Giving Thanks, Drinking Cider

 

Our family Thanksgiving celebration this year included a cider-making competition, as you loyal blog-followers already know. Above, we have the label Cora made. Nice work, don't you think? 

(A Violetism story from the art-table photo - Violet motioned to the hole puncher and asked, "Have you used these before, Mummy?" With her cute raspy toddler voice, it struck me as such a mature, articulate question.)

 Here are the Thanksgiving cooks, in Bill and Patty's new house. We certainly feasted on some delicious food!

The company was great, too. Nick, Melanie's boyfriend, joined us, as did Bill and my mom's brother Bob, and cousin Elizabeth and Jerry.







After filling our bellies, we went for a walk and just missed the sunset, but caught a nice view of dusk over the Pacific. Bill and Patty's new house is walking distance to the beach in an incredible neighborhood. They are so blessed! And so are we!

 

When we returned, it was cider time. You can see the small cups, set out for a blind taste test. Sadly for Stacey, Elizabeth and Jerry's cider took home the prize mug. Stace attributes our loss to the fact that our American judges aren't accustomed to traditional hard English apple cider. He has a point. Our cider was definitely a proper English cider, alcoholic, and very dry. We enjoyed it more when a bit of apple juice (as a sweetener) was added in. Still, the experience was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to doing it again next year.

Kelly and Brad's Wedding

 

My oldest friend Kelly got married over the weekend, and I had the privilege of standing up to support her as one of her bridesmaids.

Kelly is an amazing woman, loving and faithful, beautiful inside and out - Brad is one lucky man! The wedding was simple and beautiful, and the reception was a lot of fun. 

Both our girls helped as flower girls, as well as Abby, the daughter of Kelly's friend Adrianna. The girls all did great at their job - Cora and Abby were quite a bit quicker down the aisle than Violet, however. 

Violet slowly, slowly, step-by-step, walked up the white runner, dropping petals as she went (nearly stealing the show). 

 Here's Kelly and Steve, having their father-daughter dance. Such a happy moment!

A friend of Kelly's family made lots of these signs with various "loving" phrases, and we all were encouraged to take photos next to any that were meaningful to us, for a scrapbook for Kelly and Brad.

We tried so hard to get a nice family photo with this sign that states "All because two people fell in love." This was the best one of many takes... so sad!

We had better luck with Stace and me holding, "the best is yet to come," which is the song Stace and I had our first dance to at our own wedding nine years ago.

 Here are my parents with one of the signs; they just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary this month. Congratulations to them! (And thanks, Dad, for most of these photos!)

Cora started off the money dance with Brad, who is a great guy who we look forward to getting to know better.

Cora and Violet were going strong late into the night, dancing up a storm. They were such good girls all day; no meltdowns, hardly any crying. Stace and I couldn't have been more proud of them.

Violet got a little nap in the car between the ceremony and reception, thanks to Aunt Patty, who sat with her. That enabled her to stay wide awake until we got home close to 11 p.m.!

 Cora's school celebrated Thanksgiving last week, because the district is on fall break this week.

On Wednesday, Genia and I took this Indian brave and Pilgrim girl and boy to the park for lunch and playtime. Genia sometimes picks up Cora's classmate Ryan (on Cora's right) from school, and we all head over to the park. I think Johnny is putting on his tough Indian face.

On Thursday, Stace took the day off so he could come to Cora's class Thanksgiving feast.

Here, the children are lined up to get their food - turkey slices, cornbread, pumpkin pie, and "friendship fruit salad," with contributions from all the students.

 Violet was very excited to come to Cora's school and be in her class. Normally younger siblings aren't allowed at school, but this was a special occasion, and with both me and Stacey there, we had two sets of eyes on her.

 Here is Cora's kindergarten/1st grade class, with their handmade placemats and headbands/hats. They are so cute...

After the meal, Mrs. Hawthorne incorporated a little math lesson, by tallying the students' favorite foods from the meal.

