Friendly Week

 We've had a nice week, with several play dates with good friends, Open House, and fabulous weather (which we appreciated, after intense heat the week before).

On Tuesday, Melanie, Heather and Sienna came out to play. All went well, and we enjoyed catching up while Heather and Violet played.

 Norah came over on Wednesday to play, while Morgan had a special lunch at the Tea Gardens. Violet and Norah got along great, making up all sorts of imaginative games.

At one point, they were playing with the Frozen figurines, and I could hear Norah singing "Let it Go." Violet interrupted, "No! They don't sing it in the game (we're playing)!"

The signs on the wall are from Cora's preschool game she played with Violet for several days. It started as a Minecraft school, with Cora teaching Violet all about the video game that has taken over the lives of many kids we know. "Cora's my teacher," Violet had told me then. "She learns me about Minecraft."

Cora then expanded the curriculum to include letters and writing, thankfully.

 On Thursday, Cora's school had a minimum day before the evening's Open House. We packed a lunch and picnicked at the park, with several of Cora's friends and their parents.

Violet enjoyed riding around on Cora's scooter, and did very well.

 Here's Cora and "the other Violet," after they spent a while playing basketball. I always love hearing from Cora about what she does at recess and lunch: handball, basketball, and some game with a ball and net called "prisoner" are her favorites.

Cora definitely enjoys being a first-grader. Recently, we were walking to school and she spotted some kindergarteners, also on their way to school.

"Awww, look at the kindergartners!" she cooed. "They're so cute!"
And while relaying a school story to us at the dinner table, she described another boy as "much, much younger than me. He was probably only six."

The last first grade assembly of the year took place Friday. Cora was among the children to receive a special award for teamwork.

And on Friday evening, we went to Juliana and Daryl's for a family dinner date.

Another family came as well, with a daughter Violet's age and toddler son. The big girls spent part of their time in a secret hideout under Maya's bed, planning ways to spy on the younger children. Eventually they let Violet in to the game as a guard.

Later, Violet practiced and then put on a show, singing "Let it Go" for all of us.

Open House

We all went to Cora's Open House on Thursday, and admired all the work she and her classmates have produced this spring. At right, we have Cora's self-portrait as a marine biologist, which she said she wants to become when she's grown up. All the drawings and career proclamations were anonymous, and the parents were instructed to view them all and then guess which was their child's.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the classroom as a whole; it looked beautiful, so colorful with many impressive projects on the walls and hanging from the ceiling.

 Nan and Pop received Cora's "Flat Cora" project and took it around Somerset, and then sent it back to Cora's classroom with photos. It all looked very good, up on the wall of the school corridor with the other "flat self" projects.

 Here is Cora's sea life diorama, with the sea otter she made from clay.

 Cora made the otter was made from clay and painted it, and we glued a real shell onto its arms.

The children all wrote poems about themselves, following a set of prompts. They also made 3D images of their faces from items that help represent them.

Cora's poem reads: 

I am Cora Rose.

I wonder if I can fly. 

I see a cat meowing. 

I see a plane flying in the air. 

I taste the sweet blueberries on the bush. 

I pretend my stuffed animal is alive. 

I think my cute cat loves me. 

I touch the cat's soft fur.

I smell the red roses blooming. 

I am creative with the colors. 

I love cats I worry about nothing. 

I dream that I am flying. 

I hope I can see my Nan and Pop. 

I am Cora Howard.

 Mrs. Vasquez created a hair bow from an image of the cover of The Magic Faraway Tree.

 A few weeks ago, I helped in class and took a peek at Cora's journal. A few of the pages made me happy; here they are.

It makes us all sad that Cora only has about three weeks left of school. It's been an amazing year, with an outstanding teacher.

Day of Picnics

On Saturday, Stacey's work hosted a Western-themed picnic, which featured good-old-fashioned fun, especially for the children.

The girls enjoyed the games - here, they're taking part in a hula-hoop contest. The winner got a ticket to Disneyland! These days, that's worth nearly $100. Cora came in third.

Both girls were given animals after their plastic frogs won the frog-hopping contest.

Stace took part in the ping-pong golf game, and found it tough to hit the ball through the cutouts.

The food was good - barbecued chicken, steak and hot dogs, and a variety of side dishes and ice creams.

Later the girls enjoyed the petting zoo - Violet especially loved petting the super-soft ducks.

While Violet giggled, Cora fed grass to the goat.

Later Saturday, we went to the annual Mom2Mom family picnic. This has become an event we look forward to each year, and we had a great turnout this year, with eight families attending.

Stace played soccer with the children, and later played basketball with the other dads. At that point, the pop-up goal was put to use by Liana, Allison, Melanie, Cami and Violet.

Tidbits

We had a McDonald's ice cream treat after soccer this week. We usually order sundaes for the girls, while I get a chocolate-dipped cone.

This week, Cora asked if she could have one too. We warned her they can be very messy. Then, she proceeded to start eating from the middle. Talk about a chocolate-vanilla explosion, all over her face and hands.

No real story behind this photo - just Violet, catching up on the latest Zooscape newsletter. Both girls love learning about animals, which has been encouraged by their enjoyment of the "Wild Kratts" television show about a pair of brothers' animal adventures.

Cora slept over at Sophia's house on Friday night, and this time she lasted the whole night! We picked her up at Sophia's baseball game, where Cora was practicing on Sophia's brother's skateboard.

Cora had a lot of fun with her sleepover, and we're all glad it went so well.

Another "just because" photo. We love these boys!

