Ten Years Old! The Tween years!
We started with a round of "eat that food!" and I can't believe I ate that food!
We ran over to Elk River to the Water Park and had a great time!


Time for the annual slumber party! this is actually the "morning after"
and JoJo isn't in the pic as she had to go home last night...we all survived!
It was great everyone! Thanks for coming!
We hit the arcade too!
Then went home for cake, presents and movies...
  
Spring Break! see our pool in Orlando!
How about Epcot?
visit Winter!
Finally...hit the beach and get all sandy!

Finally the big 5th grade ski trip to Trollhagen. Even though I've skiied before I still needed to go through the 10 station course. We had to practice on the tow rope, stopping, turning and finally wind our way through a little slolum course. I got through the course on the first try and soon my friends got through the course and joined me on the hill. I stayed later with mom but a bunch of others stayed late too so I had a lot of buddies on the hill! What a great field trip!! Best Ever!
Time for braces...I so do
not want to do this!!!!
Ok...this is so totally not comfortable!!
How long is this going to take again?
Almost done...how are they looking?
I went with grey and black binders...subtle...
Ok...let's get out of here and head
to school-see if I make it all day!
We're due for a foot of new snow so it must be time to play soccer! indoors that is! at the University of St Thomas with North Surburban Soccer, Scored 1 and had 1 assist! good start for the season!


The Grand Plan! See "Forever Saint Paul" written in?
check it out on Facebook

Following the grand plan above you can add Lite Brite pegs to the metal grid to create like the biggest lite brite ever! at the Union Depot! fun with my buddy Lauren!
Looks like they liked it! of all the teams our team was one of 5 to be recognized for a good steps 2 (defining the underlying problem) and 5 (developing an action plan)...and we won 2nd for our oral presentation! It will take a couple of weeks to find out if we are going to state...but it is looking good!
FPS Team ready for regionals!
Christopher, Dane, Lauren and Belle
We are all ready to get our "fuzzy" a future based
story that we need to find problems in and solutions for
The future story is a new mega-city that will make things so easy for people they aren't going to be healthy!
After completing our packet to send in for
judging we did a skit of our proposed solution...
Last sock hop at Rice Lake Elementary...me and my girls were all pooodled up and had a great time!
Church Retreat weekend...time to play games, eat junk food, play broomball, eat junk food, play "ping pong" around the world", eat junk food, chase around with the others playing "cops and robbers", eat junk food, well...I think you get the picture!
New Years Eve! Up until midnight! partying at the Larsons...even the "grown-ups" get a little crazy!

Finally it was time for Christmas with mom's side of the family. We usually meet at the Plum City care center so Grandma Anderson can join in but there were too many people sick there so we met at "the farm". Only some of the cousins could make it. So all the kids that could make it drew a picture of our family for Grandma so she wouldn't miss us so much. I'm the biggest kid on this side of the family! Karlyssa is a couple of years younger and Dalton is just about exactly one year younger than me. The award for "Cute" goes to my little second cousin Kylee. Last year she could barely walk and now she is saying the ABCs and writing her name. There were a few meltdowns during the day like when "Cookie Monster" Uncle Pete stole her cookie! but in the end all was forgiven and there were hugs for everyone!
Christmas is almost here! On Christmas Eve I was a reader and even sang at the church service. When we got home I set out a plate of treats for Santa (notice they are shaped like a Santa face!) and a bowl of carrots for the reindeer. I left a note encouraging the deer to stop at the water tank as I bet there aren't too many tanks in their route!

And YES! it is Christmas and Santa filled my stocking with good stuff like movies, games,
earrings and best of all...duct tape! After everything was unwrapped I sat in the middle
of my "nest" and just enjoyed the bounty that is Christmas!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Let's rule this hill!!! Fun times at Wild Mountain!
Just a few more days until Christmas...time to meet up with the cousins at Aunt Collen and Uncle Glen's house for the first of the holiday gatherings! Merry Christmas!
It can be snow fun to have a buddy over! Building a snow woman, having a snowball fight and just hanging with a new a brand new friend!


