It's never to early to learn about fiscal responsibility...

I volunteer for an organization that takes inner city kids to theater productions. However, this month they received tickets to a live taping of a Suze Orman PBS special. I volunteered to drive because I LOVE SUZE ORMAN. They ended up not having kids who needed rides, but still said I could have 2 tickets.

I wasn't sure if Starshine would want to come, but when asked she replied, "I remember her - she was on Biggest Loser!" Awesome. It was pretty cool to see the behind the scenes of a tv program (stage directions, shuffling of the audience for good layout, etc.

Unfortunately they gave us about 10 seconds o take pictures, and my camera wasn't cooperating, so this is the best we got...


Starshine got a little bored at the discussion topic that was over her head, though perked up significantly when the talk came to allowance. She, however, did not like Ms. Orman's suggestions that kids shouldn't get one - they should work for it :).

They handed out pads of paper for people to take notes, and Starshine used it to make a running list of words/phrases she didn't understand. When we met M&M Dad and Jr. Princess for dinner afterwards, it was quite the time explaining Roth IRAs and foreclosures! She's now the most financially informed kid in America.

We'll be DVRing the upcoming show locally on January 30th and nationally on March 8th to see if we can see ourselves!

P.S Suze Orman is not humor or a cup of tea for me unlike the rest of the crowd!

Go Gophers! And YEAH free ice cream!

I won 2 free tickets to the Gopher hockey game last weekend at work. Starshine even graciously agreed to let Jr. Princess go because she has never had the chance. Well, due to a string of bad luck to the other winner of two tickets, I ended up with four - fun family outing time! We decked out in our maroon and gold finest and braved the windchill to head to the game.

Now, it wasn't a regular conference game -they were playing the US National U18 team. That didn't matter to much to us, though, until 2 minutes into the game when the announcer mentioned that if the Gophers score 5 goals, everyone gets a free scoop of ice cream at Culvers. Sorry Jr. Hockey players, but now this is serious! It was fun to hear people chanting for ice cream every time the Gophers scored. The girls were super focused on the game and rooting for goals.

M&M Dad took the girls to get their scoops last night as a celebration for Jr. Princess's positive attitude in swimming lessons. Last week, her teacher almost kicked her out of level 2.5 because she was super clingy, and freaking out about everything. So this weekend I took her to the pool to work on her confidence. My main point was, "Why are you freaking out when you can stand here??" So, we practiced floating and other activities where I let her super-over-the-top freak out on purpose, and then stand up and save herself. It worked like a charm! She was soooo confident Tuesday night. I almost didn't recognize her doing bobs, floating, and gliding while flutter kicking. Now she just has to learn to kick. It must be a genetic issue in our family. Starshine was the WORST kicker in level 2.5, too. Even she remembers it. Now that she is a star level 4 kicker, she wants to take Jr.Princess swimming this weekend to give her some kicking tips. If Jr. Princess keeps this up, she'll be swimming soon!

School Holiday Parties

Today both girls had holiday parties in their classes. I was excited to help volunteer because I was on vacation, but unfortunately they were at the exact same time. When I told Starshine that I was going to help Jr. Princess for the first time she said - "oh good, I didn't want you to come to my party." Ouch...

Well, Jr. Princess and I had a great time making a gingerbread house masterpiece. Here she is very focused on the task...

She loved every minute, and enjoyed frequent finger licking...

I had to laugh because the teachers were recruiting one helper for every child. Really?? These kids knew exactly what to do. I pretty much just took pictures, but it was a joy to see her smile.

Elf Dancing Fun

People at work were talking about the Office Max website today, and I knew we had to try it. We had some good laughs making these elf videos this evening...

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/o4VOsNk85hDnRL51tVHE

Go ahead - you know you want to try it with your own photos!

Stuck in the Snow 3 times and Cookie Fun

Even though the forecast was for the snowstorm of the decade, I ventured out because I was told "Bethel Hall never cancels events due to weather." Yeah - or they wait until I trek a few miles in dangerous snow and THEN cancel my concert. Of course, at this point I have already gotten stuck in the snow, TWICE! (Thank you nice plow driver who helped the first time, and fellow band mate who helped the second). I learned my lesson and hunkered down for the rest of Snowmaggedon 2010. We watched movies, played video games, did a little bit of playing in the snow, and shoveled (ok mainly M&M Dad shoveled) WAY TOO MUCH.

The snow was done by Sunday morning, so M&M Dad took the girls out for some Christmas shopping while I continued holing up in the house. The girls paraded back in the house a few hours later announcing "we were stuck in the ditch for a long time!" After I picked my heart back up, M&M Dad explained there was no ditch (a key detail to a worrying mom, especially considering they were driving in my car), more like the edge of a parking lot. While I let M&M Dad drive Jr. Princess over to her friends house, I was not heading out anywhere! I figure we may be running out of luck considering we have been 3 times stuck in the snow with no injuries or damage to our vehicle.

Luckily we were well stocked for all of our cookie baking.
Starshine did some great work on her snowmen.

I think we officially have a 100% chance of having a white Christmas this year!

Christmas Carols

Today was an awesome "do nothing" day. First, we never got out of our pajamas. Second, M&M Dad started work on luge 2.0. After lots of hard work by him, and major inflatable tube repair by me, we had an awesome time. Too bad we forgot to bring the camera, but it's going to be super cold all week, so I'm sure it's not going anywhere!

Then, as we were winding down, the girls announced it was time for Christmas Carols. "Do you know any?" I asked. "No" replied Starshine, "but I wrote my own."

Indeed she did...

Super cute! Though she does seem to be concerned about the "naughty list." :)

Star of the Week

It is a very exciting week in Kindergarten - Jr. Princess is Star of the Week! She spent Saturday working on her poster.

All about "Jr. Princess"

I am 5 years old

My favorite animal is a cat

My favorite color is pink

My favorite food is edamame

Florida is my favorite place (using a picture of her on Space Mountain)

When I grow up I want to be a teacher

My favorite thing to do is play soccer

If I had wish I would wish for sitting on a cloud

I'm sure she has a great week ahead of her being the line leader, giving the lunch count, and other VERY important Kindergarten responsibilities.

Breakfast with Santa

We braved the snowy, slippery roads to have Breakfast with Santa this morning. The only good part was it made the usually crowded event a lot easier to maneuver.

After a delicious breakfast (always a danger to start with breakfast do to the "Jr. Princess mess factor", but we were hungry!) we stood in a very short line to get balloon animals, treats from Mrs Claus...

and a few minutes with Santa to discuss our gift wishes...

Even with the harrowing journey across town, it is way more fun then heading for the mall. After this and decorating the tree, we are definitely in the Christmas spirit now

Deck the Halls

Friday night we had a fun evening eating pizza and decorating the house for Christmas. It was Jr. Princess's turn to top the tree...

The girls are at such a great age for helping now, that everything gets done super fast.

We're even getting a fresh of 6-8" of snow, so I'm sure we'll have some great sledding pictures soon. Hopefully Luge 2.0 will be starting soon!

Thanksgiving 2010

It was another fantastic Thanksgiving talent show (all be it smaller, with less people this year). Here's a montage to remember the fun...

Thanks to Auntie for starting this tradition a few years ago. Super Fun!

When will I remember to have someone else hold the video camera so my cackling laugh is not on tape??