STARFIRE SNUGGLES

Starfire is the most snuggly kitten ever... She loves to be held and pet, and her favorite place to fall asleep in on your chest, tucked up under your chin. 

WILD WEEKEND

Our Memorial Day Weekend started with a sleepover (Friday-Saturday), included a visit to the Beane Farm baby pigs (Sunday), and ended with a giant (steep!) slip-n-slide (Monday)! Well, technically it ended with Jay smoking a pork butt and brewing a beer, but I didn't take any pictures of that deliciousness.

When I walked into Baskin Robbins after Daycamp with these four, a sweet older man asked me if they were all mine. I told him yes, but just for 24 hours. This photo was taken right before Coltin made the "crazy" hand gesture at me and pointed to the girls. He is so right... (Don't worry, the photo was taken in the parking lot before I started driving.)

The bonus of doing a sleepover after their first day of Daycamp is that they were all exhausted and nobody fought bedtime. The girls built a fort in which to watch movies on the tiny DVD player while the boys played Lego Dimensions, and they were all asleep by 9:00pm!

James was far more patient (and quiet and calm) with the piglets than Cora, so he was able to sit still and wait for them to come to him (whereas Cora only pet the piglets that Nathan or James were holding).

We met the mama and papa (heritage stock) pigs while were there and the kids fed them some greens while being careful not to get shocked by the electric fence.

Over at the Hancock's house on Monday, the kids got wet and muddy, but thankfully followed our rules (no head first sliding!) The girls wore leggings because the grass was scratchy (if you happened to slide off course a little). The slide ended against the very big and very soft blow-up baby pool (to ensure nobody kept sliding into the driveway!)

I felt so bad for Stirlin's lawn, but he assured me they do this every year and just move the slide every time they set it up, and the grass heals quickly.

CAT TOWER

Jay built the kittens (and Cannon!) a brand new (giant) cat tower this weekend!

SWAPS

At Girl Scout camp, it is tradition to trade "SWAPS" with new friends. Last year we didn't know about it ahead of time, but this year we planned. Cora loves Perler Beads, so it we decided to make a couple dozen rows of The Girl Scout Promise colors, iron them together, and ribbon to either end for wearing them as bracelets (or safety pins to simply pin them to shirts, as is the custom). We included a little colorful printout of the promise and a safety pin in each little "pill bag" so they'd survive the expected rains over the weekend.

SUMMER BRAINQUEST

Gramma usually brings the kids a variety of workbooks to practice with over the summer when she visits in May, but this year we decided ahead of time to get the Summer BrainQuest bridging workbooks (and stick to them, since we usually don't enforce "seat work" over the summer other than the weeks that Gramma is here - oops) to help them review this past year's curriculum and prepare them for next year's. We had planned to wait until Tuesday, but the kids have been asking about them for weeks (anxious to get those progress maps up on the wall!), so we gave in today and let them get started! Hopefully their enthusiasm will last the length of the books (100 pages of activities, both seat work and outdoor adventures), but we're certainly off to a great start!

 (Outdoor Adventure #1 for James = throw a stone at two different numbers and add them up. Or subtract them. We went with multiplication based on his preference though.)

DAYCAMP, YEAR 3!

Daycamp started this morning (the first year we've been in town for the Friday start) and the kids were pumped to go see their non-Southpark friends (the YMCA Daycamp combines kids from all schools, so they see friends from soccer and dance and Scouts, and friends they know only from the YMCA as well).

 Of course I couldn't resist a "Oh my how they've grown!" comparison:

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL: 2017

STARFIRE AND CLAW'DIA

Names have been chosen!

Starfire gets her name from multiple influences... Starfire is Cora's favorite Teen Titans character, she is white like a twinkling star, and she's like fire because she's a Flame Point Siamese.

Claw'dia gets her name from James' love of puns, because she can climb anything with her sharp claws and she's a feisty little thing! (Jay and I sometimes call her MFP for Miss Feisty Pants.) She's really very sweet and snuggly too, once she gets tired!

