BIRDIE BELL

This little kitten greeted the school children with pitiful cries Thursday morning that could be heard echoing off the front of the building from the parking lot, they were so loud. And every time Ms. Crutchfield went to open the door for someone, it went sneaking up as fast as it could to try and get inside. Clearly it was not afraid of people (not feral) and likely got lost during the previous afternoon's thunderstorms. I took this photo, posted it to the Southpark Parents FB group, and hoped someone knew who it belonged to (since, theoretically, we all live near the school). Nobody came forward though, so when Jay went to pick up the kids after school, he tried to rescue it. But with all the commotion, the kitten was terrified and impossible to catch. So Jay and the kids went home for a bit, then went back to school at 4pm once the crowds dissipated to try again. But still no luck. So when I got home at 6pm, we ate a quick dinner, then went back to the school for one last attempt before the next big storm rolled in. Since the kitten was no longer at the front of the school (having been "chased" outside the fence earlier in the afternoon, we parked in the street near the edge of the playground and listened. Nothing. So I got out and walked into the trees a bit and started calling. Moments later I heard that familiar cry (barely audible over the fast approaching thunderstorm). I alerted Jay that I could hear it and see it, and he jumped out with the cat carrier while I coaxed it close enough to grab hold of. Poor little thing was NOT HAPPY to be scooped up and stuck inside the carrier, but no sooner did we close the back door of the van than the sky exploded with heavy rain.

We hurriedly prepared the dog crate with an extra litter box, a clean towel, and food and water bowls, then opened the cat carrier into the dog crate and quickly shut the door. The kids wanted to play with the kitten SO BADLY, but the little thing was a nervous wreck, so we just said our goodnights and promised to let them play the next day. And I posted to the FB group that the kitten was safe and sound and ready to be adopted by someone else!

Friday morning came and went with no takers, so at lunch we discussed taking the kitten to the local rescue group. I could tell that Jay was hoping I would say that we should just keep it, but after learning the cost of adopting an animal off the streets with Cannon, I was in no rush to make such a monetary commitment (especially when we are trying so hard to get ourselves debt-free). I casually mentioned to my boss that we had rescued a kitten and asked if he wanted to adopt it. Surprisingly, he said YES (they'd been wanting another cat for a while, apparently), so after a quick check with his family, it was decided that the kitten had a new home (just one street over from us!)

Jay picked up the kids from school and let them play with the kitten (who turned out to be a very friendly little girl who just needed some love) until Rick stopped by to pick her up. No, the kids were not pleased that mama found a good home for the kitten. (And neither was Jay, even though had I not found it a home, the plan was for him and the kids to take the kitten up to PAWS after school anyway.) There will certainly be another kitten in our future, but now was just not the right time (on top of the expense, I really don't think it's fair to keep bringing baby animals into Jude's house - she's getting old and grumpy and has had to put up with a lot between 3 moves between states/homes, 2 babies/kids joining the family, losing her brother, dealing with temporary baby chicken house guests on multiple occasions, and gaining the little "thunder cat" known as Cannon).

Oh yeah, and Rick and his family named the kitten "Birdie Bell" (because she likes to harass their parakeets) and they love her very much already!

BANTAM BITTIES

Size comparison up top: Beane Farm big egg and normal eggs (brown and blue), our Olive Egger's egg (pretty sure Lady is laying these), and an Elsa egg (with her other 4 eggs below - we haven't eaten any of the itty bitty ones yet)

Elsa is maintaining her title as Favorite Chicken in our family. Not only is she the sweetest and the cutest (and the smallest), but she has now laid the most eggs AND she lays them in the correct place (nest boxes). The newest olive egg (pictured above) that Jay found last night was finally laid in a nest box as well, so Elsa has even taught the other laying girl what to do. Way to go little chick!

BALLET, JAZZ, AND ACRO, OH MY!

 Dance classes resumed this week and we lucked out with Cora getting into Acro 2 because she's able to take both classes on the same day (back to back, at that)! So we rush from school to the studio, get her changed into the required ballet leotard, skirt, tights, and slippers, and smooth her hair up into a bun, then James and I have nearly 2 hours to do as we please. Sometimes we'll stay at the studio (so James can play with Adler), sometimes we'll go home and get started on chores (so we don't have everything waiting on us when we get home at 5:30pm), and sometimes we'll do errands (James' least favorite of the dance time activities). Our teachers do not assign homework on Wednesdays (Bible Belt = most families are at church on Wednesday nights), so Wednesday is actually the perfect day for Cora to be at the studio.

