Beach Surprise

I came home from doing an errand Friday afternoon to find Stace waiting in the living room. My dad had been over to pick up the girls, and I now needed to pack my things for a weekend away.

The destination would be a surprise, but I should bring clothes for warmer weather, cooler weather, swimming and exercising. Stace had already gathered most of our things, including snacks and reading material.

Our 11th anniversary had gone by two weeks ago, with Stace telling me not to worry about it - he was taking care of things. The day itself was a nice (but rather normal) family day, but I remembered him saying that I shouldn't worry about things, so I didn't mind the lack of candlelit romance.

Still, I wasn't expecting an entire weekend away together! What a fun surprise! Once we pulled off the highway, I figured out where were going - the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort. Resort is the right word, with the Pacific Ocean just steps away from the back gate, not far from a gorgeous pool area.

One of the treats of staying at any Embassy Suites is the evening reception, with free drinks and snacks.

On Friday evening, after unpacking, we got in line for our pre-dinner drinks. This was my Long Island Iced Tea, with the faintest splash of cola.

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, and then Stace went for a swim.

In the morning, we enjoyed another Embassy Suites benefit - the cooked-to-order breakfast, with just about anything you could ever want for breakfast.

Since it was a cloudy morning in Oxnard, we took a long walk down the beach, and back along the Oxnard marina. We were out for nearly two hours.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Main Street in Ventura to have an early dinner and check out the scene. It was packed - our visit coincided with a beer festival, and there were loads of people around who'd obviously been enjoying many beers.

We got back to the resort in time for happy hour, and this time took our drinks out to watch the sunset. What a perfect moment, shared with the man I've loved these 11-plus years.

On Sunday, after another big breakfast, we used the hotel's gym and then got ready to check out.

We were able to get a different key card after checking out, so we could stay and use the pool and beach gate.

After more time in the water, it was time to head on. On our way home, we stopped at the Camarillo Outlets to do a little shopping.

Then we needed to get back home to our girls. We missed them!

But what a great couple of days we had, to rest, reconnect and recharge our batteries. Thanks, Stacey, for a beautiful weekend.

Bejeweled

This past week, we went to storytime at the library for the first time in several months. Colleen and Christina met us there, with Violet's buddies Liana and Melanie.



















Here's a pretty typical weeknight in our home now: Stace going over homework with Cora, while Violet works on writing letters or numbers.

Cora's homework this year has involved nightly work with math flashcards, and reading a passage in one minute. Both of these things require active parental involvement. Stace uses an online stopwatch on the laptop to determine when Cora's through with a particular activity.


Violet wants to do homework too, so Stace has been "assigning" her practice writing. She is very happy to be doing her homework, too.

Violet came home with this necklace she made at preschool during their unit on friendship. She was instructed to give it to a friend, and she chose Cora. "Then, we won't fight anymore!" she told me after I picked her up from school.

The current unit is on space, and Violet is learning a lot. She's told me that the sun is a big star and how gravity works; she wants to have a space cake for her next birthday, with a blue background behind stars and the sun and moon.

Violet has become very girly since school started - she wants to wear dresses very day, and they have to be beautiful dresses, not play clothes. She wants to wear jewelry, like necklaces and rings, and if she has a choice, she wears her black patent-leather wedge-heeled slingbacks.

Her fascination with rings has almost caused Cora to be late to school, when Violet "can't" leave until she finds the right one. So, I pulled out the boxes in the bathroom drawer and had her organize them, so all the rings are together, easy to find. She was thrilled to show me all seven rings she found.

Pinot's Palette Painting Party

A year or so ago, a little place in Granary Square opened up called "Pinot's Palette," an art studio where you take a guided painting class, with wine on the side.

It looked like a perfect place for "moms' nights out," and over the months I've seen lots of friends post their creations on Facebook at such gatherings.  My mom has made one, as well, and it looks very nice in her living room.

I can't say I was all that interested in doing one, because a)  it'snot cheap, and b) I have no artistic talent.

But, a few weeks ago my friend Christina posted an upcoming painting event on Facebook, and I really liked this painting. It looked simple, for starters. Since Stace and I are redoing our bedroom, it seemed like a good chance for me to be creative and see what all the fuss is about.

Sunday afternoon was our appointed time, and it was nice to be out with the ladies with a glass of wine.

We were given a white canvas and a paper plate with four colors, which could be mixed to create the colors used in the sample painting. Or, one of the art instructors would come around with other paints so you can create custom colors for your own decor.

Applying the background paint was fun, but it got more serious when I had to make the branches.

