Final GATE Musical for Cora

Cora was very excited for her day of performances in the school musical Wednesday! I thought she looked so grownup and pretty when she was ready to leave for school.

She performed twice in the school day, once for the younger grades and again for the upper grades. We returned to school in the evening for the performance for the families.

Cora was one of four "delivery people" in the play, which was called "The Great Western Movement." The Delivery People were the main roles, appearing throughout the show. Once again, Cora starred next to Violet, her sweet longtime friend.

At the climax of the play, Cora and crew are delivering the "Golden Spike" to Promontory Point, Utah, where newly built railroads are about to connect the East and West Coasts in 1869.

But, inside the package was... the Famous Golden BOWLING BALL?!? Um, oops!

Cora, as always, was a great little actress, delivering her lines loudly, clearly and with great expression.

Here's video of the exciting moment and song...

Sophia played Daniel Boone, and song his/her song very well. In fact, all the songs were sung well, and all the parts were well-acted.

Charlie had a role too, for the first time. (Jake wasn't interested in taking part.)

We're so proud of our girl! Who knows if she'll be on stage again, but she certainly thrived in her time with Mrs. Shafarman and the three GATE musicals she took part in.

Cora with Charlie and Cami, who played a pioneer girl.

Mrs. Shafarman has made clear that she is going to miss these sixth graders! Many of them have performed together all three years they were eligible. They presented Mrs. Shafarman with flowers and a special card.

I also gave Mrs. Shafarman and Ms. Sheen lovely bouquets and gift cards, through money I collected from the parents.

Cora, Cooper,Trent, Ryan and Christine goofing around after the show.

Cora and Sophia

Violet can't wait for her turn to be in the musical next year!

Cora will miss these ladies, but she says she's going to be back to help out next year!

Day in the Life

How about a Day in the Life, with Cora about to leave elementary school, and Violet in her last weeks of third grade?
6:50 a.m. - I wake Cora up, and then go to Violet's room to do the same. I give Vi her thyroid medicine...and then go back to make sure Cora's up... and then return to Violet's room to get her out of bed.
While the girls get up and dressed, I shower and dress too.
7:20 - The girls were having their breakfast while watching Fortnite videos when I come back out to make their lunches.
7:25 - Time for the girls to brush teeth, and then get their shoes on and backpacks together.

7:43 a.m. - The girls are ready to go, and Violet has been riding her bike with Cora to school for the past week. Violet loves riding her bike with her sister, and asks if she can do it every day.

7:50 - I walk to school, so that I can walk with my girlfriends. I usually like watching the girls walk from Morning Ceremony to their classrooms, but Cora's class is now setting up chairs for graduation practice instead of taking part in Morning Ceremony.

8:40 - After walking with my girlfriends, we come back to see the sixth-graders practicing for graduation.

Cora and Jake are in the white circle, practicing walking in. The teachers selected the order of who walked in together, and perhaps they know that Cora and Jake are good friends. They are the last pair to walk in, so every sixth-grader is facing forward, watching. Walking "down the aisle" together has gotten them quite a bit of teasing.

8:55 - Christina drives me back home, and we chat for a bit in her car before she heads to work. Then, it's tidying, getting ready for the day, handling insurance phone calls, and heading to an orthodontist appointment. When I get home at 11:30, I tackle laundry, blogging and lunch.

2:45 - Cora and Violet burst in after riding home. They have a snack, and do their homework and chores. Snack today consists of homemade vanilla bean frappuccinos - I've found a copycat recipe online that's quite yummy - and apple slices.

3:00 - Cora begins playing Fortnite with Jake. They play together most days, talking through their headsets. Violet watches for a bit, and then goes to play with her Lego dragons in the playroom. She is creating a new dragon out of bits of Lego.

3:20 - We leave for a makeup salon, where Cora has a 3:30 eyebrow appointment. This is a big week coming up - GATE Musical is Wednesday, and promotion/graduation the following Wednesday. Since Cora hasn't had her brows done since January, we agreed this was a good time to get it done.
Violet, just visible in the mirror, brings her homework and her kindle to occupy herself.

