Dinner with Burketts

Last Saturday night Lane and I had dinner with the Burketts at Bravo. We first met them in a Bible study right after we got married (they were newlyweds, too). We became good friends and did so many fun things together. Our first babies were born within a month of each other--we visited each other in the hospital on delivery day and had several playdates that first year or so. Then the kids got bigger and life seemed to get really busy with full time kid-activities so we, sadly, stopped getting together except for kids' birthday parties and an occasional holiday party. Charla and I have had lunch a few times, but this was the first time the four of us had been out together in probably five years! It was just like "old times" though, and we had a great time laughing and catching up with them. We promised we would not wait another five years to schedule another date!

During dinner at Bravo, they told us about a dessert they loved at another restaurant in town. We decided to go there to try it! I think it's called a "chocolate bag". It's a chocolate shell (bag) filled with ice cream, marshmallows, graham crackers, almonds, raspberries, and maybe a few more yummy things!?

This was in the spring of 2004 when Rhett and Kennedy were tiny. (They were wearing matching Prince & Princess onesies from Charla's Mom.) :) Now they're starting 1st grade! :( Time flies.Since I didn't get a picture of the guys last weekend, here's one of them 6 years ago with their babies!

Hope is...

*I don't know what is going on with the picture sizing in this post??*

I'm missing Rhett, but I don't think he's homesick yet. He has been in Flippin since Monday. He'd requested a while back that he get to stay there by himself sometime before school started. :) Why would he be homesick anyway...when I called (not long after leaving Monday) he and Mo were making cookies. After work, Dad took him to the farm supply store to get the pulley and bike lock that he'd been wishing for. Yesterday they moved cattle and he had lunch with the Ranger guys. Mom and Dad took him fishing at the cabin yesterday evening, and he caught a rainbow trout! They e-mailed me these pictures last night...

Meanwhile, things are okay here--other than missing R. I needed lots of exciting things like paper towels, toilet paper, diapers, wipes, etc. so we went to Target first thing this a.m. We washed the car and looked for pillows at Bed, Bath & Beyond but C started screaming to get out of the cart so I just put the pillows back on the shelf and left. I took A & C to the park for a little bit of running-around time. They had fun on the swings and spring-animals before we met Lane at Heavenly Ham for lunch.
When we got home we looked at books before their nap times. Last week my sister-in-law brought a big bag of her kids' books for us to borrow--the kids were excited about that! Here are just a few of those she brought (Thanks, Jennifer!):
These books are also on the playroom shelf...they were mine when I was little. It's fun to read them to the kids now!
And this is another one of my old books--it was probably one of my favorites! It's called Hope is a Handful of Dreams, by June Dutton. On the inside cover it says:

To: Jamie

From: Grandmother

Christmas-1979

I Love You!

I always liked the illustrations. The red-headed girl with pig-tails (eating, of course) looks kind-of like me!

"Hope is a healthy appetite."

"Hope is a mother's love."

"Hope is forever."

Horses, birthday & windmill

Mo & 4 grandkids--Crosby was taking a nap.

I like how Alexee is sitting in Rhett's lap.

We were happy to have one more weekend to play in Flippin before school starts. After the wonderful church service yesterday the kids rode Micaela & Mario's horses in the pen. It was terribly hot and humid. I think I've said that in just about every post this summer, but that seems to be the only way to describe anything that has happened outdoors since early June. It had rained before church though, which was a pleasant surprise blessing for a dry, August day.

Ready to go! I like how her lace socks are sticking out from the top of her pink boots. :)

Alexee & Jeryn

Pink tank, pink shorts, pink boots. She'd love it if there was a pink horse!

If you can't just tell by looking at these picture, this girl is a mess! :)

Mario, Rhett & Alexee on T.C. and Hot Sauce (Mic, are those the right names?)

She was telling Uncle Mario, "I want two more turns on the horse." :) Mario is so patient helping the kids ride.

Dad & Alexee watching Kung Fu Panda before bed. It had been a long, fun day--we were all tired.

This morning Mom made my Grandmother a red velvet cake for her birthday-yum! Rhett & Alexee sampled the cream cheese icing and approved!Crosby saw them with the bowl, so they were sweet to share with him too.We took the cake to Grandmother & Granddad's house and the kids had fun playing there (and eating cake) for a while. (I couldn't get everyone to look at the same time of course!)It seems like kids always like stacking plastic dishes. Crosby loved this game. He laughed every time he knocked them over. Here's Rhett trying to make a tower before C noticed.Mo Nina and Alexee playing with the barn set. Alexee told her, "I want to sit beside you since it's your birthday." :)

We didn't have candles, but we sang "Happy Birthday" anyway!

We love you, Grandmother!

