Owen is 3

 Today is Owen's third birthday, and we were happy to celebrate with him over the weekend.

 Blow, blow, blow!

 Yummy cake...

 Wanna see it?
It's VERY yummy.

In and around the pizza and cake, there was t-ball, soccer and bubbles. Fun was had by all. We love you Owen! Happy third birthday!

Peter Pan

On Saturday, we had a very fun day together as a 
family, taking in Peter Pan at the Glendale Centre Theatre and then staying in Glendale for lunch and a little shopping.

Juliana and Maya came to the show, too. The older girls are at a perfect age for this type of show, laughing along with jokes that would have sailed over their heads a year ago.

 Violet was fantastic during the show too, sitting quietly on my lap, Juliana's lap, and at the end, Maya's lap. Since it is her birthday month, she was called down to the stage at the start of the show with other birthday children, for a little gift and song.

 Here the girls are with Tink and Peter, who's real name is Brian and who is a friend of Melanie's. He remembered us and was very friendly with the girls.

After the show, we went to Porto's bakery cafe for lunch, a 50-year-old institution that is well known in SoCal. Rightfully so. The line was long, but moved fast, and we ate very well for just over $10!

Then, we walked around Glendale's shopping district, where Violet napped in the stroller while Cora played on a playground.

Interestingly, while I was getting a coffee, Stace was approached by a talent scout who complimented Cora's beauty and gave us a card. We're not planning to pursue this, but it was flattering to be approached.

It was a perfect day together. We are so blessed.

Friends and fairies

 Alexyss, Marley and Jill joined us for Storytime Thursday at Undergrounds, our church coffeehouse. 

Marley and Violet did well with listening to the stories, at least most of the time. It helped when the staff passed out free snacks bags!











On Friday afternoon, we had the sisters over for dinner and a movie. Cora has been loving the new Tinkerbell film that Nan and Pop sent for Easter. She's watched it several times this week, and was very excited to share it with Alexyss.

The movie has given Cora a newfound passion for all things Fairy, particularly Disney fairies. Here, you see her fairy hideout, where she and Tinkerbell, Fawn, Silvermist, Rosetta, Vidia and the other fairies, um, hide out. Cora hasn't been as into her make-believe since Nemo - as in, "Silvermist is coming to breakfast soon, but, she still is sleeping." Cora is anxious to rebuild her fairy house in the garden, and has drawn out a detailed plan, but she must patiently wait for Dad to finish patching holes in the living room from where he installed wall lights.

When the fairies need a cow or horse, they are easy to access via this handy dandy shelf. Cora knows how to make good use of a foam cricket bat. And here is the underside of the hideout. Hope Sebastian doesn't chase those fairies down!

A New Soccer Friend

 Cora has moved up into the next level of Kidz Love Soccer, and guess what? Johnny is in her class!

We've signed up Cora for a Thursday afternoon class this time around, and if this week was any indication, we should be in for a fun session. Genia and her three, and the four of us, all played together in the park for a bit after the class. Then, Genia brought over a delicious meal.
Stace then worked with Cora on her phonics workbook, we got the girls into bed early, and here we sit, watching Ben Hur.

What a great evening!

Violet bits

Violet's reached the age where her Thomas sensor began sounding loudly. She now really enjoys books and DVDs about everyone's favorite blue engine. She wanted to color Thomas, and since Dad couldn't find the coloring book (and he's quite a handy artist), he drew her one to color.

Using the toilet can get a little boring, so Violet finds ways to amuse herself. Like blowing her nose with half a roll of paper. Or seeing how many body parts she can get into the toilet.

Violet still uses the toilet several times a day, but I wouldn't say we've made any progress over the past couple of months toward diaper-free living. My current thought is that we'll make that push when we return from our June trip to England.

 Playing the "night night" game is still one of Violet's favorites (though I did have to talk to her about the problem with camping out behind a door that could swing into her head).

Violet is talking up a storm, and it seems that daily, we hear comments on how well she speaks.

(Some of this, I believe, is because she is so tiny - she still looks like she could be 15 or 16 months old, and it's pretty strange to hear a child that age say "Where are you going, Mummy?"  or "What are you doing, Daddy?" or "I wanna see the book.")
Here, you can hear her saying "What you making, Cora?" and answering that she would like a pancake, and a waffle.

We also get some of the negatives of a talkative almost-two-year-old, with too-frequent shouts of "Give it back!" "That's mine!" "My turn!" and "NO!"
Or, of course, just screaming, when Cora and Violet aren't getting along well.

