Santa Monica Fun

On Monday, Cora's first day off during her spring break, she went to play at Sophia's house in the morning, while Violet was in school.

When I dropped Cora off, Sue mentioned that she planned to go the beach with friends after lunch, and asked if we'd like to come along. Since Stace would be home from work, I declined, but I prepared Cora's beach things and took them over after picking up Violet.

Cora was very excited about this change of plans, though Violet was heartbroken to be without her playmate, and to be missing out on a beach trip. I promised we'd make it up to her.

The top photo shows Cora burying Sophia at Santa Monica beach, while the second photo shows the whole group of kids. Thanks, Sue, for sharing the pics!

 Next, we have Cora digging near Trent.

 Sue and Jen took Jack, Trent, Paul, Sophia and Cora to the Third Street Promenade in the evening, for dinner and to wait out the traffic.

Later, they even rode rides on the Pier (Cora's in the middle).
What a fun day!

Cora wasn't home until about 10:30 p.m. The next day, she slept until 11:20! She's never done that before, at least not when she's healthy.

Cora also must have been exhausted from several late nights, including slumber parties with her sister.

Mom2Mom Egg Hunt

Ready, set, go!

My moms' group held its annual Easter egg hunt Saturday morning, and dozens of our friends showed up to race for the goodies.

Thanks to my photographer friend Sara for sharing these lovely photos of our morning.

 I'm glad this one is still young enough for egg hunts!

Good friends - Alli, Liana and Violet. Violet told me recently that Alli is one of her "BFFs," a term she surely heard from Alli.

Lastly, a photo we took - Stace was standing under one of Valencia Glen's towering pine trees, when he was surprised to encounter a shower of jelly beans and this green plastic egg.

Way above his head, a chattering squirrel scampered among the limbs, apparently unhappy with the sweets he'd found within the egg.

Week In Review

We've been plant-shopping for the yard, and Violet found a friendly flamingo who got a little too up-close-and-personal. She is so silly.
Speaking of birds, Violet has grown to love them, like her mom. The other day she was making a squawking noise, and asked me, "Want me to be a blue jay? I mean, a scrub jay!"
She was referring to the proper name of the blue-and-gray birds we get in SoCal.
Another Violetism: On our drive to school, she had a game where you look for words out of a collection of random letters. She shouted that she found the word "come."
"Which letters," I asked.
"Q-A-M!"

Speaking of reading, Cora's second school progress report with Dr. Porter went very well. She excels in reading, scoring three grade levels higher than her own grade. She is on track with her grade level for math.

This week, because of the parent-teacher conferences, the students had several half-days. We went to the park a couple of times, and we also had Juliana and Natalia up for a play date. It was nice to catch up, even without Maya, who had a full day of school.

Here was our Easter-inspired craft this week at Mom2Mom.



















We also met up with Colleen and Liana at Scooter's Jungle for playtime. We will miss this next year, when our little girls are in school! Though Violet only will have a half-day of school, most of her friends will be in full-day kindergarten.

On Friday afternoon, we played at the park with Vivian and Elaine, and then came home to rest. Spring Break has begun! (For Cora at least; Violet will have two days of school next week...)

The girls rushed into Cora's bed to read together. I love these moments! They help cancel out the times of fighting.

Friendly Dinner Date

 We spent a lovely Saturday evening with Rob, Michelle, and Brooke, with dinner at Chi-Chi's in Simi Valley and playtime at a nearby park.

The girls had fun together at dinner, after Cora got over the indignity of not getting to order juice with her meal.

 When it came time to pay, Rob and Stacey had fun with the waitress, throwing in their "mancards" and asking her to split the bill between them.

Rob gave Stacey his mancard last year. It's provided plenty of laughs.

 Then we took a short walk to a big park, where the girls ran out some of their energy.

Violet expended so much energy, she needed help getting back to the car.

A milk before our drive back home...

It's always nice to see these friends!

Disney Fun

 For my dad's birthday, my parents went to Disneyland, and took Violet Mae along with them. They would have taken Cora as well, but she already had plans to attend Vivian's birthday party.

