Showcases

 Violet's 12-week Keyboard I class came to an end this week. If the class had been larger, there would have been a recital, but only two students were enrolled.

In the place of a normal recital, we parents were invited into a final class to watch them perform a couple of songs and then learn a little bit more.

Violet said she is interested in taking the next keyboard class, so we will see if we can make that happen.

On Wednesday night, we went to the school's Reflections Gala, where the winners of the PTA art program were awarded.

Cora had entered a poem into the literature category; the theme was "My Story," so she wrote about her love of traveling.

Sadly for Cora, she didn't receive a first-, second- or third-place trophy for her entry. She did receive a participation medal, however.

Violet didn't enter the contest. After winning first place last year for her photo, she said she would have been too sad to not win anything this year.

Week In Review

Spence, you aren't helpful when we're trying to read!

I have a friend through the girls' school who is a manager at the Cheesecake Factory, which is opening up a location at the mall in a few days.

She invited us (and many others) to come in for a test lunch Thursday, where the new staff had a chance to train with real customers. What a treat for us!

We got an appetizer, two entrees, drinks and dessert for free, in exchange for our feedback. (And a tip for the server, of course!)

Yum! SClaritans have been clamoring for a Cheesecake Factory for years and years, so this is big news in the SCV dining scene.

The gift kept on giving, too - the leftovers were plenty for dinner for usThursday, and for Stacey's dinner on Friday!

Stace ate on his own (sob!) because we girls were invited to a painting/dinner party at a friend's house.

Cora was excited to paint with the moms, rather than the kids, at our table. I love her artwork! She wants to add some more presents under the tree, and I want to add some text to mine, in the sky. We have a few weeks to get it done.

On Saturday, Cora had a game and Stace and I went to a couples' night out with our Mom2Mom friends. Cora was invited to spend the night at Riley and Sam's house, so after getting Violet from childcare, we took her out for frozen yogurt.

This is for me, for my own memories...
One morning this week, Seb climbed into my lap while I was having my early morning devotions. Coffee, a purring kitty and quiet time with God - doesn't get much better.

But then it did get better! Violet came padding down the hall, adorable in her feet pajamas with her blankie, and Seb made room.

Boy, I hated getting up to take my shower. Here was a moment that could have lasted forever.

Actual Halloween

Halloween fell on a Monday this year, one of the first times in my kids' lives that it was on a "regular" school day. This made for an interesting day - small parties at school, then a quick trip home to change into costumes for the real parties!

Violet's class made spiders out of oreo cookies and pretzels as their snack for their party.

She also made two crafts - a cotton swab skeleton, and a cute painted candy corn.

In Cora's class, another mom painted some of the children's faces, while the students ate a treat. For me and the other room mom, being in the class to help with the party was our treat! Mrs. Shafarman doesn't use parent volunteers very often, preferring the children to have more independence from their parents.

The kids also made a pumpkin out of paper strips, and ate a banana ghost and jack o' orange.






















After school, we got home and got ready - this time, we painted all of Violet's face to go along with her leopard costume.

Then we went over to Jen and Jason's annual party, where after getting a snack, I went with the kids to the nearby park.

Back at home, we met up with my family and our neighbor friends for trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

You can see the pumpkin Violet and Stace carved on the left, and our friendly skeleton-in-a-casket.

Violet got a little tired while we were out, and is still little enough to be carried by Auntie Cat. You can see the resemblance between the kitties in the family!

Neighbor friends, with a scary decoration.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Real Life Halloween

Our own church's Halloween event was Saturday, and it was pretty much a daylong affair. We helped set up our Life Group's booth in the morning, and returned in the afternoon to help run our games.

Many hands made for light work at setup. We have a great group of people and it's fun to hang out together.

Stace and the girls loved helping with the game, a bean bag tic-tac-toe.

Stace changed costumes, since he wasn't near his car. He came as an old-fashioned newspaper boy.

Violet enjoyed the hay maze and the petting zoo, with chickens, goats, sheep, and bunnies.

Fun photo props abounded.

It was a great (if tiring!) day and night, and nice to come together as a larger church family to put on something fun for the community. More than 20,000 people showed up!

School Trunk or Treat

On Thursday evening, the girls went to Magic Mountain for an employee family trick-or-treating party, but we weren't there very long so we didn't get any photos.

