60% DAY WITH THE HEARNS

Our friend Sarah was a huge help to Jay with me being out of town this week, picking the kids up from school at 12:30pm on Wednesday when they had a 60% day and watching them through dance class. And the kids LOVED it! Cora and Cara Beth studied and crafted, James and Sammy practiced piano and played video games.

CUB SCOUT AWARDS NIGHT

Our boy earned a bunch of Webelo badges tonight!

(Some were earned back at summer daycamp)

MILK VOTE

Today the kids were supposed to dress in a shirt the color of their favorite type of milk (plain, chocolate, or strawberry). We don't own brown shirts, so we made our own chocolate milk bottles for them to represent their vote.

READING FAIR 2018

 Since I won't get a picture of him at the actual Reading Fair, here he is the night before his project board was due, dressed in his dragon attire (and PJs).

SOLO SUNDAY KIDS

The kids were gone for HOURS today. (Not GONE, but not at the house or well supervised by us, other than a couple bike rides down the driveway and a lunch break.) They spent the afternoon with our across the street neighbor and his siblings and cousins, running through yards, building forts, riding bikes, and all the fun kid stuff I remember doing when I had hours of (mainly) unsupervised freedom back in the day. They stayed within ear shot, and since we've exchanged phone numbers and Facebook pages with our neighbors, we were able to keep track of them without actually interfering in their play. It was cool to see them do so well with the freedom, and nice to see them SO HAPPY (and exhausted) when they came home for dinner. (We made them hose themselves off outside first, since they'd been playing in the mud, post rain storm.)

QUIET KINDLE KIDS

Sometimes it's ok when they're super quiet...

...like on Sunday mornings when mama wants to sleep in!

CRADLE KITTEN

The new kittens aren't as enamored with Cora's doll cradle as Starfire and Clawdia were, but every now and then we find one of them napping there.

YARD CLOTHES...

This was her outfit of choice when I asked her to get dressed for yard work and chicken coop duty...

GATES PIONEERS

The third grade GATES students are learning about Pioneers, so they're doing fun projects like making their own ink and writing with feather quills. Ms, Westcott also sent me a cute picture of Cora all dressed up (my old yellow Pioneer Day outfit, which I've kept since I was in third grade, fits her better than this one). Later (next month) the classes will go on a Pioneer Day field trip.

PROUD PLAYER

James is having such a great soccer season so far! Whether it's the change to a non-dad coach, or his older age or increasing experience, or the move of some of the better/more aggressive players out of VSO (some of them went to Clinton to play this year), he's showing a huge increase in focus and determination on the field. He seems to always be in the right place at the right time, scoring goals, assisting others, and taking control of the ball. (And flinching much less!) He's very proud of himself, and rightly so - I'm highly enjoying watching his games this year!!

FALL PORTRAIT DAY 2018

OUR LITTLE SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

Cora had TWO sleepovers this weekend! She went home with the Madisons from Girl Scouts on Friday and stayed overnight with Anna Paiten (and her little sister Sadie). I didn't pick her up until almost noon (after my long run) and the only reason I could convince her to come quietly was knowing her friend Cara Beth was coming over in a few hours for a sleepover at our house.

Cora and Cara, the dynamic duo... They were underfoot, and yet I barely saw them all night. They did makeovers (twice), played with dolls and Barbies, practiced the song Cara Beth wrote for their "band" (then performed it for us Sunday morning), and ran around outside. I took them on a night walk to collect insects and frogs (remember, they're one half of the Ant Squad). They finally got in bed around 10:30pm, but when I checked on them at 11:30pm thinking they'd surely be passed out, nope, they were still giggling and talking. At least they didn't get up too early (they almost made it to our requested 7:30am wake-up).

We had French Toast instead of pancakes (because Cora had them at Anna Paiten's house and James prefers French Toast when he can get it) and I tried to make it a little fancy for them since we never got around to our tea party the night before (I was finishing up two papers that were due by Saturday night - the week had gotten away from me with other obligations during the work day).

Here they are, singing The Burning Fire:

After CB left, Cora spent another hour outside enjoying the heat and humidity, and perfecting her NinjaLine skills:

 (That's the tiny baby stick bug the girls caught last night - she set it free today)

SAME KITTENS, DIFFERENT DAY

Same situation, different day. James enjoyed freedom over the TV while Cora was gone last night and this morning, and the kittens enjoyed his chosen gaming position (told ya they were snugglers!)

(He had fallen asleep sitting up looking at me, then his head fell back...)

TRACE TRAIL LONG RUN

I drove out to Jackson this morning to do my 14-miler with Christina on the Trace Trail that runs from the reservoir practically back to Clinton. It's a nice, car-free/stoplight-free, paved path used by runners, walkers, and bikers that parallels the Natchez Trace. We saw a few folks out there in their St. Jude training singlets and Hero shirts, so that was fun. It was a great way to catch up (we hadn't seen each other since school started) and knock out the miles!

GIRL SCOUTS, MEETING #2

Have I mentioned that we have 26 Girl Scouts now? That's double what we had last year, and most of them (14) are Brownies (the group that I co-lead). It's ok though - they're an awesome group of little ladies and I'm already enjoying the new personalities!

Miss Alison (former nurse) led a lesson on first aid (which the girls will earn a badge for once we finish the other requirements).

Past of the lesson involved role playing. The brothers helped with this and had the girls cracking up (but they did learn something at the same time, I promise!)

Group photo! (I'm still working on a few of their names)

PART OF THE FAMILY

These little guys are fitting right in with the humans in the house, starting to accept the dog, and slowly but surely winning over the hesitant older cats.

Black cats are a little hard to photograph in our low light home (they blend...)

The kids have loved grabbing them up at bedtime and reading them a story.

SOCCER SEASON STARTS

Cora's first games (double header) were tonight, with practices starting last week right after the holiday. The kids have practice and games on opposing days this season, which means I'll get to watch (most of) the games (I'll miss a few of Cora's on the double header nights when I have to rush James over to Cub Scouts after his practice). After his hour-long practice, I spotted him playing a pick up game with a few other boys around his age (he was easy to find on the fields in that green outfit and neon socks) and he didn't want to leave, so we skipped Scouts tonight in favor of watching both of Cora's games and letting James get some extra practice (and socializing) in!

THE CRAZY CAT PEOPLE

We brought home a pair of kitten yesterday!

While playing with the litter of 6 two-month-old kittens at the Rowe's house, 3 of whom were all black, Jay had a hard time deciding which one to bring home... So he made the sad puppy dog eyes... and before I knew it I had agreed to bringing twice as many kittens home. Making us twice as crazy.

They are complete lap cats (finally!) and love each other to pieces (plus, now they have a built-in playmate since the older cats are not pleased with their arrival), so it has worked out really well so far. The only bummer (in my book, since I'm not the one that cleans the litter) will be the added vet bills, but they truly are a small price to pay for filling your home with cuddles and cuteness. I mean, come on, this one below literally crawled onto Jay's upper arm, laid his head on Jay's shoulder, and gazed at him until he started petting him. They are super sweet!

I'm sure Cannon, Clawdia, and Starfire will come around...

They don't have names yet (Jay will be making the final decisions), but we have some ideas!

TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE

Meeting the kittens at 3-weeks-old:

Going back to get to know them and their little personalities better at 6-weeks-old:

Bringing home not one, but TWO kittens at 8-weeks-old: