A Good Week

We've had a great first week with Nan and Pop here. Stace has been off work, too, and it's been a fun time just spending time together.

Cora and Violet were excited to walk with Nan and Pop up to the top of the hill by our house, where we get such a pretty view of our part of the valley.

Tuesday night, we took part in a cheap family night at the Ice Station, with Nan and Pop watching from the stands. Violet seemed to have forgotten how to skate when we started, but after practicing with the bar, she got comfortable again. Cora impressed all of us with her skills.

For once, it was cold enough when we left the rink to still need the scarves and mittens. We're in the middle of a cold spell, with cold nights and frost and ice in the mornings.

On Wednesday, we dropped the girls off at Grandpa's house and then Sue, Gord, Stace and I went to see The Force Awakens, the new Star Wars film.

With Stacey's fandom, it felt like a long two weeks to wait after the movie came out, but he was happy to see it with his dad. Stace saw the original trilogy with his dad, of course, in England. We all enjoyed the film, overall, and then got the girls and looked at Christmas lights.

Thursday was New Year's Eve, and Bill and Patty had invited us all to come out and visit them overnight.

We got packed up and drove out toward beautiful Ventura, which was cool but not as cold as SClarita. The girls stayed with their aunt and uncle while Stace, Sue and Gord and I walked around cool Main Street Ventura. We returned to a delicious pizza dinner, and some New Year's Eve television.

We were all too tired to stay up till midnight, but were sure to wish each other a happy 2016 the next morning. Uncle Bill made us a hearty breakfast, while we watched the Rose Parade.

We then took a long walk along the beach, and later my parents came up.

Our New Year's meal of lamb and pork was delicious, and we followed it with a rousing version of the White Elephant game.

Cora cracked us all up by initially choosing the wrapped bottle of wine. Perhaps she thought it was another bottle of her favorite Martinelli's (non-alcoholic cider)?

A Special Second Christmas

Our Christmas fun continued Sunday night, when we went to pick up Nan and Pop from the airport! Seeing them walk through the sea of arriving passengers was a thrill, as it always is.

The girls had made signs to welcome them, and we picked up a hot drink at the airport's coffee bar before making our way to SClarita.

On Monday, we prepared for our second Christmas with a trip to the grocery store, and then we had a lovely roast beef dinner, with Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes.

Then, we opened our gifts for each other - and Cora was just a wee bit excited to open her Kindle from Nanny and Pop. She's been hoping for a "device" of her own for month, and this fit the bill.

The biggest moment came later, when Gord opened the present Stace has been working on for a few months. Years ago, Stace promised to build his dad a guitar, and he surprised him Monday by presenting the finished product.

It's beautiful, and it plays well. With dark-stained wood and white accents, Stace created the body from bare wood, while using parts off an older guitar.

Gord was quiet for a bit, studying it, before saying how pleased he was and how beautiful it is.

On Tuesday morning, the girls woke up and jumped onto the games on Cora's Kindle. She has a certain amount of time she can play games each day, which will fall back to weekends only once school is back in session.

But, she can also use her Kindle for her Internet-based homework - Dreambox for math, and RazKids for reading comprehension - and for reading books.

Also on Tuesday, Sue and Gord took us shopping for other gifts - a watch for me, and this Calico Critters tree house for Violet and Cora. I love the fact that the girls still enjoy these adorable "critters" together.

Also, we played outside, so Violet could show off her new bike, and Cora could display her rollerblading skills.

Christmas Day

Christmas dawned clear and cold, with little girls excited about the stockings Santa had filled with little trinkets and Disney pins.

Violet was very excited, and Cora was pleased with her gifts, so she was excited, too.

Later in the day, our house full of people played football in the street with the neighbors.

We hosted the Christmas Day festivities: Melanie and Nick, Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty, and my parents all came over, leading to a bumper crop of gifts under the tree.

We opened some of our gifts before dinner; my girls both spoiled me with presents they'd bought with their own money. Cora chose a mango-scented candle, and Violet gave me a Disney Marie mug for my morning coffee.

Here's Cora opening the little Beanie Boo owl, while exclaiming, "Violet, this is YOURS!"

With the short winter's daylight, we wanted to get outside to open the girls' main gifts before it was too late to enjoy them.

Cora has been using her old roller skates all the time the last few days...

...but she won't need to anymore, since she just opened up her new roller blades! Meanwhile, Violet is getting a first look at her new bicycle!

Cora loved blading so much, she kept her helmet on during dinner. You never know when you might need to rush out and rollerblade.

Dinner was lovely, with lots of help from my wonderful family. Aunt Patty handled my turkey like the pro she is, "spatchcocking" it by cutting out the back bone and flattening the breast bone. This allowed it to cook in about an hour. She, Melanie and my mom all brought side dishes, as well.

Post-dinner relaxation, while we started getting out the rest of the gifts. You can see what we gave Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty on the coffee table - a beach "Christmas tree" with a sea star on top, perfect decor for their beachy life.

Stace will make a headboard for Melanie and Nick's gift, but that is more for Melanie. Here is the gift he knew he wanted to give his brother-in-law: a complete basic tool set.

