Long Weekend

 We've enjoyed a nice four days off from school for the Presidents Day holidays. Even Stacey was off on Monday, which was the official government holiday.

We didn't have a lot planned, which was great. We took our first family bike ride, with Cora on her big bike. Stace's mountain bike had a flat, so I got to have Violet on the front of mine.



On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa took the girls to Disneyland for a few hours, giving me a little time to myself before Stacey came home for a fun date night.

We had dinner with Kelly and Brad, whom we hadn't seen since their November wedding, and Kelly's parents Steve and Linda. Then we went together to downtown L.A. to see Backbeat, a play-with-music (not quite a musical) about the early days of the Beatles.

We had a fantastic time, and were lucky enough to sit in the second row, thanks to an amazing ticket deal Kelly told us about.

Cora had soccer on Saturday, and then we had a quiet day at home, with a trip around the neighborhood on rollerskates/rollerblades/scooters before dinner.

On Sunday, we went to church, did some shopping and then talked to our family in England. After Violet's nap, we had our bike ride, before dinner and dessert.
















































Cora made our dessert - chocolate chips and dried cranberries, covered in powdered sugar. I added in almonds to balance out the sweetness. Our Cora loves cooking, and asks every week when she can make her own creations.

 On Monday, we hoped for more of the same - relaxing and spending time together having fun.

But, Sunday night our garage door motor burned out after acting up for a few weeks. So, Stace spent his Monday off work, working in the garage. I'm so thankful for a man who knows how to fix things!

By Monday afternoon, all was better, and he even programmed our new car's "homelink" system to open the garage door with a push of a button on the rear-view mirror.

Also Monday, before we went out to a well-deserved dinner out, Cora followed a recipe from a children's cook book for almond sweets. We enjoyed another yummy dessert when we got home.

Valentine's Day

 I really like how my friend Colleen described Valentine's Day in our Mom2Mom monthly newsletter:

"Valentine's Day has come to mean something completely different than what it meant before I had kids. Before: romance, nice clothes, quiet dinner, expensive chocolate, and actual thought-out dinner plans.

"Now: running to the store to get those valentines for your kids that you forgot about, figuring out how many cookies you need to get for your kid's class party, trying to find something at least red, maybe even with a heart, for your kid to wear on Valentine's Day, and, oh yes, maybe even trying to get a card for your husband in the picked-over Valentine's card section of the store!"

I can relate! Here is a recap of our Valentine's Day 2013.
Violet wore her Valentine's outfit, heard a Clifford Valentine's Day story, and made pink-and-red heart crafts at My Buddy and Me.
Colleen kept her for me so I could leave class early to go to Cora's school and help in her class party...

 ...where I helped another mom run the Valentine's Day bingo game. Cora here looks shocked by the game. Sitting with her are Ryan and Tyler Belle.

 The class also participated in a cute craft and an outdoor scavenger hunt for red paper hearts, before getting their special snack of fruit, cheese and crackers, cupcakes, cookies and juice. (Don't tell the principal about the cookies and cupcakes! The school is on a healthy-eating drive.)

 Later in the day, a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived from my love. Thanks, Stace! Love you too!

And you can see our collection of homemade Valentine's cards to each other.

The standing up card is what we made for Cora to give to her classmates. It reads, "Whooo loves you?" on the front, and on the inside, we wrote, "Cora, that's whooo!"


 

Cora made a special card for her dad. It said, "Owl be your Valentine" on the front; on the inside, she wrote, "D.A.D.D.Y. I no how to spel Daddy. I love you lots and lots. Daddy, I love you."

New Bike

 

Cora's spent a lot of time this week on her new bike, a birthday gift from Stace and me. It's a good name - Trek - and I got a steal on it off the local Facebook buying/selling page. It's a 20-inch bike, which is a bit big for Cora, but Stace modified it. 

And it fit her! With a little instruction on how to get on and off, Cora was off and riding. It's very pretty, and the coloration isn't babyish, so Cora should be able to use this for years.

It will be fun to take a family bike ride again, with Cora on her big bike. She'll be able to go so much faster. Riding with a kid on a 12-inch bike is painfully slow...

 

Also this week, my college friend Melanie came out to for a visit, with little Heather, who's now 19 months old. We went up to our little park for some time in the sand and swings.

 

Violet had ridden her tricycle, and she wanted to keep wearing her helmet. Better safe than sorry.

The new Fairy Garden

 

After Cora's birthday party, we opened presents at home with the Roberts. Cora was thrilled with their gift - a set of resin furniture for her outdoor fairy house. Michelle, Rob and Brooke gave her a door and set of windows (for putting on a tree) from the same company, and all of this lead to hours of fun on Sunday afternoon.

Here, Ave is putting little flower bits into the tiny bird bath (which became a water bowl for Sebastian).

The "Fairy Garden" was absolutely adorable, with rows of flowers and berries.

We're now on the hunt for a right-sized log/stump to put the door and windows onto. Our friend Rigo, the tree-trimmer, is going to hook us up.

Cora's Skating Party

Our Cora Rose has turned 6, and to celebrate, we had a party at the Ice Station ice skating rink in Valencia. Cora has enjoyed ice skating for over a year, and this seemed like the right year to throw her a "bigger" birthday party. The Ice Station's sign out front even had her name in lights.

