How about a summer-style Day in the Life? Now that both girls are in school full-day, the school days don't seem quite so interesting to cover in this format...
6 a.m., Friday, June 30: Stace is up and ready for work, and says hello to Violet, who for some reason, is wide awake. This being our second full week of break, both girls had been sleeping until 8 most days.
Violet comes to see me once Stace has left, but I tell her I'm still sleeping. She leaves quietly.
7:45 - I emerge to find Violet in the playroom, behind a couch. She's been playing quietly for a long time; what a good girl!
AND, I find a bowl of Hershey kisses, which she apparently got by dragging the swivel chair to the highest shelf in the pantry. That wasn't quite so good, Violet...
8 a.m. I get my coffee and settle on the couch; Violet joins me with a book of her own. I hear Cora awake and getting ready.
8:15 - Cora is up and dressed, has made her bed, and is happily reading books from our trip to the library Thursday. Cora is happiest when she is productive, or when she has a big stack of books to tackle. (Or when she's playing on her Kindle, but I prefer to think of her as a reader than a gamer!)
8:30 - Violet prepares her bagel for breakfast, while Cora has Cheerios, her usual. Cora is watching Stampy, Squid and Ash Minecraft videos on Youtube while she eats.
I instruct Violet to get dressed and ready while I shower. It's the last day of Vacation Bible School at Valencia Methodist, and it starts at 9.
9 a.m. - Violet is ready to run into the sanctuary and join her group, which includes her buddies Liana, Melanie and Norah. Violet loves VBS - the friends, the crafts, the singing, the snacks.
9:15 - This is the second year that Cora didn't want to participate. We take advantage of the Violet-free hours to spend some mommy-big-girl time together.
On Friday, we walk down to Granary Square to get a prescription at CVS, check out the Hallmark Itty Bitties, and stop quickly into Ralphs.
10:15 - Cora and I are back home. She's back in her room with a book, while I tidy up the from the morning.
11 - Cora and I head out again to run a couple of more errands. Gotta get those done while I'm down a kid!
In the car, Cora is feeling sick, so she reads aloud from one of my old Calvin and Hobbes books to distract herself. Both girls love Calvin and Hobbes; oftentimes I look behind when I'm driving, and both are reading comics.
11:15 - A week or so ago, my parents took Cora out to As You Wish pottery, where she chose to paint a bank shaped like a stack of owls. It was ready for pickup, and Cora's face lit up when she unveiled the finished product. It came out so cute!
We then go to the credit union to pay in a check for the school foundation, for which I'm the treasurer.
11:45 - Cora and I are back home, getting ready for the family lunch and water play day at VBS. It's a tradition for the final day, with a pizza-and-fruit lunch and giant water slides for the kids. I get the bathing suits, sunscreen and towels together, and Cora and I get going.
12 - Cora and I sit in the sanctuary with all the kids and families, watching the children sing the VBS songs.
12:20 - We line up for lunch, and make a picnic spot on the edge of the grass.
12:45 - After Violet and I eat (Cora's not feeling great), Violet runs off to play. She loves this contraption, with a water pump that sends a rubber ducky down into the basin.
12:50 - Violet moves over to the giant slip and slide. She waits in line, gets sprayed by the teen helpers with a soapy solution, and then takes off. Over. And Over. And Over.
It's great seeing her joy.
Meanwhile, Cora is reading. This is the first VBS year that she hasn't also had a ball taking part in all the water fun. Her tummy doesn't feel great, and a piece of watermelon is all she wants to eat.
1:15 - My friends Christina, Colleen and Liz sit nearby, so we chat while the kids have fun (or read).
1:45 - Cora and Violet play handball against the church wall with a beach ball, while I pack up our things.
2 - Time to go home and rest a bit before our next activity.
2:15 - I get a bath started for Violet; Cora plays on her Kindle. I work on the blog.
3 - Cora's now hungry, so she makes herself some pasta for a snack.
3:30 - Time for Violet to get out of the bath and get ready for our friend Chris's birthday party.
She dries off and she chooses a dress to wear. A dress, to a party at a trampoline-jumping place. OK! Cora wears basketball shorts and a T-shirt - these girls come from the opposite end of the girl spectrum.
3:35 - I ask Violet to put panty covers on, and she agrees, but when I check a few minutes later she hasn't moved, and is reading instead. I tell her she's lost another ticket - the girls start each day with three, and choosing to not obey costs them one. If they lose all three, their day ends early. She lost one earlier in the day, too.
3:45 - We need to leave for Chris's party, and I ask the girls to get their shoes on. Five minutes later, Violet is reading still. There's the third ticket. I can't leave her home from the party, so her consequence is delayed.
4 - We get checked into the party at Sky High Sports, and the girls join the group in the dodgeball court.
5 - It's time for the pizza and cake! Stace has arrived, and he and I sit with Toni, Jeremy and a baseball friend of theirs for dinner.
5:20 - The children are finished with pizza, so half of them attempt to race back down to the trampolines. They're stopped, so that we can do the singing and cupcakes.
As soon as the song's finished, most the kids take off, but Violet sticks around to eat her cupcake.
6 p.m. - Chris's partygoers are encouraged to come back upstairs for a photo. This also signifies that the party is officially over. He opens his gifts, and we chat some more.
6:30 - Time to head home.
6:45 - I stop at Bevmo on the way home, on the hunt for a citrus margarita mix Stace and I enjoyed recently. We couldn't find it, so we purchased a tangerine rum I thought would mix well into juice.
6:50 - "Who's Captain Morgan," Violet asks Cora, as the two horse around. "I dunno," Cora replies.
Thankfully we manage to buy our bottle without the girls breaking anything, and a friendly cashier thinks they're cute, rather than annoying.
7:15 - Back home, I instruct Violet to get ready for bed, with the early bedtime a consequence for her three lost tickets. Violet is not happy with this decision.
7:30 - Violet has changed and is getting her teeth brushed. Cora is looking at old blog posts, from her toddlerhood. She especially loves the old videos on the blog.
7:45 - Violet is in her bed, lights out, but she makes sure we know she's not tired.
8 - I see Violet's light on, and she's sitting in her reading corner. I turn off the light.
8:30 - I give Cora a kiss goodnight, and she's in bed, reading.
8:40 - Stace asks me what time it is, and I answer, "8:40." Violet shouts from her room, "8:44," as her clock is set a few minutes fast. Though I love our one-story house, there are times I can see the advantage to the bedrooms being further from the living area.
9 - Violet comes out and asks to get a kitty. She finds Spencer and carries him back to her room.
9:15 - Violet's asleep, and Cora's not long behind her. And there we are - a lovely day of summer break, complete.
We escaped the heat Thursday by heading to Ventura with friends. It was a beautiful beach day. Cora and Violet had fun with Kayla and her brother Cole, and Wyatt here and his brother, another Cole.
We got the kids back from the beach a bit late for swim team, but we did make it. After swim, Violet and I went to get pedicures. It was Violet's first time getting her nails done in a shop. (Cora didn't want to go - too girly.) We went back to Natural Nails, where I used to go when we lived in Newhall. Jenny, the salon owner, remembered my name! It was nice for her to meet Violet after all these years.
So pretty! Violet's choice was a very dark and sparkly red, though it looked a little black in photos. 
