A Day in the Life

It's time for that ever-popular recurring feature, A Day in the Life, this time featuring an 11-year-old fifth-grader an an 8-year-old second-grader.

5:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 5: Stacey's alarm goes off, and he loudly states that he doesn't want to get up yet. Thanks, Dear. Now I'm up for the day, too... He gets up and ready for his bike ride to work.

6:10: I'm enjoying one of the best parts of my day - cuddles with my kitty, my coffee, and my Bible.
6:45: I wake Violet up enough give her her chewable thyroid medication, wake Cora up, and then get in the shower.
7:10: I'm dressed and so is Violet, who's making her bagel. But Cora fell back asleep - time for her to get up quick and scramble to make up the time she's lost.
We get the lunches packed, teeth brushed, shoes on, and by 7:38, Cora is off on her own bike ride. She has loved riding to school this year.
But wait! Violet is sitting on the floor of her room, socks in hand, reading. And she has not brushed her teeth! Arrrgh!
7:45: We are now too late to walk to school - to the car we go. This year, though I love walking to school, we've driven as often as we've walked.
It is what it is.

 7:55: Violet's at the gate, ready to go in, but not interested in having her photo taken. This kind of expression has been too common lately with our sweet girl. Hopefully the phase will end soon.
After the kids are in the gates, I take a walk with my friends.

By 9 a.m., I'm back home. It's time for the morning tidy-up, some breakfast, some laundry, some vacuuming, some blogging, some phone calls and some dinner prep. I catch up with my sister and JT while doing all of the above. We'll have a busy afternoon, so I get veggies and corned beef in the crockpot.

There are also phone calls, emails and texts for a school project I took on. I love being the mom who's available to do such things. In addition, there's a big state election today, so I do some final research and then head to my polling place to vote.
12:15: I'm back home from voting, and get some leftover pizza and salad for lunch. I catch up on the phone with my mom, who I haven't talked with for a week. I get the laundry hung out, and put in another load.
2:30: I leave for school to pick up Violet. Once I get her, we chat with my friend Christina a bit and then head home to grab Cora. Toys R Us is closing, the whole store is on sale, and the girls have several upcoming birthday parties to attend, so we're off to Stevenson Ranch.
4:00: The outing is successful - both girls got a new toy that should be fun for summer, and we got a couple of gifts. Cora's new toy is a Minecraft playset designed for creating stop-action movies with a cell phone.
4:30: We're home, and Cora is loving the new Minecraft toy. She gets it out immediately. Lucky for her, she has very little homework, as school is winding down for the year. Violet works on her math homework in the playroom. Meanwhile, I get the cabbage chopped and in the crock pot, and Stace comes home.
4:50: Cora spends 20 minutes on her PS4, playing Fortnite with a couple of friends via the Internet and a headset.
5:20: Dinner time! Stace helps Violet with the toy she got at Toys R Us - a craft kit with tiny beads that stick together with water.
Cora loves corned beef and cabbage, and she finishes quickly, and then eats Violet's portion of meat.
Stace sees this and says to Violet, "What, are you a vegan?"
"Yeah," she answers. "I love veggies."
6: We tidy away dinner and get ready to leave. It's the annual Newhall School District Art Show, and I know the girls both entered pieces to display.
6:20: On our drive to Newhall Elementary School, which is hosting the art show, Violet declares that she'd like to try wrestling.
"Violet, of all the sports, that is not one I'd pick for you," I tell her.
"Then I'll do tackle football," she says, smiling.
At the school, we meet up and walk in with our friends Yass and Kelly, and their boys Jake and Charlie.

The kids run around the halls together, looking for their art. Cora's picture of three colorful pots is above her head backed by orange paper. Jake was being too funny for her to take a good photo for me, though.

We run into several people we know, including a teacher we know through his theater exploits with Melanie. Turns out he was a substitute teacher in Cora's class today, while the 5th graders watched the health video on puberty.

Our school doesn't have any male teachers, so he came in for the lesson for all the 5th grade boys. The girls all went out to another classroom and watched the girls' video. Cora wasn't pleased about watching the video. Puberty is a sore subject for her.

