Great Weekend with Friends

We loved having friends here from Little Rock last weekend!  We had been looking forward to their visit for months.  We went to Silver Dollar City and The Butterfly Palace and the kids tried to swim, but it was too chilly to last very long at that.  

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The Butterfly Palace was a fun place to spend a couple of hours on a rainy day, and local discount tickets are only $5 instead of $19.  In addition to the butterfly aviary, it also includes a mirror maze and an area of exhibits called the living rainforest science center.  

Above:  musician playing hammered dulcimer in the aviary & kids in the crazy mirror maze

Below:  kids exploring and identifying butterflies (I love the explorer hats!)

You can get a close-up look at frogs, geckos, turtles, salamanders, etc.  It was feeding time for the chameleon, so we watched him catch crickets.

They wouldn't allow you to touch the butterflies, but you could ask an employee to catch one for you and place it on your arm.  The girls wanted to do that!

It was also fun to get to do SDC with friends!  It was very crowded (Saturday), but the kids had so much fun riding all the rides together.  Lane and Rhett took a separate car, rode a few rides then left early to go see the new Avengers movie.

First stop:  the new Fireman's Landing.  Alexee and Crosby both tried some new rides this time.  They used to be afraid to ride almost everything (Like me...because I was scarred for life when I got sick on The Barrel during a Dogpatch USA youth group trip), but they are getting better about trying new things.

*Side note, we did not make Crosby wear long pants and a jacket while everyone else wore shorts.  This is his favorite outfit, and he insisted on wearing it--jacket zipped up and all!

So thankful for these dear friends!  We miss seeing them on a regular basis, but when we do get together things are "just like old times"!

Emily rode the new hot air balloons with the girls, and I rode with the boys, then the kids rode a tea cup all by themselves.

They really liked these new rides too!

On Monday, we packed a picnic lunch to eat at the park next to the swimming pool.  The kids played on the playground for just a little while, but they were very excited for the first swim of the season, so we walked over to the pool as soon as it opened.  It was only about 68 degrees though, so they didn't swim very long.  It was just too chilly to really enjoy it.  There will be lots of nice, hot days to swim though!

Crosby went straight for the diving board, and even tried the climbing wall (with Rhett coaching)!  He improved so much in the water last summer.  He and Alexee start swim lessons again next week.

A & K did a talent show for us too.  They sang, danced, did gymnastics, card tricks and jokes.  :)  They have such a good time together and get along so well!  Their chalk drawing "never going home" was sweet.  It was hard to say good-bye to them and send them back to LR.  We wanted to hop in their car and go back with them.  So thankful they made the trip to see us!

Year-End Assemblies

Thursday 5/28, was Kindergarten Graduation!  The theme was Summer Camp.  Each class sat in a circle around their "campfire", then everyone had a chance to walk the "trail" and graduate.  This was such a sweet year for Crosby.  He had a wonderful teacher (and it was fun to be part of her class the year she became a mom), he made new friends and learned so much!  I'm sad to see his kindergarten year come to an end.  He has truly loved it.

That afternoon was also the 2nd Grade Summer Camp Celebration.  The kids wore cute scout sashes with stickers representing various achievements from throughout the year.  Alexee had an amazing year, too.  She made sweet new friends, and she had such a kind and caring teacher--it was a huge blessing to be in her class.  It was also very fun to get to celebrate her getting married and becoming MRS. S in March!  Again, I'm sad to see the year end.    

After school that afternoon we celebrated by meeting up with some friends at Andy's.  Yum! 

Friday morning I went to the 5th grade awards assembly (even though Rhett told me parents weren't supposed to come to this).  :)  There were some other moms there though, and I was happy to see him receive certificates for math team, academic team, gifted university and drama club.  All three of the kids' teachers had big life events this year!  Rhett's sweet teacher was also expecting, and her baby girl arrived just a few days after school ended!  Mrs. H was so welcoming to Rhett, and she also really pushed him.  He also made some great friends in his class...huge blessing in a new school.

Meanwhile on Friday, Kindergarten was having Beach Day!  (It was also Hawaiian Day, which is why Alexee was wearing a Hawaiian dress in the last photo.)  The kinder-kiddos had lots of fun outdoor activities to do that day.

And finally, this is our last day of school photo.  I asked them to look exhausted and tired of school in the first photo...then said, "Ok, it's SUMMER BREAK, look happy!"  :)  We're looking forward to an awesome summer together.

Economics & Field Day

The last few days of school were busy!  Alexee's class did an economics unit where they earned play money and divided into groups to create small businesses. Alexee really had fun doing this!  Her group had a snack stand. Other businesses included a hair salon, nail salon, paper airplane store and a snow cone stand.  The other 2nd grade classes also participated so they came to the classroom to shop, then Alexee's class took a turn shopping.  It was a great learning experience for them. 

creating the juice pouch display

Her turn to purchase goods...

first stop:  Donut Shop

They also had elementary field day.  I didn't get to go to that, but two other kindergarten moms shared some photos of C with me.  Looks like Crosby had a blast with all the activities!

He and his buddy were twins in their blue shorts and red shirts!

Kindergarten class--what a fun year it has been!

We also had three year-end ceremonies, and Kindergarten did a beach day last Friday.  More posts to come!

Grandparents in Town!

It was great having Lane's parents here for Memorial Day weekend!  They arrived about noon on Saturday.  We ate lunch here and then later that afternoon we went to Springfield for shopping and dinner.  Sunday morning we went to church, then my parents and grandparents joined us for a late lunch at The Keeter Center.

Bobba, Grammy & the kids

Fun being together!

This is the dessert table...lots of yummy choices.

We did some shopping on Monday, then had lunch at Panera and played mini golf!  It was a pretty day, and we were happy to have a break in the rain.

Everyone had a hole-in-one!

Bobba kept score and gave them some tips.

That evening the kids played in the back yard while Lane grilled steaks and hot dogs for us.

It was our first time to try out our new patio table--such a nice evening with family!

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It has rained so much lately that area lake levels are high.  Lane and I drove to the overlook at Table Rock Dam...pretty, but kind of scary!

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.