Making new friends welcome & some big news for Mika

So as you may know, Daisy passed away last Thursday morning and Friday, we welcomed two new furry friends to our family. Petco only had two girls, so we took both, since we wanted two that could be housed together (a new experiment for us, since everybody has always been housed separately) without beating each other up.

Here's Brownie... (we can already tell she's going to be the chunky monkey of the two, but she's definitely also the braver one).

And here's Snowball... who isn't 100% white (our favorite kind). Her eyes are black and she has quite a bit of brown on her belly (she's not dirty, we checked!).

DaddyDude and I found this amazing website that tells you how to make a big cage for multiple guinea pigs, so he built one. Right now, we're using up all the wood shaving bedding we bought for Daisy, but once it's gone, we'll start using fleece and towels as the bedding. We think the guinea pigs might be disappointed when they won't be able to fishtail around the cage anymore after they spin around a corner...

The behavioral difference in the guinea pigs, as soon as they stepped foot into this new cage, was pretty astounding. Instead of hiding and cowering the whole time, they ran joyfully around the new cage and weren't afraid to eat in front of us anymore. Though they are still a little skittish, I'm having the girls hand-feed them apples ("apple dippers" from their McDonald Happy Meals - who knew even guinea pigs loved Mickey D's?) and I'm picking them up often so they know not to be afraid.

Here's a side view of the cage... yes, they're being spoiled already. How can you not love animals who eat their vegetables? ;)

And in other news... Miss Mika scored her very first goal - ever! - today in her game. We were so proud of her! She's been playing a lot harder and more aggressively over the past few weeks - I used to think it was my threat that she wouldn't be allowed to play AYSO anymore, but truthfully, now I think it's because she has been playing soccer with her classmates at school during recess. One of her friends was telling his mother, "Mika's like the best soccer player ever!" Mika's not great but she's definitely getting better - she was throwing herself in front of the other players and getting to the ball first, holding them back with her body. I was so proud!

Marika also played very well today, even though we lost. Her team has been doing quite well (3 wins, 2 losses and 2 ties) and they've only had 3 goals scored against them in 7 games. Today, Marika got called for a handball in the box (a total accident) and the other team ended up scoring, because the ball was shot pretty hard (in the middle of a huge melee of girls), at the upper top part of the goal - I doubt our goalie even saw the ball coming, there was so much going on. Oh, well... most of the girls are playing hard and aren't afraid to approach the ball. Marika was on fire today, playing "last man back" for the first half and holding her own, even though a couple of girls on the other team were shoving her over. The mom in me hates seeing that, but I think they are just way too young for me to be telling them to play mean back... at least, for a few more years... :)

And last but not least, in our local banner competition last week, the banner I made for Mika's team won 1st place in our division (girls U10). Not really a big deal, because there were only a total of 6 banners (the girls in U8 and U6 have more entries) but it's good for the team, because they get some moolah for their team party. Our crafty neighbor next door scored "best overall banner" for her amazing creation - congrats, Grammy! You totally rock!!! :)