Special Treats

 I've started the process of making a new prosthesis for my eye, and the most interesting part, the making of the mold, took place Tuesday afternoon.

I thought Cora might actually like to watch this happen, as she is old enough to take it in and learn more about one of the stranger parts of her mom's life.

So, Violet stayed with Grandpa and had a nap, and Cora escaped naptime and tagged along with me. (I think skipping her nap was more of a draw than coming along with me, but hey!)

The appointment was quick - more on that in coming weeks when my prosthesis is finished. It was so quick that Cora worried we might head back home and she'd still have to have her rest time.
Instead, I told her we'd do some Larchmont Village window shopping and get a drink together before we went back to SClarita.


First, we looked in one of this upscale area's exclusive children's shops, full of organic clothing and wooden toys.

Then, we headed into a cupcake shop - Crumbs Bake Shop to be exact - and settled on the white chocolate marshmallow variety. Though fancy cupcakes have been the rage for several years, this was our first time to select one for ourselves.

On our way to get drinks, we bought some reading material from the newsstand: Disney Fairies for my princess, and HGTV's new magazine for me. We recently (and briefly) had TV service again, and the ads for the network's decorating/DIY mag obviously worked.

All of this was so enjoyable, that by the time Cora stated she HAD to go to the bathroom (for the third time of our outing), I realized the hour we'd put into the parking meter was up. Off we ran, down the street, to the crosswalk, up the street, to the machine. It had indeed expired, but no harm done. I put in another quarter, stashed our belongings in the car, and then it was back down/across/up to Noah's for the restroom.

On our (final) trip back to the car, I thought it would be fitting to get a photo of the two of us together. Alas, the camera was one of those things I'd stashed in the car. Oh well. Imagine me in the above photo, giving my sweet girl a kiss. She deserved one. I'm so thankful for her, and for fantastic afternoons together like the one we had Tuesday.

Fun at home

I'm trying to be more creative in coming up with ways to entertain the girls, Cora specifically. She is always asking what we're doing tomorrow, what we're doing after nap, what we're having for dinner tomorrow. It can be rough if my real plan is to stay home and clean the house and go grocery shopping!

On Friday after preschool, we had a picnic in the back yard. Cora was proud to have made our sandwiches all by herself.

She's becoming quite a helper, which we love to encourage!
It backfired in one instance, though. Over the weekend, I asked Cora to put a couple of pounds of chicken breast nuggets and patties I bought fresh from the meat department into the outside freezer. Tonight, while taking inventory of that freezer, in the garage, it hit me that I hadn't seen them. When I asked Cora, she said she put them in the freezer, in the back yard - AKA the beverage cooler we use for parties. Sigh. 

Today after school, I attempted to fold some laundry when I was overtaken by sleepy children.

Violet pulled onto herself as many freshly folded "bankets" as she could, including washcloths, socks and underwear.

 It was a rainy day, so my "big plan" (since I didn't want to go out to lunch like Cora wanted) was to take a puddle walk and look for worms. That, or to make our own puppet show. These options brought Cora to tears on the car ride home, because she couldn't decide which to choose. (At almost 5, many things bring Cora to tears. It's strange. But in talking to other moms, it also seems to be common.)

Love these girls!

As Stace put it, only in California do you go out looking for rain puddles.

Sleepovers and dinner with friends

Cora was so very excited to go on her first overnight sleepover at her friend Alexyss's house. It was the talk of the house in the days leading up to it. I had no worries that Cora would struggle with being apart from us, and sure enough, at breakfast, Cora told Jill and Nathan, "I love being here without my mummy and daddy!" 

Nice! But who could blame her? Jill provided a girlie wonderland with pedicures, Tangled, the playground, riding bikes/scooters, a tea party with REAL tea, and homemade pizza for dinner. They also played the "Flowerpot" game Cora received in England as a Christmas gift.

I must admit, when I think of having Cora's friends over to play, I'm all too happy to let them entertain themselves!

Stace and I were pleased to a get a glowing report from Jill and Nathan about Cora's behavior and attitude - they said she was a "pleasure to have."