Halloween is finally here! we carved out the last of the pumpkins
at home. I did the kitty and pumpkin on the left. My kitty from
the other weekend is pretty much shot ;-(
We headed out with the Larson's and some of the neighbors
I was the only girl and the boys were CRAZY! and would run
so fast! We went the regular route and of course ended up at the
spooky house with all the costumed characters...pretty cool!
I had a bag totally filled with candy! too cool! I'll donate some
to the troops through a program at school...promise!
At my friend Andrew's house there is a pumpkin carving party each year...it is a "can't miss" event! I totally carved my own pumpin this year and it is pretty cool! we also play some then look at all our pumpkins once it is dark! cool!
I'm in an Archery Class now! Base Camp inspired me! it is fun and I meet new people and am learning to handle my bow pretty well!
 
Last weekend at the Ren Fest! Brought the rest of my friends and the dog! we watched 8 shows and played in the Naval Experience and visited the mermaids! everyone else also went Bungee jumping!
  
Back to the Fest! This time as a peasant. We tracked down the Royal Navy and served with the Spanish (who won!), played in the mud with Muck, did the fencing, watched the Robin Hood show and didn't care if we got wet but did the courtly dancing anyways! We saw some of our usual shows but tried to see some of the ones we hadn't seen yet this year. Of course we caught up with Twig and Lady Spicer as well. Another great day at the Fest!

What else is there to say?
Back to school! off to 5th grade..
let's see how this goes
 

You know the day is going to be good when it starts off like this! another beautiful day at
the Ren Fest but this time as a gypsy with my friends Kiersten and Kailey! At the gate
the jester is trying to corrupt us while the queen jumps to our defense!
The good queen tried to protect our innocence...

This time we managed to
visit the mermaids.
They were pretty cool!
Kiersten tried to get the horn to blow to start the show...
But didn't have quite as much
air as "Little" John...both
he and Robin Hood ended
up in the water!
  
At 5 PM it was time for the Belly Dance Competition! We circled, we
circled...and I won! again! 2X reigning champ of the Jrs class!
The end of a long, fun, hot and sweaty day! We posed for pics with Twig and the King and got our final wiggles out at the drum jam!
Time to go home and wash up to be ready for school tomorrow!
I really want one of these!!! please? I should slip one of these eggs into my pocket!
boy would that surprise dad tomorrow! but seriously can we have chickens when we move?
It is always fun to visit the
Butterfly house too...
off to the cookies!

Renaissance Festival Season again and it starts off with a bang! Italian Carnival weekend so the new dresses, thank God, were ready! and the masks...can't forget the masks!
Lauren could come with us so that made it super special! My Rennie friends were there as well, Twig, Lady Spicer and of course Lord Spicer, don't forget the King and Queen, etc, etc...
The Fire Circus added back the flaming hula, Johnny still eats fire and the Hypnotist still really gets people silly! We bought swords and killed a pirate...it's ok...nobody misses extra pirates!
   

Base Camp at Fort Snelling is in the
old Cavalry Drill Hall on the Upper Bluff
portion of Fort Snelling. The building was
built to train soldiers on horse back...that is
the Cavalry. It is pretty cool! Come inside!

A Climbing wall!
But I thought the coolest thing was the Archery Range. He taught us how to handle the bow and then we got our own! watch out world! I'm armed!
 

Sometimes when we go to visit auntie Coleen and uncle Glen my cousin Natalie and I play dress up...she has a wedding dress, with Natalie as my flower girl and neighbor Anna as a bridesmaid...FUN!

  
Last game of the summer season...I pretty much stuck to defense but drove it down the field and scored while on offense! Fun season and some new friends!
Slice of Shoreview time! went with buddy Lauren. We had a water balloon fight...I think she won! but I got her pretty good too! then dancing with dad and fireworks!

