Swimming, Soccer and School Supplies

This week was our last full week of summer - it sure has gone fast!

We celebrated our final Popsicles in the Park with a water balloon toss/fight. We are sad to see this part of summer end; it's been nice hanging out with our friends while the kids play with theirs.

This week, Cora participated in a Kidz Love Soccer morning camp. She enjoyed it, and received a new soccer ball at the end.

 

The group did drills, and then divided into teams and played short games against the other teams. The coaches tracked the scores and goals, like in a tournament. They chose Cora to be captain of her team, and she picked England to be their country.

Also this week, both girls finished a short set of swimming lessons at the city pool. Violet took part in the Level III class, where she worked on diving, floating and different strokes. She did very well, and it was fun watching her improve.

Cora took part in the strokes class, where she swam up and down the lanes doing a variety of strokes - freestyle, breast, butterfly and backstroke. She enjoyed it, too.

After the final swimming lesson, we went to Walmart to buy the girls' school supplies. It took a while to find the right items requested by the teachers; nothing an ice cream cone couldn't fix though!

 We also had a playdate this week with Juliana, Maya and Natalia. They returned from their long summer trip to Brazil last week.

We got all caught up on the summer's happenings and had lunch together. These big girls met when they were 1, and now they're big third graders.





And both little sisters will be in school, too. Natalia is going to transitional kindergarten since she's a couple of months too young for kinder.

Week In Review

 This week, Violet and I got back into our school-day routine of walking and doing chores and running errands, with Cora at school.

Lately she's been having fun with Stripes, her new zebra pal, and Spots, her old giraffe buddy. She put a flower hairband on Stripes so everyone knows she's a girl.

The girls have been harvesting zucchini and tomatoes every couple of days. We're not getting a bumper crop, but we have a couple of productive plants producing some very sweet fruit.

On Thursday, JT, Callie and Jonah came up to visit and play in the pool. Cora was happy to play with both of JT and Jim's cuties.











Also on Thursday, the girls had their final city swimming lessons of the summer. They received certificates and candy, much to their delight.

Cora is getting very good at diving, and loved diving off the short practice diving board.

Violet earned her Stripes (zebra) earlier in the week when she had a good day at lessons, following a not-so-good day. Violet kept going under the water while her teacher was working with another student, despite repeated instruction to stay above and hold the wall.

We had a talk with Violet, and the next day she did very well, listening and obeying. Stripes was hers as a reward.













 On Friday, following a long four days of second grade, Stace thought we'd make it the night special by introducing the girls to Star Wars.

(This is probably goes without saying, but his goal was to introduce Cora to his favorite movie series, and Violet went along for the ride.)

Cora enjoyed it a lot, and Sebastian understood who the bad guys were.

On Saturday, we had Daryl and Juliana up for swimming and dinner. We all had a nice time together, as always. Juliana brought a beautiful rainbow jello cake for our dessert. Maya also started second grade this week.

Day in the Life, Summer Style

I've realized, regretfully, that I failed to capture a "Day in the Life" post this past school year, with Cora in first grade and Violet in Ms. Diane's class. Before any more months go by, here is a snapshot of a typical 2014 summer day.

Before Stace leaves for work around 6 a.m. Wednesday, he carries Violet into our bed. She loves snuggling, and was longing to sleep with us the night before. She had been placated with the promise of morning cuddles.

At Genia's house, Violet and I shared a bed while Stace was working in Valencia. Violet loved that, and has been asking to snuggle much more since we came home.

My alarm sounds at 6:30, and I get up around 6:45. Before settling in with my Bible and coffee, I make sure all the doors and windows are open. That's my hot-day morning routine, to try to get in as much cool air as possible.

At 7:30, I try to wake up Cora. At 7:45, I try to wake up Cora. At 8, I try to wake up Cora. At 8:20, Cora is awake, and lies in bed reading for a while.
I make blueberry-pear oatmeal for breakfast. Around 8:30, Violet emerges, and we eat together. Cora isn't ready to come eat yet, and I don't mind. I'm not ready to eat right after I awaken, either.

Around 9, Cora comes out of her room, dressed and ready to play. Chris and David, the neighbor's grandsons, are out front playing, so she joins them. She's folded the clean clothes I put in her room and made her bed, without being asked.

 Violet needs a little more convincing to fold her clothes. I overhear Cora encouraging her: "If you do it, you'll be a better swimmer and have more fun at gymnastics."
Violet's not sold on the idea, but eventually gets the job done.
At 9:45, Violet gets dressed and makes her bed, with one blanket. The other is over the chair. Her explanation: "This one's scrabby when I put it on my bed. That means, not being pretty."

