GIRL SCOUT PETS

Cora loves when she earns Free Dress Friday (which she doesn't earn as often as James does...)

Our Girl Scout meeting today focused on pets: who has pets and what are they (the girls gave 2-3 minutes presentations with pictures they brought from home), what pet would you get if you could have ANY pet, how do we take care of our pets, how can we help pets who need homes, and of course, a pet appearance by Anna Paiten's hedgehog (the smallest and easiest to show and tell, with special permission from the principal to visit the school auditorium).

(Cora's presentation took quite a while... we have a lot of pets...)

(She thought her friend's hedgehog was cute and she loved his carry bag, but she said he was way too stinky and she never wants one of her own!)

ON THE YAZOO

These are pretty pictures of cute kids, but just know that the backstory includes failed tests and the resulting punishment of not being allowed to go to the River City Kids art class. 

We made an agreement when we signed them up for the (FREE!) art class, which we truly didn't have time for, as it turned Thursdays into an even bigger rush from school to art class to acro to soccer games, with some unfortunate overlap in there that caused me to miss some of James' games and Cora to miss some acro classes this quarter. If they brought home any Ds or Fs in their QEP folders on Wednesdays, they weren't allowed to go to art class the next day. Instead, they had to spend that hour and 15 minutes studying with mama to ensure they made a better grade on the following weeks' test. Unfortunately, this happened to both of them a couple times this quarter, but the agreement DID work to push their efforts on "most" testing days and James brought home "almost" straight As for term three (ELA quizzes will always be a struggle for him because they're so long and his mind wanders so easily, but he pulled himself up to a solid B in that class after getting Cs in terms one and two). Obviously, we don't study the whole time (we can't study for ELA anyway - quizzes mainly consist of "cold reads" and questions about the story that they can literally go back through in order to check their answers... they just don't...) because mama's got errands to run and chores to do during that window. So sometimes we just go for a walk and talk. And take pictures down by the water.

CUB SCOUT FIELD TRIP

James' Webelo Den took a field trip to a local recording studio tonight as part of their music badge. We ALL learned a lot (the entire family attended because we knew it would be cool) and had so much fun seeing how all the equipment works. The studio owner showed us how he edits songs and the kids (and adults...) were cracking up when he tweaked the vocalist's voice to be super high or super low (or extra fast or extra slow). Cora took lots of notes because she'll "need to know this stuff" when her "band" (her and Cara Beth) are older.

Each kid had a chance to try out one of his recording booths too, and while Cora was ridiculously (and uncharacteristically) shy, it was the highlight of the experience for her!

MARDI GRAS MADNESS TOURNAMENT

We survived our first double soccer tournament this weekend with both kids playing in Monroe, Louisiana's Mardi Gras Madness Tournament. It was COLD and RAINING for most of the games, so there was a lot of "running" back and forth from the car to the fields, trying to keep the kid who wasn't playing somewhat warm and dry. (I actually clocked myself at 8 miles total walking over the weekend, including the Mardi Gras Parade that we attended Saturday night.) James' game times had the very worst of the weather, but he was such a good sport about it! I took pictures when I could, but my hands were freezing and the rain made everything blurry, but for posterity's sake... See if you can find James and Cora in each of the action shots below ;-)

James' first game:

Cora's first game (James ventured out onto the field with me once he was reheated):

Lunch break:

It literally POURED during James' second game (and I watched it from the back of a tent), so we're moving right along onto Cora's second game here:

GOAL!

Monroe Mardi Gras Parade (and tailgate party with Lori and her family):

Lots of traffic getting out of town and very tired kids after such a long day:

Day TWO, James' third game, weather NOT improving:

Cora's third (and final) game:

The River Belles tied for First Place (the coaches were shocked out how evenly the numbers played out) and took home some pretty cool medals!

Camden, Leah, Cora, Tamiyah, Addy M, Chloe, Allie, Addy C, Mary Clell, Avery, Harper, Laney, and Sarah (Emily had to leave for Texas after game two yesterday) - yes, we have enough girls to make two complete teams, which leads to a lot of turnover during games!

James' fourth game (the boys played each of the other two teams twice):

This was the first tournament for the Intruders and it's obvious they haven't had the experience of playing together (unlike the River Belles, who have been together since last spring when they were the UniSharks) or anywhere near the amount of practice time that the girls have been getting. That is a factor of coach commitment (they're ALL volunteers, it's just that the girls coaches are all deeply invested in their team AND that the girls/coaches are willing to practice, and play games, even when the weather truly sucks because they want to get better, together) as well as practice time (half the boys team plays baseball, which overlaps/interferes with soccer practice, so they simply don't have the camaraderie and familiarity with each other's playing styles as the girls team has).

That said, they DID play very hard this weekend and gave it their best effort, and they learned a lot, so they can only go up from here!

Jacob, Brandon, James L, Witt, Eriam, Chris, Harrison, JC, Allen, Klein, and James T