Mother's Day Gift & Dinner with Neighbors

We've had a good weekend.  I'm not sure what made them think of it, but Friday after school the kids decided to go upstairs and work on my Mother's Day gift.  :)  They were gone for quite a while, with a few trips downstairs for tape, scissors, old Christmas wrapping paper, etc.  Once they were done, Alexee was ready to go ahead and give me the gifts a few weeks early.  Rhett disagreed and said they should wait.  I don't think it mattered to Crosby.  By Saturday they'd agreed to let me open one of the boxes.  They were so excited--it was sweet!  When I unwrapped  the gift and opened the box, this is what I saw:

                                       

They'd made several colorful bracelets, rings, necklaces and two cards.  

I loved all of it.  The cards were precious, and they wanted me to try on all the jewelry.  What a blessing to be their Mom!  

Saturday Lane worked in the yard, and the kids and I played outside for a long time.  Saturday evening Lane and I went to Bravo for a going-away dinner for our neighbors, the Kortebeins.  Most of the people who live on our street were there.  We've had several neighborhood cookouts, but it's always difficult to visit with the adults because we're busy watching the kids, so this was a nice night out together.  Patrick and Betsy (seated on the right) are moving to Pennsylvania at the end of May. We're sad to see them go.  Betsy is a fitness instructor, and I've really enjoyed doing two of her weekly classes at the gym.  She is a great teacher.  She really pushes you, and her classes are very challenging (at least they are for me!), but her "Today's a gift--Embrace it!" mentality is inspiring.  We wish their family all the best!

L to R:  Dennis, Laura, me, Lane, Silvana & Ariel, Steve & Becky, Matthew & Lindsey, Lisa, Jennifer, Patrick & Betsy, Brad and Matt

Girls' Lunch

This morning Alexee came up with the idea that we should go out for a girls' lunch.  Lane was off so he and Crosby hung out here while I took Alexee to eat at Milford Track.  We rarely go there, but the food is great.  It is located in the lobby of an office building that sits on this pretty lake.  There are geese and swans on the lake, but the signs warn you that the swans are nesting and are therefore "aggressive".  We found this to be true.  Alexee stopped to pick up a feather near some landscaping, and I guess the swan thought she was trying to get its eggs or something.  The swan was swimming several yards away, but when it saw her it spread its wings, hissed and started swimming super fast toward us!  Alexee screamed, but I couldn't keep from laughing.  No one was hurt.  :)

 Waiting for our food...

We tried several times to take a picture of ourselves:

 A's fruit bowl

 my pear and praline salad

 photo by Alexee

 We had fun girl time!

 The landscaping there was pretty.

afternoon fun

Gardening

Today I made a trip to Home Depot to get a few plants for the porch.  I had planned to also get lumber and topsoil to make a very small raised-bed garden, but I didn't get that accomplished.  It was crowded so it took longer than I expected to choose plants, and I still had to go to the grocery store before time to get the kids.  I planted caladiums, petunias and ivy in the three pots on our fronts steps, then the kids helped me with the back yard when they got home.  We replaced a daylily that had died, planted a hibiscus, geranium and mint plant.  We're soaking morning glory seeds overnight and plan to plant those by the fence tomorrow afternoon. 

 Crosby watering the hydrangea and Alexee digging up a worm.

 Hopefully I can use this for mint tea this summer.

 One of my favorite things to do!  Now if I can just remember to water them...

Community Group B-Day Fun

Last Sunday evening we got together with our Community Group to celebrate Jan's birthday.  Bob & Leigh Ann were so kind to host, and they cooked such a delicious meal.  They moved here from Louisiana, and they are great cooks.  Bob made shrimp and grits--YUM!  (I think the shrimp dish had an official name, but I'm not sure what it was.  He cooked it in a huge cast iron pot with homemade seafood stock, veggies, sausage, etc.)  He also made marinated crab claws, which I'd never had, but they were good too!  Everyone brought appetizers/sides and we had cupcakes for dessert.  I went the super easy route and took fruit + fruit dip (8 oz. cream cheese + jar of marshmallow cream), but I think that dip is so good, even if it is extremely simple!  They have a great back yard--perfect for 14 kids to run and play! The kids all played so well together and had a lot of fun.  Our kids didn't want to leave, but they were  tired.  They all three had someone their age to play with--that's always nice.