I start an exercise video (yes, you read that right; I'm THAT old-school). Cora's back outside, playing monkey-in-the-middle with Chris and David. Violet joins them, briefly, before unhappily coming in, mad at Cora for something or other. She retreats to the playroom with the Legos.

Then, Chris and David come in to play, and Cora makes a jug of ice tea-lemonade from a mix to share. They don't stay long - Toni's taking them to a movie.

While I finish exercising, Cora gets to work scrubbing her bathroom floor. She's been saying she wants to make money, so I offered her the job. When she finishes, she sets to work making an "Out of Order" sign. "I need a little tape to tape up my sign," she says. "I don't want anyone slipping!"

Around 11, I pay Cora for the chores she's completed over the past few weeks. She gets five dimes per chore, with two going into a savings bank, two into her wallet, and one into her giving/charity bank. She then borrows my cell phone to text Daddy - she's enjoyed that this summer.

Soon thereafter, Cora's friend Sophia and her mom Sue come to pick up Cora. She's going to their house for lunch and a little playtime, and then Sue will take them both to summer camp at the Ice Station.

Meanwhile, Violet has decided to paint, using q-tips (cotton buds) to dip into the little paint pots.

"Did you know that pink lightning is the hottest lightning?" Violet asks me. "There really is pink lightning."
Violet likes to preface her statements with, "Did you know that..."
When she's finished, she cleans up the paint, and has fun scrubbing clean the water cup. In this time, I've scrubbed my bathroom floor.

After a quesadilla lunch around 12:30, we get in the car to head to Violet's summer camp at My Gym. Violet and Cora are both enjoying camp this week, from 1 to 4. My Gym and the Ice Station are both near Stacey's work, so he can pick them up on his way home.

After dropoff, I stop at JC Penney's with a $10 coupon. Though I can't find a bathing suit bottom for myself, I do find Stace a work polo shirt for $3 out-of-pocket.

At 3, I head over to the Ice Station to watch Cora and Sophia skate. Cora's been asking me to come and watch, and it's great to see her skills progressing. She's learning to stop better, to spin, and to skate backwards.

 Then, I get some groceries on my way home.

Stace picks up the girls, and they stop at Walmart to buy potting soil on their way home. My parents have given us cuttings from their rose bushes, and Stace is hoping to grow them in our yard.

By 5, the girls are in their swimsuits, and we head to their lessons. Cora is in Level Four classes at Meadows Pool, and Violet is in Level Two. Cora is learning advanced strokes and diving techniques, while Violet is learning how to float and swim better.

After swim lessons, we go home and I start dinner, while they rinse off. Then, Stace and the girls fill water balloons for our next event, park fun with Mom2Mom/school friends at Valencia Glen.

Dinner - homemade tuna/veggie patties on French bread - isn't ready until after 6:30, which is when Popsicles at the Park begins. Whoops. Normally, we pick up pizza before this summer's Wednesday night routine. But we're having pizza Thursday night at a birthday pool party, so we didn't want it twice in a row.

After dinner, we get into the car to get to the park. Cora is bringing several of her Beanie Boo animals to play with, so Violet is bringing her pink dolphins (regular size and mini). "I'm bringing Dolphy and Surfs," she tells me. "When I'm older, when I'm 5 1/2, I'll change their names to better names."










We reach the park a bit after 7, and our friends have kindly waited for us for the water balloon fun.

Sara, who came up with the idea for Popsicles at the Park, explained the rules. Not hitting the adults was the main rule, along with picking up all the tiny pieces of balloon when the fun was over.

After the balloons were cleaned up, it was popsicle time. Sara and her husband Tony bring Otter Pops for the whole crowd each week.
At 8:20, we leave Valencia Glen, and 10 minutes later starts the bedtime flurry of vitamins/pajamas/teeth-brushing/reading.
At 8:45, Violet and I read together in her room, while Cora reads in her own room. Recently, she's decided she doesn't want Stace and I to read to her. She'd rather read her longer chapter books on her own. This makes us sad, though we're glad she enjoys reading so much.
Around 9, I kiss Violet goodnight and go to Cora's room. We discuss the next day, pray, and I tell her it's time to turn off the light. She's not happy about the end of reading time. Meanwhile, Violet has gone back to the toilet.
By 9:30, both girls are in bed; within 10 minutes, Cora is asleep, with Violet not long behind her.
After this very pleasant day, good night!

Violet SWIMS!

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I proudly present, Violet the SWIMMER!!!!!

That's right, our little one who refused to leave the step a month ago, now can swim across our pool.

She had six private half-hour lessons with a swim teacher named Nicole, and by about half-way through was swimming on her own.

