Maisie is 9!

Last week was Maisie’s 9^th birthday!

Instead of a friends party this year, she asked to go up north to The Edge. The Edgewater is a hotel with a waterpark that she and Ella love! Happily, her BFF Ophelia was able to come with us. It was a quick trip – the girls were off school on Friday the 30^th, so we went up in the morning, hunted for agates on the shore of Lake Superior...

watched the bridge go up, and then got an early lunch at Grandma's.

Lunch complete with hot chocolate - it's colder by the lake!

By noon we were swimming and playing in the waterpark!

Ella, Maisie, Tiki Tom, and Ophelia

Saturday morning the girls got up early. After a quick breakfast, it was back to the waterpark for a few hours, before it was time to head back to Minneapolis for trick or treating. We had so much fun at the Edge with Ophelia. It was a great alternative to a birthday party!

Maisie’s actual birthday was on a Tuesday, so we went to dinner at her favorite restaurant (a buffet place on Lake Street) with Gramma Liisa. Our server caught wind of the birthday, and they brought her out a little dessert plate with the most amazing candle! 

It looked like a firework at first, and then opened up to reveal a flower, with a little candle on each petal.

It was so cool. Maisie was completely delighted!

Then this weekend, we had dinner with Auntie Laura, Dylan, and Dan at their house, which was awesomely fun. Check out the Portal cake they made for her – she loved it!

At 9, Maisie is just a great person. She loves Pokemon, anime, her family, koalas, reading, drawing, and cooking. She’s beginning to act a little tween-y sometimes, but still loves to snuggle and be read to.

At Convergence 2015 - she loved this person's cosplay of Lucy from Fairy Tale, a favorite anime.

She’s smart and funny, a caring friend, and a fierce fencer.

She told me the other day that she’s glad that I’m her mom. I told her that I’m glad she’s my kid, and it’s true! She’s a wonderful person and I can’t wait to see who she grows up to be.

Salolampi summer, and Ella's 6th birthday!

Like last year, Maisie has headed up north to Salolampi, the Concordia Finnish Language Village. Unlike last year, though, this year she went for a two-week session!

The day before she left, we had "Maisie day" where she got to choose our activity. She said she wanted to go hiking, so we headed down to Minnehaha falls! We actually started the day by renting a surrey, which was exhausting (for me and Aaron, who had to do all the work) but still a really fun way to take a family bike ride!

After that it was time for an ice cream break at Sea Salt...

before starting the hike! You can see the falls in the background here. We paused for a quick picture then kept going...

all the way down to the pools at the bottom. There were a TON of people there, as you can see! The weather was warm and sunny so it was perfect for splashing in the shallow, cool water.

While Maisie's been gone, Ella turned 6! We didn't have a party - yet - we're saving that for when Maisie gets back. But we did have a really fun day! We started with breakfast with Gramma Liisa and her friend Jim at Ella's favorite restaurant, Tiny Diner. Then we picked up Dylan and headed to the Mall of America!

Our first activity (as chosen by Ella) was to visit the aquarium, which name I can never remember. I still call it Underwater World, the same way the park in the middle of the MOA will forever be Camp Snoopy. Anyway! we spent a LOT of time looking at the rays in the touch pool.

Ella got splashed by a couple of curious cow-nosed rays. We got some shrimp to feed them, but Dylan was the only one of us brave enough to do it!

After the aquarium, we went to ride rides!

What you don't see is that these goofballs made me ride some roller coasters that I NEVER would've ridden on my own! But Ella wanted to go, and Dylan wasn't old enough to be her chaperone, so it was roller coaster time for me. He kept joking that he was going to make me ride the roller coaster that corkscrews and goes upside down... no thank you!

We had a late lunch at Skydeck, which is a restaurant that has games where you win tickets. Kind of like a Dave & Buster's, or Chuck-E-Cheese, I guess? It's a lot of fun to go play skee ball and air hockey, anyway. After lunch it was back for more rides!

Maisie comes home tomorrow (June 27) and we're having Ella's birthday party then. I miss Maisie a TON and can't wait to see her! Ella is so excited to get her sister back, and to see all her friends at her birthday party. It's going to be a great day!

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!

Panda Party!

Friday was Ella's fifth birthday! She had a very fun day that included a trip to the Children's Theater with Gramma Liisa. After I got off work, I met Aaron and Ella at the Mall of America. She got to ride on rides...