We watched the instructor paint, one step at a time, and then mixed our colors and went for it. No outlining with pencil, no projected shadow - just me and a fine paintbrush. Who'd have ever thought I'd do this?


















Making the birds was a little nerve-wracking, but eventually I was pleased with them. I created a blue (for the birds) and green (for the leaves) that coordinate with our bedroom colors.

Here's my little group and our finished masterpieces. Such fun! I'm not certain I'd do it again, only because our home lacks for blank wall space. But you never know; I definitely had a great time.

Violet's Saturday morning

On Saturday morning, Stace and I got up and about first thing to try spray painting the old-fashioned gold-toned frames of our mirrored closet doors. Violet was out with us, and she took hold of the camera. In her own words, here is how her Saturday morning went...

 It's all about meeeee!!! I love the picture. I love meeeeee!!!! It looks like meeeee!!!

 My Daddy is spraying the - um, what's that called? The door! My dad's spraying the door! He's spraying it silver. ... because he wants it silver.

 This is all about my foot. I took this picture. I love my foot. Because it's smelly! (giggle, giggle.) I'm funny. (more giggling.) I have small feet - because I'm small!

 I like this picture, because it's from Daddy's feet. He's on a stool, spraying the closet.

 I like this picture. It's from Cora's feet, from Cora's shoes. She bought these from where we saw the Lego movie, from Hurricane Harbor.

 I like Skippy. This is from soccer. Coach Carlos is in the picture with me. I go to Pioneer Club to get Skippy.

I like shopping, with baby carts. We were shopping for milk. Me-e-e-e-lk. Meeelk. (giggle) And cookies! (more giggling.) (We just bought milk.)

Friday Fun

Violet was given Skippy to take home Wednesday from Pioneer Club, so we took him to preschool on Friday.

Violet loves her preschool very much! She is very happy to go each day, and likes talking about how she has TWO recesses, outside recess and inside recess. That's her term for the preschoolers' station time, where they switch from activity to activity.

After picking up Violet and Cora from school, we met up with Christina, Cami and Melanie at Burger King.

Cora has wanted to go to Burger King to play in the play area for a couple of weeks now, and on a HOT day like Friday was, why not?

We then checked in on Jake, while my parents and Melanie were at Disneyland for my mom's birthday.

My parents had to say goodbye to their little Schnauzer, Pepper, this week, and Jake has been lonely. We gave him some love, and Cora had fun "walking" him around the front yard. She is still in her dog-love phase, asking for dogs and feeling pangs of envy when we see people out with their dogs.

Friday evening, Cora went with her friend Sophia for a sleepover, so Stace and I took Violet and Skippy to the mall. The blue dragon came along, too.

Friday evenings at the mall call for Menchie's!

All Kicking Off Again

Most days, I'm blessed that my neighbor Toni brings Cora home as she picks up her grandsons, Chris and David. But Monday, she got held up in a bad weather-related traffic jam, so Violet and I got the three kids.

We went to the library, which was hosting a Lego-building event. While David worked on homework and chose a book for a report, the younger three had some fun building.

Stace met us there, and I left to go set up the church fellowship hall for our first Mom2Mom meeting of the year.

The meeting Tuesday went very well, and it was so gratifying to see over a dozen new mamas in attendance. After a few years of rebuilding, the hard work of my friends Colleen and Morgan is really paying off.

This year, like last year, I'm in charge of organizing who is bringing our potluck-style breakfast.

 We had so much fun together, several of us decided to have lunch together.

Now, we don't have smart phones or iPads, so my girls aren't usually playing games at restaurants. But, in a time like this, it was very nice to have the preschoolers at a table next to ours, happily and quietly entertained while we chatted.

 On Wednesday we had the first Pioneer Club meeting of the year. Cora is in her second year of Voyagers, and Violet has moved up to the Scooters class.

Both girls were excited and happy to return, which made me and Stace glad. Violet was thrilled to get to take Skippy home the very first week.

 On Thursday, my friend Christina came over with her girls for a short after-school playdate.

While the girls made smoothies and played, she and I looked at my bedroom for ideas for our makeover. She and I are doing a painting class this weekend, so I wanted her advice for colors I could choose for my painting, since I want to put it in our bedroom.


Cora has been on a smoothie-making kick in recent weeks, making them for us and her friends and wanting to pour them into jars to drink out of. Genia's influence, perhaps?

Anniversary Sunday

Sunday marked 11 years of marriage for Stacey and me. We celebrated by not working on the bedroom project.

