Funny Girls

 Cora's been on a cooking kick lately. She came up with the idea of coating the last handful of strawberries in the package with melted chocolate, and she's also been making smoothie/yogurt popsicles.

















And, the other day she and Violet (with a little help from Dad) made peppermint creams. Yum!



















  If we'd taken the next step to coat them with chocolate, they'd been very close to a York Peppermint Patty. Except that they were pink and blue - everything's better with food coloring, right???

Cora's also taking a cooking class on Friday afternoons at school.





Violet was so excited to be selected to be Special Helper at school on Wednesday, which coincided with "hibernation day," when the children got to wear jammies to school and bring an animal friend.

The animal then "hibernated" in a special sleeping bag Miss Lorrie passed out, with, "Shhhh, I'm asleep" written on it.

That morning, on the way to school, excited that Gleamer got to come with her, Violet shouted, "Gleamer's confused with all these trees!"
I sought clarification, so Violet added, "She's confused, because she's counting them. There's too many trees! Gleamer has holes in her ears. They show when she's confused."

A couple of more Violetisms: On a recent drive past the San Gabriel Mountains, she said: "I want to go back to Montana. These mountains make me sad. They remind me of Ave and Johnny's house."

And, a real gem: Violet, holding her empty Pez dispenser, said, "We need some candy in here."
Me: "No, we don't. You might want candy, but you don't 'need it.' "
Violet: "No, for the daytime. In the morning, to get me going."

Cora, in her advancing age, doesn't come out with such funny statements anymore. But this conversation did make me smile:

After learning about our country's three branches of government, Cora told me she wants to see a female president. "We've had enough boy presidents," she said.
Maybe Cora could be the first, I suggested. "No! Too many meetings. I hate meetings."
A day later, after looking over Cora's schoolwork on the presidency, Stace made a similar suggestion. "No! Too much work. And, too many photos. What if I don't look good?"

The Lazy Days

Summertime.

Late nights, lazy mornings, lots of playtime, lots of relaxing.

I love how my girls can quickly slip into vacation mode and sleep well into the 8 o'clock hour. Of course, the other side of this means that Cora is awake until almost 10 most nights, even if she's in bed before 9.

Our summer has been interesting - a week home, two weeks away, a week home, a week away, and now we're home for a couple of weeks.



On those days with no real big plans, we're following this summer list of things to do. As much as I love a bit of laziness, too much of it leads to too much screen time, crankiness, and arguing.

I had Cora help formulate the list our first full day of summer break, and she loves checking off what we've done.













One of the items Cora put on the list was "cooking time." She found a recipe in her children's cookbook she wanted to try, and we went off to Sprouts to buy the ingredients.

While shopping, Violet had a good question: "How do you say, 'milky hilky' in Spanish?"








While Cora handled her coconut lemon balls, Violet and I made zucchini-chocolate-chip muffins. Well, Violet said she wanted to help, but quickly tired of grating the zucchini.

Legos won out.

The other morning, Cora remarked, "I really want a pet lizard."
Violet replied, "I want a pet horse, because our grass is really long. Our back yard could be his stable."

Another Violetism: "Mom, do you know why houses need to be bigger than us? So there's room inside."

While listening to the radio, we heard the phrase "master of subtlety." Cora said, "I'm not a master of subtlety. I'm a master of defendity."
I think she was referring to her soccer defense skills.

Friendly Week

 We've had a nice week, with several play dates with good friends, Open House, and fabulous weather (which we appreciated, after intense heat the week before).

On Tuesday, Melanie, Heather and Sienna came out to play. All went well, and we enjoyed catching up while Heather and Violet played.

 Norah came over on Wednesday to play, while Morgan had a special lunch at the Tea Gardens. Violet and Norah got along great, making up all sorts of imaginative games.

At one point, they were playing with the Frozen figurines, and I could hear Norah singing "Let it Go." Violet interrupted, "No! They don't sing it in the game (we're playing)!"

The signs on the wall are from Cora's preschool game she played with Violet for several days. It started as a Minecraft school, with Cora teaching Violet all about the video game that has taken over the lives of many kids we know. "Cora's my teacher," Violet had told me then. "She learns me about Minecraft."

