Hot Springs Visit & Night Run 5K

Rhett went to Hot Springs last Wednesday to spend a few days with Grammy & Bobba.  He, of course, had a wonderful time!  They stayed super busy with movies, golfing, swimming, shopping, etc.  I'm going to have to see if I can get photos from L's parents and then let Rhett do his own post about their many activities.  Thank you, Grammy & Bobba, for letting him stay!  He enjoyed his special time with you both.

On Saturday Alexee, Crosby and I went over to Hot Springs.  We were all REALLY missing Rhett--our house just didn't feel right with him away!  I felt bad going without Lane, but he had to work this weekend.  I wish he could have gone with us.  We had lunch at the condo then went out to Mid-America museum for the afternoon.  Rhett had gone earlier in the week with his cousins, but he wanted to go again and show us how he could ride the SkyCycle!

They currently have a really neat dinosaur exhibit.  Alexee was afraid to go through, and Crosby was skeptical at first but was willing to look if I carried him.  He recognized the triceratops because that's the kind of Dream Lite he has on his bed. So Rhett took our picture standing by it.

 Rhett on the sky cycle--no fear!  He did great and looked so focused.

We had fun back at the condo, too.  They have such a nice view of Lake Hamilton, and the weather has been WONDERFUL so it was extra pleasant to sit out on the deck.  It was actually even cool this morning when we had breakfast out there!  It's crazy to be able to say the weather is "pleasant" here in July--what a treat!

I've been planning for a while now to run the "Dam Night Run 5K" with my friend, Candy.  It was great to see her again!  It took place last night at Lake DeGray, not far from Hot Springs.  The kids stayed with my in-laws, and I went to Arkadelphia to pick up C and go to the run.  I had not driven that road (Hwy 7) in a long time so it brought back memories of college days!  I went to OBU in Arkadelphia, and my friends and I went to Hot Springs a lot for something to do.  

I am really NOT a runner, but I wish I was.  I was nervous about how it would all go, but it was fine and I enjoyed it.  Hopefully we can meet there and run it again next summer.  We were really lucky to have such awesome weather this time!

Before the run

We thought it was funny that you had to catch a ride on the back of a lumber truck to get to the starting line.  The starting line was on the top of Iron Mountain, which meant the course was mostly downhill--thank goodness for that!  The truck ride was honestly a little scary--there wasn't much to hold onto!  I love the look on Candy's face as we were speeding up the mountain!  :)  (Well, she could actually peek through the truck window and see that the speedometer read 35 mph, but it seemed more like 65!)  At least the scenery was pretty!

C's sister & brother-in-law ran too.  Here we are waiting for it to begin.  

This seemed like a huge number of people behind me--I was afraid I was going to get trampled!  We stayed all the way to the right so that people could go around us, and it was fine.  Wouldn't you know it though, a guy RIGHT in front of me lost his shoe about 15 seconds after the starting horn and he stopped to get it and I almost fell over him--ha!!

I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the miles went by.  What little running I'd done to prepare had been on the indoor track at the gym, and maybe it's just really boring there because I always feel like it takes forever to run 12 laps to equal 1 mile. 

The stretch across the DeGray Lake dam was really pretty.  The older guy in the yellow shirt was obviously in way better shape than me...while I was gasping for air he had plenty of extra breath to encourage everyone around him and even to yell down to the boats below, "Can you meet me at the finish line with a Bud Light!?!"  HaHa!  We thought he was funny! 

We made it!  

(Candy failed to warn me that she always gets a burst of energy when she sees the finish line and sprints the last several yards!  I wasn't expecting it, but when she picked up the pace, I decided to follow her.)  :)  I'm so glad she invited me to come along with her--it was tiring but fun and it felt good to have accomplished the goal.

Thank you, Candy, for letting me join you!  And thank you, Bob & Rose Mary, for keeping the kids for me!

We made it back home in time for Alexee to go to her friend Addison's birthday party at Build-A-Bear. She loved getting to ride there with her friends and had fun making a new bear.  She was excited to show me the bear's reversible rainbow tutu and all the bows.  :)  I'm so glad she has such a sweet group of girls to hang out with.  They really are a joy!

When Alexee got back from the party, we picked up a friend of Rhett's and went to eat pizza.  He spent the night with us so he could ride to camp with us on Monday.  Rhett has been looking forward to going back to climbing camp for a long time, so he should have a fun week ahead!

Art Camp

Alexee went to the Matisse camp at Spirited Art this week, and she loved it!  She has already asked if she can go again next summer!

She enjoys doing artistic things, and getting to go and hang out with several of her friends made it extra fun!  This was before and after class on Tuesday:

Such a sweet group of girls--friends are such a blessing!