A few good Coraisms: "Mum, I like your earrings. Can I have them when you die? Or, when you're too old to wear them?"

And,
Cora: "Mum, are you ready for me to sneak up on you?"
Me: "Cora, you're not supposed to tell someone you're sneaking up on them."

Cora: "OK. Mum, DON'T know that I'm sneaking up on you." 

 A final Coraism - she spent a lot of time with Ave and Johnny while they all were off on Christmas break. Later, she told me, "Ave told me I'm in love with Johnny, but I'm not."
I explained to her that being "in love" is for grownups, and is what me and her dad feel for each other, when you are married. "You and Johnny are friends. You are not in love with him though."

Cora thought about this, and then asked about who she might marry. She added, "I'm thinking to marry Lucas."

Stace and I thought it would be good to discuss this with Colleen and Rigo, so we had them over for dinner on Saturday night.

We had a nice time, walking over to the big park, then eating dinner and ice cream for dessert.

Fun with Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty

When Alaska Airlines released some incredible winter fares back in early December, Aunt Patty jumped on them so she and Uncle Bill could get some sun and see family on the weekend of their 25th wedding anniversary.

(At $101 roundtrip, we also seized the deal! We'll be making a family trip up to visit them next month.)

We had Bill and Patty with us on Thursday last week, when we took a long walk and ended up at the park to play.

 Genia and the kids were also lunching at the park. Violet and Owen thought it hilarious to go down the slide on their tummies.

Following what's become a tradition, Aunt Patty and Cora made cupcakes from scratch. Here are their lemon butterfly buns, from Cora's English kids' cookbook, with homemade lemon curd. Yum!

Bill and Patty spent Friday and Saturday with other family and friends, and Sunday through Tuesday with my parents wine-tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley. On Tuesday night, we met up for a family dinner on their actual anniversary. We also marked my birthday, since we hadn't formally celebrated with my family yet.

I was so proud of my girls at the restaurant! They were so very well-behaved. Cora colored and did Uncle Bill's straw wrapper-inchworm trick, where you make the scrunched-up wrapper "grow" with water.

Violet also stayed busy coloring, eating, and being sweet. She is still such a great and (overall) easy child. I remember this being such a hard age with Cora, and restaurants were stressful, but not the case with Violet.

Tuesday night was meant to be Bill and Patty's final night, but a big snowstorm in Seattle meant their flight Wednesday morning was canceled. Bonus! We had a great day together Wednesday, with Uncle Bill doing some minor projects around the house, and Aunt Patty putting together a delicious pot roast dinner. With Cora at Pioneer Club in the evening, we went to the Patios area of the mall.

Christmas classes have commenced

For Christmas, my parents paid for some classes for the girls - tumbling for Violet and keyboard lessons for Cora.

 Violet loved her first tumbling class last week. The class is for 18 months to 3-year-olds, so she was one of the younger ones.

It's the first class I've done with Violet, so it will be nice to spend some "fun" one-on-one time with her while Cora is in preschool on Friday mornings.

 Tongue out - look at that concentration!

 Happy girl showing off her stamps at the end of class!

 Meanwhile, Cora has been in two keyboard classes so far and she's enjoying a lot. She's still excited about practicing at home, so that's a good sign. At the end of the class, she'll have a little recital.

So far, she's learning about the black keys and the difference between high notes and low notes and her left and right hand.

We were able to steal a new Casio keyboard for her home use, in a manner of speaking. Renting one from the school would have cost $66 for the three-month class. For $50, we bought one off of Craigs List that was new in the box, never opened.

The guy said he won it and doesn't play the instrument. Being that we saw it listed online for $200, we were very pleased to take it off the seller's hands.

Zoo

We leaders of Mom2Mom each took one month of our year to plan events for the moms and children. My month is January, so I set up a trip to the L.A. Zoo on Tuesday. It's still Christmas break here for the schools, so I thought it might be nice for the moms with kids still home.

 Here is some of our small group. Genia drove her family and me and the girls, which was great. We could chat in the car while the children all entertained themselves together in the back.

 The new elephant enclosure is fun for the kids, and we were there when the zookeepers were giving a little talk. Violet was naming all the "amimals," including the "eh-eh-ants."

