Mid-week activities

Our week went by smoothly, so that makes it a great week.

On Tuesday, Violet and I had Mom2Mom. After the meeting, Violet, Sophie, Norah and Liana ran around the Fellowship Hall playing, and found the foosball table in the youth room. The blue ones were the "bad guys," according to Sophie, and since she is the oldest, she sets the rules.

 I helped in Violet's class Wednesday, when they painted/stamped with bell peppers and apples.

Violet was so happy I was going to be in her class with her. She makes my heart happy, just as Cora does when she waves and blows kisses on her entire walk from the school's back gate to her classroom door each morning.

 Violet was laughing when she showed me her silly clump of hair. Quite silly indeed!

On Wednesday, Stace helped in Cora's Pioneer Club class by showing the Voyagers how to play a ukelele.










 On Thursday, we met Liana and Colleen at the library for story time. Here, the girls are working together on a puzzle during the playtime after the stories.









Then we headed over to the mall play area with sandwiches and fruit. Violet posed on the boulder and asked me to take her photo.

 She spent much of her playtime on the rope-net-web-thingy.

On Friday, the skies opened and the rains poured down. Instead of playing at the park on our weekly minimum day, we had a playdate at home.

Ave's friend Emily has become friends with Cora - one of Cora's numerous third-grade girlfriends - and they've been wanting a playdate. Emily has two little brothers who are buddies with Violet, and her mom, Patrice, and I have become friends, too. She's even joined Mom2Mom. We all had a very nice afternoon together.

And just like that, the second month of 2014 rushed by. Like Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
That's my purpose in this blog - to help me, Stace and the girls stop and look around, and remember these little things that make up our life.

Play Ball!

 Cora had fun at her friend Sophia's birthday party on Sunday. It was held at a place with lots of trampolines and foam block pits, good for the older kids.

 After the party we stopped at a store for batteries, so Cora could put them in a toy she bought Saturday with some Christmas money.

She came around the corner completely ready for Easter.

 The day warmed up beautifully, just enough for the girls to have some fun with the hose and water gun.

 Spring training is getting going for the Dodgers, and Stace and I are celebrating by playing on the grass with the girls. We played several little games over the weekend. Maybe at some point we'll sign Cora up for softball.

Violet liked trying to hit, but when it was her turn to field she preferred to dig in the dirt.

We had a very relaxed weekend, which was fantastic. We're loving these days with our two growing girls.

School Fun

Friday was a fun school day for Cora. Like last year, we had a walking field trip to College of the Canyons for a children's theater production.

I was again able to chaperone, and this year I was able to stay in the theater with the class during the show.

The walk is a lot of fun, and went very smoothly considering the number of children. Cora complained about this coming event for weeks, remembering last year as being too long and hard, but later admitted it was a lot of fun and not as hard as she'd thought.

Here's Cora and some friends resting on the curb at the college while we wait to be seated.

 In the evening, we went back to school for a dinner-and-bingo night, which raised money for the school's foundation.

The food was really good, and the kids had a ton of fun playing freeze tag in the MPR before we ate. Violet was very much a part of the game, too; she thinks she can join in with any of Cora's friends, and she's almost always accepted whole-heartedly.

 Then, it was time for bingo. Sophia, Cora and Tyler eagerly listened for the letters and numbers.

Grandpa won one of the rounds, so Grandma helped him pick a prize. They chose the Starbucks and See's Candy gift cards.

Cora, Sophia and Tyler spent much of the night sitting with Mrs. Vasquez and her children; her daughter is in third grade and is friends with Cora. Cora actually has a lot of girlfriends in third grade; maybe that has something to do with her growing up so close to Ave.

The final game was a blackout round, and the bingo caller had gone through nearly all the numbers when the winner came forward. Cora was one space away from "BINGO!" at that point, and was crushed to not win. She didn't understand that most of the people in the room had only one blank box left at that time of the game.

Stacey and I are so grateful that our girls will spend these formative years at such a great school. It's fantastic to feel like we're part of the school family.

Santa Barbara Zoo

Stacey and the girls had Monday off for President's Day, so we decided to do something special.

We got up and out early and headed north to the Santa Barbara Zoo. We love this zoo, but because it's over an hour away, we haven't been often. Cora went over the summer with Camp Clarita, but my last trip was with Elissa and Harvey when they were two years old. Stacey hadn't been since Cora was a baby!

Cora took the photo of the elephant pulling food from the rope-net bag.

After seeing the elephants, penguins and flamingos, we took a play break on the "ant hill," a place Cora was excited to revisit after her trip in the summer. The children use pieces of cardboard to slide down a hill covered in fake grass.

Violet soon got the hang of it, and Cora eventually was trying her hand at surfing, or sliding down standing up.

 Then, we ate a picnic lunch on the grass while watching a children's stage show about dinosaurs.

Stace broke open the last bag of Hula Hoops from our most recent trip to England for this most special occasion.

 On our way to look at more animals, we passed a hill that was just begging to be rolled down. We all did a bit of rolling; just once for me and Stace, though. It makes you really dizzy when you're grownup.

 Cora also took this photo of a Fennec Fox - so cute with those enormous ears!

 The Los Angeles Zoo has had no lions since the last one died, so it was nice to see the SB Zoo's lions.

