Week in Review

These two! 

The girls and I went to Glendale on Wednesday to do a little shopping at the lovely Americana shopping center with Melanie and Ellie. Cora spent her birthday money at Barnes and Noble on Dungeons and Dragons books.

I got Violet a fancy cupcake as her reward for venturing out of the house, something she's not a fan of doing anymore. Sorry, Ellie, no cupcake for you. But you can see how yummy they look!

 On Friday, Violet ended her final week of all digital learning! Though she'll still be online-only on Fridays, for the rest of the week, she'll be going to school with half her class, 12:30-3. I'm very excited for this baby step toward normal life!

Taking Violet to the pet store is still one of her favorite things. But now, it is like taking a little one to a toy store or candy shop. She has many desires! Like this dino-shaped mouse habitat. 

"And then we can use the fish tank for a new frog pet, or toad: you choose," she said excitedly. "Or turtles. For my next fish, I want a frog."

She also wants a ferret or chinchilla, a hairless guinea pig, a duck and a baby goat. "Wyatt's mom has a pregnant goat. Can we have a goat?"

Oh, and a new kitten. She's been rereading her book on cat breeds, and has now been begging for a ragdoll kitten. It's the ONLY thing she wants for her birthday. 

None of these things are going to happen. I thought saying "yes" to mice would lead to pet contentment. I was quite wrong.

Week in Review

Our church is opening a long-awaited addition, a student building where the junior and senior high students can get together for worship and small groups. 

We went to the Open House to check it out Sunday afternoon. I'm standing on the stage, and in the background, you can see cubbies, dividers and couches where the small groups will meet. Praying Cora will enjoy it here, and learn and grow into the young woman God wants her to be.

Later Sunday, we went to the Canyon Theater Guild to see a Sherlock Holmes play. It was a comedy, with several actors playing many parts. It was great!

 Cora developed a sinus infection later in the week, and ended up missing nearly three whole days of school. When I took her to the doctor, they gave her a breathing treatment and antibiotics.

Violet cracked me up the other day. She said, "Mom! Look at that cool car!"
I answered, "Oh, that old 'Vette? Yes! Beautiful!"
"No, Mom! That Vibe!"
We have a running joke about how awesome Stace's 2005 Pontiac Vibe is. It's going strong at 14 years old.

We had some nature excitement in the yard later in the week, when the cats were after a mouse. It went up the tree, and Spencer (not shown here) went up after it.

We'd found two dead mice in the mulch in recent weeks already.

When we determined that this one was indeed an adorable mouse and not a horrible rat, we decided to save it. Cora and I got it into the bucket and we took it up the hill to set it free.

Silly Violet. I don't think this is what your dad meant when he told you to go get your jammies on!

Disney Date - Part 2

Violet's school was off the day after Halloween, so we took off on our own Mommy-Daughter Disney Date.

She was excited to eat at the Lamplight Lounge again, especially when she looked at the menu and saw that they offer brunch. So, we made our first stop the restaurant to put our name in.  

I wanted to make sure she was clear that a nice meal would take a lot more time than a quick bite, like the hot dog stand we happened to be passing by at that moment.

But she was sure! After getting fast passes to the Toy Story ride, we were seated.

We lived large. Violet had "probably the best French toast ever," while I had avocado toast with steak. We both thoroughly enjoyed this meal! What a view, too. 

Afterwards, she leaned back in that comfy chair and said, "And THIS is why I don't want hot dogs."

I've created a monster!

Violet loves Animation Academy, so we ended up doing two drawings - Piglet and Dante, from Coco. We then went on the Toy Story ride, before heading over to Disneyland.

I've created a monster, Part 2. Violet said she loved my caramel latte! Uh oh!

We had some fun on Tom Sawyer's Island, including just sitting on a bench and watching the ducks. This girl and her ducks!

When I asked her what she wanted to do next, she said, "I just want to sit and look at ducks." Glad we didn't pay for a one-day ticket to watch waterfowl!

Some little boys ran at the ducks, and she said, "They're probably going to scare the quack out of them."

