Back to School! And, Visitors!

Aunt Patty and Uncle Bill came into town for our long MLK Day weekend! And on Thursday afternoon, Melanie, Nick and Ellie stopped over, so Aunt Patty got to spend quality time with this cutie.

On Thursday evening, we went to an escape room together, and Linda, Steve and Kelly met us, too. We split into two rooms, and my team escaped! We had several clues, though, so we can't take all the credit.

Here's our whole group...

And the team that didn't quite make it out...

Mom was trying to get a nice selfie pic with her little brother...and it was harder than it looked. They were cracking me up.

Stace and Cora busied themselves with the puzzles with various types of locks while we waited for the second team to finish up.

On Friday morning, Vi finally got to ride her new bike to school. It had been frosty all week in the mornings, and Cora has a much longer ride, but Friday was warmer, in the 40s. Violet was excited!

Later, Violet had her normal Friday half-day, and after we ate, we took a walk. We came across this interesting sight - vultures having their own lunch, roadkill opossum. (Look under the bush.)

Violet was quite put out by viewing the cycle of life up close and personal. But we soldiered on, and had a lovely walk.

On Sunday, we had the family over and Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty made their amazing pizza for dinner. It was great to all be together!

Rest of Winter Break

Stace has started a garage reorganization project, and he has had the girls helping when possible. When she was done helping out, Violet got out a piece of wood and her paints and started creating.

She then gave our old fairy furniture and accessories a redo. So cute!

Cora was also creating in the yard - because I was tired of her being hold up in her dark bedroom! Such a teenager. But, this (almost) teenager is very creative too; she's writing a fantasy novel, and she's about 100 pages in. I encouraged her to at least get some fresh air and sunshine while she typed. Her cat joined her on the bench. 

 The cats also joined Stace as he attempted to brush his teeth the other night. They are so helpful!

Cora had a mishap with her phone, and the screen broke. To save money, she bought a new screen kit, but the repair didn't work out. So, we learned a lot about how complex (and delicate)  the insides of cell phones are. After too many hours of online research, I ended up finding a replacement at a price she could (nearly) afford on her own. We think she'll be more careful now.

On Sunday, we visited Melanie, Nick and Ellie at my parents' house after church. We then went to a brand new boba place by their house - it was so yummy! Violet's boba love is an expensive problem!

Disney Days!

We went back to the Happiest Place on Earth Tuesday and Wednesday, spending the night at a hotel with Sue and her kids, and Jen's boys. We went to Disneyland for a while on Tuesday, and then went back to the hotel for a free dinner reception (!) before going back to Disney for a few more hours.

Here, we are about to board the Millennium Falcon.

Cora and I served as pilots. I think we did alright!

Our group of kids, with an extra friend the older boys ran into. With Santa Clarita schools off this extra third week, we saw quite a few people we knew at Disney!

We had to take a silly photo with our Toy Story Ride 3D glasses.

The girls and I didn't make it to Disney at Christmastime, so it was nice that the tree was still up.

Thunder Mountain is always a favorite.

So is Splash Mountain - Trent got soaked shortly after finding inner peace.

After having a great breakfast at the hotel Wednesday, we had one nice meal out, at Violet's favorite Lamplight Lounge.

Cora's wildly bubbling concoction was a hit with the table. All the boys had to try it. She said it tasted like lime and green apple, with berry bursting balls.

Here's Trent trying one of the bursting balls.

Even the big kids love this wet, always-rotating giant ball. They could have circled it for hours.

We then went up on the Ferris Wheel, in the cars that move quickly back and forth.

Space Mountain!

Silly hooded girls.

We had a great couple of days. It's sad to think our four years of making Disney memories with friends are drawing to a close!

Introducing...

 After two days in the hospital, my sister gave birth to my beautiful new niece Eloise Iris on Wednesday morning, the first birth of the year at Henry Mayo. She's a big girl - 9 pounds, 5 ounces and almost 22 inches long!

 And, she's beautiful.

Violet is absolutely in love! She can't wait to be old enough to babysit.

Since I'm 9 years older than Melanie, it was sweet for me to see her with her. So much like me at that age - I was so excited and proud to finally be a big sister.

Awwww!

Birthday Fun

My birthday came around again, and JT, Callie and Jonah came out to celebrate with me. We met Stace for lunch at Egg Plantation - gotta get your free omelette when you can!

You might notice Cora missing - sadly, she'd been up sick the night before, all night long. She spent Friday in bed. We all took turns with food poisoning or a tummy bug this week.

After our lovely lunch, we went over to Hart Park. We walked up to the mansion, mainly to check out the bison.

I've loved this lady for over 20 years! And, it was 20 years ago she joined me and some other friends and family on an epic 21st birthday trip to Vegas. Good times.

This young lady is pretty darn special, too. She is so loving and sweet, especially when she gets some time with Mom or Dad without her sister around.

Later, we got a snack at the Habit, and got a cake mix and frosting at Ralphs. Violet had a plan! She made me a yummy cake, though she didn't like how it looked so we didn't get an official photo with it.

JT got me a perfect birthday card!

Later, we went out for Chinese at Mandarin Wong, one of the oldest restaurants in Santa Clarita. My parents met us, but we forgot to get a photo! We really enjoyed the food and the experience - I think we have a new favorite!

New Year Happenings

On Monday, we'd eaten out, and Violet and Stace both were sick that night. Violet ended up with a low fever and fatigue for much of Tuesday, leading us to cancel the New Year's Eve plans we'd made with JT and Jim.

By Tuesday evening, after some more ibuprofen, Violet was up enough to come out and play our new game Splendor with us. We then watched one of the Men in Black movies.

On Thursday, we went back to the Ice Station with Cora's girlfriends. It worked out so well that all of her favorite girls could make it!

Victoria was able to come, too, which made Violet so happy.

I'm so, so happy that Cora is developing friendships with these sweet young ladies.