"A REAL ELSA DRESS!!!"

We ordered Cora a "real" Elsa dress (her words, not mine - because of the sparkles and the snowflake and the attached cape) and it finally arrived after nearly a month of her anticipation. She immediately threw on her Elsa shoes and broke into song for my camera (on her "stage"). The facial expressions and hand gestures were especially entertaining. I think she wishes she was a superstar. Or at least a magical ice queen...

WORTH THE DRIVE

We had to drive an hour to see The BoxTrolls, but as we expected from the Focus Feature, it was worth the drive. Highly recommended for the preK and Kindergarten age group!

BUSTER'S BEST BUDDY

Buster really is the best dog for our family, and James loves him so much. He often gets snuggles before mama or daddy in the morning... gone are the days when James would wake up and come looking for us. Instead, we find him whenever we make it downstairs, just quietly hanging out with Buster on the couch or ottoman (or occasionally, even in the dog bed...)

SOCCER SCENES

Jay had a fun warm-up with the U6 team today. It looked like so much fun I worried the kids would be worn out even before the game started! Jay too, for that matter, since he was making them work for their practice goals!

 Still hot...

 Celebrating a goal earned through awesome teamwork that play!

KID CRAFT AND VEHICLE EXPO

The Home Depot Kid Craft was an ambulance this month, and the local emergency agencies contributed tours of an ambulance, police car, and firetruck, making this the kids' favorite kid craft to date. They played so long we were almost late for soccer!

I tried to tell him that these kids belonged in the back, but he didn't listen...

The kids enjoyed seeing their buddies Lauren and Will while crafting today!

FRIDAY HAPPENINGS

Vicksburg has a Baskin Robbins now. The kids have been looking forward to this for months (the location is very close to school and they've been watching the construction process with anxious and hungry eyes!)

 After ice cream, we had some time to spare until Cora's haircut appointment, so we stopped by Manu and Leo's old apartment playground - we still really miss them.

 This was Cora's 3rd haircut, just a trim, but she sure felt like a superstar.

STRENGTH

For those of you who have been following Christopher's journey (as I know so many of you have), please visit his CaringBridge site, and keep praying for strength.



OCTOBER IS HERE AND WE'RE ALMOST THERE

 We were a little delayed in getting into the Halloween spirit this year and didn't jump into October with both feet as we usually would, but we're getting there. Some Halloween decor and themed shirts and a visit to ERDC's annual Castle Club Oktoberfest celebration helped.

SHE'S AN ELSA GIRL

Grambot sent Cora an Elsa throw for her bed (James got a set of Skylanders sheets that he is very proud of!) and an Elsa backpack. You would have thought she won the lottery with the squeals of excitement and the way she hugged the packaged items... I asked her for a quick photo before school to send to Grambot and she broke into song ("Let it Go", what else?) and asked me to take about 20 photos. Now she has a backpack with side pockets for her water bottle and morning snack, which are obviously just a perk compared to who is pictured on it, but Jay and I are quite pleased to have an accessible place for these items finally so they don't leak or get crushed in the bottom of her bag.

GREAT GAMES!

Great games today! Cora scored a goal and was so thrilled that she left the field to give me high fives and hugs and kisses. James' team played against a really cool team that was perfectly matched to them skill-wise and they played overtime because nobody wanted it to end.

Goal kick - go Baby Doll!

It's still quite hot here...

Pre-game pep talk

She's like her Gramma - she makes friends everywhere she goes!

Taking his games so seriously this season!

DECK CRASHERS

Our friends the Gattles graciously invited us over to test out their new deck (ok, we kinda invited ourselves over, but Amy is so sweet she would never admit that!), treating the kids to pizza and cookies and a couple hours of pint-sized exercise by making probably hundreds of loops around their large yard and beautiful multi-level deck. Hopefully we can crash again once our fall weather truly arrives, and sticks around. Beautiful evening with good friends, and the kids were so happy to see Grant and Evie and Will and Lauren outside of the gym daycare!

Evie, Cora, and Lauren

Will, James, and Grant

Getting into the Gattle's costume closet, of course

SHERBET SUCKS

Someone was highly offended when the end of the week treat she chose was not up to snuff and daddy refused to go back and buy her a skewer of chocolate covered marshmallows like James picked.

SUPER GIRLS

Cora received a religious brochure from a woman at Walmart. As soon as we got to the car she asked me for a pen so she could draw me a picture. The result was she and I wearing capes (because those are obviously not 3rd legs) and flying over an ocean where fallen hearts were floating. (And she's been practicing writing her full name lately, hence the attempts at "Mae" at the bottom.)

