PENALTY KICK COMPETITION

Soccer was extra busy today due to a Penalty Kick Competition sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. The kids took turns kicking 25 soccer balls into the goal, with 5 points for a center kick, 10 for the corners, and 20 for the upper corners. Cora didn't want to miss a shot, so she aimed for the center almost every time and James wanted to hit the corners for extra points, so he made about 70% of his shots. They both ended up with about the same score.

 They both played good games today too, so it was a really nice start to our busy day!

HARD LIFE, EH?

POPCORN JEDI

Pack 104 had their big Trails End Popcorn sales kickoff tonight! This year the incentives are Star Wars themed, so the boys all wore Star Wars shirts instead of their uniforms.

 Den leader David, William, Derrick, and James in line for their pizza dinner

 The Mississippi Cub Scout Troops are selling the following items this year:

Apparently the Light Butter popcorn packs do not sell well here (imagine that!), so they are no longer offered in Mississippi. There are a few other changes as well, but most of the classics are still there. Orders and money (checks made out to BSA or BSA Pack 104) are due on October 30th. Let James know if you're interested in supporting his Pack this year!

PTO PERFORMANCE

The Bowmar 2nd and 3rd Graders performed a 4-song musical history tonight for the parents after our PTO meeting. They were so cute (and I'll admit, it was nice for them to have a real stage and a music teacher who clearly puts a lot of effort into her classes).

FLAT ROSABELLA

Bowmar GATES students aren't the only ones mailing Flat Characters around the United States. Cora received a blank one from her friend Willow (who lives in Ohio) that she was instructed to color, take adventuring, photograph, and mail back. So Cora created Flat Rosabella, and she went with us to soccer, then saw a couple famous sites around town.

BOWMAR BEARS HARVEY RELIEF

One of the Bowmar leadership groups, the Lighthouse Team, put together a fundraiser aimed at raising $500 to purchase giftcards for a school in Vidor, Texas. They are a really small town that lost pretty much everything due to Hurricane Harvey and the resulting flooding. Weeks after the event, the students were still out of school, and most had lost everything they needed to complete their school year. Our Bowmar kids wanted to help, and they raised over $1200 to send to the school to purchase new backpacks and books and supplies.

Service projects are a big deal at Bowmar (as are fundraisers - we are not a Title 1 school) and we're really loving the discussions they start between the kids and us. James and Cora are learning a lot more than Math and Reading and Science this year, and we couldn't be happier!

ALL THE THINGS

We're in our final BIG week of September. We've prepacked backpacks, Scout bags, soccer bags, and dance bags, and the piano bag will be added to the pile in a couple days (James needs those books to practice right up through lesson day). The laundry room is filled with hangars numbered for each song in the recital this weekend, with accessories attached in Ziploc bags, and a cheat-sheet printed out for each dressing room to remind us which orders the costumes go in and what each kids needs to wear for each song. We're organized and ready for the week - hopefully it will last through Saturday!

Starting next month we drop one dance day, then the month after that soccer will end. Parents of older kids have warned me about how things might get easier as kids get older, but they also get busier... and we're certainly finding that to be truer than true this year. BUT... the kids are happy, they're getting enough sleep (and plenty of exercise), and they are both excelling at school (and still loving to read in any spare minutes), so we're going to keep on rolling with it. We're proud of them! And I'm proud of us too (for keeping it all together and in order, most of the time - there was a forgotten soccer bag once that required an unplanned trip home between school and Bootcamp). 

*pattingourselvesontheback*

COOKIE CORA

Cora received her Girl Scout Cookie sales awards at her meeting this week, and she couldn't wait to use them to make a double batch of breakfast cookies!

 The days where her "help" in the kitchen are gone - she's a real helper nowadays and it really makes baking more fun. Before I know it, I'll be teaching her to cook (on the stove, since she already makes her own mac-n-cheese in the microwave in a pinch). If only James would show some cooking interest... Oh well, plenty of other chores he can help with!

CARA BETH'S HULA PARTY

Cara Beth turned 8 and celebrated with a hula-themed swim party!

