Summer Break So Far

Summer break has been nice so far.  Not too busy yet, just some slower days together.

I cleaned out Crosby's closet and packed away a lot of our little kid books, which was sad for me.  I've read these with the kids so many times.  The Sandra Boynton books...I think Lane and I both have those memorized.  Many sweet memories represented here.  Kids grow up so fast.  

Crosby has outgrown most of his super hero costumes, so he told me I could "put them in a box for grandkids".  :(  He asked my parents for the Wolverine costume for Christmas one year.  Batman makes me think of him wearing it while climbing the Japanese Maple tree in front of our house in Little Rock.  And the Spiderman costume was probably his favorite.  I loved seeing him zoom around the house in it. 

One evening we grilled hot dogs, swam and had s'mores and watermelon.

Crosby did a basketball camp at the school.

We popped popcorn and watched E.T. one night.  The kids liked it!

Lots of things blooming around our yard!  I love this time of year.  Our tomatoes should be ripe soon.

Our Wal-Mart recently started pick-up service.  It is wonderful!  I haven't been inside the store in over a month!

The kids took tennis academy throughout May.  We're taking a break in June but plan to return in July.

Fun night at the new shaved ice stand with friends.

We went bowling with friends...

and rode bumper cars there, too!  The cars flipped upside down!

We've been seeing these twin fawns in our yard.  So sweet!

Momma and babies

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Baseball, Tennis & Swimming

May 4th was opening night at the city baseball fields.  It was so cold and windy, but we had fun and ate the free ice cream anyway!  We're looking forward to the season!

Love this picture of the boys getting ready for the National Anthem.

This was the night C got to play catcher.  He loved that!

 And at 3rd base

(He got two outs at third!  Way to go, C!)

R, A & C have all been doing tennis academy in May.

We're loving these summer evenings!

Year-End Celebrations

Club volleyball party!  This was a great group of girls and wonderful coaches.  Alexee really enjoyed the season and learned a lot!

The NJHS group took a fun year-end field trip to Silver Dollar City!

Junior High Honors Night.

Proud of Rhett!

Intermediate and Elementary awards assemblies.  

Proud of Alexee and Crosby, too!

First & Last Days of School:  

7th, 4th & 2nd

This year FLEW by.

The boys had a few friends over to swim after school on the last day.  (Alexee had a friend over too, but they didn't swim much so I guess I missed getting their photo.)  Swimming, pizza, popsicles, ice cream and watermelon...It was a great way to end the school year!  

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Ready for summer!

Plants & Animals

The day after Easter we took in a baby bunny.  Our neighbor's dog caught it, but somehow it was not harmed at all (just extremely frightened).  She brought it to our door and asked if the kids would like to care for it.  Of course they would!  It was the cutest, sweetest thing!  We bought puppy formula at Petco and fed it with a syringe.  The first day it was too afraid to eat, and I was worried that it might not make it.  The next day it had calmed down and developed a big appetite.  It took the formula with no problems at all and was so energetic that I could barely hold it.  We fed it formula twice a day for almost a week and gave it hay, clover and lettuce.  Once it started eating those things we thought it was probably independent enough to return to the woods. 

We let it go in the woods beside our house.  It was really ready to be free, but we were sad about it and a little worried about how it would do on its own.

Good luck, Brownie!

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I went to the zoo with Crosby's 2nd grade class.  It was a fun day, and I loved hanging out with him and his friends.

The giraffes are very friendly!

The petting zoo was very popular too.

Crosby had a great 2nd grade year!  This was a sweet class, and he made some new friends.  

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We're attempting to make a butterfly garden with milkweed and nectar plants.  Unfortunately the deer seem to like the plants too, so I'm not sure how well it is going to work.  

We've had a few monarch caterpillars.  They ate and ate then disappeared.  We are hoping we'll see them again as butterflies soon.  

We had a bluebird build a nest in our birdhouse.  There were three beautiful eggs, but unfortunately they never hatched.  I'm not sure what went wrong.

We also have a phoebe flycatcher nest (I think).

We had one peony bloom.   I planted a hibiscus tree and several tomato plants.  I love this time of year!

Bogart asleep on the couch.  :)

February Summary

These photos/events probably aren't in chronological order, but I'm just trying to catch up...so this is a summary of what happened in February:

Lunch with Crosby.  I'm very surprised that he likes broccoli, but I'm glad he does.

Crosby got glasses!  Now our whole family needs contacts and/or glasses.  I think he looks super cute!  They have lime green and blue on the sides.  He was excited about getting them, and hasn't complained at all about wearing them.  

Alexee participated in the school dodgeball tournament fundraiser.  The girls chose their team name:  Dodging Donuts.  They made it to the finals of the tournament, but got beat in the last few seconds of the game.  It was an exciting day for them!

 Watching one of A's ballgames.  Rhett needs a haircut!

 We had unusually warm weather in February.  One afternoon we went for a hike in the woods.

 I just thought this was funny.  He hates baths.

We had lots of ballgames in February!  It kept us busy and left zero free Saturdays, but it's always fun to watch the kids play.  It has been a fun season for both Alexee and Crosby.

I had this chair recovered at a local upholstery shop, and I repainted the frame (with Annie Sloan chalk paint and dark wax).  I'm happy with how it turned out.  It's a great little spot to sit and drink coffee by the window.  :)

A's school had a showcase night for 4th-6th grades.  Alexee showed us her final draft of Agent Cheesy Cheese, Spy Mouse, her group robot and a great piece of artwork!  Proud of our creative girl!

Also proud of Rhett, he was voted as a "student of the month".  He and the other student pictured were invited to lunch off-campus with their Principal!

We had some stormy spring weather, including tornado warnings.  We spent some time in the basement laundry room waiting out the storm (or so we thought).  We couldn't hear anything in the basement, so I was trying to read the radar on my phone to get up-to-date information about the storm, but it wasn't working very well.  I sent Lane a text at work that said, "I can't really read this weather app."  He replied, "It's over is now", which I interpreted to mean "It's over now"...as in moved on and safe to get out of the shelter.  So we came back upstairs to (a cold) dinner, noticing that the storm still seemed close by.  Later that night I figured out that Lane meant to type "It's over us now"....meaning the storm is currently right over our area.  Oops!! Glad we were okay.  Bogart was very nervous for a while, but finally settled down for a nap on top of a pile of Alexee's stuffed animals.

 Crosby had a fun class Valentine party!  

This came home in his backpack one day...I loved it!  So precious to me.  

Lane's parents came up to visit the weekend before Valentine's Day.  We went out to dinner at the Japanese steakhouse Friday night, and they were able to see A & C play basketball Friday and Saturday.  Rhett took the ACT that Saturday morning, and we took the kids to the indoor climbing place on Sunday.  Busy weekend!

Valentine's Day dessert was heart shaped cookie cakes with ice cream.

Lane and I had Valentine lunch out and went Target shopping for two new small appliances...practical Valentine's gifts!

I drove a group of girls to NW Arkansas for their first club volleyball tournament.  It was a fun weekend!

One weekend Rhett went to NW Arkansas with my Dad to see my niece and nephew play basketball. (Unfortunately it was a different weekend from when we were there playing volleyball--wish we could have all been there together.)  Between games they went to Cabella's.  R had a good time!

It seems like things have been extra busy lately!