SCHOOL PICTURE DAY: FALL 2014



ELSA SHOES

I came across an ETSY seller recently that makes beautiful hand-crafted "Elsa inspired" shoes. But they cost a small fortune (for children's shoes, anyway) and I figured I could come up with a way to make them for her myself. Then I remembered that one of my coworkers is very artistic and paints shoes for herself and her friends all the time... so I sent her a photo of what I was thinking about and she told me she'd love to try making them. I took Cora to Hobby Lobby (my first time visiting our new store, that's been here almost a year, I think - it's a dangerous money-sucking place!) and the girl was even happier than she gets in candy stores! She ran around touching all the beads and other items that are all open and at her level and squealing and making grand plans to take Gramma there next time she visits ("Because Gramma likes to do art with me and she loves it when I make her beautiful necklaces!") We found some cheap Toms-like flats, some fabric snowflakes and some sparkly snowflakes, and dropped our purchases off with Natalie on Friday. This week Natalie brought me the cutest little Elsa-blue ombre, glitter covered, snowflake adorned shoes. (There are snowflakes on the sides and back too.) When I presented them to Cora, she was literally speechless (and you know how much she talks, so she obviously was instantly in love). She plopped down and put them on, finally took a breath, then jumped up and ran off to find her Elsa nightgown. She is smitten. And now when she wears her Elsa nightgown (or dress, if it arrives in time and fits) to school on Halloween, she won't be tempted to wear her "click clack shoes" (AKA plastic heels with no traction that are too big for her feet and we can't understand how she can wear them without constantly tripping and falling down).

HAPPY DANCE

This sequence would have been more entertaining as a video, but even in still-frames there is no doubt this girl of ours is happy with the state of her life. After soccer practice, last night at bedtime, she told me how much fun she had and how great coach daddy is, and asked me when she can play again. I'm so glad we let her give soccer a second chance because she seems to be loving it this year. And then there's dance. Dance! She was so excited for dance class yesterday that she snuck into the studio early and did a little giggling happy dance for me. Her smile is contagious!

 We're halfway through the week and I just have to say that it's awfully nice when things fall into place! Our morning routine is locked and loaded (we're never late to school anymore and the kids are so helpful in the mornings now - James has even started taking Buster out to go potty and feels like a very big kid indeed with that responsibility), the kids are enjoying their weekly one-on-one time with us (both in and out of soccer practice), I got a night out at Barley's Angels that was just what I needed (I've been missing Christina a lot lately, as she's out with a running injury), Jay and I have been taking turns running with the 5:00am group and rotating weeks for who takes Cora to dance (which is nice because we get to see different running friends and each get to experience Cora's cuteness at RiverPointe), the kids are generally getting two afternoons at the gym (they love it there, especially the day we take them swimming before we run, so we often get complaints on the days that we don't go, probably because they also have friends that they only see there at their daycare), and Jay and I found one day/week to run TOGETHER and we've been enjoying that so much. We're ready for the change in seasons and our favorite (and most busy) month of the year - bring on fall!

FEELING HOT HOT HOT

It certainly wasn't the hottest day this summer, but considering that fall technically starts tomorrow, and after last weekends beautiful game weather, today was rough. On the kids and spectators alike. I caved and bought the kids popsicles between games because I felt so bad for them. I should have bought them for Jay and I too. And we should have remembered sunscreen. And bought a shade tent. Luckily everyone stayed hydrated and the kids played well (James scored an awesome goal after driving the ball all the way across the field!) with far more energy than I could have mustered. Lots of complaints about the sun and the heat, but I sure didn't blame them. Fingers crossed next weekend is easier on all of us!

Doing his best to do nothing in between the two 8-minute quarters he got to play

 We followed up the game by eating a huge lunch at Billy's (running 18 miles makes me HUNGRY, especially when I go from running, to home, to jumping in and out of the shower and into the van to soccer within 10 minutes, and having to share the measly breakfast I packed myself with hungry kids), then going back to Hobby Lobby to get the items needed to make Jay's Halloween costume. After some quiet time at home, Jay harvested the rest of the sweet potatoes from our summer garden and turned it over to plant snap peas and snow peas for our fall garden while I cleaned house. Happily, my legs felt surprisingly good after the miles (even though I went REALLY slow the last few) and the kids' behavior has continued to be in the 90th percentile of good, so we simply can't ask for better than that. Hopefully tomorrow we can get to work on our costumes, since we set the date for our annual Halloween Bash - on my birthday!

UNEVENTFUL AND THANKFUL FOR IT!