"JUST LOOKING"

After the amazing Awards Ceremony this morning, I decided on a whim (after dropping Grambot and Aunt Margie at the airport) to pick up the kids a little early from school and go down to the shelter "just to look" at kittens. I promised Jay we wouldn't bring home any kittens without his input and I kept the secret of where we were going until we arrived. Saying the kids were THRILLED is an understatement. Within a minute Cora had decided that the little white kitten in the "lonely cage" (there were many white kittens, but all others were grouped with their siblings) was the one she wanted, as it climbed and cried for attention, and as soon as she set it free it literally launched itself at her and clung to her for dear life. The workers told me that they couldn't hold cats (for a day, or even an hour), so I knew right away that I needed to text Jay to leave work ASAP and get down there to meet his new kitten before we signed the paperwork! It took James a little longer to decide on a kitten, as they were all cute and many of them were sweet and friendly. He ended up choosing the one tabby in the bunch, who was also the only long-haired kitten, and the only one in a cage with it's mama. The worker assured us that the little tabby was 10 weeks and weaned, and that her mama was more than ready to be set free with the other 2 adults in nearby cages to become their "barn cats". And so we left with a 7 week old "flame point" and a 10 week old tabby, names to be determined:

 Cora immediately set up her doll cradle in the downstairs bathroom (their temporary holding facility until they could be safely and slowly introduced to Cannon and Buster) and made it her job to make sure they had food and water twice a day and that they used the little box periodically. She'd make a great mama cat ;-)

James' baby has a half tail (genetic abnormality, not an injury - her mama has the same tail) and Cora's has crossed eyes. The kids are very pleased with their "special" cats. Cora's actually came all the way from Monroe, Louisiana... She was found inside the motor of a truck that had driven over to Jackson (a 2.5 hour drive!) before being discovered!

SOUTHPARK AWARDS DAY 2017

This school year was amazing for James! It started off better than the whole of 1st Grade, and just went up from there. His teacher was patient and encouraging, his classmates were friendly and kind, and he really enjoyed the extra activities and opportunities that GATES provided him. Considering his grades at the end of the first quarter (1.9 for ELA/English and Language Arts and 2.0 for Math, putting him below the standards for promotion - even though nothing counts until the final quarter anyway, as they learn additional skills throughout the year that aren't tested on until later - and into a weekly testing/review schedule for the 2nd and 3rd Quarters to become more familiar with the online exams), we are just beyond thrilled and proud of him for finishing the year with a 2.8 in ELA and a 2.9 in Math. (No, they don't use the A-F scale, but a 1-3 scale. Basically, it breaks down to 3 = A, 2.5 = C, and 2.0 and below is considered failing.)

James earned six awards at the 2nd Grade Awards Ceremony, including four for Reading/ELA and two for Math. We were surprised by a couple of them, including Highest AR Points in 2nd Grade (69.2) and Highest STAR Math Score in his class (635). We knew exactly how many AR Points he had earned (the Renaissance System records it and emails it to us every time he takes a test - plus I keep a spreadsheet tally for my records), but we never had any idea where he stood in his class (let alone the entire 2nd Grade). His good friend Lauren earned 238 stickers (she received an award for it, which is the only reason I know that), but James says that she doesn't like chapter books, so I assume she read a lot of short (0.5 Point), high ATOS Book Level books (because the 2nd Grade teachers award 2-5 stickers for books with a BL above 3.5, regardless of the number of possible AR Points you can earn). James also earned recognition for meeting his AR Goal All 4 Quarters and reading 100+ AR Books. He actually exceeded the AR Goal for each quarter (10, 15, 20, 25) and read a total of 93 books (passing all but one AR test), but because a lot of his books during the second semester were above BL 3.5 (because he couldn't test below a BL 3.2 based on his December STAR exams), he earned 22 "extra" stickers. He tested about twice a week, but less when he was reading chapter books. He averaged 91% on his AR exams throughout the year and his BL average for the year was a 3.7 (he tested on books from BL 2.0-5.4 as the year progressed). He read almost 384,000 words! While all this is very exciting, we're most happy that he has learned to really enjoy reading chapter books (often putting himself to sleep at night after 20-30 minutes of reading in bed). We have worked so hard to foster a love of reading for both our kids and it just feels good to know that he earned his points and awards out of his own desire. Yes, we pushed him to meet his goal each quarter, but going above and beyond that was all on him. James also received awards for exemplary growth in his STAR exam scores for both categories (235 to 546 for Reading and 375 to 635 for Math). His favorite award was the one he received from the librarian for his AR Points because it came with a medal and a $25 giftcard (which he used to buy a boombox). Our favorite awards are the STAR growth awards because they demonstrate how very hard he worked this year to stay focused and push himself. He's quite the kid!

