Puffs!

Cora performed in her first show at her new high school, and of course we think she did very, very well.

She played Megan Jones in Puffs, a parody of a certain popular wizarding book and movie series set in England.

Megan is a goth kid who has a great character arc in the play, and this is one of the best moments. It's near the end when she finally admits to being a Puff, one of the four houses at the school.

 

Here are Wayne, Oliver and Megan, the three leads. Cora had her first love story in the play, with Oliver.

Xavia, on the right, was Megan's mom who was evil and wanted to work for the Dark Lord.

The play, like the wizarding series, takes place over a number of school years, and the three friends wrote each other letters in the summer.

The House Elf Bippy was one of the funniest characters in the play and made Cora break into laughter a few times.

It was fun to see Cora in a comedy, and she drew plenty of laughs. The final show's audience was especially appreciative of all the humor, which was more apparent the more closely you follow the Potter series.

Adventures of Gregorny

 When we were setting up Cora's filmed at-home audition, we had to take down her armless skeleton she's had hanging from her window for the past, oh, five years or so.

Cora then decided Gregorny, displaced from her curtain rod, needed to have some fun.

She made him our version of the "Elf on the Shelf," giving me a fun thing to look for each morning as summer drew to a close.

First, I found him reading the Bible - appropriately, he was taking in Revelation.

He decided to try driving.

Take Your Skeleton To School Day

Take Your Skeleton To Wherever Day

THIS MADE ME SCREAM!

I opened the microwave to reheat my coffee and did NOT expect to see Gregorny. My scream woke up my sleeping beauty. Served her right!

Careful, might get toasty bones!

Keeping up with the day's news

Christmas Lights

We met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Melanie and Nick on Monday to look at Christmas lights together.

We started off at Starbucks for hot chocolate, and Cora and Violet turned our Santa hats into Whoville hats.

They're a couple of cuties!

We went up to Wakefield Court, the granddaddy of SClarita light displays. One family hung mistletoe, providing a nice photo op.

This was one of the new improvements we hadn't seen before - holographic Santa, moving around the house. It was so realistic!

It was a fun and festive evening together.

Tidbits

Our church is offering a parenting class, which Stace and I have decided to take.

It's always good to get a fresh perspective on this job, and the group discussions are so helpful, as you find out that your struggles are common. After the first session, we headed over to the coffeehouse to chat some more over a latte and cookie.

We've discovered, quite late in the game unfortunately, that Cora is much happier about practicing her violin if she has an appreciative audience.

She set up a mini concert the other night, and had such a better attitude about playing. Violet served as her music stand. Cora has a few more weeks of violin, and one more school performance. Then she will happily give up playing, for now at least.

Speaking of good girls, the other afternoon, Cora decided she was in a productive mood and eager to work to make some money. I suggested she sweep the porch and wipe down the front door. She did so, but then went above and beyond, sweeping out the garage and front path (and hosing it down... shhhhh... don't tell the water police!).

She encouraged Violet to help out, and it was fabulous listening to them getting along and working together.

Violet decided to set up a toll to enter her room.

Not sure where this idea came from.

But she rilly means it.

 Not to be outdone, Cora added a price tag to her collection of warning signs on her door.

 Cora and Stace were at soccer practice the other evening, so I took Violet to Summit Park to play for a bit after dinner. She loves showing off her monkey bar skills.

And lastly, here is a happy girl having her reward after making it through a blood draw and pediatrician's appointment.

Our poor Cora has been dealing with tummy aches and anxiety for a number of months, and recently has progressed to getting actually sick. We took her in for a workup, to rule out a physical cause, as we seek to get her the help she needs.

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.

What Cora's up to...

 This week, Cora has been sleeping in a cave/hideout made of pillows, or cushions, in Cora-speak.

The first night, she fell asleep happy in her cozy den, but woke up twice in the night crying for help because the pillows had fallen off the bed. That's not really a good reason to be woken up in the middle of the night, I explained in the morning.

Since then, she hasn't woken us up when her walls have fallen down.









Spencer is ever-so-patient with both girls...

The other day after school, Cora decided she was going to put on a puppet show in the evening. She set up the little chairs and a cushion for Violet, and moved the Cat Hotel into the playroom for a stage.

This is one great thing about Cora: she is always, always coming up with something creative to do. You very rarely hear her say, "I'm bored."

 Here's Cora's face when she realized that Spencer had come up to participate in the show.

 He served as a good puppet support when Cora was reading us a story.

And here's another example of Cora entertaining herself. She decided to create a dress for her Wendy figurine out of tissue, pretty string and tape.

She still likes making things for her fairy house in the tree out front, often saving little bits of stuff she finds when she's out and about. "Oh! This (shiny bit of broken plastic) would be a perfect window for my fairy house!"

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.

Friends and fairies

 Alexyss, Marley and Jill joined us for Storytime Thursday at Undergrounds, our church coffeehouse. 

Marley and Violet did well with listening to the stories, at least most of the time. It helped when the staff passed out free snacks bags!











On Friday afternoon, we had the sisters over for dinner and a movie. Cora has been loving the new Tinkerbell film that Nan and Pop sent for Easter. She's watched it several times this week, and was very excited to share it with Alexyss.

The movie has given Cora a newfound passion for all things Fairy, particularly Disney fairies. Here, you see her fairy hideout, where she and Tinkerbell, Fawn, Silvermist, Rosetta, Vidia and the other fairies, um, hide out. Cora hasn't been as into her make-believe since Nemo - as in, "Silvermist is coming to breakfast soon, but, she still is sleeping." Cora is anxious to rebuild her fairy house in the garden, and has drawn out a detailed plan, but she must patiently wait for Dad to finish patching holes in the living room from where he installed wall lights.

When the fairies need a cow or horse, they are easy to access via this handy dandy shelf. Cora knows how to make good use of a foam cricket bat. And here is the underside of the hideout. Hope Sebastian doesn't chase those fairies down!