Instead, after talking to our family in England, we went to the Santa Paula Airport. The airport opens to the public on the first Sunday of the month, and this month, a British classic car club was hosting a mini show.

The airport's pilots operate a huge variety of planes, from the vintage to modern.

We then headed back to SClarita, where we had an early anniversary dinner at Chipotle with the girls. Might not have been wine and roses, but spending the day with Stace and the girls was perfect.

Then we went to church - we've decided that the 5 p.m. service will be our normal Sunday plan, and I'll help out in the nursery every other week.

On our way home that evening, we stopped at Valencia Methodist, where they were hosting a fun family block party. The girls loved the water slides, even if we had forgotten to bring their swim suits. It was hot enough that it didn't matter.

This is Cora at the top of the climbing wall - the guy running it helped her out by pulling her up by the pulley.

What a fun weekend we had!

Saturday work and play

On Friday, we had Colleen, Rigo, Lucas and Liana over for dinner and some swimming time.

While the little girls shared the boogie board, the bigger two were pretending they were in some sort of Wild Kratts adventure, with various creature powers.

On Saturday, we continued painting our bedroom. I'd started this in the week with one coat on one wall, and now we worked together to finish up the room.

Cora was a very big help, painting the first coat on our largest wall by herself.

The color is a very light green, so light it's more neutral than green. We like it. On to choosing a rug and curtains, crown molding, shelves, etc.

On Saturday evening, we went to a birthday party at the park for a daughter of a Mom2Mom friend.

Audra, the mom, had a lot of fun activities for the kids, including this paper "rocket launcher" using plastic tubing and an empty 2 liter soda bottle.
Violet loved this game, and did it over and over, stomping on the air-filled bottle to force the cardboard/paper rocket into the air from the pipe on the other side.

While the children played at the park, Stacey and I enjoyed chatting with our own friends.

Being the spontaneous bunch that we are, I invited everyone to come to our house after the party for margaritas. So, at 8 p.m., we ended up with a houseful. It was a lot of fun!

Haircut and After School Party

 Violet has been asking for a haircut for a while now. Her wavy locks have grown thicker over the last year, and brushing through them has become more challenging.

I saved the latest haircut for the day before her first day of preschool, so the prettiness would last through her special day.

Violet enjoyed her first time getting her hair professionally washed.

Cora was in the seat next to her, getting her first trim since January. She wants her long hair to stay long, but we convinced her that a trim wouldn't be a bad thing. (Her school picture day was this week, too.)

After Violet had a few inches cut off, she looked through the book of styles she could choose, and wanted all the long braids. Funny girl!

She then was happy enough with a braid around the top of her head, while Cora chose a headband braid.

 You're never too old for flowers in your hair, or a trip up the plastic castle's tower.

After Violet's first day of Pre-K, we went to Morgan's house, for a lunch playdate with Norah, Liana (and Colleen) and Sadie (and Rachel).

Violet planned this playdate the week before, when she asked me if she could go to Norah's house to play, and could Liana come too? Thankfully, Morgan was happy to host.

Preschool Princess

Violet's big day came on Wednesday - her first day of Pre-K, or pre-kindergarten, as the preschool program for 4-year-olds is known here.

She'll go to Growing Hearts Preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30 to 11:30, just like Cora did three years ago.

Violet has been very eager, asking about preschool for weeks in a very excited voice. We got ready on Tuesday with haircuts (for both girls) and a trip to Old Navy for a new school outfit.

Cora was very sweet at Old Navy - rather than being upset that she wasn't getting any clothes, she took over the dressing room job. She helped Violet into and out of each dress, encouraging her and generally being a great big sister.

On Wednesday, Cora was very disappointed she couldn't go along to Violet's first morning.She helped her get dressed and ready, gave her a little bear, and made the picture you see here.

Stace came home from work around 7:30 so we could walk Cora to school, and then walk home and drive to preschool.

When 8:30 arrived, we were let into the classroom, where all the children found their name tags on a desk with a scavenger hunt sheet.

By following the clues, we were able to introduce the students to the different areas of the classroom, playground and bathroom.

The children were allowed to bring a favorite stuffed animal friend, so Violet chose her Beanie Boo clip Stripes the Zebra.

Before Stace and I left, we took a family photo in front of the chalkboard door/school bus. Later, Miss Lorrie gave us a copy in a frame that Violet helped decorate.

Violet had a fantastic first day, and happily told us about her new friends and the fun activities she did. She got her preschool bag, a gift from Miss Lorrie, so she and Cora now have matching pink bags.

Violet had such a great time, she was very sad on Thursday because that wasn't a school day for her.