She was SO EXCITED to start classes today! She's been asking for weeks "how many more days?" (ever since dance camp, actually) and has been especially looking forward to beginning Acro. Turns out, she loves Acro just as much as she thought she would and she's pretty good (a few moms who have girls that have been doing acrobatics for a year or two already told me how good and strong Cora is when I showed up at 5:10pm to watch the last few minutes of class - so I suppose letting her practice handstands at home and all the "lessons" she received from older girls during gym time at Daycamp did her well, even though we often worried for her safety). She also told me that she really liked jazz, which surprised me (I figured she'd be disappointed to not be taking tap for the first time in 2.5 years, plus I really thought she liked ballet best). Ballet is a staple at our studio though, so no matter which course of dance Cora chooses to pursue in the future (they offer ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and musical theatre, as well as yoga, strength conditioning, and adult classes), she will always take ballet as her base class (they rotate the girls through different combo classes from ages 3-7 so that they try out tap, jazz, and contemporary before committing to any one discipline - though most of the older girls seem to take every class offered!) Cora does enjoy ballet though (she's far more graceful than her mama, so she doesn't get it from my side of the family) and she is fascinated by the Pointe dancers and can't wait to dance on her toes like them, but pre-Pointe isn't offered until the girls reach 12-years-old (due to the requirement for a specific level of strength). She was thrilled to see Ms. Bridgett and give her lots of hugs, and she seems to really like her new instructor too (Ms. Susan, the mother of the famous James, the only boy at our studio prior to this year - I hear there are 2-3 new recruits - teaches Acro). I have a feeling this is going to be another good year for Cora. As her confidence and skill level grows, she seems to like dance more every month. Plus, there's a winter recital this year in addition to the spring recital, so there's twice the opportunity to get dressed up onstage and participate in production numbers with the older girls. Only Cora can decide how much time and effort we commit to dance in the future, so we'll see how the first semester goes and base her spring commitments on that. For now, two classes is perfect to balance out fall soccer and Girl Scouts. Best of luck to our little dancing queen this year!

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT 2016

Southpark Elementary is now a certified Leader in Me school!

This painting greets the kids as soon as they enter the school each morning, and every day their class starts with a Leader In Me activity and song. I know our kids are responding really well to it and seem to really enjoy it. Good philosophies to learn at any age, but especially now while they're so young!

PTO meeting before the meet and greet with the teachers. You can see our family in this photo, so I thought it would be fun to post it. Yes, James is playing his Kindle, with his favorite twins: Lauren and William.

Showing off their hallway art

He wanted a photo with his teacher tonight! (No other kids were around at the time, so that could be why.) Ms. Arnold has a 2nd Grade boy herself, as well as a PreK daughter (our school now has a 4-year-old PreK class, which is so wonderful for so many families that can't afford private preschool), and she promised us that she has a LOT of patience (which is one of my favorite qualities in her already!)

And these are just a couple of journal entries that James showed us. He certainly needs to work on his spelling (something they start taking seriously in 2nd Grade), but how cute are his paragraphs (simply required to be 5 sentences at this point)?! The first entry was about places the kids would like to visit someday and why. James mentions Golden City (perhaps something imaginary/video game/TV related?), China (to learn to use chopsticks), New York (to see the Ghostbusters and the Statue of Liberty), and Mount Everest. He's quite the adventurer, eh?

This one was just too sweet... First he listed all his good friends (Manu, Will, Coltin, Adler, and Fabian), then talked about why he and Adler are such good friends. "Adler likes playing video games. My friend's name is Adler. He is a wonderful friend. Me and my friend Adler, we have a club named the best friend club. We share our toys." We clearly need to get them together for more playdates!

MUFFS

I guess we had the TV up too loud watching the Olympics after she went to bed...

PLAYING HOUSE

She literally spent ALL DAY playing house (in the kitchen mostly, under the table). There were many complicated scenarios and outfit changes. Mama was being boring and sedentary (still getting over a sinus infection or whatever it is), and eventually felt guilty, but earned some major bonus points by installing the hammock under the table to make her a "bed" for her "house". I do love her imagination (and ability to place solo when needed).

BATMOBILE SCOOT

WEEK ONE SUPERSTAR

This boy of ours had the BEST first week of school! 

He made every effort to focus, complete his work, and do his best, and we couldn't be more proud of him. The bonus was that he was awesome at home for us too, completing his chores without needing to be reminded over and over, doing his homework efficiently and happily, and responding to us quickly when summoned or asked to help with something. He completely deserved this little reward and he's clearly pleased with himself. Positive reinforcement goes a LONG way with James! 

If you remember how he/we struggled last year, you know what a big deal this is. On top of the awesome behavior reports and changes we've seen personally this week, when Jay questioned Ms. Arnold about the copy of James' evaluation that we provided to her (to keep her in the loop and let her know some of the issues we dealt with last spring), she said it surprised her because she hadn't seen any of those issues this past week. We're hopeful that this week is the start of something new for him, that he's growing out of some of it (as we hoped he would when we declined to put him on meds and instead opted to just give him some time to mature) and/or learning how to manage himself. He'd been a little upset leading up to school starting, worried that he was going to have a "bad year like last year" (doesn't that break your heart to hear?!) because he can't focus, and while we explained to him that he does have a legitimate struggle with focusing, it doesn't mean that it will always be hard for him. We promised him we would do everything in our power to help him succeed and that all we expect out of him is to give each day his best effort. Hopefully that was enough to give him the confidence he needed this past week. And fingers crossed we get many more weeks of greens, blues, and purples (he has more chances for "good colors" with this year's teacher AND the opportunity to rotate back UP the scale, which makes both students and parents happier) on his daily reports!

