Silver Dollar City Field Trip

May 19--a fun day with Rhett!

The group toured Marvel Cave at Silver Dollar City.  It is so neat!  We even saw a few bats this time.  

Then R's group rode Outlaw Run while I waited nearby.  Everyone met up for lunch then split up again for the remainder of the field trip time, depending on what activities they were most interested in.  It was a good day.  I enjoyed getting to hang out with Rhett and some of his friends.  

Mother's Day Celebrations

On Friday, May 8, I attended the Mother's Day Program presented by Crosby's Kindergarten class.  And how sweet it was!  A few weeks ago he brought home this precious handmade invitation.  It made me smile every time I looked at it. :)  His class made a video, sang several songs and recited poems for us, made us each a placemat and a book and served punch and snacks!  It was a special day with my special boy.

I loved the book he made:

"Her favorite color is pink."

"For fun she likes to go to the park."

"I love when she cooks cookies for me."

The kids were so cute and sweet serving the drinks and muffins to their guests!

The classroom was decorated with these fun M-O-M balloons and a bouquet of beautiful roses.

Super blessed to be his mom (and Alexee's and Rhett's!!)

Alexee brought this gift home from school too--so sweet!  These gifts are the best.

***

So back to our time in Flippin...after Stacie's wedding we stayed until Sunday/Mother's Day.  Everything was so pretty and green.  May is a great month in Arkansas!

The irises were in full bloom in Mom and Dad's yard.  They are one of my (many) favorites.

Alexee fell asleep in the chair around 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and slept after 6:30 a.m. on Sunday!  I think being a flower girl was very tiring!  I tried to wake her up that evening,  but she said she wanted to keep sleeping so Lane carried her up the stairs to the bed around 7 p.m.  I couldn't believe she slept right through all the other kids playing and running around!

Sunday after church
Happy Mother's Day!

Hard to believe how quickly my "babies" grew into school-age children.  I feel like I can barely even remember this season though!  :(

It was good to be with my mom, sister and grandmother on Mother's Day.  We all had lunch at my parents' house after church.  I'm grateful every day for these special women in my life.

And I'm also thankful for my wonderful mother-in-law/"Grammy" to the kids!!  What a blessing she is to us.  We are looking forward to having her and Bob here to visit us next weekend.

Dad, Rhett & Jaiden

My parents also celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in May, so we had yummy strawberry cake and (attempted to get) a family photo.  The photo didn't turn out great...we are going to try again with an outdoor setting next time we are all together, but at least we do have a picture all together.  

Happy 40th to Mom and Dad.  We love you!!

Wedding Weekend

Last weekend was busy but a lot of fun!  We left town right after school on Friday to go to Flippin for my cousin's wedding.  Several months ago Stacie asked Alexee and Crosby to be a part of the wedding, and they have been excited about it. (Especially Alexee...she loved the idea of dressing up and throwing flower petals.  I don't know that Crosby knew exactly what he had agreed to because after he told Stacie he'd help he quietly asked me if he was the one getting married.)  :)

I took A & C to the church for rehearsal, then Lane met up with us for the rehearsal dinner.  Rhett decided to stay with my parents.  

Below:

Alexee & Maggy (2nd cousins) with their cute bags from Stacie

The girls & Crosby with their Great-Uncle Greg, father-of-the-bride

So good to catch up with Mack (brother-of-the-bride) at dinner--he's so entertaining!

Before the wedding on Saturday:

Jeryn, Jaiden, Ally, Maggy, Alexee, Rhett & Crosby

Even though it was overcast it was so bright--we all look miserable trying to smile for the picture!  

Picture-taking time before the ceremony!  Stacie looked beautiful!!

I thought the boys looked SO CUTE in their bow-ties!  And they both loved wearing them (which was surprising).  My sister said that Jeryn wore his with his baseball uniform before the wedding, and Crosby asked if he could wear his to school on Monday!

And the girls looked precious in their lace dresses, purple bows and cowgirl boots!  The little burlap flower baskets were so sweet.

Above:  Cute sign in at the entrance to the church & my Mom looking so pretty!
Below:  With my sister, who was such a pretty bridesmaid!  She and Stacie are just three weeks apart in age and spent a lot of time together growing up.

At the reception...

The kids spent a lot of time at the purple candy table!

Love these pictures too!

Congratulations, Stacie & Noel

May 9, 2015

We are so happy for you, and we loved getting to celebrate your special day!

Carnival

The kids had a blast at the church carnival on May 6.  Of course the cotton candy table was very popular!

And the boys thought the dunking booth was great!  Crosby didn't hit the button with the baseball, so at the end of his turn he ran up and pushed it by hand to dunk Mr. B!  :)

C found some classmates to hang out with.  His teacher was also there.

The local zoo had a booth, too.  Alexee spent a lot of her time there.  This baby kangaroo was SO CUTE!  The zookeeper said that it had only been out of its mother's pouch for 1 week, so it still liked to curl up in a pouch.  It stayed in this bag the whole time!  It was very soft, and I thought it looked sleepy.  Alexee and I were fascinated with it and wished we could take it home with us.  

He let the joey take a break...and brought out this thing.  I had ZERO interest in it.  I can't believe Alexee touched it.  

Rhett & friends

Now snow cones

Rhett the wrestler--this looked like a lot of fun!

Busy Kids

On May 2, Rhett went with my Dad to watch my nephew's race.  J won a trophy--he's so fast and athletic!  We are proud of him.  Then R spent the night in Flippin and went to church on Sunday.  Mrs. Jacquie let him help her out in the sound booth that morning, which he loved!  I'm glad he had a fun weekend.

That same morning, Crosby and I took Alexee to the Young Author's Conference.  She was honored to be selected by her teacher to attend.  She received a hard copy of her book, All About Super Sea Otters.  I love that she has such an interest in reading, writing and illustrating.  Maybe she will be a famous author someday.  :)

And while Alexee was doing that, Crosby and I had a fun morning together at the arcade and the playground!  Lots of air hockey, basketball, video games, swinging and sliding.

C was impressed with the beautiful chapel on campus when we picked Alexee up.

When we got home that afternoon, we buried our Betta fish ("David") that had died the night before.  He had not looked good for a while.  Crosby was really bothered by it.  :(  At first he said he couldn't go with me because it would make him too sad, but then he followed me out to the yard and asked to help.  I thought it was sweet that he wanted to write David's name and the date on a rock.  We came back inside and he sat on my lap and cried.  He's a kind, caring and sensitive little boy with a great big heart, and he is just so precious to me.

And last Thursday we went to the elementary school art show to see A's snowscape on display.  Hers is on the top left.  She always enjoys art class.  After the show we all went out to eat pizza--it was a fun night.