Potty Prize

Violet has turned the corner with using the toilet, I'm so happy to report. She earned 10 button/magnets on her "Dry Days" chart in 12 days, and stayed dry during the daytime all weekend for Grandma and Grandpa. On Monday evening we made a family trip to CVS so she could get the kitty key chain she's been eying for months.

Cora spent her own money to buy this little hamster key chain, which she brings to school hanging off her lunch bag. She's named him Chippy, and he likes to go everywhere with Cora, be tucked into bed, and eat meals with us. He speaks in a language only Cora can understand, so she translates for us. Cora hasn't played with a stuffed toy like this for at least a year, maybe two, so it's pretty funny to hear her doing it again.

Violet also really loves her new kitty, who she helped use a pen to write.(Violet has been liking writing with a pen almost more than coloring lately, and pretends to write letters she puts in the family mailbox in the playroom.)

Vegas Weekend

Stace and I were the thankful recipients of a 3-day, 2-night Las Vegas getaway over the weekend.

My parents had each won a stay at the Paris Las Vegas Resort on a talk show they went to last year. They took one of the trips for their anniversary, and they generously gave us the other trip (and watched the girls for us).

Here, we're about to have our breakfast at the Mon Ami Gabi restaurant at the Paris.

After breakfast on Saturday, we spent hours walking around exploring the Strip's casinos and shopping. The last time we went to Vegas was before we knew we were expecting baby Cora, so a lot had changed.

Here, we're in front of the New York New York casino (which wasn't noticeably different from last time, just a neat landmark).






The Bellagio is always a fabulous experience to take in. The atrium featured this small colored-light fountain, with beautiful flowers.



















The flowers also decorated these statues of Chinese children, in honor of the Chinese New Year.

This is the pond in front of the Bellagio, where beautiful fountains entertain the masses. Across the pond is the Paris, with the Eiffel Tower...















...we could see from our room, along with the fountain shows.

Stace and I turned the couch so we could take in the view with a glass of wine in the room.









We were really amazed to have such a great location and beautiful room, for free!

Also free were two tickets to Jubilee, the longest-running Vegas song-and-dance show playing at Bally's casino. Think huge feather headdresses and beautiful long-legged dancers... it was unlike anything we'd ever seen, but very entertaining and fun.






We are big, big gamblers. Here, Stace cashes out his biggest win - $5.42.

I think we might have played as much as $20 in the machines. (As annoyingly smoky as the casinos are, our eyes were bothering us when we spent too much time in there.)

We had breakfast again at Mon Ami Gabi on Sunday morning after we ha checked out.

I'm wearing a sweater we'd bought the previous day, and I also got some clothes at the Ann Taylor Loft outlet in Barstow on Friday night on our way in.

We continued the shopping trip Sunday afternoon at the Las Vegas outlets, where Stace and I got Skechers shoes and we spent some Christmas/birthday money at the Fossil outlet.

I bought a new dressy Fossil watch, and with a "buy one, get one half off" sale, Stace got the lovely brown watch you see here. It was originally $135, marked down to $40, so $20 after the discount. Score!

We had an outstanding time together, our first weekend away since our time at the Queen Mary over a year ago. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Hiking and Dining

Cora had Monday off from school for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so we three girls spent part of our morning on a hike/walk on the hill above our neighborhood.

Violet said this was her horsey tree.

It was a stunning January day, which seems to be typical for this particular holiday weekend in SoCal. I can remember many heat waves in mid-January. This time around, oddly enough, the 70-degree day came a week after record-setting cold.

 We had our snack on the limbs of this beautiful old oak tree. Cora was excited to lead the way on our hike, since she has been up here a few times before.

 Also this weekend, we replaced our dining set.

Our old set came from my dear grandmother, who passed away a couple of months after Stacey and I got married. We inherited her table and chairs and two love seats, which are still in our playroom.

In recent months, Stace has had to repair and strengthen all the chairs, so we've had a new set on our mind.

 I figured we'd start shopping at the furniture stores, when I saw an ad Sunday on Craig's List. We ended up purchasing this set from a nice local couple who said they bought it when they got married 47 years ago. You know what they say about paying for quality: you'd never know this solid wood set was that old.

We are absolutely tickled to have found it, and at a great deal too. The couple parted with it for less than what two of the chairs would have cost - even used chairs!

The table has two leaves, so it will extend to seat 12. Next time we host an event, we can leave the patio table outside.