Kids Club field trip to Bunker Beach! best field trip of the summer and a chance to hang
with Erin and Lauren! Can they stay late with us? SWEET! Thanks mom!
Bunker is great! I went around the lazy river with dad, played basketball with my buddies in the pool but didn't go down the slides or play in the rough water at the wave pool!

Sand Castles and creatures at the Chain of Lakes beach...
Another weekend with Lauren C but this time we went camping right close to home...complete with fishing, swimming and S'mores!
We've never been to Minnehaha Falls! ...the bicycle surreys are more work than they look, the flags were huge, the ice cream welcome and the park beautiful!
Glad we had our new tent for this camping excursion! we spent a lot of time in it!
We came home to two butterflies to set free!

We are camping near Taylors falls...our campsite is apparently in "Mosquito Hollow"! Altough it rained quite a bit we did use the pool, fit in a round of golf, made smores as
well as learn how to make a "pudgie pie" on the campfire. We hiked several miles along the St. Croix and while we found rasberries on the way I was hungry enough for cone!
Time to thank our competing team for a good game...and a high-five to our fans
I prefer defense...
But every so often I play offense and get the chance to run the ball down the field and SCORE!! this time it worked out!
The Flint Hills Children's Festival in has great shows, a parading Chinese dragon, a nice park with a cool tree and a carved dog that looks just like my Tiki dog!
 
Memorial Day weekend...maybe we'll go camping! the new tent is here...
it has several "rooms" so I get my own! we'll try the backyard first!
Between the rains there was sun! we hit the beach on Sunday and built the new years model
of sand castle complete with a "Great Wall" all our own!
  
Talent Show time! Lauren and Kimberly worked up a routine with me to "Dynamite" and mom made up the outfits! I think we did pretty good! The 4th and 5th grade class can all put together skits, some sang, some danced and several (like my friend Christopher) played piano. The officer in charge even sang a song and really rocked the house! I already have plans for next year!
For mother's day we ran down to visit Grandma in Plum City and then continued a few miles towards Pepin where they have created a replica of the "little house in the big woods" that Laura Ingels Wilder wrote about. We have read all her books and even went to her homesites at Walnut Grove and DeSmet! time to visit the one close to home...even though it isn't in a "Big Woods" anymore! It was pretty cool regardless. Then off to have dinner in Red Wing and back to home...what a day!
The "Fairy Fest" in Circle Pines is really small and laid-back...but Jewel was there so we went. Fairies keep secrets really well but she couldn't even try to hide the fact that she had swallowed a watermelon! not sure if she will be at the Ren Fest or not...glad we caught up with her here! We made bubbles of our own and checked out the dress shop! I won the raffle! I get to pick out my own formal dress at her dress shop!!
Time for Tech Trek-what is that? there are tons of stations at school to visit (like "The Bug Guy"-cool moth-huh?) and a geo trek station to find stuff and even learning stations inside-COOL! Fun day! I completed all the stations and the next week found out I had won the drawing! I won a cool Geo-tracking kit!
We had watched the little skinny wormy things to into larger catterpillars, then form their chrysalis and without our seeing become butterflies...now was the time for the big release! C ya around!
Breakfast was a bit slow!
Then everyone made up a friendship bracelet before heading home!
After a couple of movies (The Muppets and Kung Foo Panda 2) and an hour or two of cartoons sleep finally took over!
When we got home it was still light enough to visit the ponies!

Then there was a call to play "Eat That Food!" like we did last year...
Summer wasn't sure her item was really food and Erin was certain sardines are NOT food!
Here's the whole gang...well Lauren C needed to take off already to practice for the state level competition for Future Problem Solvers
The gifts and cupcakes were pretty!
Thanks everyone!
They taste great too!
The party starts at Zero Gravity! jumping can be fun but dodgeball is another fun option!! boys against girls!