The Happiest Shower

 On Saturday, my parents' backyard was magically transformed into the Happiest Place On Earth, especially for one very special bride-to-be.

 Melanie requested a "vintage Disneyland" theme to her bridal shower, and planned everything out to the tiniest detail.

The decor, the food choices, the yummy drinks - all followed Melanie's inspiration.

As the Matron-of-Honor, I helped my mom throw the shower, which means I helped pay for the loveliness.

Stacey helped a lot, too, hanging the paper lanterns, setting up tables and constructing the replica Disneyland sign that Mel then painted.






I also made the Mickey Mouse rice krispy treats, with help from Mel and Cora.

 

  

 We played games, ate and drank, and watched Melanie open some very generous gifts.

One of the games involved the clothing we wore. Melanie asked everyone to come in a "Disney Bound" outfit, which isn't a costume, but a way to identify as a character through color choice and accessories.

Melanie came as vintage Minnie Mouse, and her dress looks just like some images we've seen. I was Belle, with the yellow dress and red rose headband.

Since Cora and Violet are children, they just wore actual costumes. Cora wore her Ariel dress, while Violet came as Elsa (in a Cinderella dress).

Following tradition, Aunt Patty made a bouquet from the ribbons that adorned the presents (pressed through a paper plate.) Melanie will carry this bouquet at the wedding rehearsal in July.

It was a very lovely day, and a little taste of the fun we'll have July 11.

Blue Sharks Update

We have all been enjoying our family's first experience with competitive youth soccer the past few weeks.

Cora has played all or parts of several games in goal, where you can see her here.

She has a clean sheet - no opponents have scored against her.

The Blue Sharks lost their first game 5-0, but have gone on to win three in a row.

Stace is enjoying coaching, and he has received positive comments from the other parents. He is emphasizing passing the ball, and teaching the players how to play in positions.








And, especially with three wins in a row, it's been fun!

Post-game treats from the ever-present ice cream truck always help cool off the players (and their sisters).

Spring Break, Week 2

We returned from Ventura on Monday night, and Stace returned to work Tuesday. We started the rest of our second week of Spring Break with a playdate at my friend Melanie's house.

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JT and her kids came out to play, too, so we had Cora and Violet, Heather and Sienna, and Callie and Jonah, all together. Next door to Melanie lives a family that keeps chickens. 

 Sienna loves visiting them, and the others enjoyed it too.

 On our drive home, Cora made sure the bear was safely buckled in, too.

 Later that day, we went out for ice cream, and then returned to celebrate Owliver's birthday party. Violet had been planning this all day, with decorations and snacks.

 Owliver even received gifts. He had a great birthday.
On Wednesday, Cora went to Magic Mountain with Grandma, and Violet played with Benny. Stace and I enjoyed a mid-week date. We had a home-day on Thursday, with Cora and I going through her clothes and cleaning her room. Then, we had soccer practice in the afternoon.

 On Friday morning, Elena's mom Amber invited Violet over for a playdate. The preschool friends had a nice morning together.

 Meanwhile, Cora and I had a mommy-daughter date, with Starbucks and clothes shopping for my big girl. Then, we got the house cleaned up before picking up Violet...

 ...because Liana and Lucas were coming over for the afternoon.

Cora and Lucas didn't play Minecraft the whole time, but I didn't think about taking a photo earlier.
After dinner, when Lucas and Liana had gone home, I went to Sara's house for a moms' night. Tony, Emily and Alli came to our house to hang out with Stace, Cora and Violet. So, Violet had three playdates in one day (and Cora had two, plus a nice morning with Mom)! THAT'S the way to end Spring Break!

 

For most of the two weeks, the girls shared a room, or shared a bed. On the final night of sharing, they camped out in our bedroom. This was Violet's idea a few weeks ago. Don't they look sweet? Never mind the amount of complaining they did before the photo was taken... ("She's too loud," "She woke me up," "She elbowed me," etc.)

Our Ventura Trip - by Cora, with Mommy typing

We went to Ventura to visit Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty and went to the beach for a day.

After Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter, we came over to their house to sleep for the night.

In the morning, after we watched five episodes of Wild Kratts, we had a great breakfast of homemade pancakes with sunflower seeds mixed into the batter, with whipped cream and blueberries.

(Note from Lisa - Thanks, Uncle Bill, for making breakfast and babysitting so Stace and I could take a morning beach walk!)

We went on a very long bike ride, from their house to the pier, along the beach coast.

This is a picture of me and Violet and the pretty beach scene behind us.

(Note from Lisa - Please see the Beanie Boo clips that came along for the ride - Vi has two owls clipped to her bike, while Cora's fox is attached to her shirt. These girls are never far from their animal friends.)

We had a bike break at the pier playground. We had a lot of fun making pretty little statues with rocks, and playing at the playground.

The bike ride was about five miles there and back. Violet was outstanding. She only stopped twice - to get our lunch, and play.

We had lunch at In-N-Out. Violet got a milkshake, and at 7-11, I got an slurpee, for a treat.

Then, we went back to the house, and I went to a door place with Uncle Bill and Dad. I got lots of candy there. We went to the door store because Uncle Bill needed to trade in a door for their bathroom project.

Then we got ready to go to the beach. It was evening, so it was not very warm. The waves were tiny and not very fun. There was a very bad current so we could not go out far enough to get the good waves.

