skate date

we rounded out our busy weekend by attending a birthday party at the skating rink for one of big sister's classmates. (this was after 2 slumber parties friday night and a cancelled-by-rain-at-the-last-minute soccer game & choir performance on saturday afternoon.)  i was so proud that for the first time, the girls did not need the trainer apparatus to help them stay on their feet.  those roller skates they got from santa last christmas have really been useful!  they had a blast whizzing around.  little sister was a daredevil, and i saw a few 'close calls' where she would almost fall but somehow recover and keep her balance.  big sister tended to play it safer, but still did really well.

sleepover friends

little sister has been begging to have a friend sleep over for about a month now, ever since school started.  so, with big sister going off to her own birthday sleepover last night, we saw the perfect opportunity!  so i dropped off my nine-year-old and replaced her with a seven-year-old...what was i thinking??

even tho' they went to bed late - little sister crashed around 10:30 and her friend at about 11:30 - they were both up by 6:30, so there was plenty of time for donut-eating, roller skating, trampoline-jumping, and barbie-playing before taking her home at 9:00 (and picking up my other one).

afternoon amusement

after cheering on our team at 10:30am, and learning of a cancelled 1:30pm soccer game due to wet field conditions, we spent the afternoon at a classmate's 10th birthday party at sandy lake amusement park.  the girls had a great time!  and with blue skies and a high of 82...dad and i enjoyed ourselves too!

evening game

little sister had her first evening game tonight, and it was a real nail-biter!  the two teams were pretty evenly matched, and we ended with a tie 1-1.

almost autumn

if you really tried, you could feel a touch of autumn in the air this morning at big sister's game.  and our team finally won their first game!

however, at little sister's first soccer game this afternoon (3pm) - we were back to the summer heat.  it was only 90 degrees, but i felt like i was baking under the umbrella - so i can just imagine how the players felt.  but little sister did not let the heat slow her down.  she played awesome, scoring 2 goals in the first quarter!  she sat out for the 2nd quarter, played goalie for the 3rd, and played forward again for the last quarter.  she scored another goal in the 4th, leading her team to victory, 4-3.  i even heard a dad from the opposing team tell his daughter to "watch out for #7.  she's quick."  yes, they were talking about MY #7, little sister!  that was quite a proud moment!

 and as if today was not filled enough, big sister got invited to a KidZone party at the rec center.  it was BFF night, so she and her BFF kennedi went as twins.  they had a blast running around, dancing, singing, eating pizza & candy, and just generally being unsupervised (but safe).  i have a feeling we are just starting with this stage of her tween years...

crazy hat day

the girls got to wear their craziest, silliest, funniest hat to school today - for a chance to have the hat voted "the best" and then the principal will have to wear the "best" hat at school all day tomorrow.  having only gotten notice of this event 2 days ago, there was a bit to scrambling going on last night to get ready.  of course, none of the few hats we own were good enough for big sister, so i made a quick stop on the way home yesterday at the party store and got 2 hats - a clown hat and a blue-striped top hat.  i thought they were "crazy" - but big sister did not like either one, so she and i made another trip to hobby lobby at 7:45pm, only to strike out there.  our (her) last hope was the dollar tree store - where i scooped up all i could find.  for $4, i got a black cowboy hat, a pink cowboy hat, a pink feather-boa to put on the pink hat, and a purple witch's hat.  thank goodness it is almost halloween so the selection was better than expected!  big sister finally settled on the purple witch's hat.  little sister liked everything i brought home, and was even fine with wearing a hat we already owned - but she eventually settled upon the clown hat i bought yesterday.  after all this, i really hope they had a good day!

game 3

today was another triple-digit, high-humidity game day.  the heat just radiates off the track, and the bleachers are not very cool either for us fans!  at halftime, the girls did their normal dance, plus a new cheer they learned with some stunting.  big sister is a spotter in back for a little girl that gets boosted up onto 2 other girls.  as long as her feet do not leave the ground, she is A-OK with that.  for some reason, she does not want to be a flyer.  maybe with time and more experience she will change her mind.  ;-)