Falls in the winter.

Visiting favorite summer spots in the winter is a lot of fun! Even though everything around you seems cold and uninviting, the memories of the warm days do have the power of bringing tremendous joy to the frozen scenes around you.
We just love to go to "our" places and pay them a visit in the times when not so many visitors are around. And we still are able to do a lot of things we usually do there, like rock climbing over the stream. And then there is always a bonus in the nature's wonderful display of art works.

It's a PAAARTY!

The girls have been invited to a party! It was a Valentine's Tea Party and the guests had been asked to dress in their best and were presented with a etiquette lesson on how to drink tea in a proper manner. Here they are patiently waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. Meanwhile, I was taking the pictures and was absorbing the beauty and elegance of the place. The tea sets were something! No ugly mismatched mugs, but charming tea cups with saucers simply stole my heart!
Everybody was asked to bring a plate to share. I think it is so clever, as everybody gets to contribute and it does not become too much of a burden on a hosting family.
Leona was sitting next to her best friend, Madelyn, waiting for her to take a first sip of tea, as it is polite to do that at an official tea party.
And then our little gentleman got his chance to sit next to the hostess and drink his tea. There were no broken tea cups, just some spilled tea, soggy cookies and napkins dunked into the tea, or some cloudy liquid that used to be tea at some point. Smile!

It's Valentine's!

In preparation for the Valentine's celebration at the co-op we have worked so hard today!
I was in the store the other day to pick up a few things and also almost bought new supplies for the Valentine cards making and decorations for the house. But then I left everything in the store and decided to pull out the craft boxes and the draws at home and see what we still have left to work with this year.

Since recycle mania is a hit in our family we started right from there. First, the girls needed boxes/containers to collect the Valentines in school. So, this year they were excited to do the mod podge technique. The containers I have saved from honey we buy on the local farm were for Ivana and Leona to work with. And the empty box after the Qtips was a great idea to let Milana try to make her own creation as well. We cut out the hearts from the gift paper I always safe, and then a few red roses from the napkins my Mom in law brought all the way from Europe where you can buy single napkins with various designs especially sold for people to use them for mod podge. Some red ribbon was a great addition to the container.

And then we needed to make the Valentines for their friends. Last year they had their boxes full of cards, handmade and bought, candy and chocolates, cookies and stickers. This year we decided to make bracelets. That would be for the girls, and the boys would get handmade mini cards.
I helped them with crocheting the bracelets, they did all the beaded ones and then we arranged them into mini purses. With now the three of them doing all the things it took time to make sure all their friends would get the Valentines. Even Milana kept on talking and being all excited about how she would give the Valentines to her friends!

We decided to make them kind of with a little secret, because the friend would not know who the Valentine was from unless they open up the heart.
I still have to bake a dessert to share... And it started to snow... The party could be postponed until next week :(

Telethon stars.

Today our girls have experienced a moment of fame.
We have participated in a local Big Brother Big Sister telethon that was aired on channel 13.
It was through their dance school and our wonderful Ms. Katy, the dance teacher, have been organizing this for a few years, but it was the first one for us.
Mimi and Leonka were in the Munchkins class, cute little ballerinas. And Ivana was performing as a pirate with her dancing group.
I was able to enter the recording studio with the small ones and , thus, snap pictures, but we watched Ivana's dance on TV in the hallway.
They were so proud of themselves. Ms. Katy said she would burn the performances on a DVD for us. Some things to remember and look back into...

Playing with coffins?..

There is too much to read, learn and discover about the ancient Egypt. Today we read about the two famous pharaohs and learned the reasons why they became famous in the world history. Amenhotep, for his idea of refusing to worship many gods and pronouncing monotheism in the time of his rule, and then Tutankhamen, for his efforts to erase the existence of the previous pharaoh and make sure the polytheism was back, plus the amazing fact of his tomb discovery and the priceless treasures found in his burial chambers.

As a craft activity we made the clay mummies, wrapped them in linen and made sure there was a place to put the mommies in. That are... the coffins!
I had to laugh today...When I was busy doing my chores and the girls had free time I checked up on them and inquired about what they were doing. "Oh, Mimi is playing with her mummy and we are playing with our coffins". Ah? Just take this out of the context and it might sound as a case of child abuse. Smile...

Then we felt like getting a party started. We had to celebrate King Tut's burial and be happy for him to go to afterlife. That was Leonka's suggestion. Playing Peruvian music did not spoil the fun as the beat was great and we all got to dance!
Hopefully we will be able to make it to King Tut's exhibit in NYC that is coming up this April. They are advertising it as the lifetime opportunity to see the magnificent treasures. Also, they are saying that that is the last time the exhibit is visiting the North American continent.
And the youngest scholar got to play with the sphinx and other Egyptian figurines we have at home. Before you know it he'll be joining our learning crew!

Discovery Museum.

When it is too cold outside, then it is time to look for some fun things to do indoors. And when going up north for a mini trip turns out to be the coldest spell of the season, then to find some local activities to do with kids is a must. Otherwise, what memories would the little ones have of the trip? "How was it up in Maine?" . "Oh, we didn't like it up there. It was too cold!".

After visiting one farm we have had enough of bitter winds blowing into our faces, so we stayed the second half of the day in the motel room. Our activity bag from home came in handy, the laptop and the free internet in the motel were great as well since we were able to call our family oversees!

The next day we decided to visit a Discover Museum. We were kind of not sure what it would be about. Actually, we did have an idea of what we thought a discovery museum should be about. Well, it was not what we thought it would be. And we still made the best out of it. In a way, it was a three floors playground for the kids. Divided into thematic sections for the kids to run around and "discover". The nature learning mini center was downstairs, where the girls were climbing into a raven's nest, a beaver dam, explored the river system of Maine by making their hands wet in the water works display.

Singing in the recording studio was fun. We could see them on TV and Mirek was a recoding professional. The girls would take turns to come out the studio and look at each other on the screen. Our family made a lot of noise in the drumming corner.
My favorite was the play kitchen. The girls were cooking away, taking orders and Milana could not stop admiring her dessert plate, arranged by her older sister.
I was so amazed at the fabric pretend food at the kitchen. It was SO CLEVER! I couldn't stop admiring it and snatching pictures, bedazzled at how come I hadn't come up with this idea myself! I asked at the frond desk about this play food and was told that a lady that worked for the museum had made it and donated it to the play kitchen. How clever! I am so inspired! I can't wait to make our own food! We have tried the salty play dough before. The food turned out great, but then the babies were munching on them for real, a lot got broken and kind of disappeared.
We are in need for new play food, and Mimi's birthday is coming up. I'd better roll up my sleeves and get to work!