Tidbits

With the end of an age upon us - the transition from Queen Elizabeth to King Charles - Stace had a friend at work give him a mug produced in honor of her coronation.

What a special gift!

Violet has been interested in cooking lately, and is always cool with making her own meals if Stace and I are going out. The other day, she wanted to make chicken curry. Yum!

She also has enjoyed harvesting and eating some of our pomegranates.

Stace still plays indoor soccer most Friday nights, in an over-30s co-ed league. Last week, they won their championship game!

For my mom's birthday, she wanted us all to meet up at MB2 in town, the former Mountasia Family Fun Center, where we had Violet's 6th grade graduation party. 

It was a great idea! 

We all played mini golf together, even Ellie, although I didn't get any photos. (I was too busy trying to add up my scores.)

And Stace and Cora had fun in a friendly axe-throwing competition.

Stace won the first game, and then they were going back and forth, until in the final deciding game, the score was tied.

Cora won!

I promise Stace isn't trying to slice her neck.

We also played a family game of laser tag. Who was playing as Gold Eagle, getting the top score? Violet! All that archery must be paying off.

Sporty Week in Review

Spencer thought we might like this baby dove, so he brought it into the yard, with a few puncture wounds. We tried our best, with water, food and a safe spot in the bathroom. Sadly, after a few days, it passed on. I weighed it, and found out online that it was only 9 or 10 days old, so it was still young enough to require mama to feed it with chewed up seed. Not exactly something we were capable of doing...
 

My parents got Dodger tickets for Wednesday night's game, and invited me to come along. This photo shows A.J. Pollock hitting a home run. I've been having pretty good luck when I take photos or video of Dodger hitters!

The reason my dad picked this particular Wednesday night was because of THIS giveaway to the first 40,000 fans - this replica World Series ring! We were fortunate to get their early enough to get ours. They are beautiful, and weighty! No cheap plastic here.

Violet and I are enjoying her Friday half-days - hard to believe this part of our school life is in its final year!

This week, we took her coupon for a free mini pizza to Pizza Hut for lunch.

On Friday night, Cora and I went to her first high school football game. What an amazing thing, seeing all these happy kids together, outside in the stands, cheering on their team! This didn't happen last school year at all.

High school football happened all over the United States in the fall, but not in California. Finally, California allowed for a very limited season in the spring, but fans in the stands were very limited. I think it was two people per player? Anyway, it was GREAT to get this bit of normalcy back. 

Stace came by after his own football game - well, the OTHER football!

I snuck this pic of Cora and her friends - she's the one who looks like a hand is coming out from behind her head.

She took this silly shot of hanging with her friends. I'm so happy she's getting a bit more of a normal life again! Fingers crossed it lasts!

Week in Review

On my walk through the canyon the other day, I was overwhelmed by a buzzing sound, and looked up to see a swarm of bees forming a new hive on the branch of the oak tree. Pretty cool!

On Thursday, Violet's school had the annual Apex fundraiser. Big thanks to all who sponsored her this year! Violet and her classmates logged on and completed fitness moves at home. Violet took it seriously, and even recorded a video to ask for sponsors!

Violet painted this absolutely lovely canvas of our living room at Christmas time. 

I told her, she will have this forever, to always remember her childhood home this time of year. I love the texture of the tree and the way she painted the curtains - the perspective is awesome!

Stace and Cora went out Sunday to play soccer for a bit - Cora insisted on wearing this awesome outfit.

She didn't last too long without injury! Taking a ball off the nose turned into a bloody affair.

In the afternoon, Stace and I took Vi to the archery range. What a great asset this is to our town!

We got her boba on the way home; seeing all the restaurants' empty outside seating is really sad. All the contact tracing our state/county have done, shows that next to zero spread of Covid comes from outside restaurant dining. Very frustrating situation for these small businesses and their employees.

Stace and I took Vi to the mall the other day - it's still open, at least. We grabbed a quick pic in front of the giant pretty tree.
 

Super Saturday

 We had the girls' parent-teacher conferences on Friday, and we remain blessed with two bright, hard-working students. Both are reading three years above their grade level, and are students their teachers are pleased to teach. Thank you, Lord!

Here's an example of Cora's work that we found on the board - all the students chose a character from the book Wonder to describe, and Cora chose Summer.

Miss Lotito talked with us about how Cora should trust her gut more, and not second-guess herself.

Mrs. Breneman told us that she can't believe how both our daughters are such amazing writers (since often siblings have differing strengths). She praised the writing piece in the photo here, and said she'll sometimes ask Violet for writing ideas!

She said she rarely gives out 3+'s in the first grading period, but she had to give Violet a 3+ in reading comprehension.

I was happy to hear all of this, since Violet prefers to read comic books to "real" books!

Later on Friday, we had Jake and Charlie over for lunch and play, and watched Ant Man and the Wasp.

On Saturday, Cora's football team had its final playoff game. It was the battle to determine third place in the league, against the team that had the best record in the regular season.

It was so exciting! Cora's Panthers took an early lead, fell behind, and then went ahead. A final drive by the opposition would have given them the win, but the Panthers held their ground and won!

My dad came out and got these great photos - if the quarterback hadn't just thrown the ball, Cora would have earned a sack as she pulled his flag.

This flag pull counted!

Champions! (Of the third order) This was seriously the most fun and exciting game of the season - great time to peak, Panthers! And, if it was Cora's last flag football game ever, what a way to go out!

After her game, we took Cora to her friend Violet's house for a playdate. When we picked her up, she complained about her throat and head hurting. But, because we're mean like that, we made her come with us to the annual city Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony in Old Town Newhall. 

This event gets better and better. We enjoyed looking at the craft fair, and bought a few handcrafted jewelry items, and we also got to visit with a real reindeer.

You can tell Cora wasn't feeling her best though... and by the next day, she had a fever and spent half the day sleeping. Poor thing!

Weekend football, baseball and beach!

Cora's football season is winding down, so I brought the good camera to her game Saturday. Violet took this lovely shot of her and her dad.

Here's Cora's coach Jose and his son. Cora's team had a nice win on this game day.

My friend Emily flew in from Dallas to watch the final two World Series games with all her Dodger fan friends. We met up Saturday night for pizza and the game at Vincenzo's.

On Sunday, we met up with Emily and our friend Lynnette and James and their girls in Ventura. It was gorgeous!

After the beach, we all went to our home to watch the game over chili and cornbread. Sadly, our Dodgers lost, and the Red Sox celebrated a World Series championship. But it was nice watching together with friends.

Last Football Game

Cora's first football season came to an end Saturday, as her Chiefs won their final playoff game and had a lot of fun doing it. (They had lost their first playoff game earlier in the week, so the Chiefs' victory was in the consolation bracket.)

Cora played well, and pulled a couple of more flags in the process. I'm so grateful to the assistant coach's wife for her excellent video skills throughout the season! She also shared with me some of these photos, like the one here of Cora receiving her medal.

We are so proud of Cora, for starting a brand new sport, competing against all boys, and proving herself a valuable member of her team. 

Every week, we'd hear other parents complimenting Cora (or us) on her play.

Here's Cora and Coach Dwayne, who was always patient and supportive.

We had the team party at Toppers after the game.























Then, we did a bit of shopping, and stopped at a new place called the Pie Tin, which specializes in savory and sweet pies. We bought an apple pie as a special treat.

In the evening, we went into Old Newhall for the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony event. Violet and Cora signed Christmas cards to send to our troops.