On Friday afternoon, we were back at it, with the MG taking part in the school's first ever Trunk or Treat event.

In past years, the PTSA has held a Fall Festival in October, and the students can dress up there. This year, the festival (with carnival games, food and a DJ) will move to the spring, but we still wanted a chance for the children to get together dressed up.

Hence, a trunk or treat event.

More sword play

Our friends Tommy, Emily and Charlie - Emily won first place in the costume contest with her creative portrayal of spaghetti and meatballs!

Pioneer Club Trunk or Treat

Now, we come to the Most Busiest Time, of the Year...
No, not Christmas, though that is also gloriously full of fun.

I'm talking about Halloween, which is super crammed with events because we have kids the right age, AND we're involved in a school and two churches, AND who doesn't like to celebrate dressing up and collecting candy?

First on our list this week was Pioneer Clubs at Valencia Methodist on Wednesday.

For the second year, Stace brought his MG over and decorated it as part of the Trunk or Treat fun. He dressed as an old-time racing driver.
His trusty helper, Darth Vaderette, helped pass out candy for a bit.

Violet found Liana and they took Clifford around trunk or treating.






















I later went into the craft area to help out, and Violet came in and made a few of the crafts.





















Cora caught up with Sophia, channeling her inner Kylo Ren, and another friend dressed up as Rey, for a Star Wars light saber battle.

I swear, Violet had a good time!

She didn't have as good a time the morning after. My oh my, we've never had such a tough, tear-filled morning! It was early to bed for her Thursday night!

Week in Review

Here's a favorite photo from our San Diego trip - the girls were climbing the rope net at Legoland and looking so sweet while doing it.

Another great Legoland memory - I've always wanted to get caricatures drawn of the girls, partly because I have one of myself as a little girl. Legoland and Sea World both have several sketch artists stationed in the parks, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I love the finished result!

 Violet's class this week had a pumpkin book report project, where the kids had to write a report and turn a pumpkin into the main character of their chosen book.

Violet picked the black cat from "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" book, and had fun making a black plastic pumpkin into a kitty.

 This week was "Red Ribbon Week" at schools across America, which promotes steering clear of bad drugs. Cora showed me the handprint she added to the handprint mural of the children pledging to stay drug-free.

Violet got to take home Clifford the Big Red Dog, the classroom pet, for a few days during the week.

He participated in the homeschool lesson for the day. Yes, the girls are doing homeschool again, a favorite activity they return to again and again.

Cora loves being the teacher, and Violet, overall, is a very willing and eager pupil.

Old Town, Mines and Apple Pie

We woke up Saturday in San Diego, prepared to end our little family vacation with a full day of sight-seeing.

After breakfast and packing up the car, we went to the Old Town area, a deceptively large complex of historic buildings. It's a state park, with docents and museum displays in the old hotel, schoolhouse, adobe hacienda and storefronts.

We spent a couple of hours here, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Violet loved the shopping part - they each picked out some tiny Mexican crockery for their Calico Critters.

 San Diego is where Stace and I met nearly 16 years ago, and he recalls having dinner at this Mexican restaurant with me, Jim and JT.

 Dia de los Muertos is coming soon, so much of the area was appropriately decorated.

 We said farewell to San Diego and headed about east into the foothills, to the sweet town of Julian. The town got going in the late 1800s and became a place on the map because of gold mining. We visited one of those mines, which is no longer operational but open for tours.

 We all learned a lot about gold mining - and it's not what I had thought!

Gold flecks existed in a vein of quartz running through the hard rocky ground. The vein was blasted out, crushed and processed, an intense production that petered out because the price of gold wasn't justifying the cost of extraction.

 Fourth-graders here learn about California history, and Cora is looking forward to Gold Rush days in the spring. She took special interest in her mining education.

 Here's the huge machine used to crush the rock in the gold extraction process.

 We went back into Julian, which after the gold boom became known as an apple-growing region. Apple pie shops abound, and we couldn't leave without sampling one for ourselves.

It passed muster.

The town has been voted one of the best main streets in California, and I had always wanted to check it out. But, being a three-hour drive from home, it hadn't made sense to do so until this trip.

We got back on the road around 5, and with a stop for dinner on the way, were back home to our kitties and fish by 9.

A lovely time had by all!