Tiny House

Stace has been helping build a Tiny House for an organization that helps former foster youths as they become adults. 

This past week, he was building from scratch a ladder to reach the bedroom loft.

It was a lot of work; Stace amazes me with his many varied abilities.

Outside looking great!

Inside just about ready for move-in! And look at that gorgeous ladder...

Stace also built this shelving nook in the toilet area - such a smart idea, rather than just using a full sheet of drywall.

Here's Stace with the young man who will be living in the tiny house when it's finished. Well done, Stace!
 

Week in Review

While I was out with the ladies, Stace took Violet to the archery range. She still enjoys archery, though for the time being she's stopped her mounted archery.

From the car on the dirt path to the range, they spotted this bad boy. Yep, that's 100% a rattlesnake. Notice the larger diamond-shaped head and rattle!

Violet doesn't just shoot arrows, she throws them. All good for her PE credit hours we need to track at home with her new schooling situation.

Speaking of school, it's going very well, but Vi has had a ton of algebra to do this week to get caught up to where the Learning Post algebra course is. She's been a bit frustrated but she's getting through it. Thankfully the English and history assignments are easier.
 

Living his best life! Seb got height AND the bean bag when we stacked cushions up to get them out of the rain this week. 

Cora took a rest day this week, following the extreme energy output required for Puffs (or any show run). 

Here's the completion of the beautiful bird puzzle Aunt Patty and Uncle Bill gave us when we went up to visit in September!

And, we didn't get a photo, but JT, Jim and kids came up for lunch Friday to return Violet's camera that we accidentally left in their car when they came out to see Puffs. We met up at the Indian restaurant and enjoyed their filling and fabulous lunch buffet.

Day out with the Ladies

 

After a full week of Cora's show, I took Sunday off and went to a museum and early dinner with friends.

We went to the Getty Villa, the Greek/Romanesque estate John Paul Getty built to house his antiquities in the 1970s. 

The beautiful property is between Pacific Palisades and Malibu, overlooking the ocean off Pacific Coast Highway,, and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful early November day.

Sue and I are checking out an ancient Egyptian mummy.

This was one of the three special exhibits, a gold bust of emperor Marcus Aurelius. 

Another of the special exhibits - an intricately carved bronze figure of a horse and rider from 500 BC, found in Albania.

The most fascinating special exhibit was a collection of scrolls and mummy wrappings from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.

So many awesome and ancient things! I took a lot of photos for the girls, especially Cora.

We then went down to the Malibu Pier for a late lunch/early dinner.

My tacos were fancy, filling and delicious.

Such a great day out with lovely ladies!

Puffs, Friends, Fam and Volunteering

 We all enjoyed seeing Puffs!

 Cora's fans follow her, even when she changes schools and their kids don't attend the same school anymore!

For the Saturday night show, Coach Greg, Jen and Sue and Pauly made it out.

We managed to get a family shot this time after forgetting to with her last show.

(Also - FOR THE RECORD - I am the shortest in the family but Cora IS wearing very tall heels. Thank you for listening.)

JT, Jim and the kids came all the way from La Verne on Saturday afternoon! We so appreciate them making the long drive out to support Cora.

On Friday night, we had Christina, Mrs. Hawthorne and another former Meadows teacher, and Colleen, Rigo and Liana. 

Cora's theater friend from her old school, Abbie, came out with her mom.

And Cora's other friends Sadie and Grace also came out - she was so glad to see them! Other friends of Cora's came out but I didn't get photos of everyone. 

Cora had fun getting to know Lucas, who played Oliver, and introduced him to Dungeons and Dragons.

As usual, our family was as helpful as we could be with the sets and props. 

My dad took the headshots and the promotional photos, and I made the cast photo board and wrote the press release that the local newspaper ran (below) with Dad's photo.

Puffs!

Cora performed in her first show at her new high school, and of course we think she did very, very well.

She played Megan Jones in Puffs, a parody of a certain popular wizarding book and movie series set in England.

Megan is a goth kid who has a great character arc in the play, and this is one of the best moments. It's near the end when she finally admits to being a Puff, one of the four houses at the school.

 

Here are Wayne, Oliver and Megan, the three leads. Cora had her first love story in the play, with Oliver.

Xavia, on the right, was Megan's mom who was evil and wanted to work for the Dark Lord.

The play, like the wizarding series, takes place over a number of school years, and the three friends wrote each other letters in the summer.

The House Elf Bippy was one of the funniest characters in the play and made Cora break into laughter a few times.

It was fun to see Cora in a comedy, and she drew plenty of laughs. The final show's audience was especially appreciative of all the humor, which was more apparent the more closely you follow the Potter series.

Halloween Happenings

 Halloween time!

This time, it came at the same time as tech week for Cora's next high school theater show. She had a rehearsal before it was time for fun. 

Stace handled the trick-or-treaters out front with our neighbors, and Melanie, Nick and Ellie came over after going first to their close friends' house. 

Cora went to school like this - yellow contacts and all. She loved the reactions she was getting from everyone.

Violet kind of skipped Halloween day this year; Liana made plans with her school friends and didn't come over to trick-or-treat. She couldn't figure out a costume, though she'd had several ideas.

Violet did have fun at Trunk or Treat at VUMC, as did Ellie, though it doesn't look like she was enjoying being inside the MG.

Here's Violet having fun with Liana at our friend Christine's trunk and toss game.

Check out that dragon!

The girls went from this event to their youth group Halloween party. They've been going together to the Wednesday youth group at the church they went to Hume Lake with over a year ago.