Garage door, cat hotel

After some serious Black Friday shopping and the Muppet Movie (watching a movie in the theater was a first for both girls), we tackled some home improvements this weekend.

Our 20-year-old garage door was falling apart, so the friendly folks from Mesa Garage Doors came out and installed a new door on Saturday.

It's so much better than our old door, which you see the installer removing in the top photo.

It's fully insulated, with weather-stripping and molding around the outside edge. We chose to go with the same color and the same window style as our old door, but we went with long panels instead of short panels to change it up a little bit.

I hope the insulation helps in the summer heat since our house faces west and bakes in the afternoon.

The second project started with one of those moments Stace often has, when he sees something and says, "I could make that, easy!"

We were looking at cat trees at PetSmart on Friday (where we snagged a fancy automatic cat box at half-off) when Stace was inspired to build Spencer and Sebastian their own fancy cat hotel, as Cora calls it.

Stace already had most of the supplies in the garage - recognize the carpet, anyone? - and after a day's work Sunday, the boys were happily playing in their new hotel.

The top level has a hole, for crawling through and playing, and the middle level is for sleeping. Stace bought some sisal rope, and we'll wrap that around the legs.

Thanksgiving

Since we were hosting Thanksgiving this year, we spent part of Wednesday getting ready. Here, Cora sweeps the patio with an assist from Violet, manning the plastic wickets.
Cora was so very helpful all day on Thursday as we got the house and food ready. She singlehandedly put together the bacon-wrapped sausages, and later she made the pineapple-and-cheese toothpick-skewers. She cleaned and generally helped out in any ways we asked, and later was very friendly to our guests. Stace and I were so proud! In our Black Friday shopping, he bought her a Tinkerbell doll as a "thank you" present.

Our 18-pound beauty, full of onion/carrot/lemony goodness, smothered in a stick of herb butter.

Making room for our party of 18 meant Stace had to use his creative engineer's mind. He brought in the patio table, leveled it to our dining table with 2x4s, and with the tablecloths, flowers and china, transformed it into a banquet. Cora made placecards out of cardstock and decorative leaves.

This was actually the first time we broke out Grandma's china. It was her mother's, my great-grandmother's, and I inherited it by becoming the first grandchild to get married.
Our full table - a Thanksgiving blessing in itself! Besides our family, my parents, Melly and her boyfriend Nick, we were joined by my friend Cassie and her boys, the Adams family, and Kelly's boyfriend Brad.
Cora was so excited to have Cassie's triplets, Connor, Christian and Cole, over for our feast. Cassie is a new friend from Mom2Mom and she moved to SClarita not too long ago, away from her family.
Violet has had a cold and wasn't too hungry for her meal, but she did like the crackers, pineapple and cheese.
It was great meeting Brad finally! We're so happy to know him and see Kelly (my oldest friend!) so happy.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! We have enjoyed a year of blessings and it was great to celebrate that together with dear family and friends.

Songs of Thanksgiving

Cora's preschool class had a "thankfulness feast" on Monday, and a little music show with Thanksgiving songs they've been practicing all month.

The songs were adorable and I videoed them on the camera, thinking I'd post them. But after trying to do so for two days, Stace looked at their size and they are huge. Three times the size of the videos I took of Stace and the girls playing music.

So, if anyone really wants to see Cora and her class singing, we can arrange a viewing, on our computer.

Footie and skylights

On Saturday, Cora's next session of soccer/football started. This four-week segment will be all little games, so we all went to watch the first class.

Cora controlled the ball well on several occasions, and did some good passing, which she and Stace had been working on at night in the garage.

She assisted on one goal, though she was mad afterwards that she hadn't been the one to score.

Violet liked watching... check that. Violet liked wandering around, eating pretzels, and then got bored and took off for the playground. (Please see that Stace was in the photo, watching from a safe distance.)

Later on Saturday, Stace put in new skylights in the playroom. Ours were old and cracked, and one was leaking terribly every time it rained.

He modified a standard skylight from Home Depot to make them super easy to install on the old skylight's framework. He made quick work of it, and when it rained Sunday, no leaks at all!

And finally, the girls on Sunday enjoyed some rainy day snuggling while they watched television together.

Earlier, Cora had watched some of the Chelsea/Liverpool football match with Stace, and exclaimed, "They have to win the Piston Cup, don't they?!"

And on the Coraism subject: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones came on the radio, and Cora said, "But you can, at Christmas!"

We'll see about that! Good thing this little girl doesn't watch much commercial TV! Her list so far is pretty short and manageable.

Cora's latest artwork

At top, we have Cora's photo of yours truly - under a rainbow, with blue hair because there wasn't a brown crayon.

Next, Violet (on the left), Stace and Cora herself.

When I saw this, I figured Stace drew himself since the proportions are so correct. But no, Cora drew it.

Maybe we should get her into an art class?
Last, here is a turkey that Stace and Cora made in honor of Thanksgiving.

Yes, Cora made it with Stace, not at school!

He asked about craft project ideas so we scoured the Internet, combined a few ideas, and came up with this.

The new von Trapp singers

When one of the girls is in a foul mood, it's a sure-fire cure when Daddy gets out his guitar.

Violet really loves it, and always has. "Old MacDonald" is her favorite, and she's pretty good at singing along. She always asks for "aggums" to be the first animal, and then does the meowing.

Stace let Cora play the ukelele the other night, with Violet on xylophone.

They all made a joyful noise, wouldn't you agree??

While the cats are away...

Cora and Violet had a great weekend with Grandma and Grandpa while Stace and I were in Long Beach.

They went to Chuck E. Cheese, McDonalds, the Festival of Trees Christmas event, the mall play area, and Bridgeport to feed the ducks. My mom also did some crafts with the girls, and they visited a Christmas boutique.

