Fun with Friends

 We celebrated Marley's third birthday Sunday with a little party at Meadows.

Cheers!

 Jill made all those adorable Spiderman cupcakes.

 Jill brought Silly String, a first-time play thing for most of the kids. They had fun with it (though Cora, watching me write this post, is whining that her dad used up all of her string).

 On Wednesday last week, John had his last Valencia High Jazz Band concert at Vincenzos. We had a good time enjoying the music, and JT and Jim came up with their children too.

Cora really had a good time with baby Jonah, who's now 6 months old. And Violet played well again with Callie, who's only 9 months or so younger than her.

More birthday goodies

Violet's birthday started Saturday with a happy girl waking up with the full awareness that she was now THREE years old.

She opened her gifts from me, Stace and Cora; all were Calico Critters, the line of sweet miniature animal toys (called Sylvanian Families in England, as they used to be called here). 

Cora and Violet have been very interested in Calico Critters for the last couple of months, which we think is just great. They're cute, quiet toys that provide for lots of imaginative play (when they're sharing nicely).

 On Sunday morning, Violet was excited to move up into the 3-year-old class at church. Sadly, there were no more doughnut holes left when the service was over, leading to a very 2-year-old-like tantrum from Violet Mae. Stace and I have seen signs from Violet recently that make us think 3 will be a lot harder than 0, 1 and 2 have been. But that's another post!

 Also Sunday, Violet celebrated her birthday with Nan, Pop, Dean, Jenny and Euan via the computer. On the right you can see the Calico Critter treehouse Nan and Pop sent over, which was a huge hit. So was the ice cream van, a gift from Dean and Jenny. Thanks!

Violet's new birthday toys have provided lots of fun for Cora and her friends, too. In fact, Cora was more excited to open the rest of Violet's presents than Violet. Here, Cora, Violet and Sophia are playing with a new play-doh doggy toy. Cora also really got a kick out of giving Violet presents and handmade cards and pictures. She wrapped up some trinkets, including a "jewel," which Violet opened with delight. It was adorable to watch.

Violet's Circus Party

 Violet Mae is 3!

We celebrated with a trip to "The Circus is Coming to Town," a children's theater show Auntie Mel is acting in.

As a birthday group, we got to sit in the first two rows, and most of the children in our group got to take part in the interactive story.

 Barbara Schwartz, the Storybook Theatre co-founder, brought Violet onstage so the whole audience could sing "Happy Birthday" to her.

During the show, Violet got to pretend to be a circus giraffe. When asked by the "ringmaster" what giraffes have, she said "tails" instead of the expected answer "long necks." All on stage were asked to wag their tails like giraffes.
Violet loved being on stage, smiling away.

 

 Here's most of children in our party with the actors.

After the show, we headed over to the pony rides/train ride area of Griffith Park.

We were fortunate to get a couple of empty picnic tables on a busy Saturday afternoon. Melanie set up a face-painting station, which the little girls loved.

 Violet picked out a clown cake (made of cupcakes), in honor of Mel's show.

 The pony rides were a hit, as well. Cora, Alexyss, Sophia and Lucas took a ride on the trotters, while Violet and the others went around the track at a more sedate pace.

The day ended with a train ride for Cora, Violet, Grandma, Morgan and her girls Sophie and Norah.

It was a long and fun day; Violet and Cora both had a brilliant time. Violet loved her birthday, after talking about it all week long.

Happy Birthday, our sweet Violet! We all love you and are so proud of the big girl you are becoming.

Cowboy Festival 2013

 

We made our long-awaited return to the Cowboy Festival on Sunday morning - really, the kids were excited for our day out, talking about it all week. They must have remembered the great fun we had there together last year.

Stace always talks about buying a cowboy hat when we're at the Festival - this year, he finally did, a straw version that will be great for gardening, too. Violet even let him wear it a few times Sunday.

As you can see by their smiles, Ave, Johnny, Cora and Violet had a great day together Sunday.

Ave was most excited about panning for gold again, like they did last year.

Cutest cowgirl I've ever seen!

We also listened to a cowboy story, ate fantastic cowboy food (biscuits and gravy, peach cobbler, tri tip sandwich, beans and hot dogs), and listened to our favorite Cowboy Festival band, Hot Club of Cowtown.

For Violet, it was just exhausting!

We'll remember the fun we had for years to come.

Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Our plan Saturday was to go to Cora's soccer practice before heading over to the Cowboy Festival.

