Butterflies

Last year, our friend Morgan gave Violet caterpillars and a butterfly enclosure for her birthday. This year, Vi was eager to watch the miracle of metamorphosis up close again.

So, at Violet's request,  Morgan gave us another cup of caterpillars (and their food) as part of her gift. They grew and grew, and became chrysalises.

Violet's kindergarten class is learning all about the topic, so I thought they'd appreciate our five chrysalises.

A few days later, they began emerging from their shells, and Mrs. Hawthorne and I fed them with sugar water. The children came up in small groups to get a closer look.

Meanwhile, Violet's classmate gave her an idea about how to put on a "butterfly show." She came home from school buzzing with her new idea, and after preparing the show, called us out to watch.

She silently crawled around on the seat cushions, and then slipped into the sleeping bag. After MANY silent minutes, she emerged, wearing butterfly wings and a headband with pipe-cleaner antennae.

On Friday morning, we let our five friends flutter to their freedom. The children formed a circle, and we opened the enclosure. Several flew up and away, to the delight of the students.




















Violet held the empty, papery chrysalises, and let her friends touch them gently.

One final butterfly seemed happy to stay within the netting, so I reached in and it stepped onto my finger, before finally flying away.

Mrs. Hawthorne got this photo and shared it with me, while Violet and I were more than happy to share this year's butterfly experience with her class.

Week In Review

And it all is winding down... We had our last Mom2Mom of the year on Tuesday, and our final Pioneer Clubs on Wednesday.

I didn't think to take a photo at Mom2Mom, but we all had a nice time. It was the last time for me to take Violet with me, so next fall when I return I'll be childless for the first time in my nine years of attendance.

This was Violet's last meeting as a Scooter - in the fall she'll have a vest like the other big kids, when she moves up into Voyagers. Cora will remain a Pathfinder for another year. Both girls were pleased to earn their Mission Awards this year for extra service projects during the year.

The last couple of weeks, for our Thursday morning walks, we stop at a neighborhood park so Violet and Melanie can play. While they do, we mamas do some strength training like push-ups against the bench, squats and crunches.

 On Thursday night, I went to a Dodger game with some girlfriends, and we got these fantastic Loge level seats for just $12 each. We got to see Kershaw pitch a 3-hit, complete game shutout, and walked out of the stadium singing, "We Love L.A.!"






I went with Lynnette, Emily and Maureen, all friends from Mom2Mom, and it was a sort of last Dodger hurrah for Emily.

She and her family are moving back to Dallas in June to be closer to their extended family. She's a huge Dodger fan, and we've enjoyed following the team together for the past year.

Getting Smart for Mother's Day

 Stace and I had an all-day date day on Saturday, at an event called the Smart Conference that I'd been looking forward to for six months.

It was a daylong seminar in downtown L.A. put on my Dave Ramsey, my favorite financial guru, with lots of speakers talking about all aspects of life - money, marriage, parenting, retirement planning, etc.

We had a great time and learned a lot - and on the way home, stopped in Pasadena to have dinner at La Grande Orange, with this lovely server! Stace wore his glasses to look "smarter" after the Smart Conference.

Sunday was Mother's Day, and we celebrated by taking a walk together in the canyon in the neighborhood behind our house.

 A scooter thief struck on our way back home. Stop, Thief!!!

 We returned home to find this "lovely" sign. I'm blessed to be their mother, especially on Mother's Day. I had a nice collection of handmade gifts and cards, too.

In the early afternoon, I went out with my parents to a winery in Agua Dulce, treating my own mama to some quality adult time together, and a wine tasting. Thanks, Dad, for driving!

Week in Review

It's coming to the end of our school year, and next week will be the final Mom2Mom and Pioneer Club.

This Wednesday, we joined a bunch of our parent friends from Pioneer Club for dinner and margaritas, since it was our last chance to do so this school year.

On Friday, the kindergarten classes showered us moms with love in advance of Mother's Day. We listened to a lovely collection of songs, and then had a treat of muffins.

