Egg-shaped Love

I took Cora to practice one evening the week before Easter, and Stace enjoyed one-on-one time with Violet. I figured they'd go out for ice cream, but instead, I came home to the sweetest surprise that brought tears to my eyes.

Violet wanted to color an Easter egg, an activity I must admit I haven't been good about doing in recent years. She wanted it to be a present for me, and Stace helped her out, blowing the contents of the egg out, and making the egg dye.

It's beautiful, a lovely present, and was such a nice surprise. Violet's adorable note also brightened my evening: "This little Easter egg comes with love but today is a special day you get a gift!"

Fast forward a week, and the girls and I were cleaning the house. Cora pulled something off the table, which knocked the egg to the tile floor. Violet immediately burst into tears. Cora apologized and disappeared, while I tried to console Vi.

A few minutes later, it was Cora who brought me to tears - she emerged from her bedroom with the egg repaired as well as she could with tape. It was such a sweet and caring thing to do, and helped Violet feel better.

At Easter we celebrate Christ's LOVE, and I am so blessed to be surrounded by such LOVE from these girls of mine.

A Placerita Ramble

After our big Sunday, we laid low on Monday, our first day of Spring Break. Cora and I cleaned out some drawers in her closet, as she is interested in changing her room around a bit.

When Stace got home, both girls were itching to get outside. We headed over to Placerita Canyon for a walk.

It was gorgeous, as you can see, with wildflowers and green everywhere.

While walking down this tree-lined trail, I thought it reminded me of part of Ham Hill in Somerset.

The green was a bit like Somerset, too.

We carried on under the tunnel to the Oak of the Golden Dream, where we came upon this lovely scene.

The girls had a brilliant time, and so did Stace and I.

Easter Joy

We started our Easter celebration with church on Saturday night, where the girls had fun in their class.

On Sunday morning, I returned to help in the nursery, while Stace and the girls planted the new plants.

On Sunday afternoon, we had a little egg hunt for the girls at home, where we hosted the Easter fun. My parents, Melanie and Nick and Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty came over for a lovely afternoon.









Some of the eggs were part of a set of "Resurrection Eggs," which tell the Easter story through little trinkets inside the eggs.

For example, one has a little cup for the goblet of wine from Christ's Last Supper, and one has a tiny (plastic) crown of thorns. You won't be shocked to hear that the final egg is empty!  We all took turns going around the table reading the information, after the girls opened the eggs.

It was a great way to emphasize the real meaning of the day, now that the girls are old enough to take it in a bit more.






While I finished getting dinner ready, everyone then enjoyed a bit of croquet.

Happy Easter, one and all! He is Risen!

Garden Fun

Last week Cora and Violet decided to re-plant our veggie patch. Cora got right to work, weeding and  planning out what to plant.

On Saturday, we went to the nursery to pick out what would be in the garden. The girls chose strawberries, tomatoes, beans, carrots, cucumber and zucchini, along with some flowers.

The garden center was passing out lots of freebies to celebrate its spring opening, and we won a raffle prize - an insulated picnic bag full of things for the barbecue, and a great sun-shading gardening hat.












The girls handled all the planting on their own, with just a bit of advice from Stace.

The finished result!

The rest of our garden is blooming beautifully. We put some more flowers in over the weekend, but this photo was taken beforehand - just the annuals that are happy spring is here.

The irises are particularly lovely this year, as Stace divided them last year and placed them throughout the back raised flowerbed. The geraniums, lantana, alyssum and gazanias are also blooming crazy. Lovely!

School Fun

One of the best things about our school district is its music program. Cora is learning the recorder in third grade, and next year she can take part in the orchestra, if she so chooses.

To help the children decide if they want to learn another instrument in fourth grade, the third graders on Monday took part in a "musical petting zoo." Here, they were able to try a variety of instruments on for size.

Cora enjoyed the violin the best.

She also tried the clarinet, which is where I was stationed as a volunteer with my friend Elaine. We sanitized the mouth pieces after each student, while real musicians helped the children learn how to play them.

Cora also tried out the trombone, here, and a trumpet. (I don't know why my phone sometimes makes halos appear around the subject matter.)

Later in the week, I helped out in Violet's class, as always, and then in Cora's class. When I was in the room, the students all had computers and were working in a writing assignment for an assessment.

After school on Wednesday, the students taking part in the variety show had a rehearsal. Violet enjoyed herself a lot, and on her second go, made it all the way through her little rhyme, jumping the whole time. I hope she can do the same in April, on the big night!



Also, in recent weeks Cora had her 9-year-well check. She is very healthy, and in the 40th percentile for weight, and 23rd for height. Dr. Brockett said that if she maintains her place on the growth chart, she would reach 5'3" as an adult. Given her genes, I'd be very pleased if that were the case.

Birthday Flight

My dad turned 60 Sunday, and to mark the occasion, we sent him up in a Cessna 172.

We had the idea from a few years ago, when Gord's 60th birthday gift was a ride in an old Tiger Moth.

This Cessna had room for four - the pilot, Dad, Stace and Uncle Bill. They went for a 45-minute ride around Ventura County, taking off from Santa Paula Airport.

Dad had been up in a larger planes and in helicopters, but he hadn't ridden in a small plane before and had always wanted to.