And got her face painted, too!

We had Ella's birthday party on Sunday at Lake Hiawatha Park. It was really fun! The weather cooperated, with maybe 10 minutes of light sprinkles... a far cry from the thunderstorms we were expecting. We celebrated with Ella's friends from high 5 (including the teachers!), her best friend from Suomi-koulu Lillian, Auntie Laura and Dylan, and Gramma Liisa and Jim. It was a great group of people! The kids played on the playground and had lots of fun while the grownups chatted.

The party was, naturally, panda themed.

I didn't make the cute sign... I bought it from this shop on Etsy. I think it'd be easy enough to make, though, if you had the time and the inclination.

Dylan and Auntie Laura made this AWESOME panda pinata!

And yes, he does have a mustache!

Everyone thought it was awesome... the adults loved the design and the kids loved the candy! Ella's best friend from High 5, Charlotte, cracked it open. That kid has quite the arm on her!

We even had panda cupcakes!

Again, I didn't make these, although I think they'd be easy enough to do... we got them from the Richfield Target. Thanks Target!

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes for Ella. She loved all the gifts and the celebrations. She's fortunate to have so many people who care for her.

Ella is 5!

Today is Ella's 5th birthday!

Ice skating lessons at the Augsburg ice arena

5 year old Ella is an amazing, wonderful person. She's physically confident, and loves to swim, skate, run, jump, swing, bike... anything! She's a girl on the move. Right now she's saying she wants to learn to play soccer! She's got a good kick - I'm sure she'll do well.

She's incredibly silly at times, even though she'll insist that Aaron is the silly one in our family. She tells silly jokes and stories, and likes to make people laugh. She makes the funniest faces!

She's also very affectionate, and likes to give people hugs. Her preschool teacher said that everyone has a bucket inside of them that you can help fill up with kind words and good feelings. That image really resonated with Ella, and she talks a lot about helping fill up our buckets. It's so sweet.

Ella also enjoys making art! She's really pretty good at drawing, and loves painting too. Our house is full of her artwork!

Playing at the Big Bugs! exhibit at the MN Zoo

Right now Ella is SUPER interested in insects, and has been for a while! Maisie does not share this interest, and actually refuses to go into the butterfly houses at the Zoo or the state fair. But Ella loves bugs! She was really the driving force behind the whole millipede thing. She loved the Big Bugs! exhibit at the Zoo, especially when she got to see and hold real insects! She told me once that when she grows up, she's going to be a scientist who finds new kinds of spiders. I believe her!

Snuggling with Auntie Laura at the Highland Park pool

Ella still loves to cuddle, especially when she's feeling sleepy. (She fell asleep on Laura's lap about 10 minutes after we took this picture!) She asks to cuddle Aaron at bedtime every night. She also has a whole collection of stuffed animals (pandas, mostly) and blankets that she snuggles up with. As grown up as she seems sometime, she's still a real cuddle bug, which is just the sweetest thing ever.

Modeling her flower crown at the American Swedish Institute's Midsommar celebration

Ella's a wonderful person. We're so fortunate to have her in our lives. Happy birthday Ella!!

Ella's birthday party

About, oh, a month ago, we celebrated Ella's third birthday. I mentioned it briefly here and promised a recap, but never delivered. I am the worst mommyblogger! Auntie Clare even blogged it before I did, and with better pictures, too - here's her writeup and gorgeous pics. Go check it out. Her pics are just lovely.

The party was awesome. We had it at Edinborough, an indoor play area in Edina. It's a pretty sweet deal, if any Twin Citizens are looking for an indoor place to host a birthday party - the park is owned by the city so it's really not expensive.

Here was our little party area:

The park sets it up for you and provides all the paper products, along with a shirt for the birthday kid. They also handle cleanup! yay!


Here was our cupcake cake, made of cupcakes!

Seriously, so much easier than trying to slice up a regular sheet cake or whatever. Everyone just gets a cupcake! Less cleanup, too. We got it at Target... this was seriously the birthday party of convenience.

This is what occupies the kids and where they run off the sugary cupcakes you fed them:

It's called Adventure Peak. You can't really tell from the pic just how enormous this is - it's hard to get a good perspective. According to their website, it's 44 x 44 x 37. The oak tree thingy on the side is 30 feet tall. Huge, right? There's slides and ladders in between the various levels. There's also a little bounce house on the lower level, and a toddler area for the littl'uns. Then there's a separate gym that has balls and rolly slidy toys.

