Catching up on some pics

This post has absolutely no central theme, I just want to make sure I get all of these photos in the blog for when I print it out later ;)

I love her sense of style

focused

She was super photographer's assistant!

And she's also a dork :)

She loves to do my hair sometimes

And it's always "interesting"

She's so lovely when she's sleeping

And she's almost always silly!  She is described by her teacher as being the class clown, and I can totally see why :)

The other night she was taking FOREVER to get out of the shower., and here's why.  Yes, she's asleep.

To catch a leprechaun....

Izzy had to build a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's day.  We came up with a lot of great ideas, but settled on a trap that the leprechaun would fall into.

Of course, we had to entice the leprechaun with lots of green and shiny things.  Izzy also decided that leprechauns like orange, which explains the role of orange duct tape that she's cutting.

All in all, I think this was a fantastic leprechaun trap.  Note the rainbow made out of pipe cleaners, and the sign that says "gold" :)  The gold things on the rainbow are the "shinys" from the "pot o' gold" that's under the rainbow.

I loved how Izzy really took this on as her own project.  She spent over an hour adding little embellishments to it.  I thought it would be good to add a staircase so that the leprechaun could easily get up to the pot of gold, because the "trap" was right under it.  Izzy did a great job of trying to guide the leprechaun ;)  What Izzy was trying to write was "shiny, dangly stuff.  jewelry perfect for leprechauns"!!!

Because the trap was a little bit bit, I thought it would be better if I dropped it off at school for her so it didn't get all mashed up in the trip.  I guess Izzy was driving everyone crazy the whole day, wondering where I was.  I wasn't able to get there until the end of the day, but I made it in time!  This is Izzy explaining her trap to all of the kids in her class.

It was so fun to see all of the creative ideas that the kids had.  They each found a special place to put their trap, hoping to be the one to catch the leprechaun.  Unfortunately, that little bugger was a bit too sneaky for all of them, but he left them some "gold" nuggets.  Maybe next year we'll get him!

A trip to Space!

We were feeling a bit stir-crazy in the house, and decided to head to the Science Museum of Minnesota to check out their new "experience".  I think this must've been opening weekend, because it took us 45 minutes to get through the line for tickets, and most of the IMAX shows were sold our until later that evening, so we did't get to see that part, but hopefully we'll be able to go back and do that because I LOVE IMAX movies!

This picture doesn't quite do the astronaut behind her justice.  It's MASSIVE, and it's hanging from the ceiling.

There was a short movie you watch before you get back into the full exhibit.  It's not part of the regular museum admission, but it's totally worth the extra fee.

What I love about this is that it's an exhibition that focuses more on the future of space rather than the past.  It gives people a great opportunity to see what life is like in space, from the food they eat, the clothes they wear, and how they go to the bathroom!

There are quite a few hands-on areas as well, like this one where people can control the robot arm, simulating what it's like to control the robot arm on the space shuttle.

I wish I could've taken more photos, but it was pretty dark in the exhibit.  There were SO many people there, and the line for some of the displays/activities were so long that we weren't able to wait, but I really hope to go back!

After leaving the exhibit, you had to walk through another exhibit that had quite a few artifacts from the Indians that used to live in Minnesota.  There was a lot of amazing and intricate bead work on clothing, and they also had this station set up where kids could pretend that they were weaving a blanket with bundles of colored yarn.  I think Izzy could've sat here for hours.

This was also pretty amazing!  It's a beautiful piece of art made entirely out of different types of true bark.  Isn't it beautiful?

My little Valentine....

We spent Wednesday night making class valentines.  Not-so-smart me thought that these little origami fortune-tellers would be fun, and from the kids' perspective they were a hit!  However, folding 24 of these and cramming them into envelopes that were clearly designed to fit as snugly as possible around the fortune teller was an exercise in patience ;)

And I just had to share this valentime from my dear, sweet little girl.  Heart officially liquified.

Haircut!

Izzy's been talking about cutting her hair for the last couple of weeks.  I was so afraid that I had influenced it, because she kept saying things like, "Mommy, I wanna cut my hair short like it was when I was little and you loved it."  Terribly adorable, but also scary because of the influence you have over your little ones without even knowing it.

