Disney Day

We had a free Friday afternoon and Disney was calling... 

Check out this big girl! She's hit that 48 inch mark, or an inch or so over when she's in her tennis shoes. That means she can now ride every single ride at Disneyland/California Adventure, including the Incredicoaster.

It was our first time on the ride since it was rebranded to feature the Incredibles movies, so I forced Violet to pose near her namesake.

This was Violet's first roller coaster with a loop - she loved it (despite her suspect expression)!

Cora's now a full-fledged Marvel fan, and she can't wait for the transformation of A Bug's Land into a Marvel-themed area. She's calling it Iron Man Land, since he's her favorite and Stark Industries is apparently building it. (Nice touch, Disney!)

The girls love spending time in the Animation Academy; this time, we produced Jack Skellington. Violet added Mickey ears and a churro to hers, since the lead artist kept mentioning churros during the class.

We then went into the next animation area, where the girls created their own cartoons.

Next was time for Guardians of the Galaxy, Violet's favorite ride.

Later, we went into Disneyland for Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tiki Room. Before we headed home, we relaxed and watched early Mickey Mouse cartoons from the late 1920s.

The girls conked out in the car - not common for me to see sleeping children behind me anymore!

I was shocked to see Stace still awake when we got home - he was playing a soccer game on Cora's Playstation! So, we all had a very entertaining evening.

Halloween Night Fun

After popping in to Jen and Trent's party for an hour or so, we went trick-or-treating with Jake, Charlie, Kelly and Yass.

Cora was well into her role as the creepy girl with the headless doll.

For the first time in our years of trick-or-treating, we crossed over into the school/park neighborhood, and it was lots of fun to run into so many school friends.

One street featured some awesome decorated houses.

A friendly random stranger in a Fortnite costume was so impressed with Violet's homemade costume, she asked for a photo with Vi and handed her a set of "medkits" from the game. (They were simply store-bought, wrapped chocolate bars in disguise.)

Our trick-or-treating crew this year...

Jake was slightly more in costume than it looked, but covered it with his sweatshirt.

And, it came time for the annual Great Candy Trading Event (and giving event - both girls were generous with Twixes for their dad).

Halloween Class Parties

Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year, and I was happy to get to help out in both of the girls' class parties.

I found Miss Lotito's message to her class to be so sweet and caring -  I can see why Cora loves her!

Cora's class made poseable mummies out of wire and strips of muslin; ate graveyard pudding (chocolate pudding topped with crushed oreos and gummy worms); and made popcorn gloves to enjoy later in the day when they watched a movie after lunch. Yes, it was a fun day for these 6th graders!

I hoped to get a sweet photo of myself and Cora, but had to settle for this. Great string cheese 'stache, Cora!

Talented Dinorah, our room mom, painted on the kids' faces and arms.

We mamas will miss these fun volunteer opportunities next year when these kiddos are off to junior high!

Here's Cora with her mummy (and without her string cheese), showing the class's spooky artwork - Cora's is the one in the top left corner with the church steeple in blue.

While filling their popcorn gloves, Jake had a very crucial point to make, using the measuring scoop for emphasis. It was probably related to Fortnite, their favorite game to play together after school.

I then moved on to Violet's classroom, where the third graders created stained glass jack-o-lantern jars, like Cora did in third grade.

Violet was very pleased with her finished product, and had it glowing with the battery-operated tealight when we got home.

(Sadly, this is the only jack-o-lantern we made this year! No time to carve pumpkins, a first for our family. Sniff!)

Here's Violet and her favorite friend, Kat. Yes, they're the same age, just on opposite ends of the growth charts.

I so appreciate being able to help out in class at these fun events. I wouldn't trade these moments for any amount of money.

Cora's Craft Party

A few weeks ago, Cora started looking up fun Halloween crafts and planned out a craft-making party for herself and her friends. She and Stace worked all weekend prepping various craft projects, while I put the house together and set the scene Monday during the school day.

After school, 10 kids showed up on our doorstep - nice that they're old enough to walk/ride home together!

The kids divided into two groups, and Sophia, Cooper and Wylie started with tapping nails into the black boards to make their string art ghost pictures.

Jake, Cora, Vivi and Violet began with turning white pillar candles into bloody scary candles, by dripping melted wax from red taper candles.

It was remarkable - 10 kids using lit candles and hammering in nails, and no one needed a trip to urgent care! Least of all these happy, smiling girlies.

Another project involved painting a tombstone and then writing a creative or funny epitaph.

The kids also frosted and decorated cupcakes for a contest, though some decided they'd rather eat theirs right away then have them judged.

Cora was not amused by Cooper's choice of epitaph: "RIP Cora's Cat; The Thick One. He was too thick." "Thick" is a word Cora and her friends are using a lot lately.

Then the kids all went to the playground for a round of Lava Monster and some time on the swings...

...or, some time stuck IN the swing. Yep, Wylie got himself caught in the baby swing.

Thankfully, we had law enforcement on hand, and a helpful twin willing to serve as a chair for Wylie to stand upon. I love Charlie's expression here; it looks like he's ready to fly off.

We went back home and had all the parents judge the cupcakes.

Violet won the contest, while Cora and Sophia came in a joint second. It was a great party! I'm so happy to have a child who pushes us to have parties and give the children a nice time.

Weekend football, baseball and beach!

Cora's football season is winding down, so I brought the good camera to her game Saturday. Violet took this lovely shot of her and her dad.

Here's Cora's coach Jose and his son. Cora's team had a nice win on this game day.

My friend Emily flew in from Dallas to watch the final two World Series games with all her Dodger fan friends. We met up Saturday night for pizza and the game at Vincenzo's.

On Sunday, we met up with Emily and our friend Lynnette and James and their girls in Ventura. It was gorgeous!

After the beach, we all went to our home to watch the game over chili and cornbread. Sadly, our Dodgers lost, and the Red Sox celebrated a World Series championship. But it was nice watching together with friends.