We went boogie boarding anyway. I was looking forward to it, and wasn't very happy when the water was cold and the waves were so small.

I had a little bit of fun. I am in my new wetsuit I got from England.



















The walk home was freezing and Violet had to be wrapped up in a sweatshirt.

After I was showered and all cleaned up, me, Mom and Dad went on a walk to get some supplies - marshmallows and supplies for nachos.
While we went, I had my bag to collect palm branches and twigs for the firepit, because we were going to have a fire.















We roasted marshmallows, and had a great time. When it was time to leave, we all gathered our stuff and waved and yelled goodbye from the car.

We had a great time at our uncle and auntie's house. We hope we can have big warm waves for boogie boarding in the summer.

Easter Joy

This year Grandma and Grandpa hosted Easter dinner, and we celebrated with Uncle Bill, Aunt Patty, and Nick.

Auntie Mel had to work, but we saw her in the morning when she and Nick went to church with us.

We had a lovely meal of ham, scalloped potatoes and a green bean salad.

You know it's a serious point Uncle Bill is making, when he insists on wearing the bunny ears.

The ears look better on Benny, don't they? Not that you can leave them on him very long, or they'd be shredded.










Aunt Patty provided homemade strawberry shortcake. Yum!

Mom had water balloons, and a water balloon toss will always turn into a water fight, even if the temperature isn't quite warm enough to enjoy the cold water.

First dip of the year...

...overseen by a curious puppy. Oh! So that's what's under the big pad thingy!

After our evening's fun, we went home and packed, and followed Bill and Patty to their house, to spend the night. Stace took Monday off, so we could enjoy a bit of Spring Break while the girls were off.

Partying and Planting

 Another Saturday, another birthday party! Violet was especially excited about Caleb's party, because it was a DOUGHNUT-themed birthday party!

Here, the children are playing a game of toss-the-giant-inflatable-donut-around-your-friend. (One could also play this game with a normal pool ring...)

 There were some other doughnut-themed games, and, of course, plenty of the yummy pastries to eat.

After the party, Violet and I visited the baby ducklings at Bridgeport, got some groceries, and then met Stace and Cora at Lowes for some new flowers.
Cora skipped soccer because she wasn't feeling well, and had gone to bed with a slight fever.

She was feeling well enough later to help Violet plant out their new flowerbed, and reposition the fairy garden accessories.

The yard is taking shape! No more huge dirt piles, and the new grass is coming up.

 Stace and I also placed this pretty bench in the corner, near the citrus bushes grove.
A friend of my parents' was moving out of state and offered it to them, and they accepted it on our behalf. A nice addition, eh?

The finished flower/fairy garden. Just need some mulch to finish it off.

Placerita Playtime

 A beautiful day, a beautiful setting, and a bunch of beautiful girls. Such a fun Friday morning!

We met up with Elaine and Vivian, and Sadie and her girls Riley, Samantha and Macy at Placerita Canyon for a hike.

We started out in the museum, which was recently refurbished. Then we set off down one of the many trails.

 I picked Placerita because I wasn't sure how Violet, who doesn't handle walking all the way to school yet, would fare. Thankfully, she did very well, had a lot of fun with the big girls, and never asked to be carried.

Plus, Placerita has the birds of prey, and clean restrooms. It's the little things...

Violet found a cool little thing here, a butterfly wing.

 Here's Cora, Sam, Vivi, Riley, Macy and Violet.

After a snack and drink under the oak trees, the girls all played hide-and-seek, before we went to look at the Oak of the Golden Dream. This state monument shows where gold was first discovered in California.

Cora asked if everyone could come over, and why not?  The girls spent a while setting up the Calico Critter houses and shops.

Elaine brought by pizza for lunch, and later we went to a park to play before our afternoon fun came to an end.

Science Fun

Back at Christmas time, we got a family membership to the Discovery Cube science museum, and it's April and we still hadn't taken advantage of it.

We also haven't seen a lot of Chris and David in recent months, at least not as much as we did when Toni next door had them every day after school.

So, on Thursday, we took a group field trip to the museum, just 20 minutes away near Sylmar.

Toni hopped in our car, and we picked up Sendy and the boys, and away we went. It's nice having a car big enough to fit a small crowd on a day like this!

The kids were all very excited for our field trip together, and the rock wall grabbed their interest right away. Then, they stepped into a wind tunnel tube, to simulate the Santa Ana winds the Los Angeles area gets each winter. A graphic explained why and how the winds form.

The four children enjoyed all the displays, and we filled the better part of five hours exploring the exhibits.

Midday, we ate our picnic lunch outside on the large playground.

After lunch, we checked out the grocery store area, where the children use computerized "carts" with scanners, to answer questions by scanning the correct item.

When we finished, we could take a photo as a successful shopper in the checkout area.

Here, Violet is using the pulley system to haul herself up. Three different chairs use different numbers of belts, to show how much easier it is to pull something with multiple pulleys.

Lastly, we went into a mock house, with front yard, back yard and garage, with tablets to answer questions about energy usage. After doing his own, David helped Violet with the questions. Here, she's looking to see if the fridge has an "energy star" label.

It was a very nice day, and fun to spend it with Chris and David, Sendy and Toni.

That evening, after soccer practice, we then rejoined our friends, to watch David's baseball game. Since he's in an older division, his midweek games start at 7, too late for us! Since it is Spring Break, we could be out later.