Speaking of awesome kids, our little Baby Doll had a pretty incredible year as well. She soared through all four of her report cards with nearly perfect 3.0s, was her Teacher Assistant's favorite kid and sidekick, and went from struggling through 1.0-1.5 BL books in the fall (passing AR tests with flying colors, but struggling to read smoothly and confidently) to reading chapter books with ease and eloquence (up to BL 3.1). She earned 34.0 AR Points (passing her AR tests with an average 91%), and read 73 books with 45,000 words. Her STAR Exam scores soared from 75 to 246 in Reading and from 326 to 488 in Math!

POWER'S OUT (AGAIN)

The wind blew (about 70mph, actually) and most of the town lost power (after many of them being without water for 3+ days). Poor Aunt Margie and Grambot... such a wild trip to Vicksburg this time around! We spent their last afternoon playing board games by headlamp and candlelight, then grilled our dinner. At least we're well equipped for these outages nowadays!

BACKYARD BERRY PICKERS

POST-RECITAL TREAT

Quiet day, watching the original The Last Unicorn and enjoying the unicorn treat Jay and I stuck in their recital gift bags (we got them a few unicorn themed toys instead of flowers).

THE LAST UNICORN

We arrived with lunch in tow, found our assigned seats (we purchased floor tickets this year), and got the kids fed before final bow rehearsal commenced an hour before curtain call.

 Aunt Margie and Grambot arrived shortly after and we all settled in to watch the first half of the 2pm show (both kids were in both shows this year, but neither performed until after intermission).

 Jay volunteered to keep the boys in line and on time (the first time they've needed a boys dressing room or dad volunteer, since all prior years had James Powell as the only boy, but this year we had 5!) I was co-assigned to the 6 year old Combo dressing room (there were 12 girls, each performing in multiple numbers, so two moms were needed), and once our girls finished their ballet and jazz numbers, we had a great time chatting and singing and coloring until it came time for the production number finale that many of them were in. These little Ringmasters impressed me - I know I'm biased, but I really feel like this group of girls has a lot of talent and I foresee at least a few of them sticking with dance throughout their school years. I managed to sneak out into the wings for each of James' numbers as well (thanks to not being the solo dressing room mom) and he did SO WELL! It was really fun seeing the differences between he and Cora... she performs like an old pro already and the performance smile never leaves her face, whereas he looks very focused and intent on getting all his moves right throughout his dances. If you had told me in the fall that I'd have two kids in spring recital, I'd have told you that was crazy, but after this semester, I can't imagine it any other way.

 After the show, we took photos with their teachers, Ms. Bridgett for Cora and Ms. Holly for James (Mr. Christian did not attend the recital, much to our disappointment), some sibling photos, and a family photo. It was a very long weekend, but very worth it. You all know I'm a sap in general, but if you could see me in the wings, watching my babies smiling up on stage and seeing the obvious love and joy they have for getting their chance to shine... I'm a quiet mess of teary eyes and pride, and I'm truly thankful for the opportunity they're getting through RiverPointe.

 Until next year... and the kids have already decided that they're each adding a class or two to their already busy schedule!