A Visit from Eloise

We had Ellie over for a few hours Sunday, and we had fun with her. Cora taught her about all her beautiful D&D dice... 

...and we went to the pool. Mel had left this swimsuit with us a month ago, and Ellie hadn't seen it yet. She loved it, and was admiring herself in the mirror.

Stace and I took her to the pool - sadly our girls aren't excited to go swimming anymore! The era of our summer evenings at the pool seems to have ended. I've encouraged Cora to go midday for a swim, for some exercise and sunshine, and she's cooperated a couple of times, but she definitely hasn't embraced the idea.

Anyway, we also took Ellie to the pet store, with Violet and they had a good time looking at everything. This hairless guinea pig was quite a sight!

Stace had Ellie helping him with a car project. 

And, we got out some of the old toys.

Violet enjoyed looking at the betta fish at the pet store, and was inspired to paint again.

Her finished piece is stunning. This kid has talent.

Tidbits

When you run into a friend at Aldi... it's a great morning!

Fine, Sebastian, I'll give up on the puzzle.

(Clearly, knocking the entire thing off the coffee table was exhausting.)

We went to a "drive-in movie" at Castaic Lake, where they were showing Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. It was great to hang out outside, to have something entertaining to do! 

I think I forgot to post this pic earlier, but Violet received her medal and award for her Reflections painting when we did a drive-through at the school to pick up supplies. We're very proud of our artist!

These two! Why, oh why, might they be hanging out together in Violet's room??

Liana came over to spend the night Thursday, as the girls all had Friday off for a four-day weekend for the President's Day holiday.

Her fish died while she was away, so we picked out a new one with Liana. It was a hard choice; there are so many beauties. With Liana's help, she chose a gorgeous turquoise blue boy, and named him Indigo.

 

Sunday Fun

Also over Christmas Break, Violet had a bit of a breakthrough.

She now can tie her shoes!

Somehow, with velcro and slip-ons, we've just never had the urgency to teach Vi to tie her shoes. But over the last couple of weeks, without school keeping us busy, she put the time in and taught herself.

Violet also kept herself busy taking care of her fish - we had one pass away, and she wanted to replace it, and add to her tank. After a couple of weeks of doing a good job remembering to feed them, we agreed.

Stace took her out on a Daddy-Daughter Date, and they picked out three new fish.

While Violet really wanted new fish over break, Cora really wanted to get back to Vasquez Rocks. She just loves that place!

On Sunday, Stace took the girls there, while I had a meeting at church.

This is Cora's happy place!

Tidbits

Over the weekend, we purchased some new entertainment for Spencer - a beautiful panda molly named Bamboo, and a silver molly named Bubbles (because it likes to hang out near the bubbles, according to Violet).

Spencer has sat on the tank's lid several times, but Seb hasn't seemed to notice the fish tank. Thankfully - we don't think the tank would survive him sitting on it!

Violet was very excited to go to PetSmart to get the next two fish for our tank, which seem to get along swimmingly with Flash and Blaze.

Cora, surprisingly, was not excited. She didn't want to get ready, didn't want to go, didn't care to add to our tank. When I pulled her aside to ask what was up, she admitted that she was no longer excited about our fish, about feeding them, about cleaning the tank, etc. They weren't as fun as she had thought.
Ha! So typical!

Our girls might go to bed at 8:30, but they often can't fall asleep for a solid hour.

The other night, I went to bed myself to find that Violet, instead of falling asleep, had set up a shop in her room.

Her sign makes me smile every time I look at it, from the huge smile on her self-portrait, to the snowman doll in her hand, to the hashtag in the name of her shop. Goodness! She's hash-tagging!

The sign was on the floor, in front of all the nicely arranged items she's hoping to sell. From stuffed animals to jewelry, Violet is offering all your essentials.

Cora is learning the violin at school. Apparently, Sebastian was enjoying her practicing so much, he tried to prevent her putting the instrument away in its case.











Meanwhile, Spencer was hoping Violet could sneak him into the classroom.

Here, Fishy, Fishy!

In Hawaii, after all our snorkeling fun, Grandma was kind enough to suggest we get fish of our own.

Naturally, Cora and Violet thought this was a fabulous idea. They spent the rest of the trip giggling about what types of fish to get, and what to name them.

And so, after lots of discussions, lots of studying up on it, and lots of begging, the girls got their fish this weekend.

They had so much fun choosing the decorations, plants and rainbow gravel.

After setting up the tank and waiting a few days, Stace and the girls went to the pet store Sunday for the most important, but least expensive, purchase: two platies.

Why platies?

The girls wanted multiple fish, so Betas were out. Cora didn't want goldfish, so the simple cool-water-and-bowl were out. But, considering we needed a tank with a heater and filter, these are supposed to be pretty low-maintenance fish. They are similar to mollies and guppies.

Flash (the green one, bottom left) is Violet's, and Blaze (the orange one) is Cora's. Once they've settled in and survived a few weeks, we'll probably get them some friends.

And, in case you're wondering, the cats have hardly noticed.