JAMES' FIRST GRADE AR BOOKSHELF

Last year, James read and tested his way through enough AR books to meet/exceed the quarterly goals that the school set for 1st Graders (they had to read a certain number of books, rather than score a certain number of points). As parents, we really liked the school's use of AR Bookshelf, so that we could log in to track both his progress and the book titles he'd tested on over the course of the year (they become surprisingly hard to keep track of between school library books, city library books, and our own bookshelves), as well as the instant emails that we received after he tested (which usually resulted in a flurry of texts between Jay and I excitedly saying "Did you see the email?! He got another 100%!")

At the Awards Ceremony back in May, he was pleased to receive an award for meeting his AR Goal all year long (as well as one of the most improved STAR Reading scores - he gained 185 points from August to May, reaching a score in April of 204 - well above the 1st Grade "goal" score), but was disappointed he didn't earn the award for most books read (he wasn't even close - there were a few kids that tested on hundreds of books).

 So this year, if he wants to, we will encourage him to test on more books (though we'll have to supplement with books from home and the city library, since the school's library is limited). We could care less about the AR book "competition" (we just want him to meet the 2nd Grade goals), but if he decides that it's important to him, we'll help him aim high. His reading over the summer has been met with some resistance (which surprised us), but hopefully now that the school year is rolling again, he'll get back into the swing of things.

I thought this graphic was cool, showing his average AR test score over the course of the school year (he passed 49/51 tests), total points earned, average book level (he reached 3.1 by the last day of school, which is a huge improvement from the 0.5 he started with last August), and total word count.

(And this one is just for the 4th Quarter - he had a lot of 100% scores in the spring and the books were obviously a lot longer, since almost half his word count was earned in the last 9 weeks of school!)

We're looking forward to starting his Second Grade AR Bookshelf next week!

BREATHE DEEP

Still working our way through breathing treatments here (another week, perhaps). Cora does them too, though they aren't nearly as effective for her since she whines and complains the whole time... Unfortunately, I caught some of what James had (not the pneumonia, thankfully), so I'm on my own round of meds and taking it easy for a few days. Although my throat burns like fire, I can't complain too much, since being home sick during the Olympics isn't too bad of a deal...

TORNADO ALLEY MILESTONE

After 9.5 years living in the Deep South / Tornado Alley and constantly losing power due to storms (sometimes for an hour or two, sometimes for 3 days...), we finally made the decision to save up specifically for a generator! James is thrilled that we'll now have access to LIGHTS and a place to charge his Kindle, and Cora is pleased that we won't lose a fridge and two freezers worth of food. 

Next up on the emergency preparedness list? Stocking an emergency supplies backpack/cupboard and saving up for a tornado shelter (that one will take a while - they're far more expensive than a portable generator).

GUINEAS ON THE LOOSE

FINALLY the guineas learned how to follow the chickens OUT of the coop when we raise the gate for free-range time (until today, they'd just run back and forth along the wire portions, looking confused)!! Also, they finally have enough feathers (aren't they pretty?!) that they no longer remind me of creatures from The Dark Crystal.

You guys, this little bird is seriously the best. I never thought I'd snuggle a chicken, but Elsa is just too sweet and too cute to walk past without picking up (and she's the only one that still tolerates/enjoys being held, so we can't resist her)!

Two guineas, two roosters (turns out Chickalotta is a rooster as well, but he doesn't seem to be causing any trouble and Chester is still dominant, so we shall see how it goes), and four hens (though it's hard to see them all in the brush around the perimeter of the coop, where they like to forage).

 We're getting an egg about every other day right now, but we're still waiting for the producing lady to lay it in the correct place (one of the nesting boxes) instead of randomly on the floor of the coop. Hopefully she figures it out before the rest of the girls start laying (soon, we hope), so they copy the right way and not the wrong way...

 The chickens went exploring down the hill below the compost pile. Must be good eats down there, since the leaves were being kicked in a flurry. Chester is ever the good supervisor up on the log... (The guineas had already put themselves away back into the coop at this point.)

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2016

We returned to Southpark this year with some smiles and excitement, a LOT of silliness, and a little bit of nervousness (new teachers, new classrooms, different groupings of classmates...)

(Same clothes, bigger kids! Well, bigger clothes, and shoes, but same uniforms.)

(Last year she wanted to be "a firefighter and a princess")

(He also wanted to be "a police officer" last year)

And some outtakes... (Clearly Cora is a fan of the hand on the hip pose...)

Lots of silliness in James' photos this morning, but it's ok - we were just glad to see him smiling and happy and feeling well!

They found their desks, organized their things, and got to work!

(James was unwilling to pose with his teacher. Perhaps he's too cool for that this year?)

Class lists (which will change some as new students register this week). 21 in Cora's class (including one of her favorite girls, Destiny, and plenty of others she had class with last year, though not any of her three best friends) and 23 in James' class (including the two sets of twins that were in his class last year, whom he was friends with). We were very pleased to see that the two boys that James had the most bullying issues with last spring are not in his class!

We sent them in with a folder filled with the worksheets they completed this summer and some baggies of BoxTops...

...and basket of Student School Supplies and Teacher Wishlist items.

Now we just cross our fingers and hope for a good year!