Tubing and Time with Friends

We went over to Maple Grove for tubing on Dec. 30th. We brought Tessa along and then Nevaeh joined us at the hill. The girls found their favorite runs and enjoyed the magic carpet ride back up to the top of the hill. A good time was had by all.

Emma had Lilynn over to our house for friend time as well. They braided hair, drew pictures together and visited the library.

Merry Christmas

We went to the Best Christmas Pageant Ever at Park Square theater on Sunday. We were all suffering from colds but felt we still needed to go because the tickets were nonrefundable.

Thankfully the show wasn't too long and there were some louder singing parts where we could cough if needed. We all thought Alice Wendelkin's part was the best followed by Glady's Herdman. On Christmas Eve, we went to St. Pius church for mass. We opened presents and played board games in the evening. Then on Christmas day we visited Great Wolf Lodge.

Analise and mom went on the lazy river and in the wave pool while Emma and Dan took on the large waterslides. When they were finished with waterslides, Emma and Analise tried water surfing and Emma got Analise to go on one tube slide with her. Surprisingly, Analise came back from the waterslide with a giant grin on her face. A first when it comes to waterslides. When we came home, we worked on Mario's Lego World and our jellyfish lamp. Emma gave mom the gift of organizing her bedroom closet and storing old clothes. The gift was greatly appreciated. We made a shrimp dinner and relaxed in the evening. Next up is downhill skiing and time with Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Mark. We went skiing for the night shift at Trollhaugen and found out why the people who truly like to ski don't go skiing around Christmas. Everyone was out on the hill. There were long lines for boots and skis.

The poles were all being used and the chair lift lines were long. Emma started out without poles and struggled to get across the flat patches.

Once she had some poles, things looked up. It was such a nice night out at 35 degrees.

It is too bad that there were so many skiiers that weren't watching where they were going and were out of control (not knowing how to turn) that it made skiing very dangerous. We found a few hills that had minimal people and mainly stuck to those.

7th grade Christmas Gathering

One year later, we are having the annual middle school girl gathering. The first year was a hit so we decided to attempt it again. This year we did Minute to Win it games with a Christmas theme. We started off with an after school snack before starting all the games.

The girls participated in Santa's mustache race. Run across the room and back while holding a straw between your lips and nose. Apparently hard for some people that can't curl their lips.

This was followed by snow spit ball shot. How many can your team make it into a bowl? Next up was the snowball transfer from bowl to bowl with a spoon in the mouth. Surprisingly few cottonballs made it where they needed to go.

After picking up all the cotton balls, we attempted to make snowmen behind our backs by ripping paper without looking.

This took so much concentration. Faces look pained as people attempted the task.

Then we completed button the snowman with toilet paper rolls and ping pong balls which caused lots of shouting and cheering. In between rounds we baked and frosted cookies.

Then both teams returned for the final two events. The most challenging event of the night was wrapping a package using only one hand.

Each girl chose either left or right hand and got to work. This was followed by reindeer ears.

The teams worked together to stuff tights with as many balloons as they could. Then they put the antlers on a teammate's head. Last but not least was guess what holiday item was in a bag without looking. The girls had a blast.

Everyone was exhausted heading home. Erin was thankful that Grandma Kathy and Aunt Joan joined in the fun and helped with cookie decorating. She could not have pulled off all the events without them. Erin promised the group that more events would be to come in the spring or summer months.

They are a great group to have over and so much fun! Next year we will have Analise's first middle school party with her friends. Ani and Ella were there at the event. However, they were mostly outside or playing the role of judge this year so not many pictures were taken. We did get a quick few and they took some pictures of each other because they were in charge of the camera. Now Erin knows not to give 5th graders a camera unless you want a lot of random photos taken.

Holiday Concerts and More

Analise and Emma both had Christmas concerts this past week. Analise played her clarinet in the band and Emma had a choir concert solo. We didn't get many smiling faces for the photos. Apparently singing is really taxing and much focus is required.

In the next week, Analise will have her Christmas marketplace where she sells some handmade quilling and Emma will have her middle school retreat. Lots of fun holiday excitement with Secret Santas and fun holiday games. Next up, the 7th grade girls holiday party at our house.

Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Today we went to the Grinch with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Bruce. The actors and actresses for the show were impressive. We all loved the costuming and special effects. We stopped by Cafe Latte to get some cake for Dan's birthday celebration. Thanksgiving was laid back with board games, quilling and putting up Christmas decorations.

Gymnastics Meet

Analise's team won gold for their first meet in Woodbury. The meet was five hours long, but Analise had a blast hanging out with her friends and watching other teams perform. She feels she did best on vault and bar at this meet. She is excited for her next meet in a few weeks.

Working Hard

We have been working hard this past month with conferences, competitions and big school projects. After a weekend of overload and continous homework, Mom decided we needed a tropical break. We turned the tub into a lagoon with tea lights, sand paper shores, shells, lost treasure and even a bubble wrap jelly fish. Analise and Emma had a blast hanging out together and using the hot tub jets. The bubbles got a bit out of control but it was a great stress release.

Besides work and more work, we served with Operation Christmas Child. 1,500 boxes were packed for girls and boys ages 4-14. Emma had a great time organizing boxes by color or based on the stuffed animals she chose. We hope that lots of children are happy on Christmas morning.

Fall Service and Crafting Opportunities

The past few weekends have been really busy with soap making, stained glass lamp designing, confirmation classes, birthday parties and service projects. We spent some time packing boxes for people in Appalachia who were affected by the hurricanes in the past month. Our church packed 109 boxes of clothing, winter gear, kitchen supplies and items families that lost everything will need to rebuild their lives. We also sent 32 bikes to the churches in those areas. Our team was put in charge of packing infant and little kids clothes.

Besides helping at church Emma and her friends served at Feed My Starving Children and partied with Nevaeh.

While Emma was out partying, Analise and Erin did a mother daughter soap making class. We made soap that smells of jasmine and tulips. Now we wait until Dec. 7th for the soap to fully mix and harden.

Since Analise got to do a project with a parent, Emma wanted in on the deal. She is currently making a stained glass lamp. Erin went to the first class to help Emma design the lamp and Dan will go to the second class to help her finalize the design. Erin's friend Sandy came to our AHG meeting to teach how to make paper flowers and shadow boxes. The girls will be putting together bouquets for different hospitals to have in their waiting areas. The shadow boxes will also be on display at hospitals. They give encouraging messages to people that may be facing hard treatments.

There has been lots of singing of Christmas songs in the shower to get ready for the holiday performances and lots of research work taking place for the big 7th grade project. Emma selected Mary Tudor for her research paper...guess we'll find out why she was called Bloody Mary. Emma entered a few national and state competitions for art and writing hoping to make some money to go towards her flying trapeze classes. If she wants to continue classes, she has to help out with payments. She does babysit Chica on a weekly basis but that comes nowhere near the cost of her classes. Maybe she'll win something.