Tidbits

We had a McDonald's ice cream treat after soccer this week. We usually order sundaes for the girls, while I get a chocolate-dipped cone.

This week, Cora asked if she could have one too. We warned her they can be very messy. Then, she proceeded to start eating from the middle. Talk about a chocolate-vanilla explosion, all over her face and hands.

No real story behind this photo - just Violet, catching up on the latest Zooscape newsletter. Both girls love learning about animals, which has been encouraged by their enjoyment of the "Wild Kratts" television show about a pair of brothers' animal adventures.

Cora slept over at Sophia's house on Friday night, and this time she lasted the whole night! We picked her up at Sophia's baseball game, where Cora was practicing on Sophia's brother's skateboard.

Cora had a lot of fun with her sleepover, and we're all glad it went so well.

Another "just because" photo. We love these boys!

This week another soccer session ended. With vacations taking up three full weeks, we'll take the summer off and restart in the fall.

And, a Violetism... Violet has been enjoying telling made-up jokes recently. We enjoy them too - at least, we enjoy her enjoyment - she laughs at every "punchline," even if they aren't exactly humorous. At all.

One example, at the breakfast table this week: "Why does the cow didn't get some milk?"
Us: Why?
Violet: "Because he wanted moooos milk."

When Cora and I questioned the humor, she said that it WAS a joke, "because it starts with cows."
Apparently that's all you need for a good joke, people. Cows.
(Don't worry, readers, we DO normally nod and fake a laugh, but this was after quite a few Violet-jokes...)

Our Peanut

 Violet had her four-year-old doctor's visit on Friday. She is well! And tiny. Not that we didn't already know that, as many children half her age are taller than her.

Violet is now 31 pounds, putting her in the 17th percentile, and 36 1/4 inches. Her height ranks her in the 2nd percentile, down from the 5th a year ago. If Vi were in a room of 100 four-year-olds, one would be shorter than her.

Dr. Brockett said that with her family history of shortness, this isn't a cause for alarm, and who knows, she could have a growth spurt this year and climb up the charts a bit. Pediatricians like to see children this age grow two or three inches a year, and Violet came close to that mark, with a growth of 1 3/4 inches.

Let's all hope she can at least reach her mother's lofty height of 5-feet-even.

 Violet cooperated well throughout her appointment, with its blood pressure check and hearing and eye tests. She was then a brave girl for her shot, one that combined the MMR and chicken pox vaccines. She barely flinched, and set a good example for Cora, who came along to get her chicken pox vaccine booster.

Yes, it was Cora who needed more consoling after the shots, but at least my 7-year-old wasn't thrashing and kicking.

To celebrate a successful trip to the doctor's, I thought I'd treat the girls to a smoothie at McDonald's. (They're doing a buy one, get one special right now for their fancy drinks, and I got an iced mocha. Yes, I had ulterior motives.)

Sadly, Violet wanted an ice cream instead of a smoothie to such an extent that she cried the whole way home. She didn't even want a sip of the mango-pineapple frosty goodness. The tears continued off and on during her rest time, until I put on a Disney princess CD that accompanies a book, with several stories using the voices from the movies.

Cora went into Vi's room to listen and flip the pages, and Violet then joined her, with her smile back in place. Thanks, Uncle Dean and Auntie Jen, for a birthday gift that rescued Violet from her bad mood!

Pioneer Club Success

Another Pioneer Club year has come and gone, and it was a fantastic year for both girls. On Wednesday, we watched the closing ceremony as the girls were given their final badges.

Cora has finished her first year as a Voyager, and she really got a lot out of this year. Her teachers, Mrs. Egami and Miss Cassie, were great with Cora, drawing her out of her shell early in the year and helping her enjoy the program.

Violet is done with Skippers and will move on to Scooters in September. She loved being a Skipper with Miss Morgan, and I'm a bit sad that she won't have another year with Morgan and her Skipper friends together in one class.

 Stace and I were both given little thank-you gifts for helping this year, and then Violet got called back on stage to receive a perfect attendance certificate. She was by far the youngest to get this prize.

 At the end of the night, all the children were up front singing and dancing. This year was the first year that we all stayed through all the awards ceremonies in the sanctuary, without resorting to the cry room.

And a favorite part of closing night - ice cream!

Mother's Day fun, and friends

Sunday was Mother's Day, and my lovely husband and girls presented me with homemade cards, roses and a pretty birdbath for the yard. 

Cora made me the hat in school out of wrapping paper and liquid starch, and Violet decorated the heart-shaped photo holder at her preschool.

I really have the best job in the world!

Later in the morning, we went to church and posed in the sweet photo booth area.

After a relaxing afternoon at home, we met my family at Lazy Dog for dinner to celebrate the occasion. Being that we also did this last year, maybe we have a new tradition going.












