Making It Through the Cold, Snow and Wind

January and February brought freezing cold temperatures and tons of snow this year.  The girls were off of school for five days as a result.  We had plenty of fun both indoors and outside when the temps were okay for sledding, skiing and skating.  Both girls tried cross country skiing this year as well as snowshoeing.  Mommy and Daddy were impressed that the girls enjoyed skiing so much and asked to go again sometime. 

 Indoor camping on our 50 below days

Mahtomedi Ice Skating Event with horse drawn wagon rides

Lots of weekends in February and March were spent with Irish dancing friends.  Mommy was the room volunteer for Emma's group this year.  Having to wait the whole show with the girls backstage was hard but very eye opening into the world of little girls.  Mommy's storytelling skills came in quite handy after about an hour of playing games and coloring.  

 Behind the scenes

 Waiting for a chance to perform

Stage time

Analise celebrated her fifth birthday Fancy Nancy style with lots of frills.  Her best friends all wore their fanciest dresses to the party.  The girls painted nails, did make up, designed fashion clothes, made headbands and of course celebrated with some fancy cake and fruity flavored tea.  Emma was the MC for the girls as the walked the red carpet.  Mommy was exhausted by the end but the girls all seemed to have endless amounts of energy.  They could have dressed up for many more hours.

Our current fascination is gymnastics.  The girls now put on shows with headstands and flips over our yoga ball when they play indoors.  Mommy really likes their current instructor who makes sure all the students are doing something instead of sitting and watching everyone else take their turn.  She uses stations and teaches the kids how to safely practice each station while she helps with the harder skills to master.