hit. The girls also really enjoy an exhibit where they get to play with various colored lights. And they were quite taken with this big chair.

I don't remember quite what it was supposed to be illustrating... perspective, maybe? Anyway, big chair!

We saw the OmniTheater movie, which was really good - Under the Sea, narrated by Jim Carrey. It looked at undersea life in and around coral reefs. Lots of footage of cuttlefish, which I quite enjoyed. Maisie enjoyed the whole thing, and Ella fell asleep on my lap with about ten minutes left in the movie. I carried her out and down to the Pirates exhibit!

We had to wait in line again, which Aaron did not enjoy and which Ella slept through. She woke up just in time for us to go in! It was a really well done exhibit - it worked for kids, but didn't gloss over some of the harsher facts of life at that time. Of course, there were some cool artifacts recovered from a shipwreck -

several cannons (including this one), guns, treasure, and jewelery, along with more mundane articles of ship life, like plates, spoons, and tea kettles.

Afterwards everyone was hungry and cranky, so we went to the Cheeky Monkey
for lunch - it was a favorite of mine when I worked in that neighborhood, and I missed it. While we waited for our sandwiches, the girls kept themselves occupied with drawing.

This is Maisie's Jolly Roger. It's flying on bones (scary!) instead of a mast. The skull has a bone beneath it, is wearing a pirate hat, and also has a mustache - so as not to be too scary.

It was a very busy day but a lot of fun!

Naptime

Ella hasn't been sleeping well lately. We aren't sure if it's due to a growth spurt, developmental something-or-other, or just regular kid wackiness. But whatever the cause, it means Aaron & I aren't sleeping well either.

Lucky Aaron and Ella get naps... while I get pictures of sweetly napping Ella.

Unfair! Mama needs a nap!

Ella's self-portrait

Ella drew this picture of herself after she bumped her head. Sad, right? But also - wow! I'm really impressed with her drawing ability.

Laskiainen 2012!

It's a full Laskiainen recap! :)

For those who don't know... Laskiainen is a traditional Finnish festival that is celebrated the first weekend of February every year. It was co-opted by early Christians but predates them, and originally marked the time when Finnish women were supposed to be done with their spinning and begin their weaving for the year. By now the days are getting longer, and it's easier to spin in low light than it is to weave. (Or so I'm told.) How sliding is worked in: Finnish women traditionally wear their hair up in braided buns. You would unbraid your hair and let it fly out behind you when you go sliding; the longer your hair flies out, the better your weaving will go. Or the higher your flax will grow. Or something. Anyway, sliding.

Palo, Minnesota has been celebrating Laskiainen since 1937, and it's one of the nation's oldest ethnic festivals (according to the Laskiainen brochure I picked up this weekend). Here's the view from the top of their sliding hill! They create a HUGE slide with ice, that goes down onto the frozen lake. It's super fast, pretty bumpy, and crazy, crazy fun.

As you can see, you can get pretty far out onto the lake!

(the second pic there is from Sunday, which was much grayer and overcast than Saturday was.)

The trek back up to the top of the hill was pretty intense, and on Saturday we'd have to wait in line to get to the top. The kids amused themselves playing "mountain climbing" while I held the line for us.

After all that climbing, sledding, and hauling around kids... today I am super sore! My back, legs, and arms are all achy and sore. But we had just a ton of fun. I think this is going to become an annual tradition for us, just like it was when I was a kid - and like it was when my mom was a kid, too, and her parents took her to Laskiainen in Palo.

Laskiainen snapshot

Of course the girls had to get their faces painted... :)

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Ice skating in Gilbert, MN

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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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Going for a walk

Aaron, Ella, and Ella's bunny took advantage of yesterday's unseasonably high temperatures to go for a walk (and send me silly pictures).

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Let it snow?

Aaron took this picture of the girls a few days ago. They were going to play outside after Maisie was done with school. As you can see, they're both ready for snow... hats, snowpants, boots, and mittens all ready to go! Unfortunately, Mother Nature's not cooperating. I don't know where they found that sad little patch of snow, but it's almost certainly gone by now- it's been in the 40s the last few days.

I'm too much a life-long Minnesotan to enjoy this. Sure, it's nice not to have to worry about snow emergencies and sub-zero temps, but 40s? In January?? It's just not right. If I wanted a rainy, brown winter, I'd move to Portland. As it is, we haven't been able to go sledding once, and the only ice skating we've done was indoors. Outrageous!

Bring on the snow!

Pizza night!

Nobody was up for cooking tonight, so we went to our favorite family-friendly neighborhood pizza place, Jakeeno's.

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Coffee break!

Aaron had a dentist appointment this morning (no cavities! Good job honey!). Our dentist's office is right across the street from my office, so I got to hang out with Ella while he was at his appointment. We went to the Barnes & Noble for a snack.

It was a really nice break from my workday... I wish I could meet up with her for a coffee every day!

Girl Team!

The girls refer to themselves & me as the "girl team." Today they requested a girl team adventure. Okay!

We went to the zoo! It was a lot of fun. Nothing really special - just the three of us hanging out and having a good time. We toured the trails, hit the gift shop, and rode the monorail.

it was really, really great. :)