Cora received her homemade cupcake from Mrs. Hawthorne for learning all of her kindergarten sight words a month ago. The children who have learned all the sight words are termed "clever cupcakes" and have their pictures up on the classroom wall.

Cora was one of the first four or five students in her classroom to learn all the words. In our parent-teacher conference last week, Mrs. Hawthorne told us that Cora is doing great in school, academically and socially. We are blessed with a bright student who loves learning.

Catching up

 Isn't it typical - I finally get the blog all caught up, after weeks of feeling behind because I was sick. And then our laptop dies.

Yep, our dear Toshiba bit the dust at the ripe old age of 4 1/2. Not bad for a $400 computer. Ironically, we had backed up everything and ordered a new Dell a week ago, the night before it crashed itself to death.

While we wait for our new one to arrive, I'm borrowing Melly's laptop to try to catch up here on the blog.

The week before the computer died, we got ready Tuesday morning with no running water, as the water main that runs between our house and our neighbors' houses burst.

This flooded out the back yard and several rooms of our rear neighbor's house.

While the water was off and the workers were rerouting the main, they hit the gas line, so we also were without gas much of the day (though we could sure smell it in the air). Luckily it's not cold here during the day, and no one was hurt.

The work took several days, and it was a bit exciting to have it all going on right in front of our house.

The next weekend was Remembrance Day/Veterans Day, and Cora had Monday off from school.

With the longer weekend, Cora proposed having Violet spend the night in her room, with the girls sharing the trundle. Violet was very excited about this plan, too. She brought lots of animals, blankies and her pillow.

Listening to the girls giggling and talking  together was a lot of fun for me and Stace. An hour later, Cora was asleep, as she had been up early for school.

Violet took a while longer to drop off to sleep. There was too much fun to be had in Cora's room: books to read, stickers to cover her shirt with, CDs to try out. Since she sleeps in a crib normally, being free was, um, freeing.

We let them sleep in Cora's room Friday and Sunday nights, and both nights went about the same. Here's how we found Violet on Monday morning, crashed out on Cora's bed after we finally got her to sleep about 10:30 p.m.

 Also over the weekend, Stace and the girls put in the winter garden. This was one of the first times Stace really encouraged Violet to participate, and here, she's watering the new peas. They also planted lettuce, cauliflower and carrots.

A special anniversary

It's been 10 years since the Bouquet Canyon crash that turned the car I was driving into this mangled wreck. I was en route to a news assignment in Lancaster when I collided head-on with another vehicle, in effect becoming the lead local story of the day rather than reporting on it.

My body was battered by the force of impact: broken bones in every limb, including a crushed foot; and my face smashed by the air bag that saved my life.

I faced nearly a yearlong road to recovery, but the support of family, friends and colleagues lifted my spirits as I healed. The handsome Englishman I'd been seeing long-distance for a year flew to my side, cementing our bond all the firmer. Stacey proved to be my best nurse, caring for me in a way not normally needed until decades into a relationship. We marked our first year as a couple in the hospital.

My family reported that when I came out of my coma, I asked every few minutes where Stacey was, and when he would get there. I just knew that he would come.

Look at just one wall of my hospital room, covered with cards and flowers. And look, too, at my dear Grandma. The first time I broke down was upon seeing her, as it became starkly clear how my situation had impacted so many people I loved. I was anguished that I had put her (and so many others) through that emotional wringer.

I received excellent care at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, where I spent three weeks. In the above photo, a physical therapist begins work with me. All the doctors who put me back together were amazing practitioners.

As the great mothers do, my mom dropped everything to care for me. She put her job on hold for months to shuttle me to daily physical therapy appointments, frequent doctor visits, and numerous subsequent surgeries. I'll forever be grateful to her, to my dad and sister, to Stacey, JT, and my other friends and family who offered up prayers, emails, phone calls and visits.

