Tidbits

The night of Violet's birthday party, since it was a weekend night, she slept in Cora's room. She wanted us to get the trundle out, but it was too late to deal with it, so she made herself comfortable on the floor.

When Stace and I were off to bed and peeked in, we saw that Sebastian had made himself comfortable, too.

Violet helped Daddy put together a new side table for our patio.

Earlier that day, I'd been chosen to make a little money by participating in a focus group. Stace came home early and took Violet to pick up Cora from school.  She rode her bike there and back, and learned how to start off by herself.

You gotta love birthday presents! This lucky girl has had a lot of fun new toys to play with lately, including this princess play doh set.

One morning this week, Violet put together dresses and decorations for almost three hours!

A Frozen Birthday Surprise

So, the British classic car show wasn't really the height of Violet's birthday celebration.
On Saturday, we had a few dozen friends and family over for a birthday bash, surprise-style, with a secret special guest, as well.

 We convinced Violet to wear her beautiful Anna dress Saturday morning, and Stace took her out to get a doughnut and lunch (she must not have noticed that "lunch" was six pizzas and salad for a crowd).

When they returned, the house was full, and everyone shouted "Happy Birthday" when she came in. She was a bit nervous, and ran back outside to hug Stace's leg.
As she figured out that the houseful were all friends, she warmed up.


 Then, there came a knock at the door, and who should be on the other side, but Queen Elsa! Violet's reaction was priceless: A big smile and even bigger hug for Elsa, who exclaimed, "You're my sister!"

















Back in the fall, I'd purchased a deal from a party company, for a character to come for two hours to entertain up to 20 children for a party. Then, Disney's Frozen came out, and I knew which character we had to have come!

Elsa was great - she sang songs with the children, told them stories, brought a dress-up trunk, organized a treasure hunt, made balloon animals, and painted their faces.

 

 

We all enjoyed Violet's party so much. It was a special day for a special little girl, and we really appreciate all our friends and family who came to spend the day with us.

Violet loved it all too, and loved Queen Elsa spending time with her.

Underwood Strawberry Picking, 2014

It's spring, so it's time for our annual trip to Underwood Family Farms to pick strawberries with our Mom2Mom friends.

We drove to Moorpark on Thursday with our new friend Christina and her daughters Cami and Melanie. Cami is in Cora's class, and Melanie is a few days older than Violet, so the girls all have fun together.

 We've been strawberry-picking with Liana since she and Violet were babies strapped to our chests.

 Here's Violet, Cora, Cami and Melanie. Christina and I picked up the big girls about 10 minutes apart, so they didn't arouse suspicion by leaving their class together.

 It was forecast to be horribly hot on Friday, with a wind. Thankfully, though it was hot, the wind kept us cool and dry, so our day was bearable.

 Farmer Tiffany here was very helpful and personable; she led the girls and I to a couple of rows with many bright red, juicy berries to choose from.

 Yum!
Violet later made strawberry juice with some of hers. In her words, you just "crack the strawberries and put them in water." I had her rinse and cut off the stem, and then we blended them in the blender with a tiny bit of water and sugar. It was thick, but tasty too.

 Here, Violet is turning the crank to bring food up the pulley to the goat standing up on the platform. (You can just see his rear legs, as he is blending in to the tree.)

Violet especially loved the goat kids, and wanted to borrow the camera to take her own photos of them.

We had a very fun day together - fun and exhausting. When we got back home around 3, we were all ready for a nap. Well, Christina and I were ready for a nap at least!

The Queen's English

 For weeks, Violet has been begging me to take her to a British car show. So, we made her birthday dreams come true Sunday by taking her to the Queen's English show, held at Woodley Park in Van Nuys.

Jimmy and his daughter Callie came out to join us. It was so nice hearing all the various British accents as we walked around looking at the more than 400 cars. There were examples of every major British classic car on show, including a whole load of MG's.

One day, I'll have my car there (when I actually have time to work on it). At the moment, the carburetor is on my work bench, completely stripped down, waiting to be cleaned.

This interesting car is a Morgan three-wheeler. These cars were originally made decades ago, and are now back in production. This model is virtually brand-new.


Here's a front view of the retro-styled Morgan, powered by a V-twin motorcycle engine.

 For the last year and a half, I've been watching an Internet show called Jay Leno's Garage. Leno is a famous American chat show host and comedian, and a total petrolhead, with a massive collection of cars.

