Basketball Girls

Several weeks ago Elise came home with a note from school saying basketball sign-ups were coming up, and she said she wanted to play.  This program is through the county and is open to kids ages 6 and up, so I asked Anja if she wanted to sign-up also.  She said, "I'm too short to play."  Then added, "well, I guess I could run under their legs.  Ok, I'll play."  So this winter, both girls are playing basketball for the first time.  Anja's age group is a "skills" class where they practice shooting, dribbling, defense, etc., but don't play games.  Elise's age group will practice through December, then start games in January.  It has been a hoot to watch them, and see how quickly they are progressing. 

The only basketball experience Elise has had is in gym class at school, but she's doing pretty well.  See a short video of her at practice here.

Elise taking a shot

Practicing defense, Elise in yellow

Anja has great energy and enthusiasm, and adds some flair and personality to what she does (especially her wait time).  See a short video of her at basketball practice here.

Lots of concentration here

Taking a shot...

(this one did not go in, but she does make some!)

Horse Girls

I have loved horses and riding my whole life.  When I was young, my dad was a cowboy and until I was 6 we lived on cattle ranches, so horses were around quite a lot, and I was up on them from an early age.    

Me, 2 years old

After we moved into town I wasn't around them as much, only when we visited friends or family who had horses, then I would beg to ride and hope they would let me.

When I was about 10, mom and dad bought me my own horse and I was in heaven!!  I think I rode almost every day (especially in the summer).  When I went to college my riding days ended for the most part, with just a few times in the saddle here and there over the next several years. 

 A couple years ago, a friend of mine in Thief River who had horses offered to give Elise riding lessons, so for a few weeks that year we all rode; Elise with our friend, getting some direct instruction, and me riding double with Anja, just having fun.

Elise in Minnesota, 2012

Me and Anja in Minnesota, 2012

Here in Virginia last year, the girls rode one day with Girl Scouts, and did a week of horse camp at a local stable where they got to ride every day.  They were really interested in taking lessons, and at the end of October they started with an instructor.  Elise has been going great guns;  Anja has been on a few times, but at this point is more interested in just petting and feeding the horses than riding.  She goes out every week, but we always tell her she doesn't have to ride unless she wants to.  She's been on about three times at this point.  

Elise was NOT excited about riding English at first (I haven't met a person here yet who rides Western), but as she does it more and learns more, she has become more comfortable and is progressing nicely!  One great benefit of the climate here is that the girls have been riding every week, even into December!  The coldest it has been on riding days is in the 40s, and we just bundle up.

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving time this year was fantastic!  Jason, the girls and I all had five days off, Jason's mom was in from California, and the time was great!

Wednesday we cooked and prepped for dinner Thursday.

We tried a new recipe this year:  Thomas Jefferson's
sweet potato biscuits.  Elise had a good time
helping with this recipe! 

Cutting out the biscuits.  We didn't have a
biscuit, so used a Smurf glass.

Thursday we had a very laid-back and enjoyable day hanging out and eating.

The moms/grandmas

Carving the turkey!

The first major holiday in our new house.  Say cheese!

Spending time together, it doesn't get much better than this!

Friday we decorated for Christmas.  This was the first time in many years we had all our Christmas decorations in one place and plenty of room to put them all out.  The girls did pretty much all the decorating, I just supervised.  They did a GREAT job!

A Weekend in Philly

Jason's been to Philadelphia a couple of times and has been telling me how great it is and how much I would like it.  In November he had a conference in there and I joined him for the weekend.  It turned out to be an extra special time!

Jason drove up for his conference on Thursday;  Friday I took the train up from Fredericksburg, and on Sunday we drove back home together. 

There was something very romantic about waiting
in the early morning for a train, especially one
that was taking me to my sweetie.

The trains really blow their whistle when they
approach a station!  It added to the ambiance
of the whole time.

When I got to Philly Jason had some conference things to do, so I headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  It is huge and wonderful!

Remember Rocky running up all the stairs?
These are the stairs!  They lead to the
 Philadelphia Museum of Art.

After I took the picture of the stairs I started
walking up, then saw Rocky himself!!  Of
course I knew it couldn't really be Sylvester Stallone,
but I had to look a couple of times because it
looked SO much like him.  It turned out to
just be a guy on his cell phone.

And here is the Rocky statue!  According to a bus
driver, the statue used to be at the top of the stairs
but it caused major traffic jams, so they moved it
to the bottom of the stairs where it still caused major
traffic jams, so now it is at the bottom 
but far over to the side.  
The bus driver said it still causes traffic jams. 

One of my favorite places to be is art museums, and the Philadelphia
Museum of Art did not disappoint!

Saturday Jason and I explored Philly together.  First, we headed to the Reading Terminal Market for breakfast.  This is a huge indoor market.  For breakfast, we chose a creperie with seating at a bar where we got to watch them cook our food right in front of us.

After Reading Terminal Market we went to explore two more art galleries:  the Rodin Museum and the Barnes Museum.  The Rodin Museum has several works by Rodin, and it was great to see that many pieces in one place.

Rodin's Gates of Hell.

Rodin's The Thinker.

The Barnes Museum is pretty incredible.  It has hundreds of works collected by one individual, Mr. Barnes, for his private collection.  I have never seen so many works by Renoir.  It is an incredible museum and I highly recommend it!  (No photos allowed at the Barnes.)

After the art museums we headed to the big historical sites.

On the way we went through Love Park

Liberty Bell

Freedom Hall

We also saw the area where Benjamin Franklin lived and worked, and had dinner at City Tavern, which was around in colonial times and was a place where the founders met and ate.  Some of the items on their menu are from colonial-era recipes.

Though this looks like some kind of terrible
gruel, it was a delicious potato leek soup.

The weekend was fantastic, and became more so when Jason proposed (!) near the end of our visit.  I thought Philly was pretty great before that, but now it has an extra special place in my heart.

I'm getting married!

Fall Fun

Our yard is heavily wooded, which is wonderful.  Except in the fall, when we end up with a foot-deep carpet of leaves on every inch of our yard.  Fall clean-up is a huge job for the adults.  For the kids, it is great fun.

Here's the work that creates all the fun for the girls.
The adults rake up the leaves and put them on
a tarp and drag the leaves into the woods,
where we dump them.  This creates a HUGE
pile of leaves...

which the girls play in.

Anja Lost Her First Tooth!

For years, Anja has been waiting to lose her first tooth and it has finally happened!  When she visited the dentist in September he told her that her two bottom teeth were starting to loosen and the tooth fairy could be visiting by Christmas.  Well, it happened sooner than that!  Those two bottom teeth were super loose and ready to come out at the end of October, but Anja was scared to do what it would take to get them all the way out.  We continued to wait and finally they were so loose they were about ready to fall out on their own.  With some persuasion from her sister, she let me pull them out!

You Know You're in the South When

You know you're in the South when fall leaf clean-up runs November to January.

Last week we received a letter from the folks who pick up our garbage, telling us that now that we have hit the season when leaves are falling, they will begin picking up leaves more frequently.  This schedule began November 17 and will run through January 9.  This blows my mind!  First of all, the fact that the height of leaf removal begins in November.  Where I come from, leaves have to be picked up by October or you run the risk of them being covered by snow.  And here they will still be picking up leaves in January?!  January is WINTER!  I am used to January being the height of snow removal season, not leaf removal! Things are definitely different here.  My mom and dad recently bought a house, and have hired someone to come and do leaf removal at their house.  He is scheduled to be there in December. December.  A guy is coming to do fall leaf clean-up in December.  That just seems wrong.