Day 4 assignment:  Dog on a Skateboard.  But I thought it was so cute how the girls personalized their canvases:  L painted her dachshund;  M painted her lab; and of course Alexee painted her schnauzer, Bogart (complete with beard and red collar).   :)

Little artist wearing her class t-shirt and showing her artwork:
Monday-kite/outdoor scene
Tuesday-giraffe
Wednesday-ice cream cones
Thursday-Bogart on a skateboard (my favorite, but I loved them all!)

  

Great work, Alexee!  You are such a sweet and creative little girl!

Good-Bye Bowling

This afternoon we went bowling with Ali, Lianne and the kids (minus Rhett because he was in Hot Springs--we missed him!)  Lianne's family moves next week, so this was our last chance to all get together one more time before then.  :(  It's getting harder and harder to remain in denial, I guess. 

Love these girls!

Crosby was quite the bowler--he had two strikes!  He wore his new Power Ranger helmet the whole time.

Alexee was such a good big sister--she helped him every time it was his turn.

I treasure these friendships!  They've blessed my life in big ways!

VBS and Fun with Friends

Crosby and Alexee had a great time going to Vacation Bible School last week.  The theme was "Mission Possible".  They learned about many stories from the Bible where difficult things were possible through God's strength, such as Paul & Silas in prison and Daniel in the lion's den.  Crosby's teacher sent me a few pictures of the kids in action, which I loved!

C liked pretending to be a secret agent!  These little handcuffs are from their Paul & Silas story.  I thought that was a neat idea.  And he has had so much fun with these binoculars!  He wanted to take them out in the front yard to look for birds and rabbits.  :)

We carpooled with our friends Kylie and Cole--my kids loved doing that!  I think that was one of their favorite parts of the week!  They were so cute with their giant craft bags when I picked them up on Friday!  The boys were covered in stickers and couldn't wait to get to the car to start taking everything out of the bags.  The girls were so sweet showing me the jewels on their picture frames and crosses.  What fun memories.  

***

Playing outside one day when there was a little bit of a breeze...

Crosby loves these Spider-Man pjs and wears them all the time!  He went inside for a few minutes and came back out wearing his Avengers sunglasses--so cool.  :)

Saturday evening we had friends over to play!  We picked up pizza for dinner and had ice cream for dessert.  They all had fun and played so well together.  Unfortunately our upstairs air-conditioner had stopped cooling that afternoon, so it was really hot.  The AC repairman was able to come take a look at the problem right away, but the unit had "frozen solid" so he wasn't able to actually fix it until it had thawed out on Sunday.  We were thankful it was just low on coolant--nothing too serious/expensive!

Since it was 84 degrees upstairs that night, the kids "camped out" in the living room.  Crosby, Rhett and Bogart had the couch and Alexee was in her sleeping bag on the floor.

Alexee was excited to attend a birthday party for two friends on Sunday afternoon.  She had a blast!

The party was at a sports place, and I think she played hard...she was really ready for a bath when I picked her up!  :)

School Supplies & Burlap Pencil Sign

One day last week Rhett and I went school supplies shopping while Alexee and Crosby were at VBS.  He printed the list from the school's website and found everything himself.  I'm not at all ready for school to start, but I do love new supplies!  R also asked to get a new backpack and lunch box this year.  Sadly (for me) he no longer wants a monogrammed Pottery Barn backpack with matching lunchox.  He's just growing up way too fast.

Look how little he was sitting in the Target shopping cart in 2009!  (And we were still buying diapers back then!)

Kindergarten, 2009.........................................4th grade, 2013

He sorted everything out when we got home and packed everything into his new backpack for delivery on "Meet-the-Teacher" night.  I enjoyed our morning together!

 
*****

Last week Alexee and I worked on a burlap project for my friend Candy's classroom.  Her room has a monkey theme with some black, white (and zebra pattern) and purple.  Hobby Lobby even had monkey ribbon--love that store!  Alexee helped with the painting, and she also helped measure, cut and tie the ribbons!

What you need:

burlap (I think this used about 1 yd)

acrylic paints & brushes

variety of ribbons

hot glue gun/plenty of glue sticks

newspaper or plastic bags (for stuffing)

clear acrylic high gloss coating (optional, but gives it a shiny, finished look)

Once all the painting was finished, I stuffed it with plastic Kroger bags, hot-glued the front and back together and took it outside to spray it with the high gloss sealer.  Here's the finished project, ready for the first day of school:

While at Hobby Lobby looking for ribbon, I saw these cute chevron note cards and couldn't resist! (4 different colors, 2 of each for $4.99)!  I ran them through our printer to add my name in different fonts.  I think I might go back and get more to print for teacher gifts, etc.

