The cookies are here!!!!!

I would say we have a bit of work ahead of us....delivering all these cookies. I'm glad we have recovered from our illness enough to accept the challenge!!!





Greta is teaching Sparky how to say her name, but so far, Sparky has not been very cooperative.



Recovering after being ill....

Greta is seven!!!!

Here is my seven year old!!!! She chose to go out for Chinese for lunch on her birthday.




Doesn't she look so seven!!!






Here is our cat litter cake we made for girl scouts!


It looks pretty real....a bit too real for some of the girls!!!!!

skiing

The girls went cross county skiing and tried out snowshoes for the first time yesterday. We had so much fun, and now we all want to buy some skis! Maybelle took off like she was born on those skis!!!!





Greta skiing by the lake....she is in front of B3, our favorite campsite in the summer!

Maybelle on the trail with my cousin B
The girls, Maybelle on skis, and Greta with snowshoes on the trail with B

ojibwa Indians

We have been studying Native Americans this year.....A lot....so it was quite a treat when our local school had an Ojibwa Indian come to the school to work with the fifth graders for the week. He did a presentation for the public Thursday night.....Fantastic man...great stories....a lot of history, and he also brought tables of materials for folks to look at including an stone ax from the 1700's and models ....also suggested some videos that depict Native American culture. I had as much fun as the girls, and now they are more interested than ever, and want to study more. Mabelle's number one Christmas gift was a pair of beaded moccasins lined with rabbit fur!!!!

The nutcracker

The girls danced in the Nutcracker this past weekend with the Continental Ballet Company.




Greta gets her cheeks on by her instructor.



Maybelle get her cheeks put on by a dancer.


R.W. dance co.



In front of the Christmas tree .

The girls getting on their ballet shoes in the green room


In the lobby of the theater



Green room bonding




Group shot with some of the dancers




The kids getting a pep talk from their instructor just before going on stage.

Action shot......the girls are on the far right, and left

Hands on History

Our homeschool group went to "Hands on History" yesterday at the Olmsted County History Center....there were many sessions we attended, including, Medicine show, Civil war civilian life, story telling, reptiles, candle making, Dee Cabin, and one room schoolhouse....the events were outstanding, the day beautiful, and the volunteers informative and interactive....we will be back next year!!!!

Renaissance faire

We went to the Renaissance last Sunday.....at the last minute, we thought that we would dress up.....Maybelle wore the boy's old outfit....it fit perfectly!



Of course we had to see the belly dancers....

A game of dueling buckets was in order to beat the heat of the day.....Maybelle defeated her sister early on in the game......



But revenge can be so sweet!



We took a walk through the enchanted forest to the secret garden.
and had a few uneasy moments too
But all in all....it was a GREAT DAY!!!! The elusive boy joined us, but went off on his own and avoided my camera....He is in the group photo!!!!!!!