Rudolph the Red Rosed Reindeer

Last Sunday we went to see Rudolph at Stages Theater.  The girls loved the show, especially the "Bumble."  Both girls were originally afraid of the large monster that frequently appeared on the stage, but by the end of the performance, he was a favorite.  We are going to watch the TV claymation version of Rudolph this weekend to compare the movie with what we saw on the stage.  Mommy is sure that scenes will be reenacted by the girls throughout the Christmas season.  

Halloween Comes Early to the Maas House

Emma and Ani have taken to using their Halloween costumes every day for the past two weeks.  With princesses visiting daily, Mommy becomes frazzled and tries her hardest to keep the house in good order for their arrival.  While Grandma Jan and Grandpa Bruce visited, they also had a chance to meet the demanding princesses. The picture Grandma Jan took that has Mommy laughing so hard is displayed below.   It appears that Emma has decided to put a magic spell on herself so she can disappear, while Grandpa Bruce sneaks up from behind for a good tickle.

Grandpa playing the part of the prince with magical powers.  Of course all good princes listen to the full instructions provided by their princesses. 

Hoedown and Science Museum

The girls have been enjoying the outdoors this fall.  Last weekend we went out to collect fossils near Cherokee Heights.  We even found some volcanic rock and a small cave.  Most of the fossils in the rock were crinoids or corrals.  We also enjoyed a nice picnic lunch by the river.

The previous weekend we had our school Hoedown.  The girls loved the live music, face painting and hunting for their snack of a clementine decorated as a pumpkin.  We also visited the Science Museum when it was raining.  The museum has a new exhibit put on by 3M where kids get to work with wind and water.  They have a car wash as well as tons of tubes where kids can manipulate wind speeds.  The girls loved the ping pong ball part of the exhibit.

Big Trucks and Wild Rice Festival

What a busy day we had today.  I am not sure if we spent more than a few hours at home.  The day started with tumbling and dance lessons followed by a "Big Trucks" activity.  Then we were off to the wild rice festival in Roseville, came home for a quick nap.  Next we were off to church followed by a birthday party for our next door neighbor, Prince. 

As for gymnastics, Ani worked on hanging from the uneven bars.  Last year she was unable to hang but now she has much more upper body strength and loves the challenge of holding on for as long as her arms will let her.  Emma is happily learning her new dance moves for her "Under the Sea" performance in December.  I think being Ariel is a dream come true for Emma.  Disney music will definitely be heard in our house this fall.

After we finished up morning lessons, we headed to the "Big Truck" show.  When we first arrived, Analise was afriad to board some of the "Big Trucks."  However, after she saw Emma climb on a few, she was ready to give it a try.  Our first stop was the garbage truck.  This was followed by the tractor, snow plow, fire truck, ambulance, Bobcat and school bus.  Mommy wanted Emma and Ani to get in the really large digger but it was a bit intimidating and there was a long line.  Emma decided that her favorite truck was the ambulance which she visited multiple times.  Ani seemed to really like the snow plow and its walkie-talkie system.

The Wild Rice Festival proved to be an interesting event as well.  Here we saw Native American dancing, created gigantic bubbles with pvc pipes and string, saw how they press apple cider, watched a demonstration of how to extract honey from the honey comb, saw the different stages wild rice goes through as it is processed, checked out some buffalo skulls and learned about some special horses that work with police officers.

Perhaps the best part of the day was Prince's birthday equipped with a personal jump castle, gigantic slide and lots of outdoor lights.  The girls loved meeting new friends and running all over the backyard for his party.  By the time the day was wrapping up, both girls were exhausted.  Tomorrow will probably be less eventful with our new dryer coming in and perhaps some apple picking at the orchard. 

Ani's First Weeks In Children's House

Analise recently moved up to Children's House and is enjoying all the sensory exploration and math activities that her teacher has presented to her.  In the past two weeks, Ani has learned how to make her own snack, how to wash her own dishes, how to find interesting work and has received many grace and courtesy lessons (how to give or ask for a hug, how to walk around someone else's work, how to ask for help, etc.).  In terms of sensory and math experiences, Ani has been learning how to pour beans without spilling, how to pull rubber bands to make a variety of shapes, how to stack cubes based on size (the Pink Tower), and how to organize cylinders based on length, width and height. 

Analise's teacher Na says that Ani shows a high level of concentration when she works.  She will stick with a task for a long period of time.  She also loves the class bird, Coconut and feeding the fish. 

 Bean pouring

 Pouring water

 Using funnels

 Rubber band shapes

 Shelling pods for snack

 Grading with one dimension (length, width or height)

Grading with multiple dimensions (volume)

First Camping Trip

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to organize our first camping trip with the girls.  We went to Lake Elmo with a plan to stay the night only to find out that severe storms were coming through.  So we stayed long enough to swim at the beach, observe at the archery range, set up the tent, grill some burgers and sing some songs.  The girls both had a chance to try out their sleeping bags in the tent before we packed it up again.  Carolyn and Brian came out to enjoy the evening with us.  It was a good thing we chose a spot that was on fifteen minutes from our house.

We will make our next attempt at sleeping in the tent in our backyard next weekend (provided it is sunny).  This will also let us know if we need to bring two separate tents or if we can manage sleeping in one.

Bee Tagging

Yesterday the girls had their first experience working on a real science experiment.  We worked with an individual from the U of M who is doing research on bees in the local area (by Lake Como).  The girls were a bit apprehensive about the bee project at first.  However once they learned more about the bees, they were running around with samples and asking lots of questions.

We learned that the male bees don't have stingers and you can hold and touch them.  Mommy was impressed with how fast their wings beat as she gently touched their backs.  Emma and Ani were impressed by how fuzzy the bees felt.  We also learned how to tell the difference between males and females.  Males typically have longer abdomens and they also have longer antenna.  The researcher told us that typically more male bees were out in these later months of summer.  We also learned that the bee can travel anywhere from 1/2 mile to a full mile away from its hive.  The queen bees are the ones out in early spring (April/May) and it is best to leave them alone because they will be the one to start up the colony. 

We mainly found two types of bees while collecting.  We differentiated types based on patterns they had on their backs.  The researcher said that she discovered a few bees last summer that should have been farther north due to climate change.  However the extreme changes in temperature in northern Minnesota might have kept them down in the Twin Cities area. 

When tracking the bees, we would wait for the bee to land on a flower and then use a plastic container and capture the bee by placing the container over the flower and then sliding the lid closed under.  We also had to identify the plant the bee was found on.  Then the researcher would use a net to take the bee out of the container and examine it.  After examining it we placed a little orange paint dot on its back to know which bees had already been counted.  The females, or worker bees, were taken out very carefully and held in the net the entire time they were marked.  We were able to mark the bees through the net as well.  The male bees were released into the net and then could be picked up with one's fingers.

Not only did we get to participate in some really neat data collection, we also got over our fear of bees.