THE BIG 4-0!

Jay turned 40! FORTY! Obviously I felt the need to celebrate this to the fullest extent that he would allow ;-) We started with decorations sneaked into his office (Sandy!) and onto his door (me) the night before. The kids began his big day with the birthday song and the insistence that he open ALL his presents before work/school. (He wore his Lindsay tartan flannel shirt from his mom to work!) I kept my promise and did not post photos of him all over our office building. Just a few on his door... Sandy had left him what is obviously the long-lived branch birthday hat to wear for the occasion. Even if he only wore it once in the morning, I got photographic evidence. He shared cupcakes with all the folks in his branch to celebrate. He chose Martin's for lunch, where we enjoyed a brew AND dessert. His trifle even had a birthday candle, and everyone in the bar sang him Happy Birthday. That makes 2 songs, if you're counting... After work we met up with a group of our running and beer drinking buddies to run a Beer Mile (yes, there are rules for the official versions of these events, though we didn't enforce them all). We had quickly decided on such a celebration back when we were drinking champagne at 6am with the running group at our annual Dirty Santa party... Only 3 runners really played by the rules tonight: Jay, Al, and Tank (everyone else drank one can or less). Tank arrived a little over a minute into the start of the "race", but quickly chugged and ran, soon passing Jay and Al (who drank their beers at much more respectable rates, but still paid the price of bubble bellies - their faces became more and more entertaining as the mile ticked by!) It was so much fun to watch, and I think everyone running enjoyed it too (there was talk right after the finish of making it an annual event!) Tank finished his 4th lap at 10:57 and won a 6pk of Jay's homebrew as a prize. Then we attempted to light flashing 40 candles in the wind, gave up, and sang Happy Birthday to Jay while eating our favorite red velvet cupcakes. That makes 3... Then we were off to 10 South for dinner (after we waited a very long time to be seated). I didn't take pictures at dinner, unfortunately (we were too busy eating and talking), but we had Al, Gaurav, John, and Lisa join us. It was a really fun (if not kinda long) day, and Jay promptly passed out on the couch after we got home and got the kids to bed!

Lee, Al, Francine, Amy, Lisa, John, Gaurav, Mack, and the birthday boy right before the start

I had them run their lap around the Glenwood Circle playground, which added up to a bit over a mile...

He finally had the perfect reason to wear his On A Beer Run shirt!

Until next year - Happy Birthday Jaybird!

ROOF REPAIR, ROOM REPAIR

Remember that major hail storm that blew through Vicksburg back in early March (followed by another, then flooding rains, and then another round of hail), and the resulting leaky living room ceiling, and thus the replaced roof (thank you awesome insurance for covering hail damage, minus the large deductible, of course), which then needed repairs, which then needed further repairs (don't call Robert E. Lee for your Vicksburg roofing needs)? Well, 9 months later, one of the two contractors we were able to get quotes from finally got us "on the board", and then they actually showed up to begin the repair when they said they would and got started! Hooray!! But guess what? Turns out the roof was STILL leaking (boards were wet to the touch from the 3 days of straight rain we had Saturday-Monday) and we wouldn't have known if Sanders-Hollingsworth Builders hadn't cut a huge hole in the ceiling and made the discovery (and yes, it's drafty when your moldy insulation must be removed on the same day that the temperature drops below freezing for a couple days...) Anyway, long story short, the Builders did a great job repairing the ceiling and wall (where moisture had caused bubbling behind the paint), replacing the moldy insulation and broken ceiling fan, and strengthening the tresses. And now our living room has a working fan and zero punctured leak holes! Merry Christmas to us!

DAY ONE

Plastic went everywhere, thankfully, to keep the dust off as much as possible and minimize the cold draft overnight. I had to laugh at Jay's "cabinet of curiosities" shelf and the Christmas tree (which looked like a snow globe without the snow...)

DAY TWO
(The morning was spent waiting while the roofers repaired the bad spot, then the Builders got right back to work after lunch.)

DAY THREE

DAY FOUR
(In the evening, after cleaning)

OUR LITTLE PRODIGIES

Playing Prodigy (a math adventure game) side-by-side this afternoon

Enjoying a rare "dessert" night

CAUTION-TO-THE-WIND CLIMBING

Fallen trees make the best jungle gyms...

MASTERMIND

Jay played Mastermind with the kids for about an hour this morning, letting them be the code makers so that they could watch and learn as he broke their codes. Cora cracked us up the first time she chose all pink pegs for her code (though it was less funny the next few times she did it...) and Jay was particularly proud of this win where he broke James' code on his second try.

