Birthday Blast

 It was a fun few days filled with birthday parties for the girls.

Violet attended her friend Katherine's party on Saturday at Color Me Mine, where she was able to paint a pot. She loves succulents, and wants to put some in the pot when we get it back.

 On Sunday, Violet attended another party, at Scooter's Jungle, for the little sister of her classmate Zane. That's Zane on the floor - go get 'em, Violet!

 Violet had fun with Caitlyn on the giant slide. Caitlyn has been part of Violet's Art Club, too.

 And on Tuesday, we went to Jake's Laser Blast birthday party. I love this girl so much - in the midst of all the boys, loving it.

Here's Cora and the birthday boy, sharing a game of air hockey.

Week in Review

Our school was honored as one of California's Distinguished Schools, and we had a little celebration on Monday morning. It's hard to see, but the Distinguished School banner is hanging in the background.

We are so blessed to have such an outstanding school within walking distance!

On Thursday, I had a facial - thanks, Mom! - and then a lunch date with the ladies. No, my life is not all facials and lunches out; this was a pretty stellar day!











After school, Grandma took Cora out for some one-on-one time, so Stace and I took Violet out to dinner at the California Fish Grill at the mall. Vi loves her fish and chips, as does her daddy. We'll definitely be back!

On Friday morning, Violet's class "built" the set for their upcoming classroom play. Violet and her little team were assigned the Town Hall.

It was fabulous watching these little groups of second- and third-graders working so well together. Violet has had an outstanding year with Dr. Porter, who is a stellar teacher.

Violet wanted a person to be inside the Town Hall, looking out the door. So cute!

GATE Musical, II

Cora took part in the big school musical Wednesday, and again it was a highlight of her academic year. This year, the students performed "The Greatest Americans of the Twentieth Century," and Cora and Violet were chosen to portray the Wright Brothers.

They had a song and dance, with lots of solo lines - both girls sounded and looked great! Thanks to Pam for these awesome photos. 

 

Wylie, Cora, Tyler and Cooper - 5th grade Musical buddies.

This was Cami's first year in the musical.

Cora absolutely loves the musical, and all the practice hours with her friends, and most of all, with this special woman. Mrs. Shafarman holds a forever place in our hearts.

I collected money from the other parents and bought and put together these "thank you" bouquets for Mrs. Shafarmand and Ms. Sheen. I may not be Melanie (who's now a professional florist), but not too shabby!

We went up to Stevenson Ranch to the amphitheater area after the show, as tradition dictates. With Baskin Robbins closed, the kids enjoyed Jamba Juice or Starbucks. The kids waiting for their frappuccinos at the coffee bar looked so cute and grownup.

Even more cute was how childish they all were - even the big teenaged brothers and sisters - running around playing freeze tag after enjoying their drinks.

We can't wait for next year's musical!

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.