At the beginning, Violet said "no" or screamed about everything Nicole asked, but Violet would then give it a try. Nicole was great with her - encouraging and friendly, but firm as well.

We are all so proud of Violet, who calls herself the "purple fishy," because her name means purple. When we go to the pool now, she wants to practice swimming all the time.

Here are a couple of videos from her final lesson on Thursday - even in the deep end!

 In other news this week, I came home from a weekend morning walk to this stunning pancake breakfast, complete with a strawberry cut into a flower, and mint leaves.

On Wednesday, we met up with Colleen, Lucas and Liana at Newhall Park. Miss Diane was teaching summer camp there, so we got to catch up with her, too.

 As it quickly got too hot to play outside, we headed over to McDonalds for lunch, so the children could use the play area.

Then, I encouraged Colleen to leave her kids with me for a couple of hours so she could get some shopping done. Meanwhile, I could do housework and blogging while the children played happily.

We also had a couple of swimming playdates this week, including one with Cami here, and another at Emily, Charlie and Tommy's house.

This was our last open week of summer break, hence the rush to fit in as many playdates as we could. Next week, the girls will be in camp in the afternoons.

Swimming lessons

 Our little fish attended a two-week session of swim lessons, the final two weeks of her summer break from school.

She just loves swimming, and has become very good at it; it's amazing to remember how two short years ago she screamed her way through a lesson.

She was in the Level 4 class, "stroke improvement," and by the end she was able to do the butterfly stroke, backstroke, breast stroke, side stroke and of course the freestyle/crawl.

With the freestyle, she learned to breathe by tipping her head up to the side; she had been putting her head up forward.

She was the youngest and smallest in her class, and could outswim several of them. She certainly can swim a lot better than me!

When it was time to collect rings from the bottom of the 9 1/2-foot deep end, she'd swim straight to the bottom, and then along the bottom until she got to the ring. And she can swim across our pool without coming up for air, and her dives are beautiful.

Her reward for doing so well in her class was a diving mask. She was so excited about it, because she can now do her underwater flips without water going into her nose.

Well done, Cora. We're so proud of you!

Busy week of fun

 This week, we spent time with our friend Christy and her boys; we hosted a pool playdate; Cora and Violet had summer camp; Cora had swimming lessons; and we visited with Juliana and her girls at the Aquatic Center.

Whew. We need a rest - good thing school starts in a little over a week...

Christy and her sons were on their way from the San Jose area to Phoenix to visit her sister, but her sister's roommate was sick, so they stayed with us a few days.

The children all had a lot of fun together, especially Cora and William, who have been friends since they were tiny babies.

Violet loved playing with 15-month-old Timothy and helping him pet the cat.

We all enjoyed ice cream Tuesday night, when Stace tried to give 3-year-old Dominic tips on how to eat his cone as it dripped all over his face. It was a cute scene.










Also Tuesday, we had some school friends over for a pool playdate. At the end-of-school picnic, several moms were trying to come up with a date when we could all get together, and this particular Tuesday was the first date we were all in town.

It was fun seeing everyone again, and catching up on our summer vacations. Most of us had gone somewhere interesting - the Dominican Republic, Florida, Yosemite, New York...

On Wednesday, Christy and the boys left very early in the morning to start on their long drive, and the girls had camp. Cora went on a field trip with camp to the Aquatic Center, for swimming and then "mad science" at the nearby sports complex. She came home with silly putty she made herself.

Thursday was a nice calm day, with a restful morning at home. We met Juliana, Natalia and Maya at the Aquatic Center after lunch for a fun couple of hours of playtime.

 Violet entertained herself at this contraption for a long, long time. She loved being in control of the water's flow.

Also this week, Cora had swim lessons at the city pool. She's working on learning new strokes, and she's doing very well.

Cora's swim class

Here's Cora with her Meadows Park Pool swim teacher, during her two-week swim class. Cora attended 35-minute classes four days a week for the two weeks, and eagerly took to the water.

 She learned to float on her front and back and got much better at using her "big arms" while swimming. The class was great for her, with just a few kids per teacher and a lot of personal attention from Julian, an enthusiastic college-aged instructor.

Cora raised her hand to be first at everything, and she really got better at swimming. She asked Julian about the breast stroke, and he showed them how to do the frog-legged kick. Then, Cora gave it a try and did really good, considering it was her first time. 

 Here, Cora gets her certificate showing that she passed Level 2 and can advance to the Level 3 class. Unfortunately, with school starting, she won't be able to do any more lessons until next summer. But, she is so confident in the water now, and can safely swim the width and the length of our pool. Mission accomplished!

Nan and Pop took Cora to her lessons each morning, and Pop helped her in the evenings, too. Cora gave them her certificate to show her thanks to them for their help.