Tootle had her Halloween costume planned for several months and she couldn't wait to unveil it at the school Halloween parade and party on Friday. She had a vision of being Trixie the Halloween Fairy, the title character from one of her beloved Daisy Meadows fairy books, and we worked hard to put the look together, finding a dress on e*bay, ordering wings online, finding a wig and tights at a Halloween store, etc. In her initial excitement, Tootle told C, one of her BFFs and a fellow Daisy Meadows devotee, about her plans. C decided that it was such a fantastic idea that she would be Trixie too, but she didn't tell Tootle or let her mom know where she got the idea. 
One day before the Halloween parade, Tootle found out from her kindergarten teacher, whom both Tootle and C still visit every day, that C was going to be Trixie as well. Tootle was a bit upset and told C that she was mad at her. C went home that night and told her mom that Tootle thought she was copying her. Her wonderful mom A listened to the story, confirmed that she was copying Tootle and suggested that she let everyone know that she got the great idea from Tootle and that they could have fun comparing how their costumes are alike and different. That same night, Tootle told me about her discovery. I encouraged her to be flattered rather than upset and also suggested that they compare and contrast. The next morning A and I compared notes and patted each other on the back for handling the situation well. Both Trixies had fun at the parade and class party and they even asked to have a play date together after school. Crisis averted.
7:30 a.m.: arrive at field. Tootle spots a rainbow, perhaps a sign of good things to come.
Doodle eventually won this battle. 
Our goalies rocked and were instrumental in our 1-0 win.
1 p.m.: Tootle's game. Doodle asked to be the photographer for this game. She took the job very seriously, taking 347 pictures. (I only took 100 of Doodle's game.) She did a good job of capturing the joys and the crowding of 2nd grade soccer.
Tootle scored one goal in her team's 5-1 win. She left after half the game for a birthday party that was conveniently located across the street from the field. We stayed to cheer on the team while Tootle partied. Doodle continued to snap away, but most of her 347 pictures were taken in the 30 minutes that her sister played.
Can you imagine the cost if I had a film camera?
We went to the pool (it closes for the season tomorrow)...
Doodle spent a night at a mountain cabin owned by her BFF C's family over Labor Day weekend. C's mom reported that Doodle had a huge grin on her face the entire time she was tubing. I'm so thankful for C and her family:
And the seasons they go round and round (as Joni Mitchell so eloquently sings).The soccer season has begun again. Doodle played in a tournament over Labor Day weekend, only to have her first regular season game postponed because of poor field conditions. I'm in awe of Doodle's leg span and her determination to get the ball in the top photo. Tootle did get to play on Saturday, and she played fiercely--scoring three of her team's eight goals.
Tootle has new shoes to match her spunky attitude. Doodle is a bus patrol this year. Both girls have their BFFs in their homeroom class. Life is good.
Doodle is a rock hound, so we spent our August vacation fulfilling one of her dreams: gem mining in North Carolina. We began our geology-themed vacation with a stop at Luray Caverns in Virginia. Both girls were in awe of the caverns' beauty and enjoyed listening to the self-guided tour on tape. The next day we arrived at our destination and quickly went to the mine for an exploratory visit. The mine's web site boosts that you can find 70 different gems there, and we probably found half of the possible gems in our buckets of mine ore that we ran through the sluiceway over two days. We didn't have much luck finding gems in the mine's creek and opted not to go in to the mine to dig due to pesky sinus infections that three of us were recovering from and the fact that no one seemed to be having much luck digging. Among our finds were emeralds, amethyst, garnet, topaz, citrine, smoky quartz, rose quartz, clear quartz, tourmaline, and other pretty rocks too numerous to identify. We got very dirty and ruined a few old shirts, but we had a blast.
The girls and I went to Nationals Park last Saturday for a blood donation drive. I had scheduled an appointment and expected to go in and out quickly. It ended up taking more than 3 hours because of the size of the crowd ready and willing to donate. In that time, we scored four hats autographed by pitcher Jordan Zimmerman (right before he found out that he needs surgery that will keep him out of the lineup for more than a year), a t-shirt, and two tickets to a future game. The girls and I watched the groundskeepers prep the field for that evening's game and the girls saw batting practice. The picture above is on the National's blog. Doodle is thrilled to have 15 seconds of fame; Tootle glanced at the photo and walked away. I spent Sunday doing all the errands that I didn't have time for on Saturday, but it was worth it.
Tootle's day ended well. She earned three scoops of ice cream (rainbow sherbet, pink bubblegum, and pop rock) for some extra work that she did around the house. I had no idea that three scoops was such a large amount of ice cream; she usually gets the kid's cone.
But this time, I'm referring to the computer. On our way home from Hershey, we stopped to see my mom's twin sister. All four of her grandsons were hanging out at her house for the day. What did Doodle and her teenage cousins do? Fired up the laptops, of course...Six kids, three laptops, and a dog who didn't know whose lap to jump on to. Later the kids decided to get some exercise and played dodge ball.
