A LITTLE LIKE MARIO...

FRESH NEW HAIRCUT

LONG NIGHT FOR DADDY...

EARTH: A NEW WILD

Jay and I watched some of the new series EARTH: A New Wild (PBS) the other night and we highly recommend it. Probably too much scientific discussion for young kids, but Cannon was entranced by the herds of various species and their predators (we watched the Plains episode) for 20 minutes or more (not exaggerating!)

And yes, Cannon and Buster hang out together like this every night. They usually sleep together overnight too. BFFs for sure.

MARDI GRAS IN THE 'BURG

Team Lindsay decked out in some of our favorite beads from prior year parades

Listening to the music piped throughout downtown (hard to hear over parade noise...)

Waiting on the floats!
David, John, Cora, James, Lauren, and Will

Mary Claire, sporting the funny shirt Aunt Sandy gave her. Not sure she was amused...

It's not an act. He really is this crazy.

Team Mitchell (Mary Claire is still giving me the eye...)

ERDC's Castle Club parade float...

...similar to the Corps parade float

My one goal was to catch a Moon Pie during the parade. Mission accomplished.

Team Kennedy, intent on catching some beads!

(Picture from the paper)

Post parade, bead-laden kiddos!

Goofing off while waiting on traffic to dissipate a bit... Most everyone in town attends the parades, and even though we live in a small town, it still causes unnecessary congestion after the festivities as everyone rushes to leave at the exact same time.

After the parade, we grabbed some take-out and met the Kennedys at our house for some dinner and playing and bonfire lighting and s'mores eating enjoyment! James and Cora were being quite buddy-buddy once we were outside. It was a very fun way to end a busy and exciting day!

PICNIC LUNCH

It was far too pretty to eat lunch inside...

HOME DEPOT KID CRAFT: VALENTINE'S BOXES

 We forgot their aprons at home, so they got new ones today. When the lady asked them for their names, they told her "Flash!" and "Pink Flash!"

 James followed the suggested painting technique, white with a pink heart, as he usually does. Cora danced to her own drum beat, as usual. This side was blank except for the pink heart, and the other three sides had stripe(y) orange, blue, and red. Too bad their valentine exchange won't benefit from this tiny box though (parents around here send BAGS of candy for each child, along with the actual card, so they'd be lucky to fit even one valentine in there...)

SWING ON

Today was a sunny and warm-ish (upper 50s) day, so we met Will and Lauren at Catfish to run out some energy for an hour and a half after school. The kids were all moving pretty fast (well, Lauren certainly tried to keep up with them, anyway) and I didn't think to grab a photo until we were near done and Cora was back on the swings for a third round of "Mama PUSH me!"

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

 I don't know about Jay's mornings with the kids, but this is a pretty common occurrence for me... 

If James has "party hair" in the morning and I'm rushing around (I usually am...) trying to get lunches made and pets fed and Buster walked so we're not late to school, Cora will spritz James' hair with the water bottle and brush it for him. It makes me smile big.

She let me put her hair in pigtails for the first time in a long time, so I had to take a picture. Her hair sure is getting long! Might be time for a trim soon, actually... And speaking of long, Cannon sure is getting big!

BED BUDDIES

One or the other has made their way to mama and daddy's bed every night (or early morning) for about two weeks now. The excuse is usually a "bad dream", but really, they just need to go potty, and rather than go in their own bathroom downstairs, they come all the way upstairs in the dark and wake us up to supervise. Someday we're really going to miss this, so we'll go ahead and enjoy all the snuggles we can get while we're still in the little years.

CLOSER BY THE WEEK!

Getting mail like this makes our summer vacation seem closer by the week!

HOMEWORK AND ARTWORK

James had a few pages of make-up "homework" to do this past weekend (sent home in Cora's folder), since he missed school on Friday. He got through the first two pages quickly, but just couldn't refocus to do the last page after eating dinner. We tried again tonight, and it was like pulling teeth (and I don't really blame him, since it was just practicing writing numbers and that is so boring at this point), but he eventually got it done. And then did his 15 minutes of reading and his new homework (phonics and math: addition, counting coins, and telling time). It took nearly an hour, and we were both so relieved when it was all done that we rewarded ourselves with milk and cookies. 

As I was putting his completed homework away, signing off on things and going through the packet of his seat work sent home today, I found a blank page stapled in the middle of his math tests and phonics sheets... Apparently he'd been drawing at some point today and Ms. Tina sent home his artwork for us to enjoy. Do you know who/what it is?