On Friday night they all spent the night at our house, and on Saturday night they all slept at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Violet and Cora slept well at our house, and at Grandpa's house, Violet did great. She slept all through the night, even with her sister next to her, crying on two occasions because of more leg cramps.

Thankfully, there were no tears about me and Stace being gone.

On Friday morning, I told Cora I'd miss her when we were gone, and she declared, "I won't miss you! I never miss my mom and dad!"

Later, when we were about to get in the car, Cora said quietly, "I will miss you. I was just kidding."

A few more Coraisms, while we're on the subject: "I wish I was a raccoon. Then I could hang out in a den and be dirty. I really do wish that! And eat worms and bugs."

"Mom, are you 52? ... No? Well, when you're 52, you'll be taller."

And later, trying to carry a load of toys, "This is too hard with two hands. I wish I had eight hands like an octopus."

Stace reports the following line, said matter-of-factly: "Dad, I'm not saying I don't like you. But I really like Mummy."

And a Violet story. When we got home Sunday and were looking at our weekend photos on the television, I overheard a suspicious noise coming from the kitchen.

I found Violet helping herself to soup from the pot. I guess the macaroni and cheese wasn't enough dinner for her! Cora had used her chair to serve herself macaroni, so Violet just hopped up and started eating.

Thank the Lord the burners were off and the food was cooling. We were trying hard not to laugh but it was pretty funny to see Violet standing at the stove, eating away.

Queen Mary getaway

This weekend, Stace and I stepped back in time to celebrate eight years of marriage and 10 years of couplehood.

Ten years! How can that be? Aren't we still 25?

We're a bit older than that now. But we're still not as old as the Queen Mary, the luxurious 1936 ocean liner that must have ferried transatlantic couples like ourselves when making its frequent England-to-New York trips.

Back in July, I snagged a Groupon deal for two nights and a few extras aboard the Queen Mary, which has been docked in Long Beach as a hotel/historical monument since 1967.

Stace and I have been looking forward to this getaway since then. It was our first full weekend away since before Cora was born, and the first time we've been away for a night since Violet came along.

It went brilliantly! The girls had a good time with Grandpa and Grandma - more on that later - and Stace and I just had a ball.

Our first visit to the ship was for the Fourth of July, 2003, not long after Stace made his big move over here. We hadn't been back since, so we spent a lot of time exploring.

In the 1930s and 40s, the Mary represented the height of luxury travel for its well-heeled and often famous passengers.

A first-class passage across the Atlantic cost the equivalent of $75,000 in today's dollars. The wooden inlay with the painting of the ship shows some of the 50-some different types of old-growth wood used in the ship.

When World War II came around, the Queen Mary was painted battleship grey and turned into a troop carrier, nicknamed the Grey Ghost. Over the course of the war, she transported a staggering 750,000 service members, mainly from North America to the European theater. Sir Winston Churchill frequently traveled on the ship, and finalized the plans for D-Day in his suite.

Stace took a moment to man one of the antiaircraft guns left over from wartime duty.

Then, when the war ended, tens of thousands of British war brides (and their babies) took the Mary to their new homes Stateside.

Stace and I thoroughly enjoyed the WWII-themed tour we took, though it made us both miss the veteran grandfathers we loved so much.

The tour, breakfast, parking and a bottle of champagne were included in our package deal.

Our room had a porthole with a view of the Long Beach skyline, and we enjoyed drinks both nights in two of the ship's bars.

We also toured a 1970s Russian submarine docked next to the Queen Mary, which was an interesting experience.

On our drive home, we stopped at the Point Vicente Lighthouse in Palos Verdes, where we ate our Subway with a million-dollar view.

Stace and I had so much fun together on our weekend away.

Ten years after we jumped into our relationship, we are so blessed to have each other.

Photogenic pomegranates

Oh, the joys of trying to get a decent, blog-worthy photo of two children at once.

At least, I find it difficult. Some of my friends seem to have no trouble at all.

Anyhow, Cora was wondering about pomegranates, so we bought one the other day.

She and Violet both enjoyed picking at it, and since it was a new experience for them, I got out the camera.

This short series just makes me laugh.

Believe me, I've taken worse photos of my kids; they're not the funniest photos ever.
But they do amuse me.

Doctors, turtles and pigtails

A few random tidbits...

Monday was a tough morning for me and the girls. With the time change, Cora woke up very early, and was whining and prone to tears. I was feeling tired and grumpy. And Violet was quick to scream, as she has been since she turned 18 months.

Not a fun combination, especially combined with the hurry-hurry of trying to get out the door to preschool.

I wanted to make it up to Cora when I picked her up from school, so we stopped at Bridgeport for a walk by the lake to visit the ducks and turtles. Cora was thrilled to see the lighthouse up close, and Violet was happy to see the ducks and "too-toos." The weather was great for fall, sunny and cool. It was a very nice hour, and I'm so thankful for good times together with my girls.

Next, a couple of photos from Violet's 18-month well check last week.
She is well, as you'd guess. A blessing there, too!

Her talking ability is pretty remarkable. Dr. Brockett said that about 15 words is standard for her age, and Violet has dozens, maybe 50 if I counted.
Size-wise, Violet's weight of 22.7 pounds puts her in the 47th percentile, right smack in the middle. She is 30 1/2 inches tall, and that is only the 12th percentile, meaning 88% of girls her age are taller than her.

Interestingly, at Cora's 18 month well check, Cora was 21 1/2 pounds, or the 11th percentile, and 31 1/2 inches tall, in the 40th percentile.

Lastly, a couple of photos of Violet sporting pigtails!