Weekend Pop Show

Cora's Show Choir presented its Pop Show on Friday and Saturday nights, after a long week of after-school rehearsals. 

Cora's Hart 'n Soul, the intermediate mixed show choir she is in, presented three songs from its set, which features two rival scouting groups.

Also, we're so pleased to announce that Cora will have one of the titular roles in her school's big spring production ! She will be playing Rosencrantz in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in late April. For a freshman to get one of the two leads, we are so proud and excited. 

Also over the weekend, Violet and I took Stace to our new hiking spot in Quigley Canyon. It was a gorgeous evening.

 

Long Weekend

Cora, Violet and Stace have all really gotten into the show Psych. It's from a few years ago, about a Sherlock-smart guy who helps his local police department solve murders. But Shawn's convinced them he's a psychic. His friend Gus helps him out. 

Well, Violet and I were on a walk on our neighborhood paseos, just a few blocks from our house, when she spotted this in the concrete! Clearly it's been there for years, since the sidewalk was poured, but we'd never noticed it before. Apparently there have been other Psych-obsessed residents in our little neck of the woods.
 

The girls had a four-day weekend for President's Day, and Violet and I went on a walk at Quigley Canyon. We used a different trail, and Vi was impressed by this colorful rock.

Violet and Stace worked hard over the weekend to replace the nectarine tree that died a few months ago with two new ones, one white nectarine like we had, and a yellow nectarine. They went to a class at Green Thumb on pruning, and got very good advice on how to give our new trees a great start. 

On a related note, we didn't have a bumper crop of citrus this year, but the oranges and tangerines we harvested were amazing.

Violet loves plants and gardening!

Week in Review

On Sunday, we went to Jenn and Jeff's for the Super Bowl. It was nice to hang out and watch the Los Angeles Rams win the championship, in their home stadium, no less.

Along with watching the game, the kids played baseball in the pitching/batting cage, and swam, since it was one of our crazy February heat waves. In the pic here, Cora is pitching to Violet.

Monday was Valentine's Day, and Stace arranged with my sister to have this beautiful arrangement for me.

I was so excited on Monday to be able to help with a Valentine's party in Violet's class. Volunteering in class hasn't happened for me since 4th grade. Besides Covid, this year Violet's teacher just doesn't ask for help on those party occasions when it would be normal to have helpers.

Anyway, the children were painting, and that takes a lot of set up - each child needed a palette of paint, three brushes of various sizes, water cups, etc. 

Sandy, a friend who I've been co-room mom with four different years, and I enjoyed catching up while we set up the art project.

Violet's lovely ombre blue background ready for flowers... I didn't see the finished product, but Violet tells me they're all on the classroom walls.

Other art on the walls included this Van Gogh lesson - this was Violet's.

Here's what you get when you take a photo with this crazy girl!
 

Valentine's pancakes for dinner!

Also this week, Cora went to her Winter Formal high school dance. Doesn't she look absolutely lovely?  

End of an Era

For Cora's first birthday, Nan and Pop gifted her a lovely soft yellow Pooh Bear chair. It matched her decor, and she (and Somer) loved it.

Over the years, it was well-loved, to the point that it was looking shabby. But Cora - and Violet too - couldn't bear to part with it. So, we covered it with a blanket and kept it in the living room. 

We joked that it was Cora's "gaming chair," which she'd use when she played video games.

Eventually, we needed a throw pillow in the seat, because the seat had collapsed.

Finally, the girls agreed it was time to sadly say goodbye to the beloved chair.

Clearly, the time had long since come.

So, this week, I was thrilled to find these perfect replacement chairs - dark blue bean bag chairs that match our couch perfectly.

They have the Cat Seal of Approval. 

 

Birthday Week Fun!

We celebrated Cora's 15th birthday a little early, with dinner and fun on Saturday night with four of her friends. 

Here, she's opening gifts after pizza and wings at Oggi's in Canyon Country.

Three of these are her D&D friends, while the other is Zach, the lone holdout to the D&D obsession.

After dinner, I took the kids to the escape room nearby, where Cora finally got to do the Morgue room, one she's been looking forward to for a long time.

