CARENCRO MARDI GRAS

We haven't lived in Louisiana since 2006. We haven't been to a Louisiana Mardi Gras parade since we moved away. As such, we forgot how BIG Louisiana does up these parades... So we showed up right at 11:00am when the parade was set to start, and parked near the end so that "we wouldn't miss anything" since we felt like we were late...

 ...waiting...

 ...waiting with cotton candy...

 ...waiting while playing with new friends...

...waiting while dancing to the music other groups are playing on the sidelines...

...and 2 hours later the cops arrived, signaling that the parade floats were finally within screaming distance!

 Small town parades do not use barricades, so you are able to dance in the street and pick up any poorly tossed beads before they get crushed by parade float tires...

Cora got REALLY good at screaming for beads and dancing in the street...

 (Perhaps the best beads he's ever caught)

 THREE hours after it's start, the parade was still going. We bailed because we were all tired and very overdue for lunch. The kids were pleased with their beads (Cora handed me any of the ones she caught that weren't the short, small bead strands because they were too heavy for her, and because she's OCD and wanted them all to match) and thought the Carencro parade was awesome! We promptly headed over to Prejean's (just a mile down the highway, and one of our favorite restaurants in the Lafayette area). We had just missed the live music, but we didn't mind (parades are LOUD, so it was nice to have a little peace and quiet to talk, and the kids enjoyed some time on their Kindles while their mama and daddy ordered appetizers and giant plates of creole pasta and ettoufee).

(The giant stuffed gator in the middle of Prejean's. This wasn't their first trip to see "Big Al"...)

CAMP KIDS

Since the kids aren't playing soccer this spring, we had the opportunity to head down to small-town Louisiana to attend some real Mardi Gras parades (for the first time with the kids) and to fulfill our promise to them to go camping as often as we can before the weather turns sizzlin' hot. We chose Lake Chicot State Park for this trip due to a prior experience (we cabin-camped there for one of our first anniversaries, back when we lived in Lafayette for grad school) and it's relative proximity to the Lafayette area (lots of great small town parades nearby). We had tentative plans to attend 3 parades on Saturday (one in Carencro, just north of Lafayette, and two in Lafayette), buy king cake from Meche's, eat at a couple of our favorite restaurants, and take the kids to the big fancy playground on campus. We hit most of those goals. While the kids truly loved the parades, they both said that camping was their favorite part of the trip, so here are a few photos from our first night and morning at our campsite in the practically empty campground that surrounds Lake Chicot...

Nightlights in the tent make bedtime so easy. (No sarcasm. Seriously, they've made campsite bedtimes so much easier since we learned to bring the kids' favorite battery-powered nightlights!)

 Easy bedtimes mean that we get to have some quiet adult time under the stars. Mancala is a little more difficult in the near-dark, but still fun. 

 Once we woke up, the kids piled onto our blow-up mattress for snuggles and then opened the windows to check out a different version of a "widescreen TV". We listened to the birds and squirrels, and talked about the noisy geese and raccoons that kept us up overnight, then decided to pull on our boots and go for a short walk before heading further south to the first parade of the day.

 (Fiery game of checkers while daddy made coffee and hot chocolate)

STRONG GIRL

 Cora has learned to do unassisted headstands in Acro (followed by a backflip thing that I have no idea what it's called where she ends up in a backbend - at which point she likes to show off for me by holding herself up with just one arm at a time). It's pretty impressive to me (and quite frankly, a bit scary when she first starts the flip over) and I asked her to show me her muscles after class. The girl has got 'em, that's for sure!

VALENTINE'S DAY 2017

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jay brought us girls some roses...

The kids gave me some adorable cards (and we gave them "mailboxes" filled with candy)...

James and his puns... "My love is purrrfectic for you"

And we had the chance to go out for a fancy 4-course Valentine's dinner at Cedar Grove...

"PAWSITIVE ATTITUDE" PARTY

James was invited to attend a "Crazy Hat, Crazy Sock" party at school for his good behavior. Since he doesn't own any crazy socks of his own, he borrowed my unicorn socks (which don't fit him well yet, but he made do) and grabbed one of our Warrior Dash viking hats. I thought he looked pretty crazy and he was pleased.

(And in case you're wondering, the answer is no, Cora did not receive an invitation...)

SKATERS

The kids received roller skates for Christmas from their auntie and uncle, and they finally got up the nerve to get practicing! They're loving it and we know they'll get better and better!