But by the time we made it to the festival parking lot, the line to get onto the shuttles wrapped up, down, around and back.
We waited for about 12 minutes in 92-degree heat and watched the kids melt before Stace decided a better plan would be to go to the zoo, and return to the festival bright and early Sunday.

So, off we went to the zoo!

We enjoyed about four hours there, plenty of time for everyone to see their favorite animal.

 A little hard to make out, but this is me and the kids through the waterfall near Cora's favorite feature, the caves.

And what would a post about the zoo be without at least one animal photo?

With the warmth, the children were eager for a cool treat, and the Icee signs were very tempting. But, at over $5 for a large, we told them we'd get something on the way home.

We stopped at a gas station convenience store two miles away, where I found big Icees for $1 each, plus a big soda for me and Cheetos for Johnny. We were out the door with six treats for just over $6. We certainly pressed that economics lesson to the school-aged children!

The Big Sleepover

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We had the privilege of having Ave and Johnny with us from Thursday through Sunday afternoon, while John and Genia were away with Owen.

With four kids under foot, Stace was even more miserable than usual.
Just kidding, of course. He and I both loved having these particular children with us. We would have kept them, but they seemed really excited to see their own parents on Sunday.

 The children all got along so well; we had lots of laughter and fun together.

We walked to school Thursday and Friday, and on Friday afternoon we played at the pool after lunch. Our school has minimum days every Friday, so Ave was also home for lunch.

On Thursday night, Cora and Ave put on a dance show for us all, complete with snacks for the audience. 











And Friday night, Stace played the music for the dance party.

On Thursday night, the school night, Ave and Johnny slept on the floor of Violet's room, and Violet stayed in the playpen in our room.
Friday and Saturday nights, Ave slept on Cora's trundle.

Cora was excited about this weekend for the past several weeks, as you can imagine. She asked all the time when "The Big Sleepover" was going to take place.

Feeling better

On Friday, Cora finally was fever-free, after having a high temperature at various times Monday through Thursday. In the afternoon, we went to a Mom2Mom gathering at the Patios area of the mall, where a new outdoor children's play area has opened. 

We had a sweet treat before heading to the local Pony League fields to watch neighbor friend David play baseball.  Here, Chris and Cora watch the game while eating that ballpark favorite, sunflower seeds in the shell.

 On Sunday, we celebrated Owen's fourth birthday with pizza and cupcakes. Owen seemed to like our gift - Iron Man walkie-talkies, which the big kids soon grabbed for their game of "secret agent."

 On Monday, with Cora finally back in school, Violet and I drove out to La Verne to visit with JT, Jim, Callie and baby Jonah.

Excuse the blurry photo here, but it goes without saying how much of a challenge it is to get three children under three to look pleasantly at a camera at one time.

JT and Jim made the HUGE move back to California one week ago! It has been in process for a couple of years, and we are so happy to have them back.

While they get settled, they are staying with JT's parents, whose children's video collection entertained Violet and Callie for a while.

We had a nice morning catching up before having lunch together. I look forward to many more such meetings. Welcome home!

Good dentist trip, sick Cora

 When I called to schedule Violet's first dentist appointment, I figured the dentist would examine her teeth, we'd cheer, and that would be about it.

After all, at Cora's first appointment, she barely opened her mouth. (Her second appointment six months later went much, much better.)

But Wednesday morning, Violet was excited to see the dentist herself, after watching Cora's appointment a month ago.

She sat still for two x-rays...

 ...and was an absolute angel during the examination...

 ...cleaning, flossing and fluoride treatment.

I was amazed, and we received equally amazed compliments from the dentist and all his staff members. She didn't flinch, didn't utter a peep; just sat still with her mouth open, obeying every request. Wow!

She then was excited and happy to pick out a new Ariel toothbrush, stickers and "treasure chest" goodies.


The girls christened a new chalk board in the waiting area - Cora was with us because she's been sick this week.

 Though I wasn't looking forward to Spring Break ending, I wasn't expecting Cora to have another week off from school!

She went Monday morning, but the school nurse called me around 10 with Cora in the office with a 101.5 degree fever. Tuesday she still had a low-grade fever, with a sore throat and cough.

On Wednesday, we went to the pediatrician, but a strep test came back negative so it seems to be just another virus. By Wednesday afternoon, Cora's fever was up to 103, so at this point I don't know if she'll make it to school the rest of the week. According to school policy, she must be fever-free for 24 hours to go back to school.

Mrs. Hawthorne sent some of her class worksheets home with Johnny, so when she's feeling OK, she's working on them at home. It seems like Cora has been sick more in the past four months than in her previous five years.