They spent their day in California Adventure, where Violet somehow acquired a pair of glowing Minnie Mouse ears on a headband.

 Violet got to meet Elsa and Anna this time, after spending time in Olaf's winter wonderland, which featured real snow and sledding(!).

Ice cream for dinner? On a Disney day, why not?

Violet offered a joke while eating her ice cream:
"What is Mickey's favorite treat? Mouse cream!"

Birthday Crazy

 March is the month of birthday parties for our girls!

This weekend we attended three parties, and there are several more on the calendar next weekend (not to forget Grandpa and Auntie Mel's March birthdays!).

On Friday afternoon, Cora helped Vivian ring in the Great Eight at the Ice Station. When the party continued at Vivi's house later, Stace and I grabbed a quick date night. (Violet was celebrating Grandpa's birthday at the Happiest Place on Earth - more on that later).

On Saturday morning, Violet and I went to the 5th birthday party of her preschool and church friend, Izzy. Here, Violet is playing a balloon-stomping game, where the children try to pop balloons tied to their friends' feet, while keeping their own balloon intact.

Violet was the big winner!

Izzy had a "Frozen"-themed party, and one option for the guests was watching the famous film while they ate their birthday cake.

Later on Saturday, Cora attended David's 10th birthday party, at MB2 Raceway, where the children raced go-karts.

Talk about fun!

Cora's race times in the second race weren't as good as the first; mainly because she kept waving to her adoring fans.

Cora was one of just a couple of girls invited to the bash, not that she ever minds that. Cora proudly calls herself a tomboy.

She was a little nervous about driving the car at first, but absolutely loved it.

A Special Reunion

When I was 10, 11, 12 years old, my favorite friend was a freckled strawberry blonde named Claire. We shared many playdates, sleepovers and birthday celebrations. We also worked together on a mystery novel of sorts - me the budding writer, and Claire the developing illustrator

We lost touch as we went on to high school, though I heard snippets of how she and her family were doing - her father's continued success as a directing animator for Disney, their years in Paris, marriage, children.

Claire is now a respected artist in her own right, with a successful Disney career of her own. This past Saturday she hosted a launch party for her first illustrated children's book.

I was honored when she reached out to invite me to attend, and further touched when she rushed over to give me a hug, some 20 years after we'd last seen each other.

The launch party was packed, with fans of Claire's art, her family's work, Disney, and other longtime friends filling the upstairs at the venerable Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena.

Claire started by drawing some quick pictures as she described the process of coming up with the inspiration for her beautiful book, "Once Upon a Cloud."

Violet certainly enjoyed the talk beforehand, raising her little hand to answer the questions Claire posed to the children. (Cora wasn't able to come, as she was out with Grandma and Grandpa on a whale watch.)

Claire then read an oversized copy of the book, with a couple of dozen children in front, on tiny chairs and on the floor.

 We combined our afternoon in Pasadena with a family get-together with Jenny, Jim, Callie and Jonah.

Their children also had a fun time at the book release and signing party, with a drawing activity, bouquet-making (which ties into the book's storyline), and nibbles.

Vroman's is a very cool bookstore, with this beautiful tile mural outside. We walked down a few blocks to Old Town Pasadena for dinner; it was a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Thanks to Jenny for sharing her photos of Claire's drawings!

St. Patrick's Day Fun

Cora and Violet had a lot of fun preparing for the arrival of the Leprechauns on St. Patrick's Day. They spent their Monday afternoon making a variety of traps in the playroom, working together well with lots of smiles.

Cora, of course, no longer believes in magical creatures, but she does a great job encouraging her sister to take part in the fun.

Violet went to bed excited to wake up to a trapped leprechaun, so she could get his stash of gold.

But after bedtime, the leprechaun struck, and dismantled all the traps without leaving any gold! So unfair.

Thankfully, Violet took it all in good fun in the morning (meaning, no tears!), and both girls were willing to eat their cereal with green milk.

That evening, we had corned beef and cabbage, though Stace will still insist we don't celebrate the patron saint of Ireland.