Flippin trip

Rhett had a four day weekend from school, so after the Upward game on Saturday the kids and I went to Flippin to visit my parents. That afternoon we drove down to the river to look for patches of snow (leftover from last week) for the kids to see, but it was almost all gone. This is the neat little dirt road between their house and the river. It's such a pretty place, but when I look at this picture I realize how bare and cold everything looks in January and how ready I am for SPRING!

Dad was out of town for work on Saturday, but was scheduled to land at Flippin's small airport at 5:55 p.m. so I took R & A to watch the plane land. We parked right at the fence and rolled down the windows to listen for the plane. This was Rhett's first time in an airplane--he thought it was really cool! Alexee was a little scared--she would only go to the top of the steps.

We hurried back home because Mom had a delicious dinner waiting on us. My Grandparents came over to eat with us. My Grandmother loves her great-grandchildren (she has 16!). And the kids love their great-grandparents, too. I thought this was so sweet of Crosby kissing "Mo Nina"--look how he put his little hands on her cheeks.

After church on Sunday, it was warm enough to play outside. Alexee wanted to ride the pony. The wind was still cold, so I sat in the truck with Crosby most of the time, but he even had fun doing that (he is such a happy baby!). I like this picture because it shows the one little curl on the top of his head.

Taking turns riding Banner

Mom said that as they were going down the road during Alexee's turn she said, "I love this." And when her turn was over she said, "I want to ride just a feeeew more longers." She has combined "few more minutes" and "a little longer" into her own cute phrase that she uses often. :)

Crosby's first "ride"!

They also took turns driving the farm buggy. Alexee thought it was so fun to bump into the hay bale with the buggy. She laughed and laughed!

Rhett's turn!

Sunday night before bath time, Mo and Alexee were cozy in the chair watching a cartoon.

Granddad & Rhett sharing popcorn.

First Upward game

Rhett is playing Upward basketball this season, and last Saturday was his first game! He said he had fun. We are encouraging him to be just a bit more...involved...next Saturday. He was a little timid at first, and I don't think most (any) of the kids knew exactly where they needed to go. I'm sure all of the kids will learn a lot and have a great time. I'm looking forward to next week's game!

Painting projects

I liked this letter idea from Paula Deen's magazine.  She attached hers to the laundry basket which looked cute, but the letters I bought were too big for that.  I painted them to coordinate with the curtain that I made a year or so ago.  They make the laundry room seem a little more cheerful and fun to me (I spend a lot of time in there, so that's a good thing!).

Today Crosby has seemed a little fussy and tired.  He had a difficult time going to sleep last night, and he woke up at 3 a.m. this morning.  I gave him a bottle, and he went back to sleep, but I'm afraid his ear infection has not cleared up.  I had no idea he even had ear trouble when I took him in for his 9 month check up right after Christmas.  I was surprised when Dr. B told me his ear was infected.  We go back to the doctor tomorrow for the re-check, and I'm expecting to have to start another round of antibiotics.  Sweet little guy--I can't stand to think about him hurting.

Crosby and I took Bogart to the vet to get his stitches out today.  The vet said he looked good.  Hopefully no more surgeries!  We dropped B off at the house then met my sister for a quick lunch at Heavenly Ham which was fun!  Before time to pick R & A up at school, we made a very fast trip to the pottery place to paint Alexee's birthday plate.  Rhett will want to help with his plate, so I plan to take him back on another trip.  Alexee wants a puppy dog party this year, so I painted a poodle plate to go along with the invitations I'm using.  She says that pink and purple are her favorite colors, so the poodle is pink with a purple necklace, and the rim of the plate is done in purple puppy paw prints.  I hope she likes it.  I had to paint as fast as I could because Crosby was really wanting to move along.  Here's the plate before the firing process:

Tonight we had a church meeting at our friends Jim & Connie's house.  Connie made several delicious desserts for the group, including bread pudding, chocolate pound cake and vanilla pound cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries and and apple crisp with ice cream.  This is the only picture I took, but it was a fun evening.

Saturday & Sunday

Yesterday the kids wanted me to pull them through the house on a blanket.  I remember Dad pulling us through our kitchen and dining room like this when we were kids--it was so fun then, and R, A & C enjoyed it yesterday!  We have tile floors throughout most of the downstairs, so it worked great!  It was a good arm workout too--Rhett & Crosby together weigh about 70-75 pounds!  It seemed like something Jillian would make the contestants do on Biggest Loser.

Rhett & Alexee enjoying their Sunday donuts at church this morning and Crosby bundled up after church (this little hat was Rhett's when he was a baby.  I liked seeing Crosby in it, too!)