 

 The party was held in an upstairs room, with everything provided for a set cost. The pizza, cake, favor bags, a party "hostess" and ice skating were included, up to a certain number of participants. For Stace and me, it was pricey but easy - nothing to bring, no serving, no cleanup.


Cora had a great time, and was  friendly to all her friends and their parents.

Humorously, she was very annoyed when Violet helped her blow out her candles, and Marley followed Violet's lead.

 Here are most of Cora's favorite playmates this year - from left, back row, Johnny, Chris, David, Gabe, Lucas, Cora, Alexyss and Ave.

 In front are Owen, Brooke, Violet and Marley. Heath and Maya and her family had planned to come but unfortunately were ill.

Cora was fantastic on her skates. She's been practicing a lot on the roller blades she got for Christmas, so she was much more sure of herself on the ice than in previous years. 

 With her new skills, Cora and I could skate together easily; I wasn't having to slow down whatsoever. We were all very proud watching her!

 Even Stace bravely ventured onto the ice.

He had been skating once before, and it hadn't gone very well. But when he saw so many of Cora's friends' dads tightening their skates, he was convinced to give it another try.
















In general, he did just fine.

But that's not to say there weren't a few, um, stumbles. Genia told us that she hadn't laughed as hard in ages, as she did watching Stace on the ice.


















All in all, Cora enjoyed a fantastic birthday party. Thanks to all our friends and family who celebrated Cora with us, both at the Ice Station and in spirit! Cora is blessed to be loved by so many.

  

Here's Cora ice-skating, and with her birthday cake.

Cora's school week

This week Cora's school had its 100th day, which is cause for a big celebration. They learned about the number 100, made a Froot Loop necklace with 100 pieces, brought in 100 items each to count together, etc.

 

On Friday morning, the K, 1st and 2nd grades had a field trip to the theater at College of the Canyons to watch a children's play. Many schools in the area also attended, but we were the only ones who walked! The weather reports forecast rain, but thankfully the showers held off until the afternoon.

 I was a chaperone, and got assigned to these two - Cora and Heath, who is one of her favorite friends. I'm not sure why neither of them could stand up straight for the photograph.

 On Friday evening the school put on a family dance, and Cora and I went while Daddy stayed home with Violet, who has had the flu this week. Cora had fun (mostly), when she wasn't anxious about dancing with so many people.

The dance was 80s themed, and I was amazed at how the vast majority of the students (and many parents) came dressed up. Cora had no interest in dressing up, and I don't know what I would have put on her anyway last-minute. She was probably the only one wearing a Valentine's Day dress among the neon, side-swept pony tails and colorful leggings.

Out with the old...

 This week we sold Stacey's trusty Honda CR-V to a friend of my sister's, and then bought a new-to-us Hyundai SUV with room for the whole family, plus grandparents.

It all happened rather suddenly...

We've been thinking of an SUV with a third-row for the last several years, as it would be really handy when Sue and Gord are with us.

A few weeks ago, we realized our "car savings account," which we've slowly added to since buying my Pontiac in summer 2006, might afford us a larger car.

We mentioned to Melanie that we might be willing to sell Stace's car, which he bought shortly after moving here in 2003. She had a friend who needed a reliable car and had the cash. Only thing was, she was ready to buy his car immediately.

We did our research on what we were looking for, and had decided on a Honda Pilot. Uncle Bill came down to help Stacey look over a vehicle in Irvine, but they knew as soon as they saw it Sunday that it wouldn't do.

On Sunday night, we found this Hyundai Veracruz online, at a Volvo dealership in Orange County. It's a 2007 with 51,000 miles, and a little Internet research showed us that it was priced well below its Kelley Blue Book value, and even below the price the dealership likely gave its owners when they traded it in.

On Tuesday morning we completed the sale of Stacey's car, and at lunchtime we made a trip to the local Hyundai dealership to check out a new Veracruz, to make sure we liked it. It's not a very well-known car, and Hyundai stopped making them for 2013.

But we loved what we saw, and on Wednesday we made the long drive to Santa Ana to check out the car.
We knew it was the car for us; it's much more luxurious than we're used to, and seems to have all the features we were looking for (and then some).

The price was outstanding, leaving us with a bit of money to save toward a replacement for the Vibe, which Stace will now drive.

It's amazing the way things work out sometimes. We are blessed and thankful.

Week recap

 Here's a peek at the week that was... Violet helped herself to the strawberries, telling me excitedly, "I can wash them better all by myself!" Sure enough, she could just reach the faucet handle when she stood on the chair. Likewise, Cora can now reach the bathroom sink handles without standing on the stool.

 After we walked the children to school, Genia and Owen stopped in for a half hour to catch up. The little ones busied themselves in the play kitchen. See the mess of play food? This is why Genia gave the set to us!

 On Wednesdays we often go to the park with Genia for lunch. This week, we finally gave Johnny a gift for his 6th birthday, which occurred while we were in England. He's loving the Lego Ninjago sets, so the Ninjago comic books were a hit.

 After work Stace sometimes sets up games with the neighbor kids. Our street is crawling with kids most evenings! This time it was baseball, with cat litter buckets for bases. Here, Johnny is running the bases while Stace fields the ball and throws it to Chris.

On Friday night, Ave spent the night. The girls played games before getting ready for bed. This time around, Ave and Cora stayed up late talking and drawing; it was so sweet to hear their giggles.