Ride Like the Wind

Here's my take on Sketchmania #29. You can check out the original sketch here.

Patterned paper (Making Memories - Just Chillin' for girls), cardstock (Bazzill), brads (Creative Charms)

As the year begins to wind down...

One of my biggest regrets of my four years spent back east, was failing to take pictures of the stunning fall foliage. My friends and I used to hike up the hills and just take in the view. Of course, those were the days before digital cameras and we poor graduate students couldn't really afford to get a lot of pictures developed. *sigh* Oh, well. This is the best we can do here (yes, that's Marika in pink at the base of the tree) - a gingko tree with golden leaves.

Marika had her soccer party - they're not supposed to get trophies (just medals) but her coach knows how much little girls like big trophies! This was Marika's first trophy ever and boy, is it a monster! It's at least 6 inches taller than the biggest one Mika has! Seriously, it must be at least 2-feet tall!

Probably the biggest news - as of late - was that Marika learned how to ride a 2-wheeler. You can see her trainer right beside her. I think within 15-30 minutes, Mika taught Marika how to do it. I was little worried that Marika might get banged up, but Mika was an excellent teacher and taught her lovingly and patiently. Why did I let Mika do it? Mika cried A LOT when we tried to teach her and since Marika seemed to be enjoying the lesson, I figured, "eh, why not?" Good call, if I must say so, myself! Hopefully Santa will bring some new bikes this year...

And for you scrappers out there... I found a new discount place that offers free shipping over $20. It's called Scrapbuck.com and they have some really good deals! One of my favorite collections - of all time - is the Sweetest Bug line by Heidi Grace (ooh, big surprise, right?). Scrapbuck offers at least a couple of those clear stamps for amazing prices. My first purchase was smooth... except that one incorrect item was shipped - they responded over the weekend that they would be mailing the correct item the next business day. Free shipping over $20 is definitely an excellent deal!

Speaking of free shipping... Joann.com is offering free shipping for 3 hours on December 9th - orders placed between noon-3 pm (eastern time) will get free shipping with no minimum purchase. Promo code: FSNM343. Don't forget ebates!

Rise and Shine!

I'm taking the week off from running (to give my old joints a break), but the problem with biking (when you don't have a light) is that it has to be bright enough outside so you don't get run over by a car. The best part of biking, though, is to watch the sun rise...

The shot on the left was taken at about 6:10 am... the one on the right about 5 minutes later. I actually had to go home just before the official sunrise (said to be 6:42 am), but the most fantastic part really, is the early stages. The mountains are a gorgeous backdrop and seeing the pink and yellow colors streaking against the sky... breath-taking! How can anybody's morning start off badly after seeing this?

It was another day of volunteering today - Marika's school celebrated their "Fall Fling", where it was all about apples and pumpkins. I was at the "Apple Math" table, where kids made apples and drew apple seeds. The festival didn't end until 11 am or so, so I helped out in the classroom (it made no sense to drive home for 10 minutes, before having to drive back again). Once again, the preschoolers were very sweet and very cooperative while we worked on their paint projects. They're neater than kindergarteners and so much kinder to parent volunteers!

This list hanging in the classroom made me laugh. The teacher asked them for words that start with "C" or "D". You can see what it's on their adorable little minds...

And last but not least - Grandma's here! She's been traveling around (again) for the past month so the girls were pleasantly surprised and happy to see her. They even helped Grandma prepare a sashimi dinner and Grandma let them wash the dishes (I'll admit it, I was holding my breath the whole time, but nothing disastrous happened).

On the bad side... another local fire was brewing this morning (3 miles or so away) and Grandma said she saw something else brewing on the horizon when she arrived this afternoon. This area certainly has enough problems to deal with, without having to worry about fires (especially those set by arsonists). *sigh*

It's all about Mika!

I love handmade gifts... this is what Mika gave me on Friday for Mother's Day, as she got out of school - cookie flowers! They were skewered and held in place with gumdrops. Wasn't that clever? She told me later, that she didn't like the gumdrops (I had to ask if she had licked my gumdrops - but she hadn't! Whew!). On Sunday, she said one of the flower cookies was for Daddy! But, Daddy said I didn't have to share... and I did offer him one!Hope everybody had a Happy Mother's Day!

I got to play soccer in the morning (though we lost miserably - hard not to, when it's 7 versus 11 (and they had 4 subs!)), so that was nice... even though I had to run off the field in the middle of the game because Marika got whacked in the nose by another child's knee and got a bloody nose...

Last week was HOT! The girls went to their best friends' house to play in their new pool. They had a great time, as always. On the way home, we passed a fire that had started brewing in the nearby regional park. I guess it must have looked worse than it was, although 80 acres or so were said to have burned. Whenever we see smoke plumes, it's always chilling.

Some big news! *Somebody* lost one of their two front teeth! This was the first time Mika had lost a tooth and NOT had the new one coming in, so the gap is very noticeable and somehow, makes her look much older. There was a little episode with the tooth fairy, though... she couldn't find the tooth so she had to write a note asking Mika to put it somewhere else. I'm sure Mika thinks the tooth fairy is pretty dense... but she did seem delighted with the correspondence (she wrote an apology note to the tooth fairy, saying next time, she would leave her tooth on the dresser). Doh!

And can you believe... Mika got her first pair of casual shoes with laces! Ah, what a world we live in now, where kids didn't have to learn how to tie shoelaces because velcro was such a fabulous invention! She's caught on pretty quickly on how to tie them... although it does take her some time to carefully do it... she seems to enjoy wearing these without socks. Or, is that the new fad???

And finally... (drumroll)... the synapses have made their connections and Mika, after a long hiatus of not riding her bike, hopped back onto it this week and within 3 days, had mastered riding the two-wheeler. Day 1, she was still falling down. Day 2, she was able to start herself but slammed into the house a few times (not a good noise from the inside!). By Day 3, she was speeding along, turning smoothly, and picking her bike up and climbing on. Yay! You go, girl!!! I can't wait to go on long bike rides with her!