BREW BUSINESS

The Brewery really is coming to Vicksburg (have I mentioned that here yet?) - it even has a name (that makes it OFFICIAL official, instead of just big hopes and dreams). Jay does not know his role yet, but he'll be involved in some way (even if it ends up being simply his recipes used and sold on site). He's become friends with the owner, the brewery manager, and the restaurant manager (the brewery will be attached to an artisan pizza place, which also has a name - the whole place is under construction and set to open in about 45 days!) He had a meeting with them the other night at 10 South and he sent me a beautiful sunset rainbow photo from the rooftop.

Then he attended his first ever Craft Brewer's Conference with them on Friday:

 Things are getting hoppy around here!

GIRL SCOUTS: BACK IN SESSION!

Our Troop lost our leader this year, and in the process of finding a new leader, I became part of the steering committee (and the co-lead for the Brownies and Daisies, along with my friend Sarah). It's been harder to transfer leadership than we expected, but we finally got access to enough of the Troop files and accounts and information that we were able to recruit this week and have our first meeting!

Cora is a Brownie this year!

Emma (new recruit!), Celebryte (returning Scout), and Cora

 Learning the Girl Scout Law (with hand gestures, to make it more memorable):

 Autumn (new recruit!), Emma, and Cora

We had to leave early today due to Production Number Rehearsal, but Cora had a chance to sit and learn the names of our new recruits (and remember some of the veteran Scouts that we haven't seen since last spring). We all introduced ourselves and sang some songs!

FIRST FREE SHIRT FRIDAY

James earned his first ever Free Shirt Friday this week (by not getting any conduct marks, apparently - we didn't know he'd been getting any, since he never reports them to us - accountability is all on him in the 3rd Grade at Bowmar!)

SICK SISSY TAKES CARE OF HERSELF

Cora had an upset tummy on the way home from dance and an hour of playing at ChickFilA last night, hardly ate any of her dinner, and opted to go to bed early (7:20 rather than 7:30, or 8:00 as it often is on dance and soccer nights lately). Jay was out at 10 South, so I sent her to bed with the "big red bowl" and told her to call me if she had a problem, since I still needed to get James fed, showered, and read to before bed. All seemed well and James stayed up late reading (9:00, because he was really into his book and I was busy doing chores and lost track of time), so when I finally got him to sleep I checked on Cora and she seemed ok too. I filled my water bottle, grabbed my phone, and finally settled into the couch with my feet up only to hear "Mama! Mama! Mammmaaaaa!"

Poor baby exploded and did not quite make it to the bowl (thank goodness Jay walked in literally 30 seconds later to help with cleanup and Cora calming). Once we had her cleaned she refused new PJs and refused to go back in her room. We offered to set up a cot upstairs by our bed, but she refused to get off the bathroom floor. She said she didn't want to move because moving made it worse "and I feel lots better now that I vomited it all up anyway". So we got her a pillow and blanket (thankfully we had just purchased a new tub-length memory foam bathmat last week, which made a pretty comfortable bed, apparently), and crossed our fingers. And we didn't hear a peep. When our alarm went off this morning we rushed downstairs to check on her only to find her still asleep, with more yuck in the bowl. I gently woke her and questioned how she was feeling... "Still yucky" and a bit warm (almost a fever at 100). Obviously she was staying home regardless. When I questioned the contents of the bowl she said she got sick a couple more times, but didn't want to wake us, so she just took care of herself. Well then. Luckily she was almost 100% better by lunch (Jay stayed home with her and said she was dressing up and crafting by 10:00am...), so I didn't feel too guilty.

80s BOOTCAMP

Henry went all out (there was a prize competition)

(Of course the unicorn leggings made an appearance)

 The workout was all about the 80s (music included): 

800m run, 80 lunges, 80 push-ups, 80 banded squats, 80 weighted sit-ups (8 lb weight), 80 jump ropes, 800m run, then 10 minutes of Jane Fonda type legs/hips/abs

BOYS AND WORMS

Pack 104 Bears made portable compost bins tonight, complete with worms...

 (bags of dead leaves, grass clippings, etc.)

 Waiting on his worms...

SOCCER ON SUNDAY

Teaming up with Michelle's U8 Boys team (and big brother James, who needed Keeper practice) for a special U8 Girls practice (since they'd had 2 games and zero academy practices due to rainy Tuesdays). It was super hot out there at 3pm and I was really impressed with the kids' ability to work hard and hone their skills.

 (We rewarded our kids with a dip in the pool after practice to cool off - perfection!)

