LEGO BUDS

 Cora is not quite as into Legos as James is. Not by a long shot. Though she pretends to be... Once we reclaimed the table from the Pinewood Derby cars, we figured it was a good time to get back to working on her Christmas Lego set. James had been asking her to for over a week anyway... So hooray, she agreed to get moving on it again, AND she let him help! They're such cute little buddies working on their Legos side-by-side. Until they're not... Next thing I knew he was putting it together solo (and much faster, and with less bickering), as she'd wandered off to play with the cats and her baby dolls. Eventually (like, an hour later), she finally decided that SHE wanted to put it together and kicked him off the project. Poor dude. And she lasted all of 5 minutes solo... The good news is, I know she'll be asking for his help again soon. The set isn't complete yet!

CHICKEN CATCHERS AND BLOOMS

Now that Chester is gone, it's a bit easier for the kids to capture the ladies. James told me this afternoon that Chickaletta is his chicken now. She looks thrilled, right?

I just love when GG's Christmas Cactus blooms. We seem to have more than usual this year! And Jay's favorite, the narcissus, is blooming all over the yard right now!

SWE GIRL SCOUT EVENT 2017

Just like last year, the Society for Women Engineers put together a wonderful afternoon of learning and fun for the Vicksburg Girl Scout Troops! They made lip gloss as an ice breaker exercise (as you can imagine, this was a favorite of many of the girls - I know for sure Vaseline and KoolAid went into the mix, but I didn't catch the rest of it), played games, made slime (learning about polymers), designed bridges out of construction paper (and competed against each other to see whose bridge could hold the most dominoes), built earthquake-proof structures out of marshmallows and toothpicks, and raced in teams to determine what the fastest way to move a giant pile of "cotton" is (by barge, by train, or by truck). Cora had a great time and I'm really thankful she gets opportunities like this to see how useful and rewarding a career in science and engineering can be!

In this game, they tossed the ball to each other, then read the question under their right thumb and answered it

Cora teamed up with her buddy Baylie (pink bow) for every activity today

Cara Beth's face cracks me up! Her bridge won, Baylie and Cora's clearly did not.

She was so excited that her marshmallow house didn't fall apart!

Sprinting with her truck full of packing peanuts

CHILI FOR CHILDREN

James got to attend the annual Chili for Children cookoff this year since there was no birthday party on the agenda and daddy was at soccer referee training. The kids bounced and slid in the jump houses (then ran circles around my friends, doing cartwheels and front rolls in the grass) while I sampled some of the chili. I'm glad we made it out for a couple hours!

NATURE DASH

We joined the Kennedys in Clinton this morning for a special event held at their community nature center. Nature Dash included a kid-sized obstacle course and a 5K trail run. After a group warmup, the kids walked through the course in a line to receive instruction at each obstacle, then they lined up again (with 30 second spacings) to run the course as fast as they could. There was crawling and jumping and climbing and zip-lining and American Ninja Warrior type obstacles. James and Cora loved it (and it looked like Will and Lauren did too)! Once the kids were finished, the adults were set free on the 4-loop course with free babysitting provided in the playground. Jay and Al opted not to run though, so they watched the kids while Christina and I chatted away about 35 minutes on the trails - it was our first run together in a full year (due to her injury last winter followed by her move to Clinton this summer). It was great, and I'm just super excited to meet her for some long runs soon as we prep for Nashville RNR!

 We own matching leggings, so you can bet we wore them to the race!

We finished off the morning with lunch in Clinton, then it was back to the 'Burg for another special event!

MUSCLE BUIDLING

James' male dance instructor wants his boys to get stronger so they'll be better able to tackle the hip-hop and break dancing moves he has planned for their spring recital performance. So we're starting a family push-up challenge at home with the kids, and they're also doing the sit-ups and v-ups they learned in Acro (because Ms. Susan knows that strength translates into better handstands and round-offs), as well as some crazy new upside down/hanging sit-ups and push-ups that Mr. Christian taught the boys this week. Maybe we'll all be stronger by spring!

MARCEL THE MIME

James will be in his first play in a couple months! Our little mime Marcel has been reading his cues and practicing his moves (since he has no lines) for the Beauty and the Beast production that the GATES students are putting together. Teaching him to stay silent was the hardest part (beat boxin' mouth noises, all day, every day 'round here) because he definitely knows how to ham it up for an audience... I asked him if his GATES teacher really thought he was the best student for a silent role and he said "I picked this part myself!" In his defense, he's figuring it out and dagumit if he isn't the cutest little mime! Now to get a costume together...