This week another soccer session ended. With vacations taking up three full weeks, we'll take the summer off and restart in the fall.

And, a Violetism... Violet has been enjoying telling made-up jokes recently. We enjoy them too - at least, we enjoy her enjoyment - she laughs at every "punchline," even if they aren't exactly humorous. At all.

One example, at the breakfast table this week: "Why does the cow didn't get some milk?"
Us: Why?
Violet: "Because he wanted moooos milk."

When Cora and I questioned the humor, she said that it WAS a joke, "because it starts with cows."
Apparently that's all you need for a good joke, people. Cows.
(Don't worry, readers, we DO normally nod and fake a laugh, but this was after quite a few Violet-jokes...)

Our Peanut

 Violet had her four-year-old doctor's visit on Friday. She is well! And tiny. Not that we didn't already know that, as many children half her age are taller than her.

Violet is now 31 pounds, putting her in the 17th percentile, and 36 1/4 inches. Her height ranks her in the 2nd percentile, down from the 5th a year ago. If Vi were in a room of 100 four-year-olds, one would be shorter than her.

Dr. Brockett said that with her family history of shortness, this isn't a cause for alarm, and who knows, she could have a growth spurt this year and climb up the charts a bit. Pediatricians like to see children this age grow two or three inches a year, and Violet came close to that mark, with a growth of 1 3/4 inches.

Let's all hope she can at least reach her mother's lofty height of 5-feet-even.

 Violet cooperated well throughout her appointment, with its blood pressure check and hearing and eye tests. She was then a brave girl for her shot, one that combined the MMR and chicken pox vaccines. She barely flinched, and set a good example for Cora, who came along to get her chicken pox vaccine booster.

Yes, it was Cora who needed more consoling after the shots, but at least my 7-year-old wasn't thrashing and kicking.

To celebrate a successful trip to the doctor's, I thought I'd treat the girls to a smoothie at McDonald's. (They're doing a buy one, get one special right now for their fancy drinks, and I got an iced mocha. Yes, I had ulterior motives.)

Sadly, Violet wanted an ice cream instead of a smoothie to such an extent that she cried the whole way home. She didn't even want a sip of the mango-pineapple frosty goodness. The tears continued off and on during her rest time, until I put on a Disney princess CD that accompanies a book, with several stories using the voices from the movies.

Cora went into Vi's room to listen and flip the pages, and Violet then joined her, with her smile back in place. Thanks, Uncle Dean and Auntie Jen, for a birthday gift that rescued Violet from her bad mood!

Pioneer Club Success

Another Pioneer Club year has come and gone, and it was a fantastic year for both girls. On Wednesday, we watched the closing ceremony as the girls were given their final badges.

Cora has finished her first year as a Voyager, and she really got a lot out of this year. Her teachers, Mrs. Egami and Miss Cassie, were great with Cora, drawing her out of her shell early in the year and helping her enjoy the program.

Violet is done with Skippers and will move on to Scooters in September. She loved being a Skipper with Miss Morgan, and I'm a bit sad that she won't have another year with Morgan and her Skipper friends together in one class.

 Stace and I were both given little thank-you gifts for helping this year, and then Violet got called back on stage to receive a perfect attendance certificate. She was by far the youngest to get this prize.

 At the end of the night, all the children were up front singing and dancing. This year was the first year that we all stayed through all the awards ceremonies in the sanctuary, without resorting to the cry room.

And a favorite part of closing night - ice cream!

Mother's Day fun, and friends

Sunday was Mother's Day, and my lovely husband and girls presented me with homemade cards, roses and a pretty birdbath for the yard. 

Cora made me the hat in school out of wrapping paper and liquid starch, and Violet decorated the heart-shaped photo holder at her preschool.

I really have the best job in the world!

Later in the morning, we went to church and posed in the sweet photo booth area.

After a relaxing afternoon at home, we met my family at Lazy Dog for dinner to celebrate the occasion. Being that we also did this last year, maybe we have a new tradition going.












And speaking of Mother's Day traditions... Last year Genia and I spent a few hours together, and this year, I was blessed to get to see her, too. She made a quick visit to SoCal, and stayed with us Sunday night, Monday, and part of Tuesday.

It was so very good to have time to catch up, in person. On Monday, we went to the Tea Gardens for brunch, the mall for shopping, Lazy Dog for a drink, and out to dinner in the evening. It was a vacation day for me, too! (Violet took this photo of us at Lazy Dog. It's surprisingly good, seeing how much the camera was wobbling in her hands.)

Cora and Violet were almost as excited to see Genia as I was. Genia slept in Cora's room, and the girls slept on our floor. Unprompted, Cora wrote this note for her Sunday and left it on her pillow.

On Tuesday, Genia came with me to our final Mom2Mom meeting of the year, before it came time for her to return to her family.

We're all excited about our trip to Montana this July, when we'll get to see the kids and John, too.

Hitting the Trails

On Saturday morning, Violet had soccer at Bridgeport Park, and afterwards we moved down a few yards to an event promoting the city's bike trails.

The Amgen Tour of California is coming through town next week, and the city is promoting awareness of the race. The family biking day featured vendors, tricycle races, free food and drink, and a guided 4-mile ride on the bike trails.

As we were getting ready to head out, Cora's teacher and her family arrived with their bikes.

Stace and I enjoyed chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez, while Cora had fun with Mia, their daughter who is two years older than her.

Stace and I had a trike race, too. I needn't say anymore about that, I'm sure.