We had a great sermon again today, the second in the Psalm 23 series.  I loved the illustration our pastor closed with.  He'd been preaching on the verses "He makes me lie down in green pastures" and "He restores my soul".  He ended by talking about going to Vacation Bible School as a kid.  He said there are four elements to every VBS:  Bible story/teaching/songs, crafts, play time--dodgeball, etc., and of course, REFRESHMENTS.  (So true--if you went to VBS as a kid, you remember all those!) :)  He said that it was very obvious which kids had already been to the refreshment station because they always had the VBS Kool-aid mustache!  He called it the "Mark of Refreshment" and said he hoped we could all live with the mark of refreshment that can only come from following the Lord.  A great message to hear and take into a new week!

Winter Saturday

Not a lot to blog about...we've had a quiet day--well, as quiet as it can be with three kids.  :)  It's too cold to play outside.  I'm looking forward to spring days when we can take the bikes and wagon outside.  Rhett and Alexee got along and played together, I think Alexee changed clothes about 6 or 7 times, Rhett watched "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and Crosby crawled around looking at things.  I went to the gym this morning, then Lane went after I got home, and we had a nice dinner at Outback tonight.  The kids were good at dinner and ate a lot of the meals we ordered for them, which is always nice.  These are just a few pictures of them being silly after dinner.  I think Crosby looks so big with Rhett holding him.

Phone Photos #5

When we were home for Christmas, Mom had a large piece of bleu cheese and offered me a slice of it.  I was excited because I love bleu cheese!  The second picture is a salad I made with it--I was trying to copy a salad from one of my favorite restaurants here.  I didn't know how to caramelize onions (and didn't take the time to look it up), so they needed a little bit of work, but it was a good salad!  I bought a head of "living lettuce"...have you ever seen those?  It looked super fresh (roots still attached) as if you'd walked out in the back yard to the garden and picked it yourself.  I felt healthier just knowing that I'd eaten a head of lettuce by myself!  ha!  (Heather, I knew you'd enjoy this big cheese photo!)  

This was also on our way back from visiting my parents at Christmas--crossing the Arkansas River bridge.  It's a pretty view, but I actually don't like crossing the river because it makes me very nervous.  When I'm driving, I slow down significantly and move to the far left lane of traffic--away from the edge.  Don't worry, Lane was driving when I snapped this photo.

The kids' first annual Christmas letters from me.  I wish I'd started this sooner, but I just got the idea last year from a friend at church.  This friend wrote letters to her kids every Christmas and kept them in a safe place.  Then last year she hung them on the tree for her kids to take and read for the first time (I'm not sure what the milestone was--kids graduating, getting married, etc.??  I haven't decided what my plan is either, but I wanted to get started this year.  I took some time on Christmas Eve to sit down and write out a letter to each child.  I included something about their personality/what they are like at this age, what they asked for for Christmas, and also a prayer and a verse for them.  They were not long letters--just front and back of a sheet of Christmas paper, but in future years I hope to spend more time on each one (start before 12/24).

Some of Rhett's very first copy-machine work on Christmas day!  :)

December 26th, the day Crosby figured out how to crawl!  He was interested in this hair clip so I kept moving it to encourage him to go.  

Before church the Sunday after Christmas--my new sweater and scarf from Mom & Dad (had Lane take my picture to email them). 

At church--our friends Brad & Leslie's little girl, Avery Reese, visiting with Crosby.  They were so cute smiling at each other!

After church that day

The Christmas un-decorating mess.  :(  Never as fun taking it back down.

Alexee when she woke up from her last nap in the crib--this was the day Lane picked up her "big girl bed" so she slept in it that night.  She has not been good about napping since moving to the big bed.  She has taken one nap since then.  She's so tired and grouchy in the afternoons.  I think she still needs the rest.  Maybe it's just a phase?

Alexee watching the frogs that we kept during the holidays for a friend who traveled out of state.

Lane and Rhett in the Dodge the day we rented it to get A's bed and move things to storage.  Rhett made all the trips with Lane and thought it was so fun!  He worked so hard that day helping his Daddy--it was sweet.  This was after a long day when we were filling the truck up with gas before returning it.  It's hard to see, but R is peeking out the passenger side of the truck.

(The formatting in Blogger is driving me CRAZY.  I have no idea what this is going to look like when I post.)

Above:  Lane putting together A's bed.

Below:  Alexee in a new outfit and boots that Mo & Granddad gave her for Christmas.  We were on our way to take C to his 9 month check up.  She wanted her hair straightened with the Chi like mine that day--I think that makes her look more grown up!

Granddad was in town and we got to eat lunch with him!  Alexee was a little bit mad that Mo didn't get to come that day.