And speaking of Mother's Day traditions... Last year Genia and I spent a few hours together, and this year, I was blessed to get to see her, too. She made a quick visit to SoCal, and stayed with us Sunday night, Monday, and part of Tuesday.

It was so very good to have time to catch up, in person. On Monday, we went to the Tea Gardens for brunch, the mall for shopping, Lazy Dog for a drink, and out to dinner in the evening. It was a vacation day for me, too! (Violet took this photo of us at Lazy Dog. It's surprisingly good, seeing how much the camera was wobbling in her hands.)

Cora and Violet were almost as excited to see Genia as I was. Genia slept in Cora's room, and the girls slept on our floor. Unprompted, Cora wrote this note for her Sunday and left it on her pillow.

On Tuesday, Genia came with me to our final Mom2Mom meeting of the year, before it came time for her to return to her family.

We're all excited about our trip to Montana this July, when we'll get to see the kids and John, too.

Hitting the Trails

On Saturday morning, Violet had soccer at Bridgeport Park, and afterwards we moved down a few yards to an event promoting the city's bike trails.

The Amgen Tour of California is coming through town next week, and the city is promoting awareness of the race. The family biking day featured vendors, tricycle races, free food and drink, and a guided 4-mile ride on the bike trails.

As we were getting ready to head out, Cora's teacher and her family arrived with their bikes.

Stace and I enjoyed chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez, while Cora had fun with Mia, their daughter who is two years older than her.

Stace and I had a trike race, too. I needn't say anymore about that, I'm sure.

Tidbits

The night of Violet's birthday party, since it was a weekend night, she slept in Cora's room. She wanted us to get the trundle out, but it was too late to deal with it, so she made herself comfortable on the floor.

When Stace and I were off to bed and peeked in, we saw that Sebastian had made himself comfortable, too.

Violet helped Daddy put together a new side table for our patio.

Earlier that day, I'd been chosen to make a little money by participating in a focus group. Stace came home early and took Violet to pick up Cora from school.  She rode her bike there and back, and learned how to start off by herself.

You gotta love birthday presents! This lucky girl has had a lot of fun new toys to play with lately, including this princess play doh set.

One morning this week, Violet put together dresses and decorations for almost three hours!

A Frozen Birthday Surprise

So, the British classic car show wasn't really the height of Violet's birthday celebration.
On Saturday, we had a few dozen friends and family over for a birthday bash, surprise-style, with a secret special guest, as well.

 We convinced Violet to wear her beautiful Anna dress Saturday morning, and Stace took her out to get a doughnut and lunch (she must not have noticed that "lunch" was six pizzas and salad for a crowd).

When they returned, the house was full, and everyone shouted "Happy Birthday" when she came in. She was a bit nervous, and ran back outside to hug Stace's leg.
As she figured out that the houseful were all friends, she warmed up.


 Then, there came a knock at the door, and who should be on the other side, but Queen Elsa! Violet's reaction was priceless: A big smile and even bigger hug for Elsa, who exclaimed, "You're my sister!"

















Back in the fall, I'd purchased a deal from a party company, for a character to come for two hours to entertain up to 20 children for a party. Then, Disney's Frozen came out, and I knew which character we had to have come!

Elsa was great - she sang songs with the children, told them stories, brought a dress-up trunk, organized a treasure hunt, made balloon animals, and painted their faces.

 

 

We all enjoyed Violet's party so much. It was a special day for a special little girl, and we really appreciate all our friends and family who came to spend the day with us.

Violet loved it all too, and loved Queen Elsa spending time with her.

Underwood Strawberry Picking, 2014

It's spring, so it's time for our annual trip to Underwood Family Farms to pick strawberries with our Mom2Mom friends.

We drove to Moorpark on Thursday with our new friend Christina and her daughters Cami and Melanie. Cami is in Cora's class, and Melanie is a few days older than Violet, so the girls all have fun together.

 We've been strawberry-picking with Liana since she and Violet were babies strapped to our chests.

 Here's Violet, Cora, Cami and Melanie. Christina and I picked up the big girls about 10 minutes apart, so they didn't arouse suspicion by leaving their class together.

 It was forecast to be horribly hot on Friday, with a wind. Thankfully, though it was hot, the wind kept us cool and dry, so our day was bearable.

 Farmer Tiffany here was very helpful and personable; she led the girls and I to a couple of rows with many bright red, juicy berries to choose from.

 Yum!
Violet later made strawberry juice with some of hers. In her words, you just "crack the strawberries and put them in water." I had her rinse and cut off the stem, and then we blended them in the blender with a tiny bit of water and sugar. It was thick, but tasty too.

 Here, Violet is turning the crank to bring food up the pulley to the goat standing up on the platform. (You can just see his rear legs, as he is blending in to the tree.)

Violet especially loved the goat kids, and wanted to borrow the camera to take her own photos of them.

We had a very fun day together - fun and exhausting. When we got back home around 3, we were all ready for a nap. Well, Christina and I were ready for a nap at least!