Kindergarten Girls

Yesterday was Alexee's first play date with a group of girls starting Kindergarten.  They had a blast playing together at the park, and all the moms enjoyed talking, too!  We plan to get together several times throughout the summer, and I think it will be a lot of fun.  I'm so glad she will already know several girls that she can play with on the playground...and maybe if we're really lucky, she'll be in the same class as one or more of the them! (But I'm trying not to get my hopes up about that since there are 8 kindergarten classes).

L to R:  Caroline, Alexee, Kylie, Ryan, Olivia, Addison & Natalie

Memorial Day Weekend, Part 3

We spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday back at Mom and Dad's house, and the kids found plenty to keep them busy there.  Monday evening we went to Mt. Home for an early dinner at Colton's.  

Before dinner

When we got back, Mo and Alexee fed Annabelle, the bottle calf, her dinner.  Annabelle has to get ready for the fair--Jaiden plans to show her with 4H this fall.  She's a sweet, gentle calf now, and they had fun brushing her and feeding her.  Rhett said that we might need to go visit Jaiden the week before the fair and help her clean Annabelle up.  :)

While R & A were helping with the calf, Dad and C took a Jeep ride on the dirt road.

It looked like fun, so we all hopped in!

C would stay in this 24 hours a day if we'd let him--he loves it, and now insists on driving!

Tuesday morning Rhett and Alexee really wanted Mo to saddle a horse before it got too hot.

They all took a few turns riding in the round pen.  Rhett went first.

Mom hangs an American flag from the barn loft every summer.

Time to feed Annabelle again.  There's always work to be done there.

Next stop:  Grandmother's house (Mo Nina) to deliver some medicine for a bull and see her chicks.

Alexee held them very gently.  She truly loves animals.  

Mo Nina showing Crosby the chicks in the little house

This is one of my favorite pictures ever.  She was having so much fun.

Crosby was careful with the chicks.

Princess Louisa showed up, so they held her for a while, and Alexee played with one of the tiny yellow kittens at the old barn.  Rhett took several pictures of them playing with the older kittens, but he wants to do a post of his own about that.  Alexee wanted so badly to bring the calico kitten home with us--she cried and cried.  I felt very very sorry for her, but we just don't have a great place for a cat, plus I'm allergic to them and I know she would want to bring it inside.  Maybe I should have just given in and let her keep it in the back yard.  She had it all planned out--it could stay in the back yard and then she said she could keep it in a crate when she went to Kindergarten.  That's the part that got to me.  :(  While Alexee was crying, Rhett (being very practical/analytical and NOT overly emotional/sentimental) said, "Alexee, calico cats are easy to sell--everyone wants those."  We couldn't keep from laughing at his cat marketing advice.  He's probably right, but that didn't seem to make Alexee feel any better at all.

Memorial Day Weekend, Part 2

Sunday afternoon the kids and I went to Flippin to spend the remainder of the holiday weekend with my parents and sister.  We met everyone at the cabin and had such a good evening.

Jaiden & Alexee collecting moss, or "seaweed" as they called it   

Dad and the boys fishing

Aunt Judy and Aunt Janice changing baby Bennett's diaper.  He was exactly 3 months old that day, and this was my first time to meet him!  He's a cutie--I loved getting to hold him!

He was so good--he never cried!

My cousin Lance and his wife Lindsay (Landon & Bennett's parents) helping the kids look for crawdads.

Crosby was not afraid of the water at all.  He had the best time splashing around!

C & R working together to lift a big rock--they expected to find a nice crawdad under it.

Alexee and Jaiden played together a lot this weekend.

We were happy to see my Grandparents--we had not seen them since Spring Break.  Rhett gave Mo Nina a big hug.

Dad fried fish and Mom made cole slaw and baked beans--it was all so good!

Grandmother loves babies!  Bennett looked comfy in her lap.

sweet Bennett with his "Nana" (Judy)

After dinner, Grandmother went fishing.

And Dad and the boys fished a little bit more, too.

Jeryn, Rhett, Jaiden, Crosby, Landon & Alexee

Then it was time to celebrate Jeryn's 5th birthday with cake and ice cream!  I love his expression in this picture.  :)  Happy Birthday, J!

Landon, Jeryn & Rhett--ready for cake!

Once it started getting dark, the kids tried to catch fireflies / lightning bugs.

We spent the night at the cabin, which was fun.  We don't get to do that very often.  These three shared a room. Jaiden and Alexee brought their dolls along for the "camp-out".

The kids were up early, so we got the day started with breakfast by the river.  It was such a pretty morning.

Later that morning, Micaela and Mom took the kids back home and Dad and I went fishing in the boat for a while.  Any other time Rhett would have wanted to go too, but he decided he wanted to play with his cousins.  They were going to Mo & Granddad's house to see the new kittens, and I guess he was afraid he'd miss out on something there!  The fish weren't biting, but it's always nice just to be out on the water anyway.  I loved getting to spend time with Dad, and even though we didn't see fish we did see lots of birds:

We even saw two bald eagles right on the river bank!  They were so pretty!  We assumed this was their nest above them--it was huge.  

eagle in flight

Then when we got back to the boat dock, we saw two "families"(?) of Canada geese.  There were four adults and nine goslings.  The adults were leading them around in circles and the little ones were splashing and diving and having fun.  They were neat to watch.

One pair with their six little ones "all in a row".

It was a wonderful Memorial Day with family.  I'm very thankful for those who have served/are serving our country!  THANK YOU for your sacrifice.