Cora then expanded the curriculum to include letters and writing, thankfully.

 On Thursday, Cora's school had a minimum day before the evening's Open House. We packed a lunch and picnicked at the park, with several of Cora's friends and their parents.

Violet enjoyed riding around on Cora's scooter, and did very well.

 Here's Cora and "the other Violet," after they spent a while playing basketball. I always love hearing from Cora about what she does at recess and lunch: handball, basketball, and some game with a ball and net called "prisoner" are her favorites.

Cora definitely enjoys being a first-grader. Recently, we were walking to school and she spotted some kindergarteners, also on their way to school.

"Awww, look at the kindergartners!" she cooed. "They're so cute!"
And while relaying a school story to us at the dinner table, she described another boy as "much, much younger than me. He was probably only six."

The last first grade assembly of the year took place Friday. Cora was among the children to receive a special award for teamwork.

And on Friday evening, we went to Juliana and Daryl's for a family dinner date.

Another family came as well, with a daughter Violet's age and toddler son. The big girls spent part of their time in a secret hideout under Maya's bed, planning ways to spy on the younger children. Eventually they let Violet in to the game as a guard.

Later, Violet practiced and then put on a show, singing "Let it Go" for all of us.

Sleepy girl, dancing girl

 Before Violet moved into her toddler bed, she slept during her naptime about half the time. Since we've moved into a bed, that's dropped to maybe one day every two weeks.

That's NOT to say she doesn't still need a nap! Often if we drive somewhere in the late afternoon, she drops off in the car. After our big park day on Tuesday in Montrose, she couldn't make it through dinner.

 On Saturday, Cora went to a Hart High Show Choir fundraiser, where the elementary kids were taught a routine by the high schoolers.

Stacey, Violet and I went to my parents' house to watch the Dodger/Cardinal playoff game. (This is one of those rare times I do wish we had cable!)
We also got to catch up with the NEWLY ENGAGED Auntie Mel! It was fun to look at her wedding research online.

On the way to Cora's performance, Violet of course fell asleep.

She even slept through the performance, a lively and loud version of "Under the Sea" from the Little Mermaid.

Daddy has his hands full with these two!

After the show choir event, we went to Petsmart for cat food and litter. It was an adoption day for a kitten rescue, and I figured the girls would enjoy seeing the cats, along with the small mammals, birds, fish and lizards.

But, for the first time, Cora fell in love with the kittens to the extent that she was crying when I said we couldn't bring one home. She cried off and on the rest of the night, and her sadness carried into Sunday.

"I want one of my own, that I could take care of," she said. Spencer and particularly Sebastian are too big for her to carry, she said.
I tried to explain that we can't handle three cats, that she's lucky to have two fabulously loving cats, and that kittens grow up in a matter of months anyway. But, there is no arguing with a girl who wants a kitten.

For her part, Violet said she wants to get rid of Spencer and Sebastian so we can get a dog.

Another Coraism: "Mom, are there really other planets?"
Me: "Yes..."
Cora: "Is New Jersey another planet?"

At Summer's End

Summer is about over - and by that, I mean Cora's break from school, of course. 

The season will continue a while longer, and of course living here, the heat lasts into October. At least we can go to the pool and the beach after school.

Anyway. Cora, Chris and David went to Camp Clarita for the last two weeks of summer, and on four of those days, Violet went to camp, too.  Cora enjoyed camp, and even went on a field trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo.  Other than the field trips, her camp day went from 9 to 4, with swimming daily after lunch.  She says that her days were too long, and she wished she could have seen me more. Maybe we'll give it a miss next year.

Violet, meanwhile, loved every day of camp with Ms. Diane and Miss Emily.

On the last day, Violet (pictured here with her awesome handmade mask and crown) said how sad she was that camp was over. She is so ready for Terrific Tots!







Cousin Alison flew down to visit Bill and Patty for a week, and she and Aunt Patty stopped by for a few hours on our last day of summer break. She helped the girls make this glitteriffic creation from a palm frond.





One one of the too-few occasions when we were home all day, I brought out the laundry basket full of wet clothes. This little one insisted on pausing her playtime with Cora to help out.

