Getting Creative

In addition to knitting and home improvement, my sabbatical has me thinking of ways to save money, so for Christmas I made the girls presents for their American Girl dolls. Kaya got a Teepee and Ivy got gymnastic equipment (uneven parallel bars, beam, vault, and mats).

Kaya sleeping in her Teepee

This is the American Girl version at $125.00, not too different, but mine is bigger so Kaya can actually play in there. The $9.00 I spent on material and $6.00 on leather cord were well worth it!

Ivy practices on her beam (I think that's an ace bandage on her leg)!

Here is the one they sold online. It has been retired but I found it on Amazon for $170! Mine isn't as professional but for the $20 bucks I spent on materials, I say, "Who cares!"

Klara's Birthday Party

On Saturday, Klara had 4 friends over for her birthday. First we went skating at Dotson (no camera), then we came home to eat cake, play with balloons, open presents, and make a craft out of Model Magic and spongy paper. See the products below!

Cake:

Klara blows out the candles on her "Harry Potter's First Birthday Cake" cake. We ran out of birthday candles so two 4's = 8!

Macy, Nora, Mikaela, Angie

Kaitlin

Nora

A collection of goofy 2nd grade girls!

Balloons:

Angie, Kaitlin, Mikaela, Klara

Mikaela

Macy

Presents:

Hair ornaments

Room ornaments

Hello Kitty Lamp

Toys!

Guess who and what!

In an effort to get you folks to leave comments, I've decided to give you a quiz! Guess which Lybeck girl made each picture (one by each of us), and which book or character you think the picture depicts.

Entry A

Entry B

Entry C

Congratulations, Mr. Pufflepants!

Rick passed his oral prelim exams this week and is now considered a PhD Candidate or ABD (all but dissertation)! He spent January and February on his writtens and the oral was Wed. from 1:30 - 4:00. He passed without reservation and afterwards he heard words from his committee like fantastic, beautiful, and it was a page-turner. He was going to meet Wilbur afterwards, so we drove up and threw him a little surprise party at Chandra and Wilbur's with Randy, Andrea, Soren, and Sevi. We were happy that his two overnight families could share in his success! Thanks everyone for your support and for a great time on Wednesday! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.

Now, in addition to teaching his two classes at MSU, Rick can start the serious work of writing his dissertation. He actually has lots written and some data analyzed since he collected it last winter, but he has lots more to do. He thinks he can be finished a year from May, but will be strategic on finishing at a time when a job becomes available. He is still applying for fellowships and assistantships for next year to pay for those 24 dissertation credits he still has to register for, so we'll see if he has to commute again next year or not as things develop.

Thanks everyone for your continued support!

Science Fair

I was glad when Nora left for school today that she would be done with the science fair for this year. Well not so, she made it to the regionals!

Klara's new hat

My neighbor, Jill, went to the Aran Islands and brought me back a few skeins of yarn.

Here is the first product!

Sledding in Northfield

Today was a beautiful day for sledding. The girls and I were visiting Dawn and Rob in Northfield, where we went to the hill outside of Old Main at St. Olaf to sled.