 That's Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

Jay and the kids started watching the series on Prime this weekend while I was out for my long run and they all really like it. Actually, we all watched a LOT of TV (and movies) this weekend... not much better to do when everyone is recuperating from something though. And it's always fun to find a new series!

DODGED IT

We woke up at 7:00am with James in our bed, cool as a cucumber, having found his way upstairs in the early morning hours due to a bad dream. Cora woke us with her happy shrieking and playing, and we promptly asked her to go play quietly in her room until 7:30am (our designated weekend wake-up time). Jude finally demanded enough attention, climbing on James' belly and purring loudly, that she woke him up just before 7:30am. Shortly thereafter, he went downstairs to play with Cora, and not 5 minutes later he was shouting up the stairs that Cora threw up in the potty...

Happy James, miserable Cora (puke bucket nearby...)

We feared flu, but she had no hint of fever. She refused to eat anything other than grapes for breakfast, and not much more for lunch (gummies and applesauce... by that point we'd have let her eat cake if she'd have agreed to it), but she never got sick again. She napped for 2 hours (unheard of on the weekends!) and woke up hungry and happy, so perhaps it was just the TAMIFLU upsetting her tummy? Unless something changes overnight, we're sending them both to school tomorrow and thanking our lucky stars that we got through this bought of sickness so seamlessly (knock on wood).

CAT NAP

FRESH AIR AND FIRE

 After a day and a half stuck on the couch, the kids needed a little fresh air. James was still coughing, but had been basically fever-free all day (high of 99.8 in the morning). He didn't have a whole lot of energy, but more then yesterday, so outside we went to paint and help daddy finish raking the leaves.

 At one point, James started building a "pretend" fire on the sidewalk, and daddy told him that if he moved it to the gravel, he would actually light it for him. Thus followed a lesson on building campfires (teepee vs. log cabin techniques) and discussion of future plans to join the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts (we're getting really close to Tiger Cub age!)

 Cora and James each built their own fire ring.

 Lighting them up!

 Since they know how to stack sticks now, we told them that building the campfire pit is their job the next time we go camping (which thrilled them, of course).

HUNKER DOWN!

James woke up crying with fever (102) and a nasty cough this morning, and complaining that his feet hurt. He couldn't/wouldn't stand up, so I carried him to the bathroom and proceeded to press firmly on both his feet (then his legs, since there was zero reaction out of him). I kinda figured he hadn't broken any bones in his sleep, so I assumed it was body aches from the fever. After dropping Cora at school, we went straight to the doctor, where they immediately did a flu swab since there's a bad strain still going around town (that's 3 weeks now...) and most of the kids they've seen have complained about sore feet or back ache to start with. In ten minutes we had a confirmation, followed by (expensive!) TAMIFLU prescriptions for all of us (because really, what are the chances that none of the rest of us will get this?...) James fell asleep on the exam table while the doctor gave me the rundown on how to treat him (and the rest of us), then again in the car on the way home, poor bud.

We'll be skipping Talon's birthday party tomorrow (obviously) and plan to just lay low all weekend. Fingers crossed the TAMIFLU keeps the rest of us in the clear and that James gets past it quickly (he's been a champ so far and hasn't even lost his appetite or ability to drink Gatorade, and is currently napping).

P.S. This was my second trip to the doc this week, since I went in Tuesday afternoon and left with a "you just barely dodged getting pneumonia" diagnosis due to my 2+ month cough and sore throat (I figured it was just a cold, or allergies), and newly developed raspy voice and rattle in my chest (I assume that was new, anyway, since the on-station doc that checked me out before Christmas never bothered listening to my lungs). Extra meds for mama!

70+ DEGREES IN JANUARY

You know you live in the south when one weekend there is black ice on the road and the next it's over 70 degrees and sunny! Perfect reason to visit the playground!

 The bonus was that some of their favorite school buddies (Coley and Cameron, and Abbi and Hannah) showed up at the same playground and they all ran around like maniacs for an hour and a half. Bedtime was not a struggle tonight!

 Cora, James, Hannah (in Cora's class), and Abbi and Coley (both in James' class)

I LEFT KROGER WITH SOMETHING UNEXPECTED...

...MY SANITY!

I haven't left any store with that since James turned 3!

(Yes, I'm exaggerating, but not by much!)

 She's taking pictures of me taking pictures. And eating some balled-up slices of turkey (something she almost always requests as we go through the deli department).

 I may never let them walk freely again...