 Another snack break, and we captured a photo of the cutest homo sapiens we've ever seen. We fell in love and took them home with us. Shhhhh! Don't tell the zoo keepers!

 The zoo has two lovey aviaries, with some beautiful exotic birds. Sadly, Violet didn't feel like smiling the one time we had a passerby take a family photo. At least she faced the camera.

On our way home, we reached Ventura just in time to watch the sun dip into the sea. We are so blessed to see such beauty.

 More wild birds - sandpipers, in their natural environment.

We wanted food from different eateries at Ventura Harbor, so we picnicked in the car.

What a fabulous day! We managed to make it home before 7:45, just in time for bed.

Weekend bike rides

For President's Day, Cora had Friday and Monday off from school. No, Valentine's Day normally isn't a school holiday, but it was sure nice to have an extra long weekend.

On Friday, the girls and I met up up with a Mom2Mom friend who moved into the area last summer. She has a four-year-old, 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. We went to the park with Sara and her younger daughters, while the oldest was at a sleepover, and then had lunch together.

Later in the day, we prepared our house for Valentine's Day.

On Saturday, Stace and Violet worked hard on the garden. Violet has been much more interested in helping in the yard.

On Saturday evening, my parents hosted a very lovely engagement party for Melanie and Nick. We all had a great time, and Melanie gave me the honor of asking me if I'd be her matron of honor. I've been a bridesmaid several times, but this will be the first time for me to stand next to the bride. I am so pleased she asked, and I just hope I can do a good job. Party-planning isn't exactly my strength! (But Melanie knows that...)

On Sunday afternoon, Cora had a playdate at Sophia's house, so Stace took Violet out front with her new bicycle.

And...

Ladies and gents, we have a fourth bicycle rider in the house!!!

Chalk up another win for the balance bike, as I know it made all the difference in Violet being able to ride training-wheel-free at 3 1/2 years old.

We are so proud of her, with the kind of pride that leaks a little from the eye sockets.

She really is growing up so fast.

Great job, Missy Mae!

Valentine's Fun

The girls both enjoyed their class Valentine's Day parties this week.

Violet's was on Wednesday, and after passing out her little Valentine's cards and eating treats during class, we played at the park. Violet was excited to have a playdate with Sophie, a little girl in her class. The week before, Vi had asked if she and Sophie could have lunch together and play at the park, and her mom agreed.


Violet liked playing with this lip whistle, a treat from a classmate.

Violet and Sophie built a campfire and were roasting marshmallows (sticks with seed pods) when it was time to go home.

On Thursday, after Stace led Cora's class through soccer drills, Cora's class had a Valentine's party too. Stacey, Violet and I were able to stay for the party, which was nice to do together.

Here, Cora is passing out her Valentine's cards. The children decorated boxes as part of their homework. This year, my girls gave out puppy and kitten cards.

Then came the fun part - going through the box of cards and goodies. For Cora, those goodies were all pencils, stickers, erasers, etc. Her school has a health and wellness policy that means no candy and few sweets during parties.





Mrs. Vasquez then read out Valentine love letters, penned by the parents, to each student.
Stace crafted this poem, with a little tweaking by me:

Our Treasure

Cora Rose, determined and bright,

So full of life, from morning 'til night.

Each day's an adventure you tackle head on;

Your spirit's courageous, joyful and strong.

From the day you made us a mum and a dad,

You've brightened our days and made us so glad.

Now Violet is here, and you're a loving big sister,

Always willing to guide and assist her.

Some people spend a lifetime seeking diamonds and pearls,

Eager for the fortunes found in this world.

But riches are not what we strive to hold -

You're our treasure, Cora, more precious than gold.

On Friday evening, the four of us grilled sausages, ate outside, and later made s'mores on a fire pit. It was a lovely Valentine's night. Who needs a pricey meal in an overcrowded restaurant, when you have the love of your family in your own backyard?

Cora's VIP Week(s)

 Cora loved being the VIP of her class these past two weeks. She was able to go to the front of all the lines, help out in class often, and tell the class a lot about herself.

First off, she presented her VIP video, an eight-minute film about herself that Stace put together for her. They filmed it over a couple of weeks, and it is fantastic, something we will treasure for years to come.

Cora picked Auntie Mel to be her "Royal Reader," and Melanie, with her acting and vocal training, did a great job. She read two books, a story about a family with a much-loved kitty, and a Valentine's story.








Cora also brought in several things to show and tell, including the ammonite fossil that Pop found years ago and gave to Cora.

 Children can also have a special grownup in their lives come in to lead the class in an activity. For us, that meant Daddy came in to do 45 minutes of soccer training.

This was by far the youngest group Stace has ever lead in drills, but he did a very good job.





 After several drills, he had fun playing a 60-second game of "everyone try to get the ball away from Mr. Howard." And no, no first-grader was able to take the ball off of him.

One of the nicest parts of being VIP is having the class call out descriptive words and phrases about the student. Then, the children write out sentences about the student, formed from the information on the poster.

It's nice to read all the pleasant adjectives - the ones with asterisks are the ones called out more than once. Cora tells me that one boy called her "hot," which Mrs. Vasquez switched to "beautiful." Interesting...