Our week was uneventful, and that's sometimes a good thing. James got better and stayed that way. Nobody else caught his sickness. Jay is adjusting to his new meds and got back to running. My ongoing behind-the-knee issue seems to have finally resolved itself (I stopped icing completely, stopped taking ibuprofen or acetaminophen completely, and started taking nightly HOT Epsom salt baths with Cora and following them up with 30-45 minutes of massaging and rolling). Cora had a 100% green light week (finally), and since James did too, we celebrated with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory chocolate-coated marshmallow sticks and a trip to Playland (where the kids bounced for 2 hours with their buddies Will and Lauren, and we had the place completely to ourselves). We skipped our usual "pizza and a movie" (with beer) Friday night in favor of BBQ chicken and sweet potatoes from the garden, lots of water (I needed to hydrate for an 18-miler), and a few new episodes of the kids' favorite TV shows (pre-recorded via DVR, of coruse). I also discovered Hobby Lobby this week... which is good and bad. Too many fun things in that store... but also some highly useful ones! We picked up these trays and the kids have already used them as TV trays, craft storage containers, and coloring tables. Win!

JINXED

Aw James, I'm so sorry buddy. I totally jinxed you.

The Harry Potter sorting hat will go on the mantel as decoration this year. James was just happily modeling it for me because we're currently reading the first book of the series (our second ever chapter book and he loves it).

 

Poor kid hadn't been eating well all last week and we'd given him such a bad time about it (because it really chafes us when lunches come home barely touched and dinner is a "take a bite on the count of three or else" battle). On Friday night we had pizza as usual and set out to watch the new Spiderman movie. James had been asking to see it for months, so we figured for once this week he'd eat a good meal (we pause movies when pizza sits untouched, which is an excellent form of bribery/consequences). That's not what happened though. After the first hour of the movie passed and maybe three bites had made it into his belly, we told him he either had to start eating or go to bed (it was 7:45pm, so just slightly before his school night bedtime). He chose to go to bed. Hmmm... Worrisome, but he wasn't feverish and didn't complain about any aches, and he woke up seemingly fine Saturday, so?... He ate a good breakfast Saturday and played soccer happily, trying his best during the game, but then refused lunch afterward even though it was well past lunch time when we got home. Instead he ASKED to take a nap. What?! Guess soccer really wore him out?... Well, he slept for 2.5 hours that afternoon. He woke up happy and picked fish for dinner (our kids love fish, especially James: snapper, tuna steak, salmon, mahi - all of it), hooray! Cured by sleep! But then once dinner was cooked he picked and whined and barely ate two bites without us prodding him. We finally told him he could eat half his dinner and then we'd finish watching Spiderman, or he could go to bed. He chose bed. Again. And it was only 7:20pm. We'd been checking his temperature nonstop (for the past week, not just over the weekend). Suddenly he was warm (99, and he usually runs cool down at 97) and complaining about his belly hurting. Oh man... Gave him some ibuprofen for his head (because he said it hurt - probably the little fever) and a Pepto chewable for his belly, and sent him to bed with a big bowl just in case... He slept fine all night and seemed OK again Sunday morning, but by the time I got home from my long run he was sluggish and warm again and refused to eat lunch. That's when the nastiness hit (and not from his mouth). His temp went up to 100, but we refrained from giving him meds because he had an empty belly and we didn't want to make anything worse. So he and I sat on the couch the rest of the day doing nothing (Jay was busy in the yard with his adorable little blonde assistant - I voted myself as sick kid babysitter since my long run did me in). Poor kiddo was in the bathroom every 10-15 minutes all afternoon. By bedtime it had slowed and his fever was gone, but he once again went to bed early without dinner. We stayed home from school/work today (because obviously he cannot go to school for at least 24 hours after having fever or potty issues) and he was 90% better all day long (he ate well, drank plenty of Pedialyte, and had no fever or potty issues - just a little sluggish, though plenty happy to be home alone with mommy). It was a rough 24 hours for him, but we're extremely thankful he didn't get the 4-6 day bug that's going around town and sending kids to the ER for IV fluids (and with kids at his school, including one in his classroom - too bad we didn't get a heads-up on that). Then again, maybe he did have the bug all week (hence his poor appetite) - just a much milder form than the other kids have gotten? Anyway, fingers crossed nobody else in the family gets it!

And P.S., for those who have been concerned, Jay's echo came back clear as well. So they have no idea what could have caused the "off" feeling after Ashland. The prednisone is wearing off and he is feeling better, but just in case, he asked about going back on his beta blocker (the doc had taken him off it at his last yearly check-up because his MVP was virtually cured due to running strengthening his heart). The doc decided not to do that, but to put him on an ace inhibitor instead (since he's so active now). Only time will tell how he does with the new meds.