Stace served as the official photographer for the ride, which was smooth from start to finish.

Dad took the controls for a few minutes, and all went well.

Such beautiful scenery! Unfortunately, the ocean was clouded over, but to the east were gorgeous views of the Ojai Valley, Lake Casitas, Ventura and Santa Paula.

We ladies waited patiently with books in the lounge area. When the men returned, the pilot - Paolo, from Milan - lifted the girls onto the nose and wing for a photo.

After the ride, Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty had us over for the birthday dinner - barbecued pizza and a yummy cake. The tea lights each represented a decade of life.
We love you, Dad, and are all so grateful to have you in our lives!

A Full Saturday

 Our Saturday morning started early, with an 8 a.m. game for Cora's softball team.

Here's one of those occasions where being married to an early bird ROCKS! Stace has no problem getting up and out, with a sleepy 9-year-old, for a 7 a.m. start time (for warmups).

We went from the game to the Mom2Mom Easter Egg hunt at the park, where the girls gathered eggs with our friends.

Cora is pretty close to outgrowing egg hunts, but she  still enjoys the candy inside. Violet loved the whole experience.

 We then went to a birthday part for Norah and Sophie, at their house. Morgan and Adam rented a huge bouncer, and the kids had a great time. We had lovely food and drinks, and a nice time catching up with our friends.

 The party was "Shopkins" themed, for the tiny plastic toys that I don't understand, but are apparently all the rage for the primary set.

Violet wasn't very familiar with Shopkins before the party, but she was enthralled. She went home with the two in her goodie bag, Cora's pair, and one more from Sophie. We'll see if this new favorite toy lasts into the next week.

 From there, we went to Home Depot for a couple of more things Stace needed for the headboard project. Cora and Violet were in a very good mood, getting along well and even holding hands a lot of the time.

I tried to get a cute picture, but Violet kept looking back at me, trying to pose. This was my best effort.

 Oh, to be 5 years old, when picking out your very own color swatch to take home is an exciting treat.

On the way home, we stopped at 7-11 for a special promotion - for $1.50, you could fill any size container with Slurpee. Thankfully, we brought a pitcher!

Plenty to share for the whole family. And, no, there wasn't enough sugar at the birthday party and egg hunt...

Week In Review

When we returned from taking Andy and Marisa to LAX, we went to Colleen and Rigo's house for dinner.

It had been way too long since we'd had a meal together! Luckily our evening plans had fallen through (Cora's game was canceled because the field was flooded from a thunderstorm) and we were able to make it work.

Colleen and Rigo recently purchased a new travel trailer, which came complete with a bed in one end and bunks in the other. (They had sold their older, smaller trailer last year.)

Hopefully we'll be able to tent-camp alongside them this summer.






On Sunday afternoon, Cora went to a birthday party for a classmate, and ended up being invited to hang out after the party with the family, to have dinner and watch the gift-opening. It was a nice afternoon for Cora!

On Monday, Violet's class went to the science lab and made mini tornadoes in water bottles, with glitter and colored water. Violet was VERY excited about shaking her bottle, one hand on hip, watching it swirl. She swirled and shook it for the whole time that we waited for Cora to be dismissed.

On Tuesday, Violet had her last tennis class of this session. Violet enjoyed tennis, and hit the ball hard. In fact, every week I was told by a fellow parent (or grandparent) of one of her classmates that she has a lot of natural ability.

We'll see if she picks up the sport again in the future. For now, she is saying she wants to play soccer and softball.

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, and the girls enjoyed dressing up in their green, and drinking green milk in their cereal. Those silly Leprechauns!

We took a walk after taking Cora to school, and Violet asked sweetly if I'd take her photo on "bendy tree."

How could I refuse this face?

Violet turned in her Leprechaun trap at school, the one she'd been planning and working on for weeks. Her writing says "don't get the gold" and "don't go up."

The leprechauns weren't fooled by all the trips Violet's classmates brought in. Durning recess, they turned the classroom upside down! They also left a green drink for the children to drink - but when the teachers tried a sip, it turned their feet green!

I remember this day so fondly from Cora's kindergarten year, when I happened to be the parent helper on St. Patrick's Day.

Softball success, Vasquez views

On Thursday, Cora's team won its first game! Cora pitched and fielded well, and was so happy to get a "game ball." Her buddy M.J. also was awarded a game ball, and the whole team was gifted Icees from Coach Cory.

This was one of the first times I've seen Cora pitching and looking happy, rather than extremely nervous. It was so great to witness!

 Andy and Marisa can't go home now; they must be good luck for the Ducks!

 After the girls' short school day on Friday, we took Andy and Marisa to Vasquez Rocks. Andy had been on his trip here in 2007, and Marisa loved the gorgeous scenery.

We got there in time for a half hour or so of walking around before it began to rain.

 A final American "must do" was a cheap lunch at Costco; can't beat those $1.50 hot dog/soda combos.

On Friday evening, we went out to our favorite restaurant, Stone Fire, and then over to my parents' house to say hello. Andy needed to meet Benny.

On Saturday, we left around lunchtime for the return trip to LAX. We had a fabulous time with Andy and Marisa here, and look forward to seeing them (and Jenny and Lola) back in Somerset this summer.