EMMA THE EXPLORER

Sweet little Emma turned 3 and we helped her celebrate at her Dora the Explorer themed party (she's a big Dora fan)! The kids had so much fun playing on the seesaw helicopter and playset, and inside with all Emma and Coltin's toys. They kinda refused to leave (they always do when we visit the Hancock's house - they love it there), so we stayed late while the kids closed down the party by riding bikes in the driveway while us adults chatted. Thanks so much for inviting us over guys (and thanks for the yummy tacos too - just what I needed after my long run)!

Cora, James, Will

Cora, Coltin, James, Will

Cora, Gabriel, Coltin, James

Cora, Gabriel, James, Coltin

Gabriel, James, Cora

Lauren, Will, Cora snacking on taco fixins

Cupcake time with the birthday girl: Cora, James, Emma

Cora the Explorer

Cora down on the dock with Stirlin, feeding their "pet" fish

VALENTINE'S DAY 2014

We had a low-key Valentine's Day this year. We woke the kids early for a cinnamon roll breakfast and buckets of candy (not to be eaten at breakfast...), dressed them in red clothes and sent them to school with their buckets and some self-chosen valentines (Iron Man for James, Disney Princesses for Cora) and candy bags for their buddies, played at the park with friends, then ate dinner at Martin's.

She has awesome bedhead these days. That bucket of candy made her squeal with joy...

A little candlelight for breakfast romance...

 Cloud-watching with Manu.

No need to buy dessert when the kids had backpacks full of candy from their school buddies.

SCENES FROM THE MILITARY PARK

 I did not go to the park yesterday, but the rangers posted a bunch of photos online and I had to share just a few with you. Wish I could have done my run there - bet the views were incredible!

Ice dropped branches everywhere, and even some trees...

This is one of my favorite statues in the park (and it's one I pass on my usual running route), the African American Memorial

Wisconsin State Memorial

General Grant

The view from Fort Hill of the Yazoo. Ice covered grass and trees as far as the eye can see.

Cold little armadillo...

And one from work yesterday morning (taken by the ERDC photographer, not me). The sun pouring through the ice-covered trees was absolutely gorgeous. The entire drive to preschool and work was pretty and the kids and I wanted to stop in awe multiple times. I'd never seen anything like it.

JAMES: 2, GRAMMA: 0

James is winning the Lego Vehicle Challenge. He has now completed the airplane and airport firetruck (as well as some structures and other miscellaneous pieces of superhero and Legends of Chima). Gramma, have you started your VW Bus yet?...

ICE STORM

The best thing about finding out the night before about school and work closures (school was closed all day, work didn't open until 10am) is that you can plan to sleep in! And that we did. James didn't wander upstairs until almost 8am and Cora slept another 20-30 minutes longer. I took Buster out to potty and took some photos of the frozen decks and trees, then brought an ice-covered branch back inside for the kids to check out. James said it was too cold to hold though. Vicksburg has a history of really bad winter ice storms, but this is the first we've experienced since moving here almost 7 years ago. We goofed off for a couple hours, then got to work at the kitchen table while the kids watched movies (working on manuscripts this week). I took a run break after lunch, then we decided to skip our Guns, Guts, Glutes class at the YMCA tonight due to terrible road conditions (the Mississippi River Bridge has been closed all day due to a huge accident and we've heard reports of large trees blocking intersections around town). Fine with me - now I can go take a hot bath instead, and hopefully save my leg and glute muscles for this weekend's extremely long run...

 

SNEAKY SISSY

We came downstairs this morning to find Sissy snuggled at the foot of James' bed (in Buster's spot, which means he was sleeping IN THE SHEETS up next to James). She had woken at 3:30am to go potty (she's starting to have more dry nights lately!) and in need of allergy meds (we blame our wildly changing temperatures, since I've been needing decongestants as well), but she had climbed right back into her own bed after all was taken care of. I suppose she didn't stay there though...

EVEN BETTER THAN SLEEPY SNUGGLES

After our busy day, the kids were ready for a calm evening of TV shows and books. We set them up with blankets and pillows, then I retreated to the corner with my own blanket and a book, and a mug of hot apple cider. So relaxing! It wasn't long before James had migrated to my lap, even though he could barely see the TV from my perch behind the couch. He told me he just wanted to snuggle me and keep me warm. He kept readjusting my blanket to keep me fully covered. The boy sure knows how to melt his mama's heart (and he's the best snuggler I know)!

FAMILY FUN DAY ACHIEVED!

After the business of proposal writing last weekend and all last week, with Jay and I bringing work home and looking at computers far more than we'd like to during the kids' waking hours, we really wanted to devote an entire day to them this weekend. So we set about the day (after sleeping in LATE - YESSSSS!!!) with pancakes and bacon (kids' choice, of course), and a viewing of Lego Batman (hopefully we'll get to the theater for the new Lego movie next weekend), then did a couple of projects (digging T-Rex and Mammoth bones out of plaster paleontology kits, and making plaster T-Rex bones out of sand molds), Skyped w/ Grambot and PawPaw, went over to the kids' future elementary school (SouthPark!) to play on their new playground equipment, ride bikes, and let mama run the trails for a little while, then back home for some DVR'd episodes of their new favorites: Paw Patrol and Octonauts (introduced by Grambot when she was here in early January). The weather was absolutely gorgeous (today I ran in a tank-top, while yesterday's 15-miler was in fleece-lined tights and a jacket as freezing rain drizzled down...), contributing to an all around feel-good family fun day. Couldn't have asked for better!

Little paleontologists digging up dem bones!

Brushing off that dust

Cleaning off the revealed bones

Pouring plaster T-Rex bones before heading to the playground

Giant fireman poles are a little scary, but Cora sucked it up and went down twice

Riding the little hilly, muddy trail behind the school (where they hold a 1-mile race for elementary-aged kids in the fall - a competition among local schools)

They probably weren't suppose to climb on this pile of wood chips, but it was YES day, so we let them.

The plaster bones worked - success! (They'll be used for James' paleontology/fossil expedition birthday party next month, along with the completed T-Rex and Mammoth skeletons.)

KENNEDY KIDDOS

We had Will and Lauren over tonight for a few hours so that Al and Christina could get out and spend some time together. Turned out to be quite in our favor since all four kiddos were awesome and they even ate their dinners happily and completely without a single complaint. Seriously. I know that is perhaps a weird thing to marvel at, but come on - FOUR kids ages 4 and under, and everybody was calm and polite and even exchanged pleasant dinner conversation. Win.

There was some TV, some bike riding and sidewalk chalk coloring, dress-up (Lauren fit perfectly into Cora's TinkerBell outfit - the only one that wasn't too long), puzzles and books. A very nice evening.

Buster even got a manicure. Before he freaked out about the kids riding circles around him and squealing. Big baby - we had to bring him inside...

GROWING GOLDEN LOCKS

 Jay and I switched kid pick-up days again, so that he can attend the new yoga class offered at our gym on Tuesdays and I can take Cora to dance (and ensure her hair is in the requisite ponytail or bun). While this throws off my running schedule (no worries, I'm always changing up my "schedule" anyway), I think after a week or so of adjustment (just in time for soccer practice to start for James!) we'll have our new routine figured out. This was only Cora's second class (last week was cancelled due to the snow/ice) and she was so very happy to get dressed up and do her hair (she requested a ponytail instead of a bun today). She asked me to take pictures for Daddy and Gramma and Grambot, so I did.

 Once inside and out of the rain, into her sparkly skirt and ballet shoes.