In Microsoft Word, go to:
File
Page Set Up
Paper Size...Manage Custom Sizes
Type in the size of your card (stretched out flat, like a sheet of paper.  This particular card was 6"w x 9"h), set small margins and save that as named custom size, ex. "chevron card" so you can go back to it if you want to reprint later on.
In the Word document, type your name, choose font, sizing and positioning that you want (I did right alignment at bottom of page for these)
Print!  :)

Key Lime Pie

Key lime pie is one of my favorite desserts.  I don't know why I'd never made one!  For some reason it seemed like it would be a difficult thing to make, but it wasn't.  Last weekend I searched for recipes and decided to try this one from GourmetSleuth.  I thought it was really good!  If you like key lime, you should try it!

Key Lime Pie Recipe

I N G R E D I E N T S Crust
16 graham crackers, crushed
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cube (1/4 lb) margarine or butter

Pie
4 large or extra large egg yolks
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice (approximately 12 Key limes)
2 teaspoons grated lime peel, green portion only

Whipping Cream For Garnish (Optional) (*But highly recommended) :) 
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons granulated sugar (*I used powdered sugar)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

I N S T R U C T I O N S Crust:
Mix the ingredients and press them into a 9" pie plate. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 10 - 12 minutes until lightly browned. Place on a rack to cool.

Pie Filling Use an electric mixer and beat the egg yolks until they are thick and turn to a light yellow, don't over mix. Turn the mixer off and add the sweetened condensed milk. Turn speed to low and mix in half of the lime juice. Once the juice is incorporated add the other half of the juice and the zest, continue to mix until blended (just a few seconds). Pour the mixture into the pie shell and bake at 350F for 12 minutes to set the yolks and kill any salmonella in the eggs.

Serving 

If you are using the whipping cream garnish, prepare the cream. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream. 

*****

A few other miscellaneous things:

1)  Last week I noticed another pretty robin's nest in our yard.  This one is nestled sweetly in the crepe myrtle, and it contained four beautiful eggs.  I peeked in today, and all four have hatched!

2)  Poor Bogart.  He tries to be a good sport.  One day the kids and I put Rhett's old turtle costume on him and laughed as he ran around trying to get out of his "shell".  He finally gave up and decided to go eat his food.

3) These three love to go swimming.  Rhett just taught Crosby how to hold onto the kick-board and kick his legs.  He is doing great!  Maybe R will have him swimming by the end of the summer...wouldn't that be so nice!

4)  It was kind of a last minute decision, but Alexee & Crosby are attending VBS this week with some friends.  They are loving it so far!  After my dentist appointment yesterday Rhett and I had lunch together at Old Mill before VBS pick-up time.  He printed off the school supplies list and we're planning to go get his new backpack and supplies tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to our one-on-one time together.  Can't believe we're looking at the 4th GRADE list!  And I can't believe we have a little less than 5 weeks left of summer break.  :(

"See-Ya-Soon" Party

Here we go again--another friend has decided to move to Texas. (See MK and Stacy)  Now it's Lianne.  She and I have been friends since Rhett and her son were just toddlers.  The boys have played together so much (the girls too--I had Alexee then Lianne had a little girl a year later), and the boys were in the same class in both 1st grade and 3rd grade.  Lianne is so sweet and funny and is always willing to help out in any way possible.  She brought me meals when A & C were born, she has driven my kids to and from school & birthday parties & camps, she's always helping out in the classroom/with school activities, volunteering to host things, etc. etc.  She's a wonderful friend.  I'm really really going to miss her, and I know my kids will miss her kids as well.  We'll definitely stay in touch...it's not "good-bye".  But we can't meet for lunch or take the kids to the park after school anymore and I'm very sad about the every-day things like that.  We do already have one trip planned to visit them in Dallas, and I hope there will be many more!

She agreed to let us have a small, casual party in her honor if we (1) promised not to "go to any trouble" (she's great at helping others but will barely let you do anything for her!) and (2) agreed to keep it light and happy--no tears.  So we had a fun girls' night over at Ali's house last Tuesday with appetizers & dessert.  (I should have taken more photos, but this is about all I have.)

Back row:  me, Lori, Lianne, Ali, Cameron & Wendy; Front:  Katie & Mary
(This picture was at the end of the evening--I wish we'd done the pic earlier before some of the girls left.)

We had BBQ chicken sliders, tortilla roll-ups, corn dip, tomato dip and fruit.  For dessert:  yummy petits fours with chocolate Ls on them (we laughed about them looking like Laverne's monogrammed shirt).  We added cupcake picks that had funny Lianne quotes/memories written on them.  I loved Cameron's idea to get her the city Junior League cookbook and have everyone sign it--a fun and practical way to send a little piece of home with her!    

We all hope she knows how special she is to us!

The next day Ali, Lianne and I took the kids swimming.  I don't know that we'll have a chance to get everyone together again before their move, so we gathered the kids up for a quick picture.  

Thankful for true, sweet friendships.

Wishing change wasn't so hard.

Big boys-age 9; Girls-ages 5 & 6; and little boy-age 4

We love y'all and wish you all the best!  We're praying for you as you begin this exciting new chapter!