4:20 - My gorgeous girl, after Amariz, the makeup and brow stylist, finishes with her. A bit of powder, tiny amount of blush and eye shadow, and lip gloss - wow!

4:40 - Back home, Cora jumps back onto Fortnite with Jake, and they discuss attending a family picnic that evening at the school for GATE families. Charlie is in GATE, and so their family would be going.

5:10 - Stace comes home, and he isn't interested in a GATE picnic. Neither is Violet. Stace and I have planned to attend the school district's annual Art Show, which goes until 8 p.m. Neither girl wants to go to the Art Show. Lots of complaining.

6 - Cora convinces me to take her to school to the GATE picnic, so she can hang out with Jake and Char. We have a quick dinner there, while Violet and Stace have the same at home.

7 - Cora and I head back home and pick up Stace and Violet, and off we go to the Art Show. Stace and I are the only ones interested in attending. But it's a sweet event, and it's Cora's last one, and by golly, we're going.

7:20 - We've found Violet's artwork. It's a city collage. You can see by her bright smile how happy she is to have found it.

We never find Cora's art - she said she herself turned in her class's offerings to the front office, so we're not sure why no art from her class is on display.

7:50 - The event featured food trucks, so we reward the girls for their "patience" with Kona Ice.

8 p.m. - As the event winds down, Stace and I get an ice cream to share. We then drive home via old Newhall, showing the girls where we used to live.

8:20 - Cora has a shower, and Violet gets ready for bed.
Stace comes into our room, stating, "I just thought of a really good idea. What if we bought a really old van,
and turned it into a camper."
Me: "Why do all of your "really good ideas" start with, "What if we bought a really old...?"

9:00 - We say good-night to the girls, who remain awake past 9:30.

And there it is - A Day in the Life, 6th and 3rd Grade Style.

Recorders and Greeks

June started with a bang for us, with a busy two school weeks ahead. On Monday, Violet took played in the third grade recorder concert, and played very well.

Violet really enjoyed learning the recorder this year, and took it seriously. Unfortunately, she now says she doesn't want to continue in orchestra next year.

Later on Monday afternoon, the 6th graders presented their Greek Wax Museum, where they all wore togas and brought a famous Greek persona to life.
Cora is lying down in the front, on the right side.

Here, Cora listens to Sophia presenting her character. (Their tennis shoes really complete their outfits!)

And here, Cora presents her character, Thespis, to Sue and Yass. Thespis is known as the creator of acting and theater.

Here's Cora listening to Violet.

Grandpa was able to come by and hear Cora's speech, too.

We proudly present Thespis!

Week in Review

Memorial Day was Monday, and we went to the annual service honoring our fallen soldiers at Eternal Valley cemetery. 

We last attended the service when Violet was a tiny baby, so we felt it was high time we went again.

Later in the day, we went to Yass and Kell's for a barbecue for Yass's birthday. It was a lot of fun, as always.

 On Thursday evening, we bribed convinced Cora to check out our church's junior high youth group. This was the weekend our church has all students jump ahead into the next grade level, so Cora will no longer attend the 6th grade group on Sunday mornings. Instead, she'll go to adult church Sundays, and has the option to go to youth group on Thursdays. She was very nervous about going, but was happy to find a classmate from school to sit with. I attended a parent meeting with the student pastor, seen here.

 On Friday after school, Violet got crafty, and made this cape for Spencer. She sewed an S onto the black cloth, and the decorative sequins.

 On Friday afternoon, we met up with our friends Emily and Brad and their family, who flew in from Texas on the start of a California family vacation.

Emily's a big Dodger fan, so while she, Brad, and their two older boys went to the Friday night Dodger game, we kept 5-year-old Madeleine. We took her to Menchie's, played at home with our kitties, and watched a movie (Frozen!).

 Cora was a good big-sister-type, playing with Madeleine at the mall.

Later, Cora met up with my mom, and they painted pottery and then watched a very late showing of the new Aladdin movie.

