Girls Skate at Keystone State Games


Just got back from the Keystone State Games, a figure skating competition in which Jenya and Ana both competed.  It was a rather long drive, as it was in York, PA, but everyone had a wonderful time. 
Jenya skated Delta, and placed first in stroking and second in freestyle.  Ana skated Alpha, and placed third in stroking and second in freestyle.  De provided an enthusiastic cheering section and made friends with the spectators.
Many more photos of the event are up on flickr.  It was easily the coldest skating rink I've been in, but otherwise a nice rink, with lots of vendors, and a well-run and enjoyable competition. 
 

Lego League Competition


Lego League Competition, originally uploaded by ruthlestina.

Jenya and her FLL team, Brick Busters, competed at the Western Pennsylvania First Lego League Robotics competition. It was the teams' first time participating, so they had made a fairly simple robot and went in not expecting to do very well.

To their surprise and satisfaction, their simple robot proved very effective, and they wound up placing 6th out of 72 competitors. Not bad at all! They all had a wonderful time, and I think it was an excellent learning experience as well.

Ana joins Little Blades


Ana joins Little Blades, originally uploaded by ruthlestina.

Ana just made the Little Blades synchronized skating team, becoming the second member of the family to do so. She had her very first team practice today, and was ecstatic.

The team will be performing in the RMU christmas show on December 6th, and then in various local / regional shows and competitions throughout the spring.

Jenya is second from the right, Ana is fourth from the right.

De makes a speech


De makes a speech, originally uploaded by ruthlestina.

So the girls learned the hard way that other kids can be manipulative — one of the older neighborhood kids rather successfully played "divide and conquer" on the girls in order to get things to happen her way.

They came home upset and had a chat about it. Once they pooled their info and figured out they'd been had, they all got angry — but De took it to a whole new level. She climbed up on a chair in the kitchen, thumping her fists and declaring, in a speech worthy of a politician or a preacher, *we will STICK TOGETHER* and *we will WIN*. She had her sisters chanting and cheering. I wish I'd been able to get a video of the speech. If she can keep that knack she'll be a helluva rabble rouser one day.

Halloween Pumpkins


Halloween Pumpkins, originally uploaded by ruthlestina.

Ana picked out a cat theme for both her pumpkin and her costume. All the girls cleaned out their own pumpkins this year — a lot of work. Ana worked hard and fast and got done first, so she was the first one to get Lunn to carve her choice of designs into her pumpkin.

Jenya carved her own, for the first time, with some help from Lunn. And De picked out a pumpkin almost as big as she is. Everyone is looking impatiently forward to Halloween tomorrow.