April Fools!

On April Fools Day, I served the girls some pizza and milk.

The pizza had strawberry sauce, whipped cream "cheese" and candy toppings! The milk - more whipped cream!

I love Willa's face in this one.


Jia said it was the best pizza ever!

If I Were President...

This is the unedited essay Jia wrote for school.

If I Were President... I would make brussel sprouts aleagle because I don't think there a good veggie. And I would make cutting down trees aleagle because trees make oxagen. I would make evreywoune read 10 books a day because reading helps you learn. Also I would make people not use guns because it is mean. People shouldn't smoke because it's hazardous to your health. I would band wars because people can die from war. I would band unharmony because people can get harmed from it. I would make it a rule that people couldn't use slaves because it is rude.

Nice to know Jia's perspective on the world!

FCA Easter Egg Hunt

Our Families with Children from Asia group held its annual Easter Egg Hunt today. It was the best weather we've ever had! The girls had a great time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Joe and I were talking about how we likely would have done, well, nothing, for St. Patrick's Day, if we didn't have kids. Instead, we celebrated it quite a bit. It started at 6:30 this morning when Jia came into our bedroom and excitedly said, "I wonder what the leprechaun did downstairs!" A classmate's parent had talked with her class about celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. She apparently said that mischievous leprechauns mess up the house and leave gold for the kids. So, we told Jia it was too early to get up and then this leprechaun flew downstairs, threw raffia all over and left some Sacajawea gold coins on the table. Phew!

We also made some Blarney stones to kiss for good luck:

We ate a breakfast of green eggs, green smoothie and shamrock pancakes.

The girls sported green clothes:



Including a shamrock scarf.

They also danced a jig!



The day was beautiful (in the 70's!) and we spent it outdoors. We are feeling lucky today and hope you are as well!

Willa's school

We love Willa's school for many reasons, one of which is their field trips. Each month they go somewhere like the dentist, a nursing home (dressed in costume on Halloween), the State Capitol, and her most recent trip was to tour... a jail! Yep, they went to a police station, got to sit in the back of a cruiser, wave at 911 dispatchers, view all the items on an officer's belt, and check out a jail cell. Thankfully, they decided it was not a place they wanted to stay!



They do some other interesting projects as well. They often cook and bake with the kids. (Willa once churned butter so vigorously that her skirt fell off!) For Valentine's Day, they had the children make a Valentine for their parents, and the parents make ones for the kids. We were given some paper and told to cover it with Willa's favorite things. What a fun idea! She loved it.

We switched her from another school earlier in the year, and we're so glad we did. She loves her new school and so do we!

Girl Scouts Centennial

Girls Scouts celebrated its 100th anniversary this weekend. The big event was right here at the Mall of America...and the girls were excited to be a part of it!

Jia was prepared to wear her uniform:

Then we forgot it at home. Oh well! MOA was decked out in green:

There were just a few people:

We arrived just in time for the very crowded flash mob:



We did some activities:
Ate some snacks:
And went on some rides.

First time on the Ferris Wheel:


I love that Jia truly gets that Girl Scouts is about making the world a better place, gaining confidence in oneself, learning life skills and much more. Today was a great girl celebration!

Weekends

We've had some busy weekends lately. We've also been practicing the art of "going with the flow." Last weekend, none of our plans worked out as hoped. But, it was okay! In fact, it perhaps ended up better than we anticipated. On Saturday, we took the girls to a funky theater for a puppet show and craft activity. Their crafts can be quite spectacular so the girls were excited. The show was underwhelming, but we did enjoy hearing the girls laugh.

Then we learned the craft activity was cancelled. What to do?

We were near downtown, so I ran into the downtown library and was able to snag some free passes to the Foshay Tower Museum and Observatory. (I learned that my maternal great-grandfather moved to Minneapolis to help build the Foshay - a fun piece of family history.) It was built in 1929. It is an Art Deco structure that is 32 stories high.


When it was built, it was the tallest building in Minneapolis. Until 1972.

Things have changed quite a bit since then.


It now houses the W hotel. After seeing the swanky lobby, the girls begged to stay there.

The following day we attended Rock the Cradle held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. There were tons of events including a dance party, live bands, art projects and more. It was so packed the only thing we were able to do was the "Instrument Petting Zoo."


We decided to leave, and ended up eating lunch at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. It was so yummy that the girls did not mind missing the event at all.

This weekend's plan worked out as anticipated. We took the girls to see Disney on Ice "Dare to Dream." We loved the music from the Princess and the Frog, and were especially impressed by Rapunzel and Flynn swinging around on her hair (ribbon).




Our little princesses truly enjoyed themselves!