FROM EGGS TO TADPOLES

Cari purchased some leopard frog (native!) eggs for a practice experiment and didn't need all 80-100 of them, so James and Cora adopted about 20-30 of them. Within a couple days, the eggs started hatching and teeny-tiny tadpoles began swimming around the tank. After about a week they were big enough that I could dip them out to change their water. We've been feeding them and watching them grow, and are now just anxiously awaiting the arrival of limbs...

We found many hundreds of tadpoles outside in our little pond shortly after:

 It's going to be a noisy spring in our backyard...

BAT CAT

EMMA'S KITTY CAT BIRTHDAY SLEEPOVER

Emma invited Cora over for a sleepover the night before her birthday party (and James got to go too to hang with Coltin). The kids were super excited to head back over to the Hancocks for another overnight away from mama and daddy (and we were far less nervous this time around, and packed far less stuff!)

 Cora thought that part of Emma's birthday present should be an outfit to match her so that they could be twins (luckily, Emma was on board with this idea) and they were adorable!

 Boys and their electronics...

 During the actual birthday party today, the kids played inside and outside, in a bouncy house and on the trampoline and playset, and eventually Mr. Stirlin brought out the fishing gear and some of the kids settled right in to catch sunfish from the pond. We probably overstayed our welcome (as we tend to do at their house because the kids never want to leave), but James was thrilled to show me the fish he caught right before we headed home.

 Next sleepover it's our turn to host!

SINCE HE'S NOT COACHING...

...he took the referee course and signed up to ref a couple of games every other week this season!

CELEBRATION TIME

Celebrating awesome progress reports and AR tests this week!

I can't remember if I've mentioned it here or not, but James has been receiving extra help/intervention at school since the start of the 2nd 9 Weeks. He's a very smart boy and in the Gifted program, but his ability focus on his school work (as documented in plenty of blog posts and his official ADD diagnosis), despite our best efforts (vitamin supplements and non-medical interventions/assistance), is still a daily struggle. He teacher knows he can complete the work (correctly), but it takes him SO LONG that he often doesn't finish (in the case of timed tests) or has to be constantly reminded to stay on task (which she does for him, but which he likely won't get in the upper elementary grades). While his lack of focus is still a problem, the extra practice tests and new tricks (like the MotivAider) he's received during his interventions have helped him to increase his STAR Math score by 200 points, nearly double his AR Level (he's in the top reading group in his class), and bring his grades up into the high B's. In our elementary schools, the kids need to score a 2.5 (out of 3) in both Math and Literature to promote to the next grade level, but they don't have to reach that level until the 4th 9 Weeks (progress reports and grades from the first three 9 Weeks aren't cumulative, as new items are added throughout the year and they are thus not even scored on some things until the end of the year). So, there was never a fear that James wouldn't be promoted to 3rd Grade, but when scores are at or below a 2, they are required to have intervention (the degree to which depends on the student on a case-by-case basis). James' intervention was basically just a LOT of weekly practice tests (and some fun computer math games like Moby Max and Prodigy that he loves and also plays at home occasionally). At this point, he will only be tested monthly, as long as his scores continue along his projected path (or, at least continue to improve, even if not as such a high rate). Now if we can just get his handwriting and spelling on track...

And as for Cora, the little miss received perfect 3's once again and has also dramatically increased her STAR scores and AR Level (it has been so much more fun reading with her lately, as she finally trusts herself to just read without stressing over every syllable, making it nice and smooth and entertaining!)

We are very proud of both of them and we're looking forward to what the rest of the school year brings!

BOY'S RECITAL NUMBER, DAY ONE

Now that it's February, it's time for the boys-only class to start choreographing their number for the recital. Only two boys were at class tonight, which was actually kind of nice so that James could get a little specialized instruction. He's been doing this a lot less time than the other boys, so we're excited to see where he'll be when May rolls around...

CHARACTER IS TREASURED

James got to dress up for school today due to the Second Grader's afternoon performance of "Character is Treasured". I took a few video clips (partial songs, and not all of them, plus James' speaking part). Cora got to leave class to come out and sit with us for the performance and James definitely enjoyed the special attention.

CAT'S IN THE CRADLE...

SUPER BOWL LI

We spent the evening at the Kennedys, not really watching the Super Bowl. But we played some fun games and ate too much good food, so our goals were met. The kids clearly had no fun at all ;-)

Older kids are extra fun for little boys and girls. Poor older kids...

That's a football player. A Patriot. Obviously.