CHICKEN PANTS

I showed the kids a video of a chicken running around in blue pants a few weeks ago and it must have stuck with James because he made me a Perler Beads chicken wearing pants. And it now sits proudly on my desk at work.

READING AND SPELLING

The kids pulled out the old (30-40 years old!) box of flash cards that Jean gave us tonight and seemed very interested in working through them, so Jay had Cora read a word, then had James spell a word (without looking at the card, obviously). Hey, if they WANT to play learning games at home, we're on board! (Though Booooo-opoly is obviously more fun...)

BACK OF THE CLASS

Right next to the TA's desk, getting right to work on a Monday morning. I love that she gets out two pencils before she gets started (she's so OCD, you should see her desk - about a million times cleaner than the inside of James' desk...) Also, those are the Leader in Me "7 Habits" taped to the top of her desk (each kid has them, and they go over them at the start of each day, right after they say the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the national anthem, and recite the school's motto - I stuck around after the bell one day last week just to see how things worked).

The kids have insisted that we walk them into class each and every day this school year (unlike last year, where we dropped them off in the car rider line, even though last year our little Kindergartner had to walk herself through the school and out the back into her trailer classroom...), watching or helping as they drop off folders and lunchboxes and backpacks to their assigned places. Since we've been really good about getting to school early, it hasn't been a problem at all, and if it makes them happy to start their days that way, Jay and I are more than willing to come inside and get them settled. Plus, we get to see their new hallway artwork each week and speak briefly with their teachers, so it's a win all around.

SKYPING, CRAFTING, AND TEAMWORK

 Painting and coloring while Skyping with Grambot and PawPaw

 Checking out the wood pile that daddy and Mr. Nate started today (they're cutting up the big oak that fell behind the chicken coop earlier this year to prep firewood for winter)

 They're only 6 and 7, but they've already figured out that you go farther in life when you work together. (Their other bow apparently suffered dry rot from being left in the playset too long, and rather than continue to take turns, as I originally had them do, they decided that it was more fun to play together. I love their spirit and am so thankful for their friendship!)

 (This one flew so far that it crossed the entirety of the front yard and went deep into the ravine, where they were told not to go - it's copperhead season - so mama had to retrieve it.)

Finishing out their morning with root beer and bowls of cold fruit. Then we ate Elsa and Anna eggs with biscuits for (a very late) lunch. Nothing like a day outside playing hard to get the good vibes flowing for everyone!

DON'T CROSS CORA

CELTIC FEST 2016

(Yes, I wore my kilt too. With running shorts underneath.)

Guinness and Oktoberfest. The Oktoberfest was mine though.

Outdoor Celtic dancing lessons

Showing off the necklace she purchased. (pictured at the end of this post: the wooden sword James bought himself).

Indoor Celtic dancing lessons (so much more fun with AC!) We stayed in here for a long time because the kids were loving it (especially Will).

Cora sat out and pouted for a while. I had just thought she was tired (we had started the day very early and she'd already been in the sun for 6 hours due to soccer and the first hour of our time at Celtic Fest), but it turns out she just wanted to dance with Will ("a BOY, mama") for a few songs.

FALL SOCCER SEASON OPENER

 Yes, Jay is once again coaching both James and Cora's U8 teams. It's great having them in the same age group again because they practice on the same day (Tuesday evenings), their games are slightly closer together (9:00am and 11:00am, instead of 9:00am and 12:00pm like last year, so just 4 hours on the fields between warmups and cleanups rather than 5...), and they're playing on the same size fields with the same size goals (those tiny U6 fields were getting really frustrating with the constant out-of-bounds).

Pre-game warmup starts at 8:15am and consists of drills, reminders, and a pep talk. James' team is all new to us this season, and with the change-up to cut-off dates for each age category, he has Kindergartners, First Graders, and Second Graders on his team. You'd think that spread would be hard to handle, but the kids don't seem to notice at all and Jay says even the little bitty guy is doing great on the bigger fields with bigger boys.

View of all four U8 fields from the closest shade tree (Cora needed a walk)

James had to play for the White team today because they only had 3 players and none of the other kids on our team were willing to be traded. James played SO WELL today. He got in there and did his best, and it was so fun to watch him!

James takes a throw-in

On the ball!

Popsicle break between games. Followed shortly by a hot dog lunch.