We also received a special Mother's Day gift - a cookbook filled with a recipe from each student. Violet's recipe is for pasta: The ingredients include "6 sticks and a teaspoon of water."
"Put the sticks in the water. Put them on a plate. Eat them. Serves a family."

(Violet thinks the cookbook is real - when Cora wanted to make cookies, Violet suggested we get out her cookbook, because several classmates had written cookie recipes.)

Here is one of the half-dozen songs Violet's class performed. The whole thing was so sweet, and I'm sad that it's over!

The school recently had a spirit day, and the children were encouraged to wear sports-related clothing. On the same day, parents were invited to attend a Flag Assembly, with the whole school gathering to say the pledge and sing a patriotic song.

One student from each class was invited to lead their class's line and carry a flag. Both Cora and Violet were selected from their classes to carry a flag! I was one proud mama.

Birthday Gift Fun

With softball over, the girls have enjoyed playing during our newly expanded free time.

This weekend, they got out Juliana and Daryl's birthday gift for Violet, a paintable ceramic tea set.

They painted the tiny pieces, and then we baked them, washed them, and had a tea party!

Violet is stirring sugar into her tea.

Cheers!

Continuing the post-birthday fun, we took Violet shopping with her birthday money.

She chose this large doll, which came with a couple of outfits and a book. It's the Target version of pricey American Girl dolls, and her friend Melanie just got an American Girl for her own birthday.

Violet has named her new friend Emma Leigh, and Emma sleeps with Violet every night now.

She also used her Amazon money from Nan and Pop and Uncle Dean and Auntie Jenny to buy a Calico Critters camper. Cora, meanwhile, used her own funds to buy the Critters car to tow the caravan. The girls are eagerly awaiting their new toys!

Variety Show Success

After six weeks of practice, Violet's big moment came Friday evening, when she took part in the school variety show.

The show was set up so well, with decorations and the performer's head shots up on the walls. We didn't know the photos even happened, so it was a fun surprise to see her beautiful smiling face on the wall.

When it was Violet's turn, the student emcee read out her biography.










Then, the curtain opened, and Violet stood there, staring at the audience, apparently taking it all in. She looked so, so cute, with her small stature, pink sparkly dress, and big smile.

She started skipping rope, and called out her little song:
"Coca Cola went to town,
Diet Pepsi knocked him down.
Dr Pepper fixed him up.
Now I'm drinking Seven-Up.
Seven-Up caught the flu,
Now I'm drinking Mountain Dew.
Mountain Dew fell off the mountain,
Now I'm drinking from the water fountain!"

Violet got through the entire rhyme without missing a beat, and was loud enough to be heard without a mic. She did an amazing job! Stace and I both had tears in our eyes, seeing our little thing be so brave and perform so well.

Turn up your volume and enjoy the video - many thanks to my friend Sara for most of these photos, and for the video clip!

Sara's daughters Emily and Alli had the whole audience laughing with their hilarious performance of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better."

All in all the show was very, very entertaining and all the kids did a great job.

Softball Season's End

After two quick playoff losses, Cora's softball season came to an end this week. She has learned so much this season, and come so far in such a short amount of time.

Cora displayed a strong determination to succeed, and proved that in one game by diving to catch a ball. Even the umpire congratulated her when that inning was over! Her situational awareness was outstanding, especially for a game as complicated as baseball/softball, with so many moving parts.











Cora is very competitive, and at times was frustrated when she or her teammates weren't playing well. But that drive also led her to practice hard and improve significantly.

Her pitching improved a lot, and in the final games she threw a lot of strikes, and struck out quite a few girls. 

Her hitting improved even more - at the beginning of the season she was anxious about hitting off good pitchers, and we dealt with some tears. But as she got more confident, and started hitting more, her demeanor and approach changed. Yes, she still struck out now and then, but she also got lots of solid hits, including the triple you can see here: 

With her strong throwing arm, Cora also made an excellent catcher, and was able to throw a couple of girls out as they tried to steal bases. She only started catching again at the end of the season, but I hope she can continue catching more innings if she plays in the future. Here's an example of Cora throwing a runner out at third base: (Thanks, Dad for getting these clips!)