Rhett's drawing of "Earth, stars and the whole universe", he said.

Bogart after his bladder surgery.  The vet didn't bandage him like this, but we were trying to come up with a solution to him scratching/biting at his stitches.  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of him wearing Alexee's Pull-up or Crosby's diaper (those ideas didn't really work because they kept sliding backward).  This bandage seemed to help some.  He is much better now.  He should get his stitches out a week from today.

Just three sweet kids playing in the floor of C's room one day.

Snow day & back to school

School was scheduled to resume yesterday, but we got a very light dusting of snow late Sunday night so the kids got one extra day of vacation.  They were so hopeful that there would be enough to play in and build a snowman, but it just didn't happen.  There's a chance of more snow tomorrow evening though.  Rhett has checked the weather on my phone at least 100 times this week!  So yesterday we made rice crispy treats and played inside all day.

The small amount of snow melted away and Rhett had to go back to school this morning.  He was not happy about it at all (picture above from breakfast time)--bless his heart.  He cried and said he didn't like anything about school and it was the "worst thing ever".  He said he missed me too much when he was there, and he didn't like the cafeteria.  I reminded him that I pack his lunch so he doesn't have to eat the cafeteria food unless he chooses to, but he said it wasn't the food--he just didn't like being in there??  I don't know what that is about.  I'm hoping he gets back into school mode very soon so that he doesn't dread it and make a big deal out of it every morning.  He loved school last fall.  I really can't believe he's half-way through his first year of school!  When I drove him there today, the temperature was 17 degrees.  There's nothing very fun about that, especially if there is no snow to play in.  We saw several kids standing at bus stops, and I pointed out that he was blessed to get to ride straight to the front door of the school in a warm car.  I even told him I would come to pick-up line early this afternoon so he wouldn't have to wait long in the cold.

Meanwhile, at home, Crosby spent the day pulling up on everything he could find and Alexee changed clothes numerous times and looked at her new princess books.  Today she had on at least three pairs of PJs, a pair of pants with a too-small dress from last year, a swimsuit (and my boots), a tutu and one of the outfits I bought her before Christmas.  No wonder I have so much laundry to do! (But isn't she cute!)  :)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

We had a quiet New Year's Day at home.  Rhett had a friend over to play for a few hours and I cooked lunch:  a chicken casserole, blackeye peas and rolls.  We were determined to have everyone in the house eat at least one pea for good luck in 2010.  Lane and I both like blackeye peas, so that was easy.  Crosby and R's friend ate them willingly, too.  I hid one in Alexee's Trix yogurt, but Rhett spit his back out on the plate.  So that night Lane hid a couple peas in R's Sonic grilled-cheese sandwich, and he never knew it!  Our sweet neighbor brought us homemade eggrolls, so we also had cabbage for good luck.

My 2010 resolutions/goals aren't huge, but here they are:

1)  The shoe represents two goals:  --Exercise at least 3x a week (I've exercised pretty much 0 times since C was born in March, so even 3 times a week would be an improvement) --and do 100 sit-ups/crunches every night this year.  It's not exactly a Biggest Loser style workout plan, but it's a start.

2)  Water bottle--simply drink more water.  I used to drink a lot more than I do now, but I've gotten in the habit of ordering tea or diet coke when we eat out, and I don't really drink anything at home.

3)  Floss daily.  It's another very small thing, but again I got out of the daily habit after C was born.  (Crosby is THE sweetest, easiest JOY of a baby, but when it comes to managing things around here/in my life, 3 kids has honestly seemed like so much more than 2 kids to me.  2009 was a busy blur of a year.  I didn't do a very good job of managing much of anything beyond keeping the laundry and dishes done, kids bathed, fed and dropped off/picked up at school.  I am going to try to do better this year.  I have a LOT of room for improvement.)

4)  Most importantly:  Do a daily devotion using the journal/reading guide that our church has provided.  It covers the New Testament, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  I started out strong last year...but somewhere along the way (yes, late March I think) I quit reading on a daily basis and sadly didn't have a consistent quiet time the remainder of the year.  As a result I felt spiritually drained for the majority of 2009 and I do not want that for the coming year.  I want to know the Lord better and live for Him in everything I do.

And two additional things that are not actually daily activities, but things I'd like to accomplish by the end of the year:

--Organize our office/filing system  (it's a mess!)

--Catch up on the kids' scrapbooks/photo books (I'm going to finish A's year 1 book that I've started, then I'm doing Shutterfly photo books after that.  I've lost interest in all the stickers and cute papers and cardstock and pens, etc. etc.  It's too overwhelming to be enjoyable at this point in life, so if I can just get my digital photos organized and put together books for all three kids, that will be great!)