Anyway, the Art Show was a success, as we found the kids' artwork and had fun chatting with our friends.

Cora's teacher, Ms. Packer, took these photos of us - thanks, Violet, for messing them up! 

7:25: It's Tuesday, that means it's Ice Cream Night. Our Baskin Robbins might be shut, but Thrifty ice cream is still available at Rite Aid. Perhaps we have a new tradition?

 8: Back home, it's time for jammies, brushing teeth, and medicine.
8:30: Violet gets her injection, and Stace reads some Diary of a Wimpy Kid with her (and Spencer).

8:40: Cora is having some more fun with her stop-motion filmmaking.

By 9, Stace is done reading, and Cora's in her bed, reading. I say goodnight to them both.
By 9:30, the girls are settled in, Stace is relaxing on the couch, and I'm relaxing, too.
It was a nice, "normal" day, in a calm season of life without sports or extracurricular activities.
On to summer!

Week in Review

I introduced the family to an old SoCal favorite, Thrifty ice cream, which is available at Rite Aid drug stores.I grew up walking down to our local Saugus Rite Aid, where I could buy a single scoop for the change in my pocket - 35 cents. Now, a single scoop is $2 - still a bargain.

Thursday was the 31st of the month, and Baskin Robbins offers a special promotion of $1.31 scoops every 31st day. We wouldn't have necessarily gone out for ice cream twice in two days, but we learned from a friend that our Stevenson Ranch shop was closing later that night.

Noooo! So many memories here! Our Tuesday ice cream nights have been special for us for over 8 years, beginning before Violet was born.

 On Friday afternoon, we went to Juliana's house and had a great visit. That evening, after dinner Cora had a last-minute change of heart and wanted to go to the school dance. It was sweet watching my tomboy get ready, in a dress, no less. She had fun with Jake and Charlie; in this photo is Jake and another 5th grade boy, D.J.

On Saturday evening, I went to a Mom2Mom ladies' night in, at Morgan's house. We painted flowers on a canvas.

I forgot to post these a couple of weeks ago - the McTeacher Night at McDonald's was a hit, as always.

Cats will be Cats. (Sniff!)

We have this pair of house finches that keeps a nest in our eaves above our living room window. We've seen sets of babies year after year, and this spring we already had one brood grow and fly the nest.

We noticed the parents were busy again, tending to a next set of babies. I'm struggling to get a good photo, but there were three baby heads in this picture, with the mom on the right feeding them.

A few days later, it came time for the babies to start flying...

...And I turned to see Seb actively playing with something in the playroom by the tent.

Uh oh.

Waaaahhhh!


I know it's in their nature. I know.

But really, Seb? C'mon! Give them a chance!

I didn't see any pierce marks or blood, so I hoped it might come to, but no.

Later I went out to look up at the nest, and what should I find but another poor thing on the grass near that living room window.

Cora gave the unfortunate birdies a proper burial.

Needless to say, we kept the cats in the rest of the day, and the following day, until the two nestlings that were left had safely flown up and away from our dangerous yard.

Memorial Day Fun

We enjoyed our three-day weekend for Memorial Day with a lot of relaxing and a bit of work. Stace installed a tow hitch on our new car Saturday, and I helped out.

 We got the hitch specifically so we could attach a bike rack, to take our four bikes with us. We'll be taking them to Yosemite next month.

We also met up with Violet's friend Camryn at the park on Sunday, after going to church and talking to our family in England.

We cleaned our house Monday, and then had friends over to enjoy the pool. We've had a lovely May, weather-wise, but warmed up to a great temperature to play in the water.

Chicken fight: Violet and Stace vs. Charlie and Cora.

 So much fun.

The kiddos all spent time in the hot tub on their own, playing a rousing game of truth or dare. This resulted in boys rolling around in the wood chips, and of course the key question of "who do you like?" Violet and Cora weren't happy that I came within earshot to take this photo.

