Violet's Promotion

Violet and her sixth grade classmates promoted Thursday morning, in a lovely ceremony that featured songs, speeches and each child saying a few words before getting their certificate.

"When I grow up, I want to go to art college and study to be an animator," Violet said.
 

Here's Violet with her principal Mrs. VanGelderen.

Friends since they were 3! Now going on to Placerita together...

Last Week of Elementary!

 Violet's last week of elementary school was full of fun activities. First up was the parents vs. students kickball game on Monday, including certain big siblings.

Here's Violet gunning it for first base!

Cora helped out on the parent side, and we won.

On Tuesday, the kids had a picnic lunch of pizza and watermelon at a park across from the bowling alley. 

Then, we walked across the street for neon bowling! Here, they're getting their glow sticks ready. The painted their t-shirts with glow paint last week.

Violet had fun! 

Violet and her buddy Zane... It was a loud crowd, especially when the kids knew the songs that came on! So much fun!

And on Wednesday, the kids wore their jammies (except for a few, like Violet) and watched a movie, and later had an ice cream sundae party.

I didn't get a photo of Violet's loaded sundae, because I was helping serve the ice cream. I also helped with everything, all week, including coordinating the parent volunteers and the money to pay for various parts of the week. It was busy but worth it!

Week in Review

The school was able to hold its Volunteer Tea, after a two-year Covid hiatus. Here I am with my friend Rose, who has a freshman son who is friends with Cora. 

The tea is a lovely thank you to the parents who help out, and featured yummy food! It was strange to think that the last time I attended would have been Cora's sixth grade year, when so many of my friends were "graduating" as well - like Sue, Jen, Dinorah... And now it's my turn!

The children decorate these for their parents any way they choose. Violet went with a nature/mountain theme, naturally!

Stace celebrated the Queen's Jubilee with flags and watching the festivities from here.
 

Cora closed out her freshman year on Thursday! Bring on Summer! We celebrated with some new earrings - and a new hole to put them in! This is her second hole.

She didn't even flinch!

Violet's Musical

Another huge part of Meadows returned this year, much to our joy and gratitude. The Musical run by Mrs. Shafarman was Cora's favorite part of elementary school, and Violet was set to take part when the world shut down in 2020.

This year, we were able to pull it together again, even though Mrs. Shafarman has retired. She returned for weekly rehearsals, and on Wednesday, about 50 kids put on "The Greatest Americans of the Twentieth Century."

The play is basically an awards show, for the 20th Century great Americans, and Violet had a lead role as one of the show hosts.

In this scene, the girl playing Ernest Hemingway VERY much wants to come up to get his award.

It's a cute show, and a few years ago Cora and her friend Violet played the Wright brothers.

This year, Cora helped out when she could, with working with the kids on their choreographed dances.
 

It was so wonderful to see Mrs. Shafarman again, and have Violet get to work with her!

Ms. Sheen always assists Mrs. Shafarman.

Here is Violet with a couple of her costars. No, they weren't told they had to wear black, but they apparently all got the memo!

Cora and Mrs. Shafarman enjoyed seeing each other again, too. 

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Our Friday afternoons together are dwindling, as Violet will have full school days on Fridays in junior high. 

This weekend, it was cool enough to think of a walk, and we ended up going to the Harry Carey Ranch at Tesoro Adobe county park. Violet is checking out some aging equipment in front of the old barn.
 

On Sunday afternoon, I took Liana and Violet to the mall to get Liana some new earrings for her birthday. She got her ears pierced recently, when she turned 12. 

Of course, a fun trip to the mall with a friend requires treats like froyo or boba!

We also celebrated Rigo's birthday over the long weekend - Happy 50th, friend!

Final Shows

Cora had her final Show Choir shows this weekend, with the Spring Concert event. The show featured all the choirs' competition sets, plus some "thowback" numbers from comp sets from years past, plus student-initiated numbers, PLUS a tribute to the graduating seniors. 

Here's Cora with her friend Eric, after the show when he was wearing his cap and gown as a graduating senior honoree.

This is Cora's choir doing its throwback number, the Imagine Dragons song "I'm on Top of the World." Cora is the one on one knee in this photo, and, later, she was one member of a trio with a featured singing part of the song.

Here are the rest of the photos from the parent who is a professional and blesses us with her talents!

Tidbits

Well, we did it. The Pooh Bear chair is no more. Our HOA gets a huge dumpster bin each spring, which is really handy for those larger items. So, bye bye, chair. Thank you for your faithful service.

Stace is famous! He made it into the Signal! Ha! See my little blue arrow pointing to him? He and some coworkers like taking part in the annual Bike To Work Week, especially on the big day when the city offers free food, drinks and swag at City Hall. Here, he's riding with other Woodward people.

Liana came over to hang out over the weekend, and the girls made mochi, and even got it to cover ice cream for a frozen treat.
 

Love these two!

Show Choir Banquet

Cora had an interesting experience in Show Choir this year. She loved the performing, but there were other aspects she didn't love, and she decided to not continue with it for next year. But, she DID decide to attend the annual year-end banquet. Many families go as well, so I accompanied her. Might be our only high school banquet...

It was fun to have a reason to get dressed up and go to The Odyssey banquet restaurant in Granada Hills. 

Here's Cora with Abby, her choir "big sibling," who happened to be star in many of the top choir's productions. 

These are the Show Choir Theater kids! They're in different choirs, but all were in Gatsby and R&G this year. I was grateful one of Cora's friends shared the photo.
 

Cora will miss Eric next year! He starred in Gatsby, stole scenes in R&G, and was an amazing performer in the Sound Vibes and Unleashed choirs.

After the dinner came awards time, and Cora won one of the awards! She was honored as Hart 'N Soul's Most Improved Singer, as voted on by her peers. Considering she'd had no formal singing training prior to this year, it was sweet to know her fellow singers recognized her improvement.

You can just barely see Cora rushing off the stage after getting her award. She doesn't like this kind of attention!

All in all, it was a lovely evening.