WHITE AND BLUE

The VSO spring season started last week! The kids' first games were a bit rough around the edges, but this week was much smoother and everybody seemed to give it their best effort (or nearly so!) and keep their heads in the game (for the most part - they're still 5 through 7, after all...) 

Here are some highlights:

We have the same U6 team as the fall! (minus one player, which actually helps even out play times for each kid)

That's more like it...

Pre-game huddle and hands-in cheer!

Watching mama to make sure she's watching him before he kicks off...

Oh look, last week's rain has turned the grass green(er)

Since it wasn't freezing, she didn't need to cuddle with me. Instead she played with other sisters.

No tunnel for the big boys - high fives all around!

(early) Lunch break at McAllisters between games (second week in a row - this may become a thing)

Watching Lauren play her LeapPad during a rest break

U6 still gets the tunnel - and they LOVE it! Best part of the game ;-)

INCREASED ENERGY OUTPUT...

Dancing hasn't seemed to make a bit of difference (behavior-wise at school), and the kids do a lot more standing and staring than they do dancing, so Jay and I have started running them around the neighborhood in the morning before school instead. In 15 minutes, they can complete one loop of the neighborhood (which is right at 1-mile), and the dog can mostly keep up with them. This one is good for all 5 of us, so we'll keep with it if we can!

TIGERS MEET THE LAW

The Tiger Scouts had a visit from Sheriff Pace and one of his deputies this evening. They had a lesson about good guys vs. bad guys, safety measures (deputies all wear chest cameras now), seat belts, and how the deputy's car works (cameras that turn on automatically with the flashing lights, the difference between the blue light city police and red & blue light sheriff deputies, etc.) The boys LOVED it and all took turns sitting in the back seat behind bars, turning on the sirens, and dancing to the flashing lights...

(That is not James. That is Justin, But he made me laugh and I had to take a picture.)

SAY YES TO THE DRESS

Cora has a big event coming up this weekend! It will be the first time she needs a fancy dress and shiny shoes, so while the boys went home after dance class, I took her shopping. It was her first time being allowed to pick out anything she wanted and, her first time trying things on in a dressing room, and she loved it all. She tried on every single dress that had sparkles on it, a couple pairs of high heels (which mama declined to purchase in favor of age appropriate mary janes), and requested mutiple posed pictures of EVERYTHING so we could send them to daddy and her grandmas for their input. She's five and this is her first dance, but I can only imagine what prom and wedding dress shopping will be like some day...

 In the end, she narrowed it down to two dresses, then chose the silver dress because it had rhinestones AND glitter. Then she picked out a new tie for her daddy to match her. I had the best time making a big deal of this dance and letting her glow in the limelight, and she deserved it.

VALENTINE'S DAY 2016

On Valentine's Day, we slept in, gave each other cards and candy and flowers, opened presents from Uncle Jamie, ate pink pancakes and bacon, Skyped and Facetimed family, took some portraits of the kids for their school yearbook ad, then went to see Mary Poppins at our local theater (our first time attending a play here in Vicksburg, not counting the High School practice session that the kids went to a few weeks ago).

Red lights and Christopher's hearts on the mantel this month

A card and bookmark that the kids made us under Miss Elizabeth's tutelage on our recent date night

Chocolates and marshmallows from mama and daddy

Our "creepy" valentines

Those of us in the back row enjoyed singing along to all the songs...

Cotton candy at intermission

Cora posing with the star of the show

GAMERS

GOOSEBUMPS

James has been asking to watch this movie forever. We finally caved. He promised he wouldn't get scared. But halfway through, both kids had clambered to our side of the couch for protection...

Starting to look a little worried here...

I'll give it to them - Slappy the Dummy was pretty creepy!

GEODE SPLITTING

Uncle Jamie sent the kids a couple of National Geographic kits for Christmas, including geodes, and they got down to business with daddy after school today to crack them open! It was apparently harder than Jay expected it to be (one of them broke his chisel!), but super fun for the kids!

 One of them even glowed under a black light!

CORA'S FIRST OPHTHALMOLOGIST APPOINTMENT

The kids had medical screenings at school last month and when the results were mailed home, we learned that Cora had failed her vision test. (We also learned that we had forgotten to do her 5-year-old wellness exam this summer when we returned from Disney because we had turned in an outdated vaccination form - luckily, she was up to date on those, so when we took her to see Dr. Masterson the next day she was relieved to not need any shots!) Our little buddy Will had recently been to an ophthalmologist here in town (just to double check after his 6-year-old wellness exam - he was given the all clear), so we took Cora to the same doctor (on their recommendation) and were very pleased with the thoroughness of the exam as well as the staff and atmosphere. (Jay will be switching to this ophthalmologist next time he's due, and I think I should probably schedule myself a check just to be sure, since I'm getting old and whatnot. And tiny data numbers on computer screens all day occasionally cause headaches.) Turns out Cora has astigmatism in both eyes, significant enough to require glasses for reading (and Kindle playing). She is not nearsighted or farsighted. She does have a freckle on one eye, which is apparently pretty uncommon, but is not currently (and hopefully never will be) an issue. She will return annually to check for any changes (in the astigmatism - which she could potentially outgrow - the freckle, and otherwise). For now, we're hoping her new hot pink glasses will help her read even better than she already does, and not get so frustrated with afternoon/evening reading and homework. (She tends to easily confuse d/b/p and i/l and g/q and f/r, and when her eyes are tired at the end of the day she will flat-out refuse to read or just sounds out individual letters.) Not to mention open up a whole new world of detail she's been missing out on. Mama feels bad for not knowing there was an issue with her eyes (and for forgetting that wellness exam, which would have tipped us off, since the 5-year exam is when James first had his vision tested).

  

  She was not super pleased with her huge, dilated eyes and the resulting difficulty in seeing things and having to hide from the sun...

We think the glasses look great on her (and so far she seems pleased with them).

As a reward, Daddy took her to Hobby Lobby to get the tissue flower supplies, then to Playland to bounce to her heart's content (along with James - they're out of school today for some reason).