A while back Mom told Alexee about the two windmills at my Grandparents' house (and maybe showed them to her, too--I'm not sure?). She must have really been interested in them because she tells us often, "Mo Nina has two windmills." So after eating birthday cake, we drove into one of the fields that has a windmill and took R & A's picture. We need to try it again on a cloudy day because the sun was too bright for them in these pictures.

This one looks like a scene from Little House on the Prairie. (Alexee wanted to check out a Little House DVD from the library last time. She loves it! I used to love to watch that show after school when I was a kid. I cried on the way to Flippin just listening to one of the episodes--they're so good!)

25th Anniversary Celebration

Sunday, August 8th was a really special day of celebration at the church I grew up in. Pastor Steve & Judy have been serving at First Baptist Flippin for 25 wonderful years! I couldn't begin to put into words how much they mean to me. I was starting 3rd grade (not much older than Rhett is now!) when the Martins moved there. Brother Steve baptized me when I was 9 and did my wedding ceremony when I was 24. He and my Dad came to our house to meet Rhett the day we brought R home from the hospital. (They had been to Nicaragua on a mission trip. I remember being SO HAPPY when I opened my front door and saw them standing there.) Mrs. Judy has always been such a sweet sweet mentor, teacher and encouragement to me. She is so kind, loving and giving to everyone! And the Martin kids (Kelly & Chris) were two of my dearest friends growing up. Our families did so many fun things together...I think we went to every Gaither Vocal Band concert within a reasonable driving distance, and we probably ate at least 1,000 meals together at Pizza Hut after church on Sunday nights. I'm grateful for the 25 years that the Lord has used them at First Baptist, and I'm so glad that I was able to be at church for the day of honoring them and their faithful service. I pray that God will continue to bless them richly!

I was sad that I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few from the day:

Crosby before the service started. He went to the nursery after the songs.

My Dad (left), his sister Janice, his brother Greg & friend Bert singing "What a Savior". There were other great songs, a poem (you should go read it), and a message, too!

The Martin family during the song service:

Judy & Steve, Chris & Carrie, Scott & Kelly (Stamps)

After church there was a BBQ lunch at the school. My kids were wild, and Crosby was beyond exhausted so we didn't stay long. I wish we could have stayed to visit with everyone...there were a lot of people there for the celebration that I hadn't seen in such a long time.

Here's Mom and four grandkids. I think Alexee was running across the stage behind me.

Mo trying to keep Crosby awake long enough to eat his lunch.

Brother Steve & Judy with their precious granddaughter, Harper.

Before closing the service with a prayer, Greg said:

"What a service...What a servant...What a SAVIOR!"

I loved that--what a great way to summarize this very special day!

Busy toddler

In the Crosby @ 16 months post, I mentioned some things that toddlers like to do around the house. Here's another one involving a box of tissues :)...

It has been a busy week, but I guess I haven't taken any pictures. Monday morning I took the kids swimming. Tuesday morning Rhett played at a friend's house while I took the other two and went to the grocery store (bad idea). Tuesday afternoon my niece was in town and spent the afternoon playing with Rhett & Alexee. They had so much fun playing with her. She is great with the kids. She was probably tired that night though! Wednesday was school check-in, which I posted about. Yesterday we picked Lane up at the library (he is studying for the upcoming Step 2 exam) and ate lunch at Corky's. When we dropped him back off at the library, he took R in with him to check out DVDs for our trip to Flippin this weekend. We hurried home for the little kids' naps, then when they woke up we went out for more errands: We went shopping for fall/school shoes for the kids, stopped at the post office to mail a package, the bank and our best stop...cupcakes at Blue Cake. I wanted to take the kids to the new cupcake place, but it was HOT and there was no guarantee of front-door parking at the new place. When I have the kids with me I base decisions on how close I can park to the door!

Check-in

This morning Rhett and I went to check-in at his NEW school (they're still moving furniture and library books!). It's so very nice, and we're really excited about the upcoming school year! We bought t-shirts, a "founding member" brick with his name on it and the two supplies that had to be purchased through the school store. I've warned him that I've heard First Grade is quite a bit different from Kindergarten. According to rumor, first graders have HOMEWORK. He told me he wasn't worried because he thinks it will just be one sheet which he can do "really fast". Sounds easy enough. :)

Luckily Lane was able to watch Alexee & Crosby while we went. It would have been difficult (to put it nicely) to do the hour-long registration process while keeping an eye on all three of them. After registration we all met up at Panera Bread for lunch. It's 103 degrees today, and I've been trying to imagine what it felt like back in February when we were making snow ice cream and snowmen. Could that really have happened here?!

Hope you are enjoying these last few weeks of summer vacation!