My First Ballet Class

Now that Aina has begun taking dance lessons, we dance pretty much non-stop at home, well the girls do.  Mabel is totally enthralled with watching big sister at dance and just being part of the big kid scene.  She was so enthusiastic at Aina's last class, she completely crashed it and ran around the studio the last 10 minutes while she was supposed to be watching quietly.  The teachers suggested I enroll her in My First Dance Class, so here we are!

Aina came prepared with her dance outfit assuming she would dance in the hallway while Mabel danced, but the teachers suggested that she come in and be a helper.  She was pumped.

Mabel stuck close to big sis for the first part of class.  Once she got run over a few times by Aina, who is an exuberant dancer, she struck out on her own.

Thank goodness they had blue scarves for the interpretive dance session, no other color will do.

"I danced with a horsey, because I love horseys"

She got a couple of unicorn stamps at the end, that was the icing on the cake.  We may be in for a few years of this!

Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Company, Bozeman

We made a little visit to the Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Company with friends Sara and Leland.  What a great intro on how wool gets from sheep to yarn!

After coffee, before hitting the mill.

Aina really got into the work!

Lots of good questions and soft things to touch.

Lots of finished goodies.

Denise gave us an amazing tour with tons of patience.

Aina making a skein, she was a natural. 

We got chickens!!!!

Coop with a view!

The ride over to their new home.

The girls waiting patiently for one of the chickens to get close.  They are marginally feral.

Eggs....

More eggs!

Fried eggs!

Please don't eat our chickens little ermine.

This one cannot stay out of the coop.

They are not always too sure about holding them.

It is nothing fancy, but it is home for now.

Aina:  I think Papa is a vampirate, I can't hear a heartbeat.

Mama:  Yes, he is baby.

No picture of them doctoring Papa, but there is a lot of rampant illness in this house, including vampiratism.

New Winter Activity, Ice Skating.

Having been an avid roller-skater as a kid, I figured we had to start ice skating at some point.  Mabel is not too keen on it, but Aina is in love and now has her own skates.

First try on double-bladed skates.

On to the single-bladed skates.

Ski Day at Bridger Bowl!

All fired up and ready to shred!

Watching sissy come down the mountain.

So, there may be a tiny hot cocoa incentive!

All smiles.

Aina and Papa headed up on the big lift!

And, she's done.

Happy Halloween!

Okay, so I took A LOT of pictures during the month of October, many of the girls in costume or doing something with pumpkins.  My dreams of homemade costumes every year were dashed by the fabulousness of two little girls as Wonder Women, showing off their girl power!  Thanks for all of the new and hand-me-down costumes sis!!!

They are little, but mighty little Wonder Women!!

Wonder Women need to take breaks too, here we were waiting for Papa to get home so we could hit the Bozeman Maze.

Mabel (the littlest Wonder Woman) and I took a little train ride.

Out at the Pumpkin Patch

Got one!

Tractor ride back from the pumpkin patch with our little friend.

Silliness.

I told Aina she could have as many as she could carry, so she crammed some in her shirt to free up her hands.

Pumpkin carving was fun, but the fire at the end was a showstopper!

We had a little pre-trick or treating gathering over at our best bud's house.  She was an amazing Speed Racer!

Mabel was not sure what to think about it all and wanted to stop between every house to check out her stash.  I only let her have one piece anyway, poor kid!

Little voyeurs.

In costume and in character.  Apparently Wonder Woman is a wild, candy-hunting banshee!

Super-scary house down the road.  The girls were really brave.

After the scary house.

Almost home with a load of goodies.  

Mabel figured out that you can get some without taking off the wrapper.

Big sis was in very good spirits since we let her have 4 pieces of candy that day.  She is so deprived she had to ask me how to eat a tootsie roll pop.  Then she shared some with Mabel.  She did not find out how many licks it takes to get to the center, she ate it like the smart owl.

We did not get many trick or treaters, but those that came by got an exuberant, sugar-fueled greeting and as much candy as they could get with one hand.