She and I talked about it, and I let her know that I love her and her hair no matter what.  I felt like this was another one of those teachable moments for her, and by that I mean it was an opportunity to help her understand that she isn't defined by what she looks like...especially the length of her hair.  I mean, if she doesn't like it, she can always grow it back, right?  I'm a little ramble-y here, but I want to remember what I was thinking during this time 20 years from now :)

I'm so glad I didn't try to talk her out of this.  She looks so happy!!!

Snow tubing!

This winter has been a little lackluster from the perspective of snowfall.  Even though it's ridiculously cold, we've usually been able to rely on some snow, but not so much this year.  And that's really cut down on the amount of outdoor-time we've had. so we decided to do something about it.

I've been bugging Joacim to try skiing, but he's a bit resistant (probably because we're old and "owies" hurt a lot more than they used to :) so we headed to Buck Hill and spent a couple of hours in the fresh (albeit chilly) air.

The was clearly giddy on the first run up the hill.

When we first arrived there weren't that many people and hardly any waiting, but as the afternoon went on, the lines grew...

I was a little worried that we'd get there and she'd be scared to go down by herself.  Luckily, I was completely wrong ;)

Here's Joacim heading down the hill while Izzy and I watched:

January 31 2015 - Joacim snow tubing at Buck Hill from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.

And here's a fun slow-motion video of Izzy's trip down the hill:

January 31 2015 - snow tubing slow mo from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.

The Mitten - Izzy's first play

The first graders put on their very first play, and it was called "The Mitten".

Izzy played the owl :)

I have no idea what her lines were.....she had a little case of the nerves and said them so fast that I couldn't understand them.  Actually, this happened to most of the kids ;)

IMG 2459 from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.

It was SO fun to see this, and to see how excited she was!  She practiced REALLY hard for it and she did a great job!

Another amazing fall weekend.....MEA weekend included!

It was MEA weekend here in Minnesota, so Joacim and I took both Thursday and Friday off to do something fun with Izzy.  I had the best of intentions.....I was going to plan a trip up to Duluth or Grand Marais for the weekend, filled with lots of hiking and bonfires, but time just ran away from me.  Nevertheless, I think we still had a pretty good time.

My plan for Thursday was to go to Minnetonka orchards like we did last year, and hang out in the AMAZING weather and then get some pumpkins.  Unfortunately, little Izzy wore shoes that were too small, and by the time we got out of the corn maze (where I lost my sunglasses as well) she had a blister on her foot.  So that was shot, but we did get pumpkins.  WIN!

I wish you could've seen her from the front. She was wearing an elastic headband around her head and was all rocked out ;)

I was pretty bummed when we got home.  Sometimes it's frustrating because I have a very particular idea of what I want to happen, and when it doesn't, I get a bit rattled.  I think Joacim sensed my mood, and suggested that we try to ride out bikes to Excelsior, which is a lovely little town on Lake Minnetonka (about 7.5 miles by bike trail).  I love Excelsior...such a cute little town, and they were having a farmer's market when we got there, so the main road was closed of (made me feel MUCH more comfortable regarding Izzy).  I took my camera with me to capture the lovely fall colors that Mother Nature bestowed upon us this year.

Once we got to Excelsior, we decided to grab an early dinner at Maynard's and then bike back home.  Now, looking back, it was fun, but in the midst of the ride back, my legs were cramping so terribly bad (damn kidneys) that I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it back home!  Luckily, Joacim and Izzy were both patient and let me walk as much as I needed to in order to make it back safely ;)

This was a LOVELY weather weekend.  At some point over the weekend (I don't remember when :) Izzy and I headed out to the backyard so she could do gymnastics and I could take her picture (at her request), so the following is a collection of those photos.  Even though she's not actively participating in gymnastics right now, her strength is ridiculous!  And that smile on her face while she's doing this is something I wish I could bottle!  There are also a couple of pics of Rosie and Murphy, who were also enjoying the warmth and sunshine :)