More Practicing

This year for school band Maya has dropped the trumpet and taken up the sax. She hasn't had any lessons yet but if her honking around the house is any indication, I think she might be pretty good.



Who knows, if she keeps at it she could be the next Bleeding Gums Murphy!

Practicing

Maya's been doing a pretty good job of practicing this year. Since she's started taking lessons at Lydia's house she feels much more relaxed and her playing has improved. We don't know why this is but what why question success.

Old Pic Monday

Jim's Apple Farm

This afternoon we headed down to Jordan, MN to visit Jim's Apple Farm, which is this apple/candy shop/bakery/pumpkin/misc. store off Highway 169. The girls got some candy and treats and we had a really nice day. Being that we picked a bunch of apples in Wisconsin last weekend we passed on the apples - although they did look delicious.

First Lego League

Maya is excited because she is going to be part of her school's First Lego League team this year. Maybe she will become smart enough to build a Lego robot that she can program to clean her room.

Eagle Bluff

Every year towards the end of the school year the 6th graders at Maya's school get to go on a four day trip to Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center - kinda the same thing as Trails End was when I was 6th grade. The cost for each student is $277 so what the kids do to off-set this price is hold a Halloween party at school every year (The Boo Bash) to raise money.



In addition to the Boo Bash the kids raise money by selling True Stone Coffee. Normally these fund raising things are kind of a crock and we will have nothing to do with them, but this coffee is actually really good and cost about the same as other gourmet coffee. A one pound bag is $11.50 and Maya's class receives $4.35 of that. So if you like good coffee and would like to help out Maya and her class let her know and she'll get you set up.

Our weather event

Last night we had to take cover in the basement as a 10 minute storm from nowhere blew through our neighborhood. We lost power from 2:00AM and didn't get it back until 2:00PM this afternoon. Our house came out relatively unscathed other than some downed lines and a smashed electric meter, but it did kind of make a mess of our trees.

KSTP News report - Click Here

Here are some pictures of what our block looked like when we got up this morning.

Apples

Every fall Zaheeda makes these very tasty apple turnovers, so we were in Wisconsin this weekend gathering up the main ingredient.

Old Pic Monday

Second Week of School

We walked Maya to the bus stop this morning as she headed out for her second week of school. Already we're all getting settled into our new routines.

Old Pic Monday

Maya has always been fond of leaves. When she was little she would collect them. Here she is with a Basswood leaf - what some might consider the Cadillac of leaves.

Hot Dogs Roasting On an Open Fire

I was cleaning up the yard this afternoon and Maya gathered up a bunch of branches, made a fire and roasted hot dogs. Annah didn't seem to have much interest in fire, which upon reflection is a very good thing - were Annah to be enamored with fire... Well, that would pretty much be the end of us.

Second Day of School

Second day of school went off without a hitch and Maya is getting right back into the swing of things. Only the second day, and already with the homework.

Old Pic Monday ... On Tuesday

First Day of School

Annah and I walked Maya to the bus stop this morning as she embarked on her first day of 6th grade.

Pigtails

Shop til you drop

Friday night we headed to the mall to pick up a few odds n' ends for Maya before school starts. Maya hadn't eaten anything all day and started running out of gas after a couple laps around the mall.

Monkey Bread

Grandma & Grandpa were over this weekend and Grandma made monkey bread with the girls. It was a new recipe, and turned out to be a really good one as well.

School Orientation

Tonight we head back to school to find out who Maya's new teacher is going to be and get her all set up for 6th grade. This is the last time we'll be doing an orientation at Horace Mann until Annah gets going.

Waiting for Zaheeda

The other night we were in Minneapolis waiting for Zaheeda to get done with her class and Maya kept crawling from the front seat to the backseat via the car window. It was good fun for her and kept Annah entertained as well.