CURIOUS KITTENS

One or the other is always underfoot. Sometimes both of them. They give us less privacy than the kids did as toddlers...

8 WEEK STRETCH

Saturdays are now spent mostly out of the house between my long runs, two soccer games, Jay refereeing a game or two, lunch out, and whatever errands need to be done... And as much as I love soccer, that is why I'm glad its (usually) just an 8 week commitment. It's exhausting.

(We're already getting in the habit of showering, setting the kids up with their Kindles, and passing out on the couch for an hour or so once we're finally home... which isn't a bad deal!)

U8 GIRLS, FALL 2017

Jay has a really awesome team this season! He was missing one player today (another one of the little ones, Olivia), but here he is with Cora, Ally, Ella Kate, Camden, Anna, and Trinity.

The four big girls (the 7 year olds who have been playing for years) are appropriately aggressive, they know the skills needed to score, and they work well as a team (the planning and placement and passing I'm seeing after just two games is comparable to what I see with the U10 Boys).

DRESS REHEARSAL #1

RiverPointe is holding two dress rehearsals for the Vicksburg History Preservation Weekend's ballet because the on-site rehearsal (at the convention center) is limited to two hours (due to other weekend events needing time to rehearse) and they usually spend 4-6 hours on dress rehearsals. Personally, I think this is ideal (even though I hadn't packed all the necessary tights and accessories, and had to run home at lunch to grab them) because it gives the kids an extra run-through of the entire performance (in order) and practice getting in and out of all those costumes quickly. James and Cora were both smiling from ear to ear from the time we arrived (early enough to get Cora's hair into a bun and a little bit of stage makeup on) until the time we left (about a half hour later than their rehearsal usually runs on Fridays). It was really fun for the parents to get a chance to finally see some of the numbers too (I have my favorites, of course, but they're all very well done and I think even the little bitty dancers did a great job)!

Hanging out with Adler while Cora got her hair and makeup done, and while waiting for daddy to arrive (yes, it now takes two parents to get two kids in and out of costumes at recitals).

Cora's Colonial outfit and James' Spanish flamenco outfit

I told them to "be serious" since they were dressed as soldiers. Cora made that face, then told me very solemnly that she has to die at the end. We should have put them both into acting...

(P.S. Their wooden rifles are still in-progress here - Jay will be staining them)

I took more videos than photos (which are too long to post here and not high enough quality to worry about it anyway - lets just hope somebody records the actual performance!), but this one of Cora fussing at little Lyla to keep her hat on made me laugh. Lyla is 3 years old and not totally into this whole dancing business yet. In the little kids number (the Coca Cola scene, where they're all dressed in 1930s-1940s attire, since Coca Cola was bottled in Vicksburg in 1938), set to "Little Bitty Pretty One", Lyla is supposed to go sit on Cora's knee a couple of times. It takes some encouragement from Cora. That number is near the end of the show too, and today, by that point, Lyla was DONE. The second time Cora turned around to get "her baby" (she's completely obsessed with Lyla and completely loving being one of the "big girls" this year), she was gone (off sitting against the wall with no intention of dancing anymore - though she was persuaded into the Proud Mary finale after a quick break and promise of getting Cora's old Minnie Mouse leotard afterward).

If nothing else, this show will be entertaining!

LOVERS OF THE LIBRARY

I learned this week that the kids can take AR tests after school in the library if they have parent permission, so we decided that if one of them "forgets" to take a test we assigned, they'll spend 10 minutes doing that (and less time on the playground) when they get picked up at the end of the day. Today it was Cora who forgot her test, and James didn't even mind missing a little playtime because apparently the Bowmar Library is one of their favorite places to be at school. James quickly disappeared into the reading nook with a book that he later "put on hold" since I wouldn't let him check it out immediately (we're trying really hard to get them through one book at a time rather than multitasking stories, since we're finding the latter results in less ideal AR test scores).

Meanwhile, Cora was highly distracted by all the parent and student traffic, and the Reading Fair prep that the librarian was doing, and did not do so well on her test... Hopefully we won't end up in the library for AR tests too often (and if we do, next time we'll have her use the headphones to help keep her on task better).

(I really love the mural on the divider wall and wanted a picture of it.)

SCOUT SILLINESS