Easter festivities

Happy Easter! 

We started our Easter celebration with church on Saturday evening, followed by Red Mango frozen yogurt. 

He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed. 

On Easter morning, the girls opened their baskets and later received these DVDs, as we talked to Nan and Pop in England.

 Nan and Pop had the family over for Easter dinner - Big Nan, Dean, Jenny and Euan - so it was great to catch up with everyone at one time. Cora and Violet both loved their respective DVDs - a new Tinker Bell movie, and a new Thomas show.

 Later, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for our Easter dinner, where our yummy meal included braised lamb shoulder. It's our first time doing lamb for Easter, but we loved it and I think we have a new tradition. As Uncle Bill puts it, Jesus Christ is the "Lamb of God," not the Ham of God. Cora surprised me with her interest in the meat - she kept asking for more, though she was calling it chicken.

After dinner, the girls played with bubbles. We had a very enjoyable Easter, considering the fact that Stace and I were both battling a stomach bug. Violet had it in the week, the night following our Great Egg Hunt, and I came down with it Thursday. Stace's turn was Saturday into Sunday, so I was very happy he was up for Easter dinner.

Cora's Eggcelent Egg Hunt

On Tuesday, Cora planned out and "hosted"  an Easter Egg Hunt for her friends, mainly from our Mom2Mom table. We had eight moms and 21 children here! It was a ton of fun, and it all came together because every single mom asked to bring something, and I agreed that help would be needed!

The idea sprouted when Cora missed the Pioneer Club Egg Hunt because of her last Kidz Love Soccer session. That weekend, she announced that she was having an egg hunt here at the house for her friends; she needed to buy more eggs; and we all had lots of work to do. She then began listing off all the jobs we would need to do to make the Easter Party happen. Whoa! This was the topic du jour the rest of the day, with Stace and me just looking at each other, wondering what she was getting us into.


Cora bought three packs of eggs at the 99 Cent Store with her own money, filled them all, and was generally very helpful with all the cleaning and straightening that takes place when you host. The party grew from us inviting the few families we had celebrate her birthday, to our Mom2Mom table, half of whom were able to come. Again, because everyone contributed food and several brought additional eggs, a fun time was had by all - even me!



We had the 1s and 2s hunt out front, and the older children gather in the back. I separated the older ones by girls and boys and gave out marching orders: NO entering the flower/veggie beds, and no more than eight eggs per person.

Beautiful Natalia, ready to hunt

Talitha, Carolina's daughter

Alexyss

Look, it's a Johnny Rabbit!

 

Violet wasn't too sure about collecting eggs, but she loved eating the insides!

Look at Liana's full curls! 

Marley and Violet, sharing a ride

THANK YOU to our friends who came over and helped out and made Cora's first (annual???) egg hunt a success! And a special thanks to Carolina for taking most of these amazing photos. She has a photography business you can check out by clicking here. (Jill and Juliana also contributed photos too!)




And this is a sidenote, but I've noticed that this is the 800th post on this blog! Wow! No wonder I'm struggling to keep up in putting together our blog books! Another thanks is in order, to all you readers who check regularly, leave comments, ask why I haven't posted in a week, etc. We started this blog so we could more easily show photos of our life to family in England and Washington, and it's morphed into a collection of details and snapshots we will treasure for decades to come. 

Cowboy birthday fun

 We went to the birthday party of our friends Mackenzie and Luke on Saturday. Kenz turned 5 and Luke is now 3, and I've been friendly with their mom since the girls were in Gymboree and then Stroller Strides together when they were infants.

Here, Cora is being turned into a beautiful butterfly...

 ...while sister wanted a tiger. She also requested a snake, but I wasn't keen on that idea. Then, when the tiger was almost done, she asked for an owl.

 Violet loved her tiger hand, and Cora was equally thrilled with her butterfly face.

 Here's why it's so hard for me to get a good shot of the girls smiling together - so often when Violet tries to smile, it looks like this.

Both girls were really excited to ride horses. The cowboy-themed was held at a private ranch, and little rides around the property were part of the fun.
After I told Violet in the morning what we were doing, she talked nonstop about "Violet riding horsey." She had absolutely no fear of the horse; she really loves animals.

Sadly this is the best photo I got of the birthday kids, as Jaimie readied their cupcake candles for blowing.
Chasing Violet around the ranch took most of my energy. Thankfully my mom was able to come for some of the party, since Stace was at work, or I'd hardly have seen Cora!

Thanks, Jaimie, for such a fun afternoon. We loved it!