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.

Ability vs. Maturity

I was a big Calvin and Hobbes fan as a child, and Cora has enjoyed my book collection in recent years. Violet is reading them now, though Stace and I have been reminded of the truth that you might be old enough read, but not mature enough to handle the material.

Violet loved the Sunday strip with Calvin dreaming that Santa Claus has changed his parameters for doling out Christmas gifts - it would be the naughty girls and boys getting the goods.

In a rhyming poem, Santa humorously advises children how to earn gifts that year. 

Violet loved it. She set to work copying the verses with her special glitter gel pens, and pinning them to her wall.

In the end, she came up with her own fourth verse. She finds it hilarious, and kept repeating it, while cracking up.

While we see the humor, we've advised her to stop reading Calvin and Hobbes until she is a bit older.

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.

Softball Sister Selfies

For Violet, being a softball sister can sometimes be a bit boring. She brings something to do, cheers on Cora, and plays with other kids nearby, but still, sometimes she's just sitting in the stands, bored.

So, at those times, I'll let her use my phone. This past weekend, she took some photos of Cora.

Then, she turned the camera onto herself, and transformed into the Selfie Queen. 

Those of us watching the game saw Cora pitch two solid innings, catch two good innings, hit the ball well and score some runs.

I don't really have any other photos of those moments, though. The camera was already in use.

Fun at Home

The girls received the junior version of the game Apples to Apples, and we've all had a great time playing it together.

Violet is reading better and better every day, and she's just about able to play on her own without help. Violet is hilarious playing just about any game - she laughs easily, cracks jokes, speaks with a funny inflection in her voice.

Nanny has been teaching Cora how to knit. They went out and bought knitting needles and a pretty skein of yarn. Cora has many ideas of knitting projects she would like to complete, and it's nice seeing her work hard on a project (that isn't a game on her new kindle!).
















While Cora stayed up a bit later knitting, Pop read to Violet so she could get to bed on Cora's trundle. They're sharing Cora's room, while Stace and I are sleeping in Violet's room so Sue and Gord can have the master bedroom.

The girls love playing with Pop; Cora likes to call him "Bob," or "Gordon Bob," since his middle name is Robert. (Cora is oddly fascinated with the word "Bob.")

Gord had fun taking Stace's MG out around the neighborhood. 

Holiday in the Park

Grandma is Mrs. Claus again at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and she invited us all along to the employee family Christmas party Friday night. Melanie came up, too, while Nick was at work.

The highlight for Stace and the girls was the snow, perfect for throwing at your unprepared family members and soaking through your gloves.

Here's a successful photo by the family photographer, in between snowball blasts from Stace.

 The falling soap-snow looked very authentic, and it was chilly enough to make believe we were in a wintry area.

Here, you see Violet dumping snow out of her front pocket she had collected.

 Nice shot, Grandpa. Love these three with all my heart!

 Adding to the Christmas atmosphere were jazzy carolers, performing favorites acapella, with beat boxing for instrumentation.

 Now, for one of my new favorite photos of all time.

We all thought it'd be fun to pose in a mock roller coaster car, advertising the refurbished Revolution, coming soon.

Violet didn't see the fun in pretending. It wasn't real!

We might need to see a closeup of Vi's face...

 She did have a lot more fun on the carousel.

 Magic Mountain has done a nice job decorating. Near this wintry display, the girls made Christmas crafts, and we all enjoyed hot cocoa and cookies.

The girls also enjoyed looking through these 3-D type glasses, that made all the Christms lights look like either a snowflake, Santa face or snowman.

We all had such a fun night together! Thanks, Mom!