Nora and Klara: October 2008

31 October 2008

Halloween 2007 vs. 2008

2008

Princess Leia (Jake was Luke Skywalker and Eli was Darth Vader). We tried to convince Klara to be Queen Amadala, but she wouldn't go for it!

Robin, Exchange Student, Leia, Phantom of the Opera, aka Klara, Mona, Nora, creepy skeleton guy sent by Grandma Jo, which Nora loves, but makes Klara cry!

2007

Since we didn't get to last year's pictures we can have a look now. Klara was a bee for the second time (she has her own opinions now as you see) and Nora moved from Freddy Jones in Kindergarten to Velma Dinkley in first grade. We thought maybe she'd go for Daphny this year, but not even Wonder Woman could beat out going as your best buddy's twin sister!

My costume is not a costume. Last year at this time I was recovering from neck surgery. After many years of bad posture, followed up by a fall from our moving truck the year before, I had to have two discs removed and bone fused with a metal plate. I now have an official card the explains why I set off metal detectors, but so far I haven't had to use it. (Probably a good thing in the long run, but sort of disappointing initially.) My Frankenstein scar is almost invisible now too.

And of course no Halloween would be complete without the post-trick-or-treat, pre-bed candy sort!

18 October 2008

MEA Friday at the UMN Landscape Arboretum

The whole gang under a big oak tree with stainless steel gazing balls.
Josie, Ana, Nora, Klara, some guy, Geoff, Mona, and Rondi

Josie and Klara on a leaf swing.

Ana and Nora play statues, while Klara hams it up.

Mona, Rondi, and Karen

Wood fairy on a leaf.

Portraits of and by Mona

Mr. Happyman

Geoff Goellner

Ana Goellner

Get a load of that new front tooth!

Mona Passler

11 October 2008

Gooooooal!

Ok, so we don't have an action shot of it, but the excitement level in the Lybeck household is high!

Nora has gone from standing in the backfield gazing at who-knows-what other than the action on the field, to occasionally being in on the action, to being in the action for most of the game and being able to dribble the ball the length of the field. Last night, after just 5 weeks of play, she scored her first goal!

Nora's team mates have been playing longer and they are all quite good, but even so, Nora is the only one who keeps control of the ball rather than just booting it as far as she can. Before the game yesterday she said she wasn't going to sign up for soccer anymore, but we'll see now that she has been in on the excitement.

Team pictures can be viewed at Sport Pix

05 October 2008

Sorry for the Late Postings

Ok, so since school started, this blog has taken a back seat to everything else. What you see below, are posts from July to today. Since you never know how long it will take me to post again, you might want to log in on different days to look at each post! You can make it seem like I'm updating regularly!

You'll have to click on older posts at the end of this page to see everything that went up today! Happy viewing!

In case you thought Wonder Woman was the only Super Hero in the house; think again!

Exchange Student Arrives

The biggest change for us this fall is the arrival of our exchange student, Mona, from a suburb of Nuremburg, Germany. She is 16 and in the 11th grade this year. She is getting acquainted with friends at school and so far has an active social life. She and Nora are so alike (both the oldest of two girls) that we feel we are getting a preview of things to come. It is great fun to have her here and see first hand how she is dealing with all the changes/cultural adjustment.

This picture is of Mona (far right) and her fellow exchange students in the Mankato area (Vicki, Belgium, and Tim & Johannes, Germany).

This is Mona's sister, Leonie, and her dad, Jochen. Notice the U of M t-shirts. They had a student from the Twin Cities living with them for a few weeks this summer and he brought gopher gear for everyone. They decided to take and send us these pictures after they found out we were UMN alums and Golden Gopher fans!

Mona's mom, Christine, with Mona's pet rabbit.

The Zip Line

Klara is known for her fearlessness, but also for her ability to heft her tiny body up on monkey bars, jungle gyms, etc. This view of her on the zip line is especially funny. Notice the "oy" at the end of the clip! Doesn't take long to pick up some lingo, does it?

First Days of School

Klara is now attending the Children's House at MSU, Mankato from 8:00-12:00 Monday - Friday. She loves it. She doesn't understand why we have to have weekends! Her teacher Melissa is very complimentary. She likes to follow the routine and is very eager to play with her classmates. She is especially good at eating her lunch!

Nora started 2nd grade at Roosevelt Elementary and her teacher, Mrs. Butzer, is a gem. Nora and she adore each other and Nora is reading really well. I read her Josefina, Addy, Kaya, and Kit of the American Girls this summer. She is reading them to me now. We've just started to read Kirsten and Felicity. So far she likes Kaya best, but she really likes to read about all of them and the history sections at the end.