They didn't quite escape, but they had fun trying. The owner, who was closely monitoring them through the monitors, told me Cora is super clever but the others weren't listening to her.

They had a great time, and were talking about doing another room together at some point.

On Sunday, while Cora was at D&D, Violet, Stace and I went for another Quigley walk. I love how it's green everywhere, for now!

After our walk, we went to get doughnuts at Dunkin'. I love the hills surrounding out sweet little valley.

For Cora's real birthday, we had the family over for dinner Wednesday, though I forgot to get any photos. Nick, Melanie and Ellie came, along with Grandma and Grandpa, and we brought in Stone Fire, Cora's favorite.

On the Saturday after her birthday, to close out the festivities, we did a different escape room - the least scary of the set at All Locked Up. It was called The Classroom, and with Violet undoing the final lock, we were able to escape with less than two minutes to go! So fun. And...we have a 15-year-old! A solid teenager in every way.

 

Also this week, Violet was able to do her mounted archery again. This time, her instructor stayed outside the ring, so Violet was in charge of Dixie, along with the arrows. At some points, Dixie was trotting (which wasn't the aim)! Violet will now work on improving her horsemanship, since she has the basics down.

Tidbits

Cora's skill in painting mini D&D figurines is now well known among her friends, who are having her paint their minis. Somehow she needs to monetize this! She was commissioned to paint this cool creature by Josh, the dungeon master for their Sunday afternoon games at the game store.

On Tuesday, I met up with my friend Melanie for lunch in Glendale. I keep forgetting to take photos on occasions like this, but since we were walking past the pretty fountains at the Americana shopping center, I made her pose with me. It's always great spending time with a friend you've had for 25 years!

Later, I babysat Ellie while Mel and Nick were working. We walked to a local park and she had a nice time in the swing for well over an hour, while holding Bunny and Garfield. 

On Wednesday, Cora had a minimum day, and we haven't used our Magic Mountain passes in months. So, we headed over for a free lunch (with our pass) and to ride a couple of rides.

Our pass also allows for a free snack (we paid for the privilege up front) - so, Dipping Dots for the win!
 

The post-Christmas rain has greened up the hills on my walking trail very nicely. 

St. Francis Dam Hike

JT and Jim came out to SClarita on Saturday, and we hiked with them to the site of our area's most tragic disaster. 

In 1928, a dam completed two years earlier in San Francisquito Canyon collapsed, unleashing a 14-story wall of water that killed more than 430 people as it sped 54 miles to the ocean.

Though the story is unthinkably sad, we had a lovely day together exploring. We parked about 1.5 miles from the remnants of the dam, and walked mostly along an abandoned stretch of pavement. 

Jonah and Violet had fun tinkering with some rock piles along the way.

A giant oak tree held a swing the kids enjoyed.

San Francisquito Creek was flowing nicely, even though we haven't had rain for a month.

And here is what's left of the St. Francis Dam - these huge concrete pieces. 

A plaque near the powerstation where we parked our cars tells the story. The dam was holding a huge reservoir of
12.4 billion gallons of water, and it was pretty well emptied in less than two hours. Workers and families from the Saugus, what's now Valencia, Fillmore, Santa Paula, all the way along the Santa Clara riverbed were killed or left homeless by the manmade disaster. So sad.

After the hike, we stopped for drinks and giant pretzels at Pocock Brewery, and then had dinner at our house. It was a great day with dear friends!

Perfect Pets

We love our pets! 

Violet is giving away her little bean bag, but Seb found it on the floor and adopted it for a day.

Violet gave the kitties some treats, but didn't put the lid on the jar. Smart Spencer found it and helped himself. Naughty boy on the table!

Cora took this picture of Seb soaking up the sun. Seb generally stays in our back yard when he goes outside. He also will climb on the wall, and wait for our neighbor to give him treats on the wall. 

Grandma had given Violet this little pouch for the mice. I put it in the cage, and in the morning Vi and I saw there was movement from within. I pulled it out, and BOTH mice were inside! So cute! 

Hi, Jade! Hi, Barley!