We had been looking for a set with a bench, so Stace might make one in the future.

And I can see us reupholstering the chairs in the future, since black isn't one of our typical color choices. But, at least it's a color that hides dirt, right?

A special thanks to Genia and John for letting us borrow their SUV so we could pick it all up in one trip!

Night with Friends

Over the weekend, we gladly accepted a dinner invitation from Juliana and Daryl.

We had a very nice time catching up and enjoying Juliana's always-delicious cooking.

I'm not sure what Stace is doing here.

 While we finished dinner, the girls relaxed with some Disney entertainment...

 ...before it was time for Smores outside on the fire pit!













Cora was so tired. School really takes it out of her, and we probably should be getting her to bed by 7:30 instead of 8. I've never heard her ask to leave Maya's house, but she did on this occasion.

But when we went inside to get ready to leave, all four girls got a second wind. Poor Daryl!

Our week

We returned to normal life this week, with Cora in school, Tuesday night ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, Pioneer Club, Ms. Diane's class, grocery shopping and house-cleaning.

 On Wednesday, after we picked up Cora, we went to visit Aunt Patty in Ventura.

We used up the rest of our (frozen) apple pulp from the cider-making extravaganza to make apple muffins, before heading over to Marina Park.

The playground had been recently redone, and the girls had a great time checking out the new equipment.

 No trip to the beach is complete without shell-collecting!



















On Thursday morning we returned to Ms. Diane's class, our family's name for the city's My Buddy and Me program.

Violet was really excited to return, and carry her own snack/lunch bag. She is such an old pro in class now, anticipating what we'll do next and attacking the art projects with hardly any help from me.

She refuses to sing the "slippery fish" song, because she says she's scared of the shark verse.

Over the last couple of months, she's argued against the song each week, and runs away from circle time during it.

This time, since she's newly wearing panties full-time, I took the opportunity to take her out for a bathroom break. It worked out well.

Later on Thursday, Cora had her first dance class. We signed her up for a session of tap/ballet classes as part of her Christmas present from us and my parents.

She enjoyed her first class, but she's also saying she'd like to try gymnastics. So perhaps we'll give that a whirl over the summer.

Back Home

 Now that we're back home, we're making a greater effort with Violet and the toilet. She's again doing very well at home, and on Saturday I noticed that she stayed dry the whole day. We made a big deal about it, and started a chart. She'll get a magnet each day she stays dry, and we'll get her a special toy she's been eyeing once she has 10 magnets.

On Sunday, she wet herself once, at church, and on Monday she also had a small accident. But Tuesday, despite being out and about most of the day, she earned another magnet! Hopefully we'll have potty-training success this time around.










Random moment in the kitchen that made me laugh. Cora was getting her own snack, tortilla chips and Trader Joe's pineapple salsa.

Violet also helped herself, to chips and butter. Mmmm, mmmm.

Our first week back home was nice and relaxing, a little two relaxing, because Cora caught a bad cold. She spent most of Thursday and Friday in bed or on the couch with a fever, which has turned into a bad cough.

So, we had to cancel several playdates, and Cora and I couldn't join Stace and Violet with Genia and her kids at Scooter's Jungle. Times like these make me remember how blessed we are to have such generally healthy girls, though.

In this photo, Stace is reading The Magic Faraway Tree, a classic British children's novel that he fondly remembers his Mum reading to him as a boy. So far, Cora is loving this story, originally published in 1943.

 On Sunday, Cora was feeling well enough to help Stace sweep out the backyard and then tackle putting together the girls' Christmas present from Nan and Pop. Yes, a giant trampoline!

 

Fun, fun, fun!

Congratulations, Cora!

 

Cora received her first school award this week! 

She was selected to be "Student of the Week," an award normally given out by the principal during the school's weekly assembly on Mondays. One student per grade level is chosen, so Cora was picked from more than 70 kindergarteners. We were notified before school let out for Christmas break that Cora would be getting the award, so Stace and I could arrange to attend the assembly. 

Mrs. Hawthorne wrote of Cora, "Cora strives to do her best at all times. She works hard and is a good friend to everyone in class! Keep up the great job!"

We're having a real cold spell at the moment - highs in the 40s, lows below freezing - and this morning when school started it was 33 with a cold wind. So, morning assembly was canceled, and the principal lead us parents into the recipients' classrooms to hand out the certificates. Cora was so nervous to be called up by her principal!