I'll end with a couple of "isms":
The night before her camp field trip to the zoo, Cora was very nervous and tearful about being so far away from home, for so long. (Her drop-off time was 7:30 and they weren't back until 5:15.)
The next evening, I asked how it went.
"Oh, it was really good! And I'm not even being sarcastic, like I usually am," she replied.

And, here's a snippet from breakfast a few weeks ago:
Cora: "Violet, what do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be an engineer."
Violet: "I want to be a doggy, in a doggy costume."
Cora: "No, not for Halloween, for a job."
Violet: "I want to be a doggy. I CAN be a doggy."

Coraism

While reading her own bedtime story "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" by Dr. Seuss, Cora got to the bit that reads, "At our house we play out back. We play a game called Ring the Gack".

Stace then says, "The ol' Ring the Gack game, I used to play that when I was a boy."
To our surprise, Cora asked, "Where did you get the rings?"

That kid is funny. We all know Gacks roam free across England, but rings are a bugger to find.

Open House, and the things they say!

This week Cora had her kindergarten assessment, when school personnel tested her so they can decide how to form next year's four classes (20 kids each). Stace took her, and said she seemed to answer all the questions well.

On Thursday, after football/soccer we walked over to the school with the Roberts for Open House. We got to check out Ave's class; Cora and Johnny really liked the nature dioramas.

We ate fund-raising sandwiches together, and then had a good look around the school. We know Cora will love it. Already she is asking when she can go to kindergarten, and she's upset when we tell her it's a few months away.

It was nice bumping into a few other families we know from our neighborhood and from Pioneer Club. Maybe Cora will know someone in her class next year, even if she and Johnny aren't in the same room.

And speaking of Johnny...

Genia tells us her sweet, sensitive, deep-thinker really likes Stacey.

Not long ago, Genia tells us, they were in the car when Johnny said randomly, "Stacey's smart. Well, he's not that smart. But he could be!"

And the other night, the Roberts were at our house having dinner after soccer. John had to work late, so he joined us while we were having our dessert.
He happened to walk through the door just in time to overhear Johnny saying to Stace, "Dad. Dad! Can I have another brownie?"
And to witness Stace absentmindedly hand him one.

John said to his son, "Johnny, did you just call Stacey, 'Daddy'?"
Johnny replied, "Yeah. I couldn't remember his name."

And, two Coraisms:
Cora was scared of a Daddy Longlegs, so I said they are good spiders that eat bad bugs and flies.
"Oh! So maybe we can get a pack of them and put them in the house!"
What a difference from the week before, when she shrieked, "Mum! Mum! Help! There's a teeny tiny spider in the bathroom!
"Wait. It might be an ant."

We'll close with a Violetism.
Cora said something that included the word "bed," so I asked, how to do you spell that? She responded, "B-E-D. I sounded it out!"
We then asked Violet how to spell "bed."
Without missing a beat, she said, "B-I-O-A. Bed!"

Eclipsed

A weekend recap - Ave woke up at our house after a successful sleepover (more on that in another post), and after breakfast, she returned home and Stace took Cora to my dad's house to watch Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in the European Champions League Cup Final. 

 In the evening, we went to the Mom2Mom family picnic, which was a really fun, casual night with good friends. Genia, John and their kids were there, along with Colleen and Rigo, so we had plenty of laughs and conversation. 

Stace schooled Lucas and Elyz in football.

 Then, he fed some baby yogurt to John, who needed a timeout in the stroller.





On Sunday, we spoke to the family, did some gardening and checked out a solar eclipse after the evening church service.

The local astronomy group set up telescopes at Central Park so we novices could safely see the eclipse.
It was really neat; one person projected the image onto the white board so a group could see the eclipse.

The only downside was Cora being disrespectful when I warned her not to look directly at the sun, prematurely ending our park time. We're trying to crack down on the 5-going-on-15 attitude that has been cropping up lately!

But, I won't end on that note.
Here's a knock knock joke Cora created:
Cora: Knock knock.
Me: Who's there?C: Knock.Me: Knock who?C: Don't knock on my door anymore!