Here's a final team photo after the last game ended.

Though there are summer tournament teams she could have tried out for, we'll take a break from organized sports for now.

We found the spring schedule with Hart softball to be a bit intense - two or three practices PLUS two or three games per week.


Our plan is to play softball again in the fall, when Cora will move up from "mini minor" to the "minor" division. Fall is a lot less intense, with one practice and one game per week.

Perhaps next spring, Cora can return to playing competitive soccer on a team. She still loves it, and plays every day at school at recess and lunch.

Violet's Birthday Day!

Here's our big six-year-old!

After a birthday breakfast of crepes (made by Cora) and a couple of presents and cards, we took Cora to school and got ready for our day.

Since it was a Wednesday, it was a normal day for Violet - school, Variety Show rehearsal and Pioneer Club. But we made time for a special trip to Starbucks before kindergarten started, for a hot vanilla milk.

Luckily, it was a Wednesday, my day to volunteer in class. It was fun watching the class sing "Happy Birthday" to Violet, after Mrs. Hawthorne adjusted her birthday crown.

After school, I took Violet over to her Variety Show rehearsal, and then hurried Cora home to get ready for her playoff softball game. Yes, not only did Cora have a game during Vi's birthday party, she also had one on Violet's actual birthday.

Thankfully our friend Sara looked after Violet after the rehearsal, and took her to Pioneer Club. I don't think Violet missed us at all, since she got a playdate with her good friend Alli! Thanks, Sara, for these cute photos of the birthday girl.





Violet took home the class Birthday Journal, and filled it out Thursday morning.

I loved her entry: "We went to the ice skating rink. I had so much fun skating with my friends.I loved my chocolate cake. I had the biggest piece! We watched kids playing hockey."

Also on Thursday, we went out as a family for Violet's slightly belated birthday dinner. At first she wanted to go to Wendy's, but thankfully she changed her mind in favor of Mod Pizza.

Happy Birthday, dear Violet. We love you and are so thankful that you are our girl!

Violet's Pre-Birthday Fun

As we like to do, Violet celebrated her birthday for a while.

After her party on Sunday, she went to school on Monday as Star of the Week, complete with fancy poster.

She had some lovely presents to open, and with her fabulous reading skills, she enjoyed reading all her cards.

Grandma had to work during the ice skating party, so she and Grandpa took Violet out Tuesday after school for a special trip to the mall. Violet got to choose a piece to paint - a fairy!

She also got a chance to play at the play area, and choose a new tsum tsum at the Disney store.



















Then, Grandma and Grandpa brought her to us at McDonalds, where we were having dinner with a roomful of school friends and teachers. It was the annual McTeacher night, and we got to see Mrs. Hawthorne and lots of friends.

Violet opened her gift from Grandma and Grandpa, which included this outdoor light-up cat figure.

Also in the run-up to Violet's birthday is Melanie's birthday! We celebrated with her over the weekend, too.

Skating Into 6!

 We had a few ideas about what to do for Violet's 6th birthday.

But when she created a small, girl-only guest list, and I got an email from the Ice Station with a birthday party discount code, having her party there made all kinds of sense.

After all, she loves ice skating, and Cora also had her 6th birthday party at the Ice Station.

So, on Sunday afternoon, we gathered with a few of her favorite friends to celebrate together.

 Cake choice was easy for this girl - chocolate, of course!

 Here's the group before headed downstairs to get our skates on.

 Unfortunately, this is the best photo I have of Violet skating at her birthday party! For shame!
But, Grandpa couldn't stay for the skating part - he had to take Cora to her softball playoff game.

Yes, you read that right - Cora couldn't skate at Violet's party, because she had a playoff softball game, which was scheduled less than a week before the party.

Cora was crushed, but handled the disappointment as well as she could.

Here are the young skaters during their 15-minute lesson - Vi was one of the few with skating experience, and she looked very good on the ice!