We had so much fun with all the friends and family who came to celebrate. It was great to see everyone. Ella had a wonderful birthday party. Thank you all!

(I stole that picture from Clare. Isn't it great?)

And finally, here's a pic of Maisie and Maya, who I took to see Brave on Saturday afternoon, post-birthday party.

Maisie got pretty freaked out by the bears. Maya kept reassuring her, "Maisie, it's just a movie, it'll be fine." Ha!

These are a few of our favorite things

Strawberries...

These are from our garden. I attempted a pectin-free jam, but it didn't set. So they became strawberry sauce that's really yummy over ice cream.

Cupcakes...

Especially 24 cupcakes that are covered in a ton of frosting and smooshed together to make one GIANT cupcake!

Orange soda...

at the movies, with cousin Maya.

Strawberry soda...

and ice cream...

both on the patio on a beautiful evening at Pizza Luce, the girls' favorite pizza restaurant.

Apple pie and chocolate milk...

at the coffee shop with toys - you can see the toy room in the background. It also has great coffee and free wi-fi. It's a family favorite.

And finally, raspberries...

2-3 cups of them picked from our neighbor Beth's canes with the intent of making jam... but somehow none of them made it home!

Ella turns 2!

(or, as my mom said, "How the hell did that happen?")

Ella's actual second birthday was on Monday, and it was a pretty low-key affair. Aaron & I gave her some gifts, there was a candle and a cupcake, and that was about it.

So today, we had an actual party to mark Ella's second birthday. And it was super fun!

We celebrated at Sibley Park, a lovely little park with a wading pool, jungle gym, and sandlot that's not too far from our house. We were joined by a number of awesome individuals: Gramma Liisa; Auntie Laura, Dylan, and Dan; Wally & Mary Jo & their two sons, Jack & Charlie; Rebecca & her daughter Sophia; Nick, Caroline, and their dogs; and Brian Clark and his dogs. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to spend the afternoon with!

So what I love about having a birthday party at a park, indoor playground, or the like, is that I don't have to actually plan anything. As a result, my photos are kind of haphazard - as was the party. I hope this just gives a sense of what an awesome time was had by all!

Dylan, the girls, and the teeter-totter


Ella's lack of a swimsuit isn't going to keep her from enjoying the pool, with Gramma Liisa:


The children kibbutz on proper present-opening technique.


Ella enjoys the slide with Auntie Laura


WOW this is high up!


It's not a complete showing, but it's a good representation, I think. We all had so much fun!

As for Ella, at 2, she's really a wonderful person. Her language is really taking off, and she's regularly coming up with 3- and 4-word sentences. It's so exciting that she can tell us about her observations! I can't wait for her vocabulary to develop further so we can really hear about what's going through her head.

Ella is a sweet, affectionate girl who loves to play, be read to, and to help us out around the house. Whenever anyone's in the kitchen, whether we're cooking or doing dishes, she will be there saying "Ella help you?"

So far our Ella has shown herselve to be a smart, capable, confident, headstrong, loving person. I canot wait to see what the future holds for her!

Maisie's 4th birthday

Maisie was a lucky girl: she had two birthday parties this year!

On her actual birthday, we had a party at Auntie Laura, Dan, and Dylan's house. It was pretty low-key, with just Grammy Liisa joining us. We ordered pizza, opened presents, and ate cake. She got several Barbie dolls, a Hello Kitty purse, and a musical princess ballerina dress from her Grandma Jo, which she immediately had to wear.

Grammy Liisa made an amazing cake:

which Maisie LOVED!


Then, of course, we had a pinata. Even Ella took a swing at it:

It's hard to see because the picture is blurry, but trust me: that baby is holding, and swinging, a HUGE stick.

Maisie's birthday fell on a weekday. So on the following Saturday, we had a party with her school friends at Adventure Peak at Edinborough, an indoor play park. We also invited our friends Emi and Liza, who joined us and enjoyed the cupcakes.

Of course, Emi wasn't the only kid who loved the cupcakes...

Ella did some damage to hers, too!

Everyone had fun playing, and Maisie had a great day with her friends.

We're so happy with our sweet, silly, funny, loving, smart, and all-around wonderful Maisie! The past four years with her have been a joy. We can't wait to see what the future holds for her!