Melanie and Nick, among other gifts, have vowed to take the girls to Disneyland as a present.

Stace loved his gift from me and the girls - proper slippers, with a hard sole so he can run outside if he needs to. He held off on slippers all these years, deeming them fit for old people. But this year we've had a cold December, and that tile floor of ours is cold!

(Note, see Cora's roller blades? A great footwear choice with a Christmas dress!)

The traditional Christmas group shot - luckily our couch stands in for a tripod, when needed. Thanks, again, Dad, for all these photos.

Christmas Traditions

Christmas IS the most wonderful time of the year, and one of the "wonders" is creating our own family traditions that hopefully will be anchored in our girls' hearts.

One fun tradition we started when Cora was in kindergarten is walking up and down each street in our neighborhood, tallying how many houses are lit up for the season. With Vi in school, too, she is excited to have her own chart.

(For the record, this year our street won the participation trophy - 100% of our houses are decorated!)








Decorating the Christmas tree is another fun tradition, as it is for most families. We wondered if the cats would react differently to having a real tree, compared to our artificial tree, but they didn't.
















Attending our church's Christmas service is a tradition we value, as we focus on Christ's birth and what His coming means for us today. This year our church had some characters like Elsa outside before the service, to help light the giant Christmas tree.

Keeping with that theme, the last couple of years we've been using these special ornaments that each share an aspect of Jesus. Violet this year reads well enough to read the Bible verse, and Cora read aloud the little devotional explanation. This one here was about Jesus stating he is the "Bread of Life," who came to satisfy the hunger in our souls.

This year, we also read through some other Christmas stories, and on Christmas Eve, Cora read "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

And, Violet, who still believes in Santa Claus, put out carrots for the reindeer and cookies for St. Nick. She and Cora wrote him notes, and excitedly went to bed, hopeful for Christmas morning.

'Twas the Week Before Christmas...

A few weeks ago we made plans to meet up with Melanie and Nick at their place on Sunday evening. Nick ended up having to work, but we still had a nice time. We had dinner with Melanie at their place, and then went to the Americana shopping area nearby.

Here's the top of the 80-foot pine we posed in front of - spectacular! We enjoyed all the decorations, the lights, and the falling soap-snow.

Being that it was a nice wintry evening out, a hot drink was the perfect treat. Unless you're my sister, and an iced drink is more to your liking.

On Monday, while Cora went to Sophia's house to play, my friend Audra and her girls came over.

The girls made gift bags out of Christmas stickers, while Audra and I wrapped our gifts. It was more fun accomplishing the chore with a friend.

Then Violet came over to finish her wrapping. She and Cora have really enjoyed coming up with gifts for the family, and wrapping them.

On Monday afternoon, Violet started finding even MORE gifts for Cora, from her own room, like an owl book and Beanie Boo owl clip of her own.

Some of Cora's gifts for the family will be wooden Christmas ornaments that she cut herself with a saw, colored, and then drilled holes into.

The girls have been busy this week playing games such as Hedbanz.

They also set up a sweet reading corner in Cora's room on Tuesday, which Violet later used as a bed overnight.

This was the day we actually paid to have the house cleaned, for the first time in six years. It was lovely to look around at a perfectly clean house, everything dusted and wiped down.

And... the girls got their Legos out, and after playing a while, created these decorations. Here we have a couple of Christmas trees, a couple of reindeer, an ornament, a present, a snowman, Santa and Nutcracker.

Fun Times

On Thursday night, we went to Barnes and Noble, where many teachers from the girls' school were in costume, reading stories.

Here, Mrs. Hawthorne (on the left) is one of the baby owls, with the other kindergarten teachers. 

Dr. Porter read a story about a bee that wanted to fly.

Purchases made that night benefited the school, and we also ate at a nearby restaurant that also gave a percentage back to the school.

Aunt Patty came out to visit Thursday, and she came with us to Barnes and Noble.

Friday afternoon, after the parties and the last day of school before a three weeks' vacation, we had Sam and Riley over to play.

With the leftover gingerbread supplies from Violet's class, the big girls made their own houses.

With softball over, Cora has taken part in a four-week Kidz Love Soccer session. She was able to reconnect with Sean and Matthew, her two friends she's played with for years. They both played AYSO soccer in the fall, so it was their return to our KLS friends as well.

Cora really enjoyed playing soccer again; she also plays most days at school, on her lunch recess.

Gingerbread Houses

Following fun tradition at the girls' school, Violet's kindergarten class made their gingerbread houses Friday, as their Christmas celebration.

All the children are encouraged to have an adult with them to help; Violet was lucky enough to have three. I was there early, to help set up with Mrs. Hawthorne and Christina, my co-room-mom. And Grandma and Grandpa came to take part, as well.

Violet loved making her house, and getting to use so many different types of candy. The houses are made of graham crackers, pasted with frosting onto small milk cartons.

Mrs. Hawthorne then wrapped the up in cellophane for the trip home. Violet, like Cora three years earlier, was the last child finished with her house.