The following also made me and Stace laugh Sunday evening on our drive home from the eclipse episode. We were at a light, next to a car with a young guy playing Zeppelin. We rolled the windows down to hear it better, and Stace told the guy, "Turn it up!" He smiled and obliged, but Cora, in the back seat, was mortified. "Dad! STOP!" she yelled, her eyes hidden by her hands.

It's happening already!

Fairy Wonderland

Here she is, our little fairy lover.
For several weeks, Cora has been immersed in Fairy Land, the land where Tinker Bell and her friends fly and bring joy to children.

She talks about fairies a lot, and has us help her act out moments from the movie "The Great Fairy Rescue." She really hopes they are real and has asked me several times if they are. She wishes she were a fairy herself, so she could fly.




When Cora was good the other day, we gave her this mini Fawn, who puts to good use the Calico Critters bed. Fawn came along this afternoon to the grocery store, and kept bouncing on grocery items and hiding behind things. (All this made for a very enjoyable grocery trip! Cora was well-entertained by her tiny sidekick.)

In the movie, the little girl who loves fairies has fairy drawings and pictures all over her bedroom. Cora realized, with great concern, that no one could tell she loves fairies too, because she had no fairy pictures up in her room. Thus started a fairy-drawing fest, the results of which you can see here. In two of the pictures you can see an angry bird chasing the fairies, who are shouting, "AAAAAAAAAAA." Cora was particularly proud of the bird in the upper left drawing, with the careful rainbow coloration. Cora is the fairy on the left in that one.

In the movie, the little girl catches Tinker Bell in a little fairy house she has made and set outside. Here is Cora's fairy house, which used to be an ordinary plastic bag. The "Cora" leaf is a welcome mat, and the buttons show the fairies where to go.

For the last several weeks, Cora often has run over to the house when we've come home from being out and about. Once she said forlornly, "I looked in that fairy house. No fairies. I guess fairies aren't real. I like fairies"

In this photo, on the right side you can see a tree that Cora made out of leaves and a little hunk of wood. Her creativity and drive amaze me.

The box that Cora's booster seat came in became a new (indoor) fairy house, for when Cora herself is the fairy, trapped inside. Notice the rainbow door with glued-on flower decoration; the inside is covered in more fairy pictures.

When Cora worried that Violet was going to mess up her house, she helped make Violet a fairy house of her own from a different box.
(Note to the general gift-buying public: toys not required; boxes will suffice.)

And, on an unrelated note, Cora has been making us snicker by using the word "Daggit" as an expression of displeasure. I don't know where she heard it, or perhaps she did make it up on her own. At any rate it's better than a lot of alternatives. Even funnier is hearing Violet repeat it.

My funny girls

Coraisms:
"I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I want be an ice-skater, I want to be a pirate, and I want to be an engineer. That's three things and I don't know if I can do three things."

"I know how to spell 'Bible.' B-I-N-G-O!"

Cora the Negotiator, at bedtime: "Dad, this is the deal. If you don't stop playing the piano, Mummy will have to read to me, OK?"

Violetism: I drove Genia home from Pioneer Clubs, while John took Stace and Cora. When Genia got in, Violet said cheerfully, :"Hello, Agggumm!"
Of course, Genia knows Violet very well, and knows that in Violet-speak, that means cat, or other small animal. She said playfully, "Don't call me Aggum!"
Violet laughed and repeated herself.

The next morning, I asked Violet, "What did you call Miss Genia last night?"
She laughed and yelled, "Aggum!"
So she knew what she was doing, remembered doing it, and was trying to be funny.

Violet and Cora also like to tell "knock knock" jokes.
Here's a frequent offering from Vi: Knock knock, who's there!
(We then repeat, "Who's there?")
Vi: Chicken
Us: Chicken who?
Vi: Cock a doodle do! (Followed by a big laugh.) (This is funny stuff, you see.)

EDITED TO ADD: I've recently learned that I misheard Cora when she said what she wants to be when she grows up. She wants to be a pi-LOT, not a pi-rate. Oops. A pilot, for a little girl who flies as much as Cora Rose, makes a lot more sense, don't you think? Alas, not as funny, though.

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.