Love her!

We then went to Star Wars Land so we could ride the Millennium Falcon ride. I've only been on it once, and it made Cora sick and she doesn't like it, so I wanted to take the opportunity while I could.

We did some shopping. Violet likes looking at the little trinkets.

We then went back to Star Wars Land for a late reservation at Oga's Cantina. This time, Violet and I re-watched the Star Wars scene with the cantina and Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan, so we were more ready to be amazed.

Yum!

When we left, the fireworks started! What a neat thing, to watch from a galaxy far, far away.

We did a bit more shopping as we made our way out, and when we reached the front of the park, we noticed that there was no one "in line" to get their photos taken at that iconic photo spot at the park entrance. An employee offered to take one for us - perfect!

A great pic to end a great day with my favorite fourth-grader!

Week In Review

Violet's love for Peanuts continues. We went to the library, and though she is a great reader - her latest reading score was in the 5th grade level! - she prefers comics.

One of her favorite things to do now is read the Peanuts comic book collection she checked out from the library, aloud, with her dad. They take turns reading the different characters' parts.

She also still enjoys drawing, and will decide on her own to find "how to" videos online for drawing cute animals.

Speaking of cute animals, Grandma and Grandpa were kitty-sitting this week when Melanie and Nick went away for her birthday.

Normally, I can't find my girls when they're on stage singing at Pioneer Club. They'll be behind bigger children. But on this particular Wednesday, there they were, singing together.

Violet was so excited about catching leprechauns this year. She started working on her Lego trap at Christmastime, and was thrilled that the first-graders in her split class were allowed to bring in their homemade traps, too.

She fully expected to catch one this time, and also made a cage out of popsicle sticks and hot glue, to bring it to school.

I asked why she wanted to catch a leprechaun - was she after his gold? "No, I just want to be his friend; then he will show me his gold."

As you can imagine, she was a little sad Friday morning when the leprechauns weren't fooled by her trap, and instead made a mess in the house and then broke free. They even changed the  Lego words she'd written on the base - she had spelled out "Don't Peek," and they wrote out "Ha Ha."

Speaking of Ireland, look at those green hills! This gorgeous meadow is actually the area behind our pool.

And, my friends and I took our Friday walk to Starbucks amidst the greenery and the oak trees through the Summit. So pretty!

Week In Review

Cora wanted to make a snack the other day, and let Violet help her with these ants-on-a-log.

She's also been preparing my coffee maker the last couple of nights. This helpful kid will be making dinner soon; I can feel it!








I had the opportunity to help out in Violet's preschool the other day, which was very enjoyable.

Coming from a 3-year-old co-op program, when parental help was mandatory, I do miss having that fly-on-the-wall experience of seeing Violet interact with her peers.

Here, she has a turn on the glider with Caleb.


And here, during "station time," Violet finds the correct shapes to complete the picture. Violet, our social butterfly, loves preschool and her preschool friends.

A Violetism, regarding two preschool friends, Nico and Nicolas: "They love each other. One is funny and one's cool, like the dinosaur cool. That kind of cool."

I asked for a little more clarity of "dinosaur cool," but didn't get very far.

This past week I was able to help in Cora's class, and was there when she "shared" Stace's ukelele.

The students had learned about the instrument during music class, and Cora was excited to show them her dad's. He taught her a couple of chords, and she played them for her classmates.

Lastly, a happy birthday to Pop! I'm so impressed with the artwork Cora did for the card she made for Gordon.

Week In Review

We've been plant-shopping for the yard, and Violet found a friendly flamingo who got a little too up-close-and-personal. She is so silly.
Speaking of birds, Violet has grown to love them, like her mom. The other day she was making a squawking noise, and asked me, "Want me to be a blue jay? I mean, a scrub jay!"
She was referring to the proper name of the blue-and-gray birds we get in SoCal.
Another Violetism: On our drive to school, she had a game where you look for words out of a collection of random letters. She shouted that she found the word "come."
"Which letters," I asked.
"Q-A-M!"