A friend of mine told me he often attends the classic car shows in the area. As Jimmy and I were looking at a Daimler that was once used by King George V, Mr Leno was stood 10 feet away. He was a really friendly bloke, just as he comes across in his show.

Meanwhile, Lis and the girls entertained themselves with...
... I don't know what they did. I just know that they came with me, and we all went home together.







As long as Violet had a nice time, on her birthday. I know they played "Ring a Ring of Roses," because there is a photograph of it.

They also formed a Conga Line through the classic Jags - this video is for my friend Keith.

Violet is 4!

 Friday afternoon marked the start of Violet's big birthday weekend. (Really, it will be a birthday-week-plus, but more on that in a minute.)

To celebrate, we took the girls out to McDonald's for dessert Friday evening. Their animals needed to come, too. Cora's blue leopard is named Lily, and was very, very important on Friday. I love that Cora is growing up in so many ways, but she still loves to play.


 Later, after a few weeks' break, we let the girls share a room/bed again. Violet is so excited to sleep with Cora.

We went to the Cowboy Festival on Saturday after Violet had her soccer class...

And on Sunday, we went to the Queen's English, a classic car show featuring British makes.

Violet turned four Sunday, but Cora was very happy to carry her around like a baby. Cora has expressed a tinge of sadness that Violet is growing up, and is no longer a baby who calls her "Guia." We all feel the same way, Cora! But, we of course are also are pleased to see the girl Violet is growing into.

When we got home, we spoke to our family in England, and Violet opened some lovely presents. The girls spent the afternoon playing with her new toys, while Stacey baked a cake for his girl. Stacey is becoming quite the baker.

After dinner, we took a short walk, with Violet getting some practice in on her big-girl bike. While there, she announced that the birthday bunnies were busy setting up her birthday cake. Yes, the birthday bunnies. They are the ones who make cakes and set them up, as a surprise.

So, Violet's birthday was a bit low-key - but we will be celebrating with her friends next week, with a party. She doesn't know about it, so hopefully it will be a great surprise.

Cowboy Festival 2014

We giddy'd up to the annual Cowboy Festival on Saturday at Melody Ranch, the motion picture studio tucked away in a quiet Newhall canyon.

 Balancing along the line of stones occupied the girls for a while when Stace was ordering up our biscuits and gravy breakfast. Later, we enjoyed our usual Cowboy Fest lunch - a hot dog, tri tip sandwich and beans, and peach cobbler.

 

 

 Violet was content to sit on the plastic horse, while Cora wanted to try lassoing the bull.

 The girls especially enjoyed the children's corral - they panned for gold, pounded metal stamps into leather medallions, played old-fashioned wooden games, and washed a rag on a washing board and wrung it out through a hand-crank wringer.

 We also watched a few bands perform. Violet took advantage of my lap for a nap. For the first time, we didn't bother bringing the stroller, and this is the day she wants to sleep! Of course, I'm soaking it up, with my baby turning four.

 We lucked out with lovely weather, a bit breezy but not too warm. It was such a nice day out together!

Violet Mae, at 3-going-on-4

Oh, sweet, silly Violet.

I'd better get these photos of "Violet at 3, almost 4," before she does, in fact, turn 4 this weekend.

Violet at almost 4 is definitely silly. She likes being funny: singing funny songs; creating funny faces; making funny noises.

A little job I've given her recently is to empty the package of toilet paper rolls into their respective spots in the bathrooms. So the other morning, this was her idea: she put them in a stack - a very tall stack, the height of which required a stool. She was so pleased with herself, giggling and discussing her feat.

Violet, just in the past week or so, has started wiping herself more often. But for quite a lot of weeks (months?), this is how we'd find her when we'd go in to wipe her bum.

It was such a great trick, such a secretive hiding spot, she'd laugh out loud every time we'd "find" her. Her ability to be amused is amazing. She also liked me to peek in at her, "through the crack."

In other bathroom news (bet you never want to read that in a sentence again), we've thrown out the pink princess toilet seat we've used for, oh, five or so years. It's the little things...

Since Violet has started going to soccer class, she has grown more interested in playing footie with Daddy while Cora has her own class. The other day, Violet ran to get her cleats on before we left home for class; this is how she came out. A dress, cleats, ankle socks and running shoes.

We've recently put an end, or a pause at least, to the girls sharing a room on the weekends. Too much arguing. So, on several nights, Violet has asked to sleep on her own floor.

Speaking of sleeping... What's a lazy Sunday afternoon without a nap?