We then all went to the home of one of these friends for a barbecue. It was a really fun day.

Silks Success

 Cora is still enjoying her silks/aerial classes with my mom's long-time friend Cheryl. I hadn't attended class with her for a few weeks, so I was so impressed with her progress Saturday. 

 Cora is so, so very strong. Look at the muscles on that 11-year-old!

Chorus Concert

Cora is no longer learning the violin at school, but she is still a member of the school chorus. The chorus performed Wednesday night at with the beginning band and orchestra students.

Cora stood with her friend Charlie; we've become better friends with Charlie and his family in recent weeks, with family get-togethers.

I can always pick out Cora's voice from the crowd. Err, the chorus.

During the song Rise Up, Cora was selected to be one of the children with a solo, though each solo was with another child or two. Cora sounded so pretty!

 Here's a snippet of one of the lovely songs they sang.

Cora's solo is in the following video.

Weekend Fun with Friends

As it got dark, we moved to the back yard, where Stace and Adam played the guitar and sang. It was a great night, with good company. Summer's coming!We had our Mom2Mom year-end family picnic on Saturday, and it was a fun time. Afterwards, we invited Colleen and Morgan and their families over to our house to continue the fun.

The kids set up a kickball game in the cul-de-sac, and we grownups watched. 

The kids played, read, and as it got later, turned on a television show.

On Sunday afternoon, we played a lot of the same friends at Colleen and Rigo's house for Liana's birthday party. 

Disneyland!

We went to Disneyland with our friends Friday, as it was the final Friday that our passes were good for until September. Mom and I drove down with the girls, and met up with Jen and Trent, and Elaine, Vivian and Violet.

Tom Sawyer's Island is always one of the kids' favorite places to play; hide-and-seek is a popular game.

We always like to take photos with the Star Wars characters - it's fun to see over the years how the kids all change. They're looking taller and taller!

Violet got very brave this trip - usually she won't come out to meet the "baddies" unless I'm with her. But she went out with the big kids this time, doing the popular "floss" dance to help lighten her mood.

Both Kylo Ren and Darth Vader chose Cora to talk to and warn about staying on the Dark Side. It was pretty funny.

When we came back outside, we were in time for the landing of a Storm Trooper guard on top of the roof, led by Capt. Phasma. At least, that's what it sounded like! The Storm Troopers marched around, looking for rebel spies. Grandma wasn't having any of this trooper's attitude!

Cora went with her friends on Matterhorn, while Jen, my mom, Violet and I found coffee and rode Star Tours. Later, we rode Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain, and had dinner together. It was a great evening!

Week in Review

It's been a momentous few weeks in Cora's life - for the first time, she owns her own video gaming system.

She had enough money saved up to purchase a PlayStation 4 system, and she now can play Minecraft and Fortnite and Star Wars Battlefront. With the online capability and a headset from Sophia, she can play with her friends. It's a big deal for Cora, and she's really excited about it. It took all of Cora's long-term savings, which she's been collecting from her chore money since she was four.  Stace and I helped a little, because the PS4 can play Blu Rays and DVDs and we haven't had a Blu Ray player. We're proud of Cora!

But though Cora does love her new gaming system, she is still a reader at heart. We stopped by the library this week, and Cora has been a happier camper with her big stack of books.

Violet formed an art club a few weeks ago with some of her classmates. They get together Wednesdays after school, while Cora is at GATE Musical rehearsal.

This week, Colleen had a meeting she had to attend, and Lucas and Liana had a minimum day at their school. They played at our house, and then Liana got to participate in art club, too, for a bit.

On Friday, the second graders took part in a marketplace, where each one brought in something handmade to sell. The goal was to learn about creating and marketing a product.

It was great to watch and listen to the 7-and 8-year-olds advertising and selling their homemade magnets, bookmarks, bracelets and slime. Violet created keychains from clay "Bricks, Blocks and Beads" she made. The Lego shaped ones proved very popular.

Camryn bought a keychain, and Violet bought one of Cam's bookmarks. All the money raised went to charity; items were all priced at less than $1.