Snow Day

It snowed last night!  The kids are having a great time playing in it today:

 tiny little bird prints in the snow

 They were excited about trying out the new sleds from Christmas!

Bogart with snow in his beard

 sledding and snow angels

Crosby has been interested in watching birds lately.  We try to look them up in our Arkansas bird book and keep a list of what we identify. I'm really surprised at how many birds we have here in a neighborhood.

Alexee & neighbors with their tiny snowman.

Banana Bread & Strawberry Delight

As soon as Alexee's guests left from her party last Saturday, I took Crosby to a friend's birthday party at JumpZone.  He loves going there--we are actually having his party there in March too.  He had a wonderful time jumping and eating pizza and cake with his buddies.  Happy Birthday, R!

Crosby & the Birthday Boy!

We got a tiny bit of freezing rain Monday night and Tuesday.  It didn't stick to the roads, but school was cancelled anyway, just to be safe.  It was frustrating to miss another day that we'll have to make up later when nothing actually happened, but oh well.  So we were inside all day Tuesday and decided to try a new banana bread recipe.  Rhett helped me, and we thought it was good!  It was a Pinterest recipe that I found:  Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Instagram pic

Tuesday was supposed to be the 100th day of school, and Alexee's class was asked to decorate a shirt with 100 items to wear that day.  She wore it Wednesday instead.  We glued 100 pom-poms in the shape of a snowman and added buttons and pipe-cleaner arms.  She also had a field trip that day to the children's theater to see Click, Clack, Moo.  Parents weren't invited due to limited space in the theater, so I didn't get to go but she had a super fun time and really enjoyed the play.  She thought it was funny!

My Dad flew into the airport near where we will be moving in June--he sent me this picture from the air.  They've had more snow than usual there this winter.  I sure hope the kids' snow suits still fit next season.

The freezing rain stayed on the trees all week here because it hasn't been above 32 degrees for days. It has been pretty, though this picture doesn't show it very well.

Yesterday it snowed a really light snow for several hours, but they didn't cancel school early.  It only looked like this--just a very light dust.  And it just started snowing again a few minutes ago.  The Sweetheart Ball (Daddy/Daughter Dance) at school was postponed until the end of the month because of the potential for bad weather.  COME ON SPRING, PLEASE HURRY!

Wednesday night we hosted D-Group at our house.  I made strawberry delight and peanut butter cup mini muffins.  We also had Chocolate Cherry flavored coffee from Fresh Market.  I've posted this recipe before, but here it is again...it makes a good Valentine dessert!

Strawberry Delight

Crust:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix together and press into a 9x13" pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 350. Cool completely.

Layer 1:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup Cool Whip (buy the 16 oz. container--you'll top with remaining CW)

1 cup powdered sugar

Mix these ingredients and spread over cooled crust.

Layer 2:

3 T strawberry Jell-O

1/2 cup sugar

3 T cornstarch

1 1/4 cup boiling water

10 oz. box frozen strawberries, thawed

Mix sugar, cornstarch and Jello until smooth. Stir in boiling water, heat until boiling again. Boil until thick. Chill mixture, then stir in strawberries. Spread over cream cheese layer.

Layer 3:

Top with remaining Cool Whip and fresh, sliced strawberries. Chill before serving.

Birthday Brunch, 7 Years!

Last Sunday was Alexee's 7th Birthday!  We celebrated Friday & Saturday, and I think she enjoyed her special weekend.  Friday evening we picked up pizza, and three friends came over to spend the night.  They were all very sweet and played so well together.  The only challenges were:  1) Convincing Rhett not to bother the girls and 2) picking up hundreds of Rainbow Loom bands out of the carpet.  :) 

For her party, she wanted to have donuts and petit fours for breakfast and invite everyone over in their PJs.

Gerbera daisies for the table

I didn't take great pictures.  I had my camera battery charged but things were hectic and I just used my phone instead. 

Happy 7th Birthday to our sweetie!  It seems like we just brought her home from the hospital.  She is such a joy to us--she's a kind, thoughtful, creative little girl.  

She wanted the girls to make Fruit Loop necklaces for their breakfast party.  :)

Lane's mom came to the party while Lane, his dad and Rhett went to Mimi's Cafe for a guys' breakfast.  Crosby was here at the house, but he played upstairs most of the time and just came downstairs to eat cake.

I liked how the chalkboard mugs turned out. We gave each guest a mug, chalk and a bag of cocoa mix.

I love the big smile on her face in this picture!

Matching robes!

Sweet little cards made by friends.

We were missing one little girl in our group picture--she had to leave early for another event and I didn't think to take a picture before.

(Alexee, Morgan, Caroline, Maylee, Natalie, Rachel, Olivia, Chloe, Addison & Kylie.  Not pictured:  Hanna)

Saturday evening we went to an early dinner at Outback with Grammy & Bobba.  I was afraid Alexee was going to fall asleep on the way there--I think we were all really tired! (The girls at the sleepover woke up at 4:50 and didn't go back to sleep!?)

So glad Lane's parents came up for the day!  Had a great dinner with them!

Birthday dessert

Sunday was her actual birthday.  I'd planned to take some outdoor pictures by the rock wall at church, but it was raining and really cold, so this is the best we did that day.  If we ever get another warm day I'll try again (it's snowing as I type this).

Birthday Girl before bed Sunday night.