Riley's Skate Party

It was a long and busy weekend! Mika had a softball game Saturday (another loss, but at least she hit two singles, going 2-for-2 at the plate) and her All Star practices began on Sunday - oh, and did I mention that it was almost 100-degrees outside? Whew!





We ended the weekend by going to the birthday party of a friend of theirs (a fellow All Star player). As you may have guessed from the picture, it was a skate party. COOL!

How awesome is this cake? I LOVE it! The mom said she had found a picture of a similar cake on Pinterest and had somebody make it.I tell you, if you're crafty and haven't checked out Pinterest, you really should!

Patterned papers (MME Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky), ribbon and rhinestones (MME Lush - Fuschia), flowers (Prima), gold thread (Coats & Clark), staple

And last but not least, since we decided to give money as a gift (don't worry, we gave her more than $2, but we had to stop at the bank before we went to the party!), I decided to make a special card for her - one that had a pull-out section containing the cash and personalized notes from the girls. I used a template from that new card sketch book of mine (Card Sketches for Papercrafters) - and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Roller Derby Girl and Soccer Girl

Mika had her first soccer practice today - and she seemed to be having fun the entire time. Look at her doing the drills! =) She also got her uniform - which looks pretty nice - and she's #8. We all wanted her to be #5, but the way the number were distributed were based on height. Yup, Miss Mika is the SECOND TALLEST GIRL ON THE TEAM. Can you believe it? A daughter of MINE?! Oh, glorious day...!

Marika decided to practice rollerskating during most of Mika's practice. She's almost ready for the roller derby! Go, Marika, go!

We bought the girls roller skates (Marika) and roller blades (Mika) last Friday, after their friend invited them to go to the local skating rink (you'll remember it from the birthday party they went to, a couple of weeks ago). I was worried that it would be crowded, since it was advertised as an "after school special", but there were only about 6 people there! Mika kept slipping and crying on the rink - which made me wonder if buying them skates was a mistake - but Daddy Dude said that Mika made great progress while practicing on our sidewalk. He took a really cute picture of them all dressed up in their protective pads but... Marika was having a wardrobe malfunction, so we couldn't post it here. We'll take another one soon... =)

On a bright note, when I came to pick Marika up from school, she greeted me with the news that she had made up with the girl who had spit on her yesterday. She said she wanted to try and make up (odd terminology, considering she didn't DO anything to HER) and that the girl had said she was sorry again - and that they had played together for the recess. When Marika was ready to leave with me, the girl gave her a big hug. I was very surprised by all of this - kind of happy that Marika is a very sweet girl who wants to get along with everybody and kind of worried that Marika will get very hurt later on by another act of unkindness.

Tidbits...

1. $10 off $50 purchase at Fresh & Easy (printable coupon)

2. Download your next batch of free ebooks from Barnes and Noble.

3. Labor Day sale starts at Better World Books! 4/$10 in the bargain bin! Free shipping! Cash back through ebates! Woohoo!