Speaking of reading, Cora's second school progress report with Dr. Porter went very well. She excels in reading, scoring three grade levels higher than her own grade. She is on track with her grade level for math.

This week, because of the parent-teacher conferences, the students had several half-days. We went to the park a couple of times, and we also had Juliana and Natalia up for a play date. It was nice to catch up, even without Maya, who had a full day of school.

Here was our Easter-inspired craft this week at Mom2Mom.



















We also met up with Colleen and Liana at Scooter's Jungle for playtime. We will miss this next year, when our little girls are in school! Though Violet only will have a half-day of school, most of her friends will be in full-day kindergarten.

On Friday afternoon, we played at the park with Vivian and Elaine, and then came home to rest. Spring Break has begun! (For Cora at least; Violet will have two days of school next week...)

The girls rushed into Cora's bed to read together. I love these moments! They help cancel out the times of fighting.

Disney Fun

 For my dad's birthday, my parents went to Disneyland, and took Violet Mae along with them. They would have taken Cora as well, but she already had plans to attend Vivian's birthday party.

They spent their day in California Adventure, where Violet somehow acquired a pair of glowing Minnie Mouse ears on a headband.

 Violet got to meet Elsa and Anna this time, after spending time in Olaf's winter wonderland, which featured real snow and sledding(!).

Ice cream for dinner? On a Disney day, why not?

Violet offered a joke while eating her ice cream:
"What is Mickey's favorite treat? Mouse cream!"

Violetisms

I have a collection of random Violet photos and Violetisms that need to be shared.

Such as this, said on a recent drive home: "Oh, I like that blue minivan. When I'm older I'm going to have a minivan. Then I'll have lots of kids, so I can stuff them into my minivan."

(Please notice how Violet's owl friend Swoops is safely buckled in next to her.)

The preschool letter of the week was "Y," and the animal letter friend was a yak. While having a snack of "prencils," Violet proudly showed me how she had written, "YAK."

Then, she made her pretzels into cat whiskers.

When Cora was home sick for a week, the togetherness had become too much. Violet came up to me and asked for help writing, "I don't like you."

I've been paying Violet in dimes for completing her chores. She said the other day, "I really want to trade for a big green thing. (Pause.)
"A real dollar. And that has George Washington on it, our president, right?"

Speaking of national symbols, Violet was waving around her little Union Jack, courtesy of the Sun newspaper back around the time of the Queen's Jubilee.
Violet said that when Miss Lorrie's flag (pole) breaks, she can use Violet's flag. Not sure how the other parents would feel about their children pledging allegiance to the United Kingdom, though.

I noticed that Violet had a stack of books in her room near her bookcase, and suggested she put them away.
"But that's how I get into the playroom!" she answered.

(Never fear, grandparental types, the stack is put away and she's been warned that she is to use doors, not windows!)

Violet happened to take a rare car nap the other day, after an afternoon playdate out of SClarita. Predictably, that night she was up until nearly 10. I heard her calling out to me, "Mommy, I can't go to sleep."
"Talk to your animals, then," I suggested.
"But my animals are tired and can go to sleep!"

And, speaking of that...
Violet interrupted Stacey, who said, "Violet, what should you do when I'm speaking?"
"Be quiet."
"And what else," he prompted (hoping for the answer "listen").
But she said: "Sleep!"

Violet and her preschool friends have been very excited about their upcoming birthdays. In fact, Violet has gotten into a little trouble for not containing her enthusiasm when the time has come to be quiet.

This was the conversation she had with me the other day on our drive home: "Is Caleb's house close to Norah's house? Because I'm inviting him to my birthday, at Norah's house. ... I told him it's going to be a dragon party. Austin was screaming, because he loves dragons."

This was all big news to me. Since then, she's changed her mind. The party will be at our house, and it will be a zoo/animal facts/Wild Kratts party. With a trip to the park to play. With all her preschool friends. And another list of friends.

I'll end with this... Cora, you probably know, is a great eater and loves salad. Violet, well, she's learning. After pulling her one piece of lettuce out of her chicken burger, she declared, "My tummy says 'no' to the salad."