Above all, I am deeply thankful to God, who has saved me both spiritually and physically, in a very literal sense. Collisions like mine so often end in death, yet the Lord Jesus saw fit to protect me and restore me to wholeness. I am humbled by his grace and grateful for his healing touch.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Jeremiah 29:11, which states: "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Thank you, Lord, that your plan included at least 10 more years for me to live and love; to become a wife and mother; and to seek your will and praise your name. 

Violet at 2 1/2

Here's Violet at 2 1/2, doing a little light reading after breakfast.

Yep, you read that right. Violet the toddler is swiftly heading toward her third birthday. 

She remains very affectionate, generally speaking, especially to the cats. Violet usually confuses their names, but she loves giving them full-body hugs and neck squeezes.  

She's still a cuddler with us, too, and loves crawling into our bed on weekend mornings.

Here, Violet's helping Stace with the gardening, in her most natural state. Violet's been spending a lot of time naked at home, or at least clad in only a top, as we slowly work on potty-training.

It's been slower-going than I expected and had hoped, but no matter. She knows how to use the toilet, and she simply needs to get better about telling us when she needs to go, rather than only heading to the potty when we direct her to.

Here, Violet was in need of a diaper change, and ran ahead into her room to get ready. In her haste, she knocked the changing mat off the dresser, silly girl.

So, what is Violet like at 2 1/2? She definitely is two; she cries and whines more than she used to, and she'll be overly aggressive on the playground or with her sister.
She talks all the time, asking good questions and making good observations. "The big-girl swing is probably cold," she told me the other morning at the park.

She likes to make us laugh, by singing, talking in silly gibberish, tickling us and dancing. Her smile and joy are infectious, and I love having her with me most of the day, every day.
She wakes up around 7:30 most days, naps for 90 minutes to two hours in the afternoons, and is in bed around 8 most nights.

Violet really loves Miss Diane's class, and talks about going most days, even though class is only once a week.

In this photo a few weeks ago, she was painting a ghost, a ghost she then grew frightened of. She wanted to take the ghost with her on the playground, I think so she could keep an eye on it. She talked about it all day, saying she didn't like the ghost and she was scared of it. 

The next week focused on pumpkin art, and she was openly relieved. "No ghosts," she said approvingly after Diane showed us the projects.

School Days - in class

Cora seems to be doing very well with her school work. She is very detailed in her drawings and with coloring.

I'm able to help out in class once a month, and on the day I helped last week, the students wrote in their journals about what they were going to be for Halloween.

Then, they shared with the class from their journals.

Cora loves it when I'm in her class. I hear lots of "Hi, Mom!" loudly whispered across the room, and she always wants me to help her out, or to see what she's working on.

On Halloween day, before their class party, the children worked on cards.

Here is Cora's detailed card interior. I love the bat flying across the yellow moon, and the witch on her broom.

 The kindergartners have a homework packet each week, and this week had a fun assignment that called for parent participation.

The turkey is nervous about Thanksgiving approaching, so he wants to be disguised.

















Stacey's - er, Cora's - is wearing a Hello Kitty "costume," complete with pipe cleaner whiskers.

Lastly, I'm adding in here a photo my friend Shannon took when we all were volunteering for the Halloween party.

Cora's sitting next to a boy I'll keep nameless here, but one I've heard her talk about a lot this year.

The first mention was probably six weeks ago, when she said she wished she sat next to him.

WELL. There's a first time for everything, including first crushes.

School days

 Here, Cora is wearing her official class t-shirt, with self-portraits by all the students.

 I love Cora's ruffle/bubble skirt.

 Her first school photograph. Such a pretty smile!

 And here is Cora's class, a K/1 split with 12 kindergartners and eight first-graders.

It's a shame Cora didn't show off her beautiful smile in that class photo! When I asked her about it, she showed me the funny face she was trying to make. I guess next year I'll have to talk to her about smiling properly for school pictures!