Valentines Weekend

Lane's parents came to visit on Valentine's Weekend!  Lane and I met them for lunch at Keeter Center, then Rose Mary and I went to the school for Crosby's class party.  C was excited to have Grammy visit his classroom!

We bought fruit snack valentines for his classmates, but on the morning of his party he decided he needed to make paper notes for everyone.  He took the time to write a personal note to each kid...things like "You are so kind", "You are so funny" and "You are so fun to play with at recess".  I thought it was really sweet.  He also made his own valentine bag at school and wrote "I am awesome" on it.  :) Some kids in his class had fancy boxes...castles and things like that.  I did offer to help him make a box at home, but he didn't want to.  He's such an easy-going, happy kid!  :)

Crosby and Alexee both had basketball games on Saturday, so it was great to have Grammy & Bobba there to support them!  Grammy took Alexee birthday shopping that afternoon after her game.  She wanted to go to Books-A-Million where she chose a book, markers and Shopkins.  

Family pics before going out for lunch on Valentine's Day!  It was a good weekend with family.

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On 2/19 Rhett was a class representative in the 6th grade spelling bee, and he placed 3rd in the competition!  We're proud of you, R!  Great job!

Saturday the 20th was Alexee's basketball team swim party at an indoor pool.  It was a beautiful day, so the kids ended up playing outside some of the time instead of swimming.  It was at a community center with a great view of the lake.  I took Rhett and Alexee there (Rhett hung out with some of the other older brothers) while Lane took Crosby to his last basketball game.  I really hated to miss C's last game, but the events were at the same time so we had to split up.  :(  Afterward we ran home to get Crosby and finish packing.  Lane had to go to work, and I took the kids to Flippin for my cousin's baby shower.

 The girls signed basketballs for their two coaches.  It was such a fun season!

 They had pizza and popsicles in the pavilion--can't believe this weather in February!!  So nice!

They always love getting to see their cousins.  They spent most of their time playing basketball and playing in the treehouse.  I just can't believe how big they all are...time flies!  And I also can't believe that there will be a new cousin in the group pictures soon...my sister is expecting a baby boy in July!!!!!  We are so excited about that!!  

The baby shower was a lot of fun.  She received so many sweet things!

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Jut a few more pictures from February...

Birthday Celebrations!

We had a great time celebrating Alexee's 9th birthday (so hard for me to believe she is NINE!).  Our first event was Sunday brunch at the Keeter Center, one of her favorites.  The staff sang Happy Birthday to her and surprised her with a giant piece of chocolate cake.  

1/31/16

She is thoughtful, kind, smart, creative, witty, helpful, funny, a little bit mischievous, loves guinea pigs and cats (although she is still trying to convince her Daddy to let her get a cat), a basketball & volleyball player, writer & illustrator, fort builder and Minecraft player.  She takes gymnastics and would like to learn to speak French and start piano lessons.  Her favorite school subject is spelling.  She's a caring friend, great sister and precious daughter.  What a blessing she is to our family!  

We love you, Alexandra Reese!

Sunday afternoon we had her birthday party at our house.  She was so excited to have the girls over to play!  They opened gifts, had snacks and cake, painted hot chocolate mugs and played Capture the Flag in the back yard.  :)  We had amazing weather that day, which was such a treat!  It has always been cold on her birthday...with snow and ice some years, so she loved getting to play outside during her party.

Such a sweet group of friends!  So thankful for them!

She asked for white cake with pink icing and purple polka dots.  It was yummy and cute!  The bakery added a little purple fondant mug to go along with our painting theme.  

Happy Birthday, Dear Alexee, Happy Birthday to YOOOOU!

  

The pottery studio in Springfield offers a party-to-go package, which is what we decided would work best for us.  They packed up mugs, a variety of paint colors, plates, detailed instructions, etc.  It was great!  We had two craft tables in the garage, and the girls seemed to have a lot of fun creating super cute, colorful mugs.  A few days later I took the mugs back to the studio for firing, then we filled them candy and a hot chocolate mix and delivered them to her friends at basketball practice, carpool line and gymnastics.

(Some of) the finished products

Monday night we let her open one gift before bed.  I had her open her new guinea pig outfit because I thought she might want to wear it to school on her real birthday.  The shirt says "PAAAAARTYYY!!"  :)

She opened her other gifts before school the next morning.

She got two new emoji pillows, one from Lane and me and one that the boys chose for her.  She loved them!

We left early that morning so we could go by Krispy Kreme to pick up donuts for her class snack.  The kids had one for breakfast, too.  Delicious way to start a birthday!  Her sweet teacher sent me this picture of the class wearing their Krispy Kreme hats and enjoying their b-day snacks!

And I enjoyed stopping by the cafeteria to have lunch with her!

That night we put candles in a piece of leftover cake and sang to her again just for fun!  

Happy 9th Birthday, Alexee!!!!