Play date with Josie

We love our neighborhood.  We love the location, the fact that there's a bike path that goes by the Crow River right by our house.  We can walk to parks, and have friends in the neighborhood and we have nice neighbors.  But the one thing we hate is that there aren't really any little girls in our area.  There are two boys next door that Esme loves.  But behind us, across the street from us and on the other side of us from the boys are all older people with grown up kids.  So if the boys next door are busy, there is no one to just run outside and play with.

Josie is a girl who lives a block or so away from our house.  She is a little oder than Esme and they have met a couple of times.  Out of the blue, I decided to call and ask if it would be ok if Josie came over for a play date.  Luckily, she was free!

Oh my gosh did these girls have fun.  Right away they were outside sledding down the hill and playing in the snow.  Then they came in and decided to have a party and set up for it.  They made invitations, decorated and had food.  They set the table and played music.  It was super fun!

Esme playing music for the guests

Great conversation!

Here is a close up of the beautiful table.

Afterwards they were excited to watch The Little Mermaid together.

As we walked Josie home, she and Esme were inviting each other to their upcoming birthday parties. They're both in the summer.  At one point I heard Josie say that her imaginary friend was going to look just like Esme and was going to have the same name as Esme. :)  How cute is that?  After we got home, Esme asked if she could invite Josie over every single day.

I'm so excited that she may have a little girlfriend in the neighborhood finally!

Christmas Day

Esme got the thing she wanted most from Santa this year.  A "Real Surprise Baby".  It's today's iteration of the baby that eats and drinks and poops and pees.  Yaayyy for those of us (that would be me) who get to change baby's diapers and make sure she's cleaned out so the food doesn't crust up and get gross.  Oh yeah, I now have to buy doll food and doll diapers too.  Ugh...

But Esme loves her and named her Elizabeth.

The surprise that Esme wasn't expecting, but loves is the make up box that Santa brought her.  It's a box with make up brushes and some pressed powder, lip gloss and very light pink blush and eye shadow.

She is having so much fun putting makeup on everyone.  She has a lot to learn though because she puts the eyeshadow on everyone's fingernails and says that she's "sparkling them". :)

After she opened presents we got ready for company.  Esme wanted to have brunch at our house.  So Mamoo and Papa, Grandma Barb and Grandpa Dan, and Eric and Nicole came over.  It was really fun!

Merry Christmas!

Girls night at Midwest Archery

My fabulous friend Connie invited me to come with her to Midwest Archery in St. Michael for a Girls night.  It was super fun!  I got to meet some new people and shoot a real bow for the first time.  I have shot Esme's little bow, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count.

We used some base model bows which I'm told are a bit harder to shoot with but it was still really cool.  It took me awhile to actually hit the target but eventually I did it!  I'm left eye dominant, so I shoot left handed which basically means that I am fabulous!

Here I am!

The funny thing is that I got this crazy bruise on my right inside forearm from the wire (I'm sure there's some more technical term for that) hitting my arm as it went by.  I knew that would happen because it happens with Esme's bow a bit.  There's a way to turn your wrist and arm to avoid that and if this is something I ever decide to do more of I will have to work on that - a lot!  See the bruise for yourself.

that evening

the next morning

It was worth it to get the bruise for two reasons.  First of all, I won an awesome sweatshirt from Midwest Archery for having the best bruise.  I won hands down!  I don't have a picture of it now, but it's black and has a pink logo on it.  It's heavy and comfy and exactly what a great sweatshirt should be.  Also, here is a picture of the target after my last shoot.

Please ignore the arrow that completely missed the paper target and direct your attention to the one that is in the bigger bullseye area!  WooHOOOO! :)

I had such a great time.  I would definitely consider joining a league at some point.  Aaron and I even talked about doing it as a family because we think Esme would like it.  The hardest part is the bows.  They are unbelievably expensive.  They gave one away that night as a door prize and it was almost $600!  Not to mention the fact that there are all these other accessories that you need - like arrows, some wrist-y thing that you use to let go of the arrow as it flies.  It's an expensive hobby.  One girl even had little blinky lights on the end of her arrows so she could see exactly where they were on the target.  Let me tell you this, if I ever decide to do this for real, I want that!  And I would have to work really hard to avoid any camoflauge - which might be hard to do because most of the accessories and bows have camo detailing.  Let me tell you, I was surrounded my more camouflage than I have been around in a long dang time!!!

It turns out that there were about 60 women and girls there.  That is what I would call a success!  Thank you so much Connie for inviting me and exposing me to a really fun sport!