Pre-game pep talk for the girls (only 6/9 of them though - not everyone showed up early as coach requested)! Emily (on the far right) has been on our team for the past 4 seasons (since Fall of 2014) and it's been so neat to see her and Cora grow up together on the fields (they're in the same grade at school, though Emily is 10 months older than her, and go to different schools, so we rarely see Emily outside of soccer season).

Taking it to the goal...

SUCCESS! It was a team effort - I believe McKinley there closest to the goal actually tapped it in. The girls generally did a really good job working together and passing/assisting - Jay had to hold them back halfway through the game because they were dominating the other team, which is a nice change for him ;-)

I love the determination she shows on the field - all but one of our girls are pretty aggressive this season

Going in for a steal

Emily and Cora racing across the field back to their goal - I think Emily scored 3 this game and she was HAPPY!

Team lineup (missing one girl who was absent today) after their victory: Emily, Cara Beth (a good friend from Girl Scouts and dance), Mari, Ally, Kennedy, Cora, McKinley and the itty bitty one that just turned 6-years-old yesterday (Kindergartner) whose name I can't recall. Lots of new names to learn for me this season (on both teams)...

Hands in for a victory shout!

WINDOW READER

You never know where you'll find James reading...

This particular afternoon was an attempted escape from Cora and her costume craziness, but he told me he liked the light in the window too.

EARNED AND RETURNED

Cora had her costumes (ALL of them) taken away a few weeks ago due to her poor behavior at school. (Now, when I say poor behavior, it is generally just talking that gets her clip moved down the color chart from green to yellow to orange to red. But she talks OVER her teacher, interrupts lessons, and disrupts the class - especially her good friend, who sits next to her. And once she stuck her tongue out at her teacher after she had to get up and move her clip down - that was a red day. Anyway, while the sass is obviously not ok and not tolerated at home either, and the talking/disrupting is rude, it's not like she's being bad. Regardless, we had to come up with a punishment that she'd actually care about - so first went the Barbies, then the costumes. Stuffed animals were next on the list...)

When she brought home two purples in a row last week (Thursday and Friday) and followed that up with FOUR purples in a row this week (today was a yellow) day, we celebrated with ice cream and the return of her Barbies or costumes. She chose the costumes. And she went through 4 or 5 outfit changes before Jay was even home from work!

So, what brought on the change? Well, after an entire August of yellow, orange, and red marks (I think she had one green day...), and at least 5 or 6 different days of "parent contact", Jay and I were kind of tired of hearing about it. I know, I know. She's OUR kid and the teacher needs our help figuring out what makes her tick, but come on, she's 6-years-old and in your care during the day - how much can we really do from work (when we're supposed to be working)?! So in a bout of frustration, I told her teacher to just move her seat to the back of the room and make her sit by herself and see how she likes it (thinking she'd hate it and start following the rules so that she could move back up with her friends). Well guess what? She likes it at the back of the room. She sits right next to the TA's desk and she told me she wants to stay there all year. Since they get so very little social/group interaction during seatwork hours anyway, I'm fine with her staying back there. If she's happy, learning well, and coming home with "good" colors (ensuring that mama and daddy are no longer getting text messages multiple times/week), then she might as well stay put. Besides, she's making friends with her TA (Cora has made her a necklace and bracelet so far, which she was VERY proud to present to her), so at least she's sitting next to an ally ;-)

SOCCER SEASON KICKOFF

 Fall soccer 2016 kicked off this week with practices, and the kids' first games are this weekend. They were pumped (despite the oppressive heat) and had a great time on the field with coach daddy and their all-girl (first time for Cora, now that she's U8) and all-boy teams and practice sessions.

BOOOO-OPOLY

James found the fun Halloween-themed Monopoly game that Robyn gave me a couple years ago for my birthday, and since he's "almost 8!", he talked us into playing. It probably took 3 hours total (2 the first night, 1 the next day) for James to be the first to run out of money and end the game. It was a fun (longer) family activity and the kids really loved it. They totally schemed and traded cards so they could put "haunted houses" and "full moons" on their properties, and were quite proud of themselves!

Jude helped warm up the game for us before we started playing...

The kids requested lights off and candles on, to set the mood, of course.

Fancy dinner by candlelight while daddy doles out the moola (cereal and cupcakes!)

Getting late, but nobody wanted to quit...

Happy little monkeys! (Mama vetoed candles on the second night because her eyesight is going bad and she didn't want to spend another hour squinting in the dark...)