Here are some of the kids (and parents) on the swing set

 Crosby loved this swing

Bob grilling burgers for the kids and Lane posing for a picture :) (Lane had to leave early to go to the hospital for his OB shift, but I was glad he was able to go with us for a little while.)

 The girls' table:  Kiley, Alexee & Alex

 C enjoying a burger

A trampoline full:  Macy, Miley, Kiley, Alexee, Alex, Rhett and Parker

 Leigh Ann had everything decorated so cute.

 Miley & Reid watching Toy Story

 Love this picture of Tate singing a great big "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to his Mom!

 Carson, Crosby & Reid--big smiles!

 sweet Alexee

Fun times.  We're thankful for this new group of friends and for the way the Lord put our group together!  We've had a great year of Bible study and fellowship.  We are finishing up the spring semester with a series called Twisted by Andy Stanley, which has been very interesting.  Here's a brief description of it:

Twisted

Part 1: All Is Not as It Seems

Andy Stanley

There is more to this world than we can see. Beyond all that we are able to measure and understand is a spiritual world; a world that we can neither see nor touch, yet we feel its impact everyday. We live in a world in which an evil influence exists that deceives us and desires to ultimately lead us on a path of destruction. In this message, Andy Stanley discusses how our lives have become twisted, and we'll discover the source behind this deception.

Fairy Party

Alexee enjoyed celebrating Caroline's birthday with her last weekend.  C's Mom had everything decorated so pretty and sweet for the fairy party.  As of last night, Alexee still had "fairy dust" (purple glitter) stuck to her head!  :)  C's Dad did the face painting--doesn't it look great!  It even had glitter around the eyes.  The girls all received a special hot pink tutu and a wand.  I wish I had a picture of the cupcakes with the fairy toppers--very cute.  

 

The four girls on the left (Caroline, Natalie, Addison & Alexee) will all start kindergarten together this fall!  On the far right is Hanna, Caroline's older sister.  

While Alexee was at the party, I took the boys to Academy Sports so Rhett could look for new Crocs.  They didn't have a great selection in his size, but he said he was happy with these chocolate brown ones.  I cried that night when I slipped them on and realized they fit me.  I know he's growing up fast, but something about his shoes being big enough for me to wear was quite a reality check.  :(

This Week

I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately anyway, but now I see that Blogger has "changed its look" so I don't know how to move pictures, etc. I'll see what this post looks like... 
*Update:  Doesn't look good--sorry for the messy post.  I don't like the captions because the font is smaller.


Crosby had a stomach ache for several days, so we stayed close to home Monday-Wednesday.  He took a three hour nap one day, which is very unusual.  By Thursday he was back to his usual happy and playful self and has been fine since then.

Crosby in Rhett's Halloween costume

Playroom Picnic

Playing in the back yard

On Thursday we met a few friends at the playground.

This was our first swim lesson with the "bubble" removed from over the pool.  It was a nice day, but I think the water was still a little chilly!  The splash area just opened up, too, so that gave Crosby something fun to do during lessons.  He didn't have on his swimsuit, but didn't care. 

Alexee can swim from one instructor (on the right) to the other.  She still gets a little nervous about taking breaths along the way, but she's doing great.  

Yesterday afternoon I was on the phone with Mom.  When I hung up, I found that they'd been busy with the markers!  :)   Funny!

I found this hanging on Rhett's bulletin board a few days ago...sweet brotherly love!  Alexee will surely be tough after growing up with two brothers.  :)  

Not pictured from the week:  One night I met the girls from our Community Group for dinner at Bravo.  We were celebrating Leigh Ann's birthday--it was a fun night.  Lane and I also went to see Hunger Games.  He'd recently read the book, but of course I hadn't.  What little I'd heard about it didn't really sound like anything I'd want to volunteer to read or see.  I'm still not sure if I liked it or not.  This morning Alexee was invited to our neighbor's fairy-themed birthday party.  I didn't take any pictures, but my neighbor did so I'll see if I can post some of those later.  While A was partying, I took R & C to Academy Sports so Rhett could look for new Crocs.  We picked up Subway to go and got home just as the party ended.