 On Saturday, Violet had her last softball game, and then Stace had friends from work over to watch the Champions League final. Our afternoon/evening was filled with friends from Mom2Mom, at the year-end picnic.

This year, we met at the gorgeous home of one of our members. The kids had a great time playing in the pool.

On Sunday, we went to church, and Cora had no class to go to! She sat with us, and we decided to sit outside. It was a beautiful Sunday, which ended with a bit of time in our own pool.

Jumping Around

After Magic Mountain AND Disneyland, we had some Friday fun, too. Jake and Char came over after school, and late Violet's friend Victoria joined us, too. I took the kids to the trampoline jumping place formerly known as Sky High. The new owners were having an Open House, offering a special price $5 for one hour of playtime.

Violet and Victoria played basketball for a bit...

...while Cora and Jake waited in a long line to get on the dodgeball court. Cora was very disappointed about how the new people are running the dodgeball game. Only four kids per side, making for long lines, very different than before.

Her disappointment grew when the employees in the bi trampoline area were enforcing a "no running" rule, and when an employee told her she would need to buy new socks. The grippy socks we bought from Sky High weren't good enough, apparently. I spoke to the employee and, no, we didn't buy new socks for our half hour remaining.

Eventually, they settled into a game of jumping off the sides and doing flips, and they had a better time.

They were warm enough after the jumping to earn a slurpee and Dipping Dots from 7-Eleven.

We then took a field trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house to feed the dogs, since they were away helping Melanie with a wedding. We dropped Victoria off on our way home, and then the boys played with Cora a bit longer before they went home, too.

Disney Fun

With the school year winding down, we made one last trip to the Happiest Place on Earth with our Disney friends this week. Our passes are blocked on Fridays, so we pulled the kids out of school after their state testing time period ended at 10:30.

Though we might be able to make another trip happen in the fall, I know these special days are winding down... it's been a great three-year run of fun.

We started our day in California Adventure, in the single-rider line for Radiator Springs Racers. Our large group got split at one point - what a sad-looking group of pretty girls! No reason to be sad - we all got to our rides in and done within 25 minutes.

Then we headed over to their favorite activity - running around playing tag in the Redwood Creek area.

We then went into Disneyland, and took the train around to Tom Sawyer's Island ... where the kids ran around and did the same thing they did in the Redwood Creek area.

Nearby, we came upon this adorable sight. Cora was hoping to pet one, and possibly take it home.

Then, most of our party left to check out an extended preview for the upcoming Toy Story 4 movie. Cora and Violet weren't interested, though, so we got a Dole Whip treat instead.

The castle has recently been revamped and repainted - much brighter now. We made our way to where are friends were, and rode Space Mountain using the single-rider system again. Then we had dinner with Elaine and Vivi while the rest were still in the Toy Story preview - that line was silly long!

Violet's main goal was to do a drawing at the Animation Academy, so she and I ran back to California Adventure and just made it in time. Cora stayed with Vivi and Elaine to ride Thunder Mountain, while our other friends used their fast passes for the Toy Story ride.

Then we all met up again for one last hurrah, on Guardians of the Galaxy.

 Hands in the air! Everyone scream!

Then it was going on 9, we were in Anaheim, on a school night... all worth it though. Elaine and Vivian drove with us, so it was nice to have the extra company on the way home.

School Tidbits

Our school's third- through sixth-graders have been taking the state tests the past couple of weeks, and Violet was a bit nervous on her first day, since it was her first time. She decided to take with her the clay dragon that our friend Lucas made her for her birthday.

At the school's volunteer tea, besides enjoying many tasty treats, we were asked to write on a hand our name and the ways we've helped out at school. This week, I noticed the lovely billboard the librarian made from the hands.

I noticed the bottom had flowers with some of our active student leaders - look at this one! My favorite student council member...

And here's my hand/leaf.

This week was the McTeacher night at McDonald's, when teachers show up to help serve as a fundraiser. It was fun to see Mrs. Hawthorne...

...and Dr. Porter. Such special ladies in my girls' lives! Then, speaking of school volunteering, I got the girls home to Stace, and went to a Foundation board meeting. All in a day's work...