The Letter "P"

1)  PARADE

Yesterday the kindergarteners had a freedom parade through the hallways of their school.  Crosby and I walked the big kids in the building, picked up some things we needed to get from A's teacher, then stayed to watch the parade.  The kids had made cute patriotic hats and signs and looked like they were having a lot of fun marching to the music.  

Alexee and friends in their school t-shirts

 There's Alexee in the denim skirt

Her teacher lined them up for a group picture

(How was she able to do this with 20 students and I can't even get my own 3 kids to stand still and look at the camera!?!)

 Cute group of kids!

2)  PLAYGROUND

Next I took Crosby and his friend, Cole, to the church playground where we met up with some other friends.  It was really nice to get to visit with Jennifer and Courtney, and the kids all played so well together.  I was also thrilled to get to hold 2 week old Ava Jane--she's sweet and beautiful!

These boys crack me up--Crosby wearing goggles and Cole playing a flute.  :)

 Crosby played in the goggles most of the time.

Pretending to be firemen

We came back home for lunch.  Their conversations are so cute.  As they ate, Cole was telling Crosby that he's allowed to get up out of bed at night if he needs to go to the bathroom.  Crosby said he could too, then he asked Cole if he had a sink in his bathroom.  Cole said he did.  Crosby had another follow-up question, but now I can't remember what it was.  I love listening to what they say--three is such a funny age!

Zooming down the driveway yesterday afternoon.

On one of the (many) trips down he yelled, "This one's for you!"  ha!

3)  PARTY

And finally, last night Alexee went to Natalie's birthday party at Build-A-Bear.  She rode with Emily and Kylie, which she was super excited about and I was thankful for since Lane was working.  The boys and I had a relaxing time at home.

Ready to go

Happy Birthday to Natalie!

Emily sent this picture and said they were having fun!

Ryan, Kylie, Addison, Alexee & Ann Katherine

 Alexee chose to "build" a PUPPY wearing PURPLE PAJAMAS!  :)

Madeline and The Lost Tooth

Alexee and I have been looking forward to our date!  This afternoon we went to see Madeline and the Gypsies at the Children's Theatre.  We only recently discovered the cuteness of the Madeline books/movies!  Alexee chose one of the movies from the library, and we all enjoyed it so much that we went back to check out all of the available Madeline books.  When I saw that this show was going to be at the theatre, I knew I wanted to make plans to take Alexee.  She was a tiny bit nervous at first because she doesn't like for the room to go dark, but she did fine.  I think she really enjoyed it--I know I did! 

"In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines

Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines

In two straight lines they broke their bread

And brushed their teeth and went to bed. 

They left the house at half past nine

In two straight lines in rain or shine-

The smallest one was Madeline."

No photography was allowed during the performance, so I only took this one during the Q & A afterward.

 She's so much fun!  I loved having a special day with her.

She asked for a penny to toss into the fountain.  I handed her two pennies, and she told me that she'd tell me one wish but keep the other a secret.  The one she shared was that her tooth would come out soon and that it wouldn't hurt when it did.  :)

 Our last stop was Shake's, but we brought the boys each a concrete, too!

I mentioned in my previous post that her bottom tooth has been VERY wiggly.  We tried a few times to pull it, but she said it hurt so we kept waiting.  Well, by tonight it was just barely hanging on by a thread so I was determined to pull it before she went to school tomorrow.  I didn't want to miss the big event and her bring the tooth home in a zip-loc bag.  So after she brushed her teeth I asked if I could try one more time.  She let me, and it popped right out.  The look on her face was priceless!  After she realized it came out she was SO excited about her new smile and could not wait to show Lane.

I just can't believe she's already lost a tooth.  Rhett's first one didn't fall out until March of his Kindergarten year, so I just assumed it would be a while until she lost one of hers too.  :(

She tucked it safely into the hippo tooth pillow, and found just the right spot for it in her bed.

(The hippo pillow was mine when I was little.)  :)

Spiders, Donuts & Wildwood Park

We've had a nice weekend.  Friday Crosby made handprint spider paintings (Pinterest) while R & A were at school.  (This little box of Crayola washable paints has been the best investment).

Saturday morning the kids were up way too early, but we were still slow to actually get moving for breakfast.  I ran out to pick up Shipley donuts.  I love C's hair in this picture.  :)

Sweet kids

After breakfast we decided to get outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather.  We wanted to go somewhere that wasn't crowded, so we went to Wildwood Park just to walk around the lake and let the kids burn some energy.

Just for fun, here's a picture of R & A sitting on that same rock at Wildwood in 2008.  We used this picture for our Christmas card that year.  Time goes so fast.  

We were happy to have our friend Leigh Ann and her two boys meet us there.

We went to eat lunch at Panera Bread, then Rhett went over to Jackson's house for the afternoon.  Crosby took a long nap, Lane updated computer software and I hung out with Alexee--we painted a burlap pumpkin and she played on the iPad.  In the last picture she is showing her VERY WIGGLY bottom tooth (stay tuned).

The County Fair

When I was in high school, the county fair was a fun, annual event that everyone looked forward to.  It was just one of the many great things about fall.  I don't think I've been since then, but this year we knew we couldn't miss the Faulkner Co. Fair because my niece was showing Annabelle for the first time!  We were excited to go see them Thursday afternoon after school.  

The actual show took place Thursday morning, so we didn't get to watch it, but Jaiden and Annabelle did great.  I had to text my sister to ask exactly what ribbons they won...this was her response:

1st in commercial crossbred heifer English class,

Grand Champion in English class, 

3rd place in Advanced Cloverbud Showmanship, 

and the clean stall award for beef cattle division

Awesome job, Jaiden!  She told me she had a lot of fun and wished it wasn't over.  

My parents had driven down for the day, so it was so nice to get to see them, too.  The kids liked running around with them looking at all the different animals.  This chicken was one of my favorites.  Jaiden said he was having a bad hair day-ha!

Alexee said she'd like to get a rabbit--no surprise there.  :) The pigs were super cute but also super stinky!  

We watched them shear a sheep.

Annabelle is sweet and gentle.  The kids enjoyed brushing her, and I think she loved the attention.

I wish Jeryn had been here for this picture, but he was out with his Dad at the time.  We didn't see him until we met for dinner later.  They had all worked hard to decorate their space, and it looked very cute.

Of course with Rhett's interest in locks, he liked checking out the supplies box that they had in the sitting area.

 Dad & Alexee

We didn't stay for the fair rides to open, which the kids were disappointed about because they really wanted to ride a ferris wheel.  We'll save that and the fried Twinkies for next time--maybe it will be a little bit cooler!  We all went to eat dinner before we had to go home. They begged to go back with Mo and Granddad, but it was a school night so we couldn't do that either.  Wonderful to see everyone though and so proud of Jaiden.