CORA'S FIRST NUTCRACKER BALLET

I haven't seen the Nutcracker since I was a kid, and I knew my budding ballerina would love the dancing and the costumes, so when my friend Wendy asked us a couple months ago if we wanted to go as a group, I jumped on it. I'm so glad we went - the show was wonderfully done! The costumes were incredible and I thought all the dancers were very talented. Cora loved it all, especially the Gumdrop Fairy and her pastel rainbow tutu, and the Spanish soloist and her red, sparkly tutu - Cora saw her come on stage and immediately told me "Oh, I would look BEAUTIFUL in that one!", which led to a short discussion of practice and training, and how long many of these ballerinas have likely been dancing to get to this point. She was not deterred, and watched intently until the last 10 minutes or so (when she started to get tired). The Sugar Plum Fairy and Russian soloist sorta stole the show for me, but I really did enjoy it all and was so impressed with the choreography (even the little dancers were right on cue). Cora got to wear a very pretty blue, sparkly dress (and matching sparkly tights) that her Gramma brought her last month, and we enjoyed a girls afternoon and evening out with Christina and Lauren (and later, dinner with Al and Will too)!

 Cora surrounded by a group of adorable 4-year-old ballerinas:

 We hung around for a while outside after the show to let the girls run off some energy and check out the decorations on campus, and managed to get a close-up look at some of the costumes as the dancers came out to pose for photos with their families. Wow, were they intricate. Even more gorgeous up close than they were on stage!

 We will very likely be making this event a new tradition!

BELOW FREEZING IS FUN

We had a couple mornings of below freezing temperatures this weekend, so we "celebrated" with outdoor activities such as running 16 miles and delivering Pack 7's Luminaria flyers. I was so cold after my run that I skipped the flyer distribution and went home to hot coffee and a hot bath (after a quick stop at the gas station, where I spilled my coffee while fueling up because my hands/arms were shaking so bad from the cold). I made hot chocolate for the kids when they got home, but they opted to stay outside for a while...

SOUTHPARK BINGO NIGHT

 We went to Bingo Night because, as Cora insisted, "it's FOR SCHOOL!" So, we spent some funds at the fundraiser. We all played a few games of Bingo, then the kids played another 4 or 5. We bought popcorn and sodas. And every kid there ended up with a prize during one of the last games, so these little cuties went home with big smiles :-)

STUDENT OF THE MONTH - CORA

 Cora earned Student of the Month Award for November!

She was presented with a certificate and 3 Bingo Cards (for the school's Bingo Night fundraiser), and got to be in a group photo with all the other November winners (including her friends James and Gabriel). Each teacher gets to choose one student each month. Ms. Busby chose Cora for November because "she has been doing a great job in class with her behavior, helping Ms. Goodwin and I out, and doing a wonderful job with her work". We are thrilled with her progress this year, and Ms. Busby says "I am so proud of her! She has been doing such a good job all around!" We'll let her pick out a special prize of her choosing this weekend while we're in Jackson near a toy store to celebrate :-)

EL's A TO Z TOYS: 2016

Every year (since 2010) this competition between our EL Branches makes my heart feel full!

CARTOON CHARACTER JAMES

James recently started drawing his people less like stick figures and more like cartoon characters (e.g. with big eyes, like in Teen Titans), and we think it's the cutest thing! He usually draws them with "I heart GB's" shirts (I Love Ghostbusters, of course) and hair. Between his new skills, and Cora's heart lips and high-heeled shoes, our wall decor is getting fancier by the month!

EXAM WEEK EXHAUSTION

Testing weeks must be exhausting... I set her up with a movie (because her Kindle was on the fritz, and I let the kids celebrate the end of 3 days of testing with electronics on a school night) on the portable DVD player upstairs in our bed (the contractor finally fit us in - 9 months later - to fix the leak in our ceiling, which will be a whole post unto itself...), and when I checked back on her 20 minutes later, she was passed out. She looked so warm and comfy (and Jude's purring made me want to snuggle in - alas, I had to go make dinner) that I just let her nap for a bit. Sweet girl...

Her movie of choice? Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!

BEST BIG BROTHER

At bedtime tonight, as we sent the kids to their rooms to read separately, Cora sweetly asked James if he would read to her instead. When he agreed (after watching me for a nod that it was ok), she grabbed the Junie B. Jones book that they started together a couple weeks ago and he picked up right where they left off. (The picture is dark, but Jude is in there between them, with the monkey on her back. She loves story time too.)