It was a shame that Cora didn't get her big moment in front of the whole school, and I had several mommy friends who were planning to stay and cheer for her as well. But at least Stace and I still got to see her get her award, in a personalized (and warm!) ceremony. 

Congratulations, Cora! Daddy and I are so proud of you! We know how hard you work at everything you do, and we're especially happy to hear that you are a kind friend to all your classmates. 

Trip home

Our trip home went very well again - it's beyond wonderful to be in a stage where traveling with the two girls is pretty much smooth sailing.

As we did in June, we again made the trip to our airport hotel on a Sunday, spent the night, and flew on the Monday. Thanks again, as always, to Sue, Gord, Dean and Jenny for giving up their whole Sunday to drive us back. It was great having lunch with you and spending that last half-day together.

The girls were both very excited about being in the hotel, eating breakfast in the restaurant, and riding the "bus" - shuttle - to Heathrow. They were as good as gold, and our whole travel day went very smoothly. The plane trip was fine, with both girls watching hours of television again. The only trouble was a period of extreme turbulence above Iceland, bad enough to lead to broken glass in the first class cabin. Cora loved the roller coaster ride - we had to shush her exuberance out of respect to other passengers who were scared and crying.

Neither girl slept much, but that helped them settle into our home time zone that much easier. Thankfully Cora is off this week so we've had some time to relax, unpack and clean up.

Sorry for the lack of photos of this part of the trip - the cameras were packed for our flight home.

I will share two last photos, from the hours before we left Somerset - the girls saying good-bye to Big Nan, and JT with her two beautiful babies, 23-month-old Callie and 3-month-old Jonah.

Fun with Friends

This trip, we met up with Stacey's friend Dan, or Grinder, who came across for our wedding in 2003.

But we haven't seen him since our wedding party in England in early 2004. He's now married with two children the same ages as our girls.

We met at Jungle Jungle, an indoor play place. Dean and Euan came too, on a day marked by drenching downpours.

This is Dan's 5-year-old son Charlie, a keen footballer who had fun deflecting Stace's shots with the plastic ball-pool balls.

We also visited with Dunc and Lindsey and their girls. Cora had a lot of fun with Chelsea, as always, and Charlie did a great job sharing her new Christmas presents with Cora and Violet.

For my birthday, Jim and JT took us out to lunch at a nice pub in Mudford, near Yeovil. (For anyone looking for GOOD pub food with great olde worldy pub atmosphere, go to the Half Moon Inn. You know, if you're in the Yeovil area.)

It was fabulous, as always, to see our dear friends, who are in the process of emigrating back to California. It's odd to think that this is the last time we're spending time together in England! JT and I have been England buddies for our entire England experience, from our first trip together to visit Jim and Stace in July 2001.

I also enjoyed spending time with our English family on the evening of my birthday, with a cake and presents to boot. Thanks!


On Saturday, we caught up with Andy and Jen, and their daughter Marisa, husband Paul and daughter Lola Belle. They picked a superb location - Barleymow's Farm Shop and Restaurant was very kid-friendly, with an indoor play area and play structure outside for those not afraid to get a little muddy. Like Cora and Violet! Here, Cora shows our friends her monkey-bar abilities.

Family and floods

 We spent a very pleasant Friday afternoon with our extended family on Pop's side, at his sister Doreen and brother-in-law Pete's home. Their mum was there, as were Stacey's cousins Karen and Mandy and their husbands Martin and Wes. The company is always warm and friendly, and Doreen is an excellent hostess who keeps your plates and glasses full.

Here, Karen's son Ben and Violet pose up at the top of Burrow Hill, a nearby hilltop we climbed to get good views of the flooded Somerset Levels.

 Karen and her two - Ben, 7 1/2, and Chloe, 3 - walked up with us, making it that much more fun for our girls.

Back at the house, the children played so well together. We had not one squabble, just lots of laughter and merriment.

 See those welly boots? They were very much needed! Violet wasn't thrilled to walk in the squishy squishy mud down by the gate.

 The levels flood regularly, but this year's flooding has been the worst in everyone's memory.

Some villages have been hit especially hard, with homes devastated. For our friends and family, the flooding has meant longer drives at times, with roads shut because of the depth of water flowing across.

One field near Pete and Doreen's farm has been taken over by wild swans! Hard to take in this view and remember that this is actually a grassy field under normal circumstances.