 Here was our group of children - Violet and Cora, Alexyss, Ave, Johnny, Ruby and Owen.

And the mamas - Pandora, Genia, me and Jill. The weather was perfect, the children got along well (for the most part) and it was a great day out!

First week home

Our first week back home was filled with unpacking and organizing. We were blessed to return to a very clean home, since we let Genia's in-laws stay at our home while they visited, and they and Genia left our house in better shape than we did!

Sleepingwise, the girls adjusted really well. Cora woke up very early for several days (5 a.m.), but thankfully she can entertain herself, and Violet slept longer. By the weekend, they were both on track.

 My 33rd birthday fell on our first day home, which was nice because Stace takes that day off to unpack and rest. We celebrated together with lunch out at Wolf Creek, my favorite local restaurant, and a homemade birthday cake.

We had plans to go out for ice cream, but Violet threw up at dinner so that didn't happen. Earlier that day, we had gone to the doctor for advice on her throwing up and loose stools, and took in a stool sample. Later in the week, we found out it tested negative for any bugs. I guess she just has a weak stomach.

Here is Cora's present for me - a picture of us, holding umbrellas, in a rainstorm. The circles are puddles for us to jump in. The numbers represent how many letters are in our names.

The week was nice and warm, and Genia and took our kids to the park. School here doesn't start back up until mid-January.

The leaves covering the sidewalk presented Cora with an important task - raking them with the sand toys into a pile. It was adorable to watch the children working together. Even Violet, at 20 months, was helping right along side the "big kids."

Later, the older ones were playing on the hill, and the sprinklers came on. It was warm enough to let them have a grand old time.

On Saturday, Stace replaced the brakes on his car, and in the evening we took my new inline skates and Cora's balance bike out for some family outdoors time. We forgot the camera, but it was great! We did something similar Sunday evening, with Genia and her kids.

Later Sunday, we had Genia, John and the kids over for dinner. It was a very nice evening, and the children had a great time. I love these photos of Violet and Owen. Ave said it looked like they were on a date.

That Owen! He's so funny!

New Year's Day

We celebrated New Year's Day with a family meal out. We thought it would be nice to get a photo of the three cousins together, but Euan wasn't really interested in sitting with the girls.








Then, we thought it would be nice to get Nan with the great-granddaughters, but Violet wasn't interested in staying for the photograph. So, I held her, and then realized it would have made more sense for the photo for Stace to have held her. Oh well.

We had the banquet room to ourselves, which was handy when the little ones were done eating and ready to run around. It wasn't so handy when we wanted to get a family photo. But, Cora had fun setting the camera up and running to get into the photo before the shutter clicked.

Such a sweetie!
You'd never know she kept us up half the nights for the first four nights of our trip, and the crucial last night before our big travel day home. Nor would you guess, by that great smile, she was sick all over herself and Mum on both flights, and all over the place the night before we few home.
But, she is the sweetest, smartest, most affectionate 20-month-old in the world, and we love her so.

New Year's Eve

 Following our tradition of the last few years, Dean and Jenny had a New Year's Eve bash for both sides of their extended family. Here, Cora and Jen's niece Ellie and nephew Matthew show off their dance moves as they compete on the Wii.

 Meanwhile, Euan and Violet played with Euan's new train table.










I baked up some sugar cookies and Ellie helped Cora decorate them. Ellie loves children, and Cora followed her around and wanted to be wherever Ellie was. It was cute!
That night both girls, and Ellie's big sister, spent the night with Dean and Jenny. They all shared a big bed, and it went really well! It felt a bit strange leaving their house in the wee hours, leaving Cora, but she slept well and was a good girl in the morning on New Year's Day.

Here is the gang, minus the two littlest ones. Violet, true to form, woke up a bit after midnight, in time for us to pack her up and take her home to bed.

Violet adjusted to the time difference about halfway through the trip (finally!) but woke up each night between 11 and 1. At that time we would take her downstairs to finish her night in Euan's playpen. This worked fairly well.
 




May all our family and friends be blessed with health and happiness, peace and joy. To 2012 - CHEERS!