Eight Years Old

Our Groundhog Day baby turned EIGHT!  I just can't believe how fast the years go.  I think she had a lot of fun celebrating--we stretched the fun out over several days!  First, while I was in Houston Lane's parents came up for the weekend.  They took her birthday shopping at Dick's 5 & 10, a neat store downtown.  She chose quite a variety of things, from marbles to glitter, and she even brought something back for the boys.  :)  (I wasn't here to take photos, but she enjoyed the weekend!)

Then the next weekend (Feb 1), the kids and I drove to Flippin on Sunday morning to go to church with my parents and have a birthday lunch with them.  Mom made chicken tacos, cheese dip and a yellow cake with chocolate icing and a number '8' candle on top (A's request).  My grandparents came over too! 

Four Generations:

Knowing how Alexee loves cats, my Grandparents gave her this picture of a calico kitten sleeping in a chair.  The picture used to hang in my Great-Grandmother's house--such a special gift for her!

And this is the morning of her actual birthday before school--Happy Birthday, Alexee!  WE LOVE YOU!  It was a very cold day, and it even snowed a tiny bit that morning.

I went to school to have lunch with her.  I wrapped a new Beanie Boo and put it in her lunchbox for a surprise.  She was excited to get "Rocco". :)

So thankful for this amazing EIGHT year old!

2007 and 2015

After lunch I picked up cupcakes for her class.  They sang Happy Birthday to her before their snack.    

We gave her the option of going out to dinner or me cooking a meal of her choice that night.  She decided she would like to go to Olive Garden.

And finally, the weekend after her birthday she had four friends here for a sleepover!  Lane picked up pizza for us, we had more cake, they played and stayed up late, and she asked me to make monkey bread for their Saturday breakfast.  They seemed to have a lot of fun!

Blessed to have these sweet, new friends.

Glasses, Math & Snow

Alexee recently got glasses!  I think she looks so cute.  :)  Her wonderful, caring teacher let me know that she thought Alexee was struggling to see the board a little bit in class, so I made her an appointment for an eye exam right away.  She did need glasses and chose these cute purple ones.   

Wearing them to school for the first time (1/28)!

Crosby is loving pee-wee basketball!  There are only two more games this season, but it has been a lot of fun for him and he has done a great job.  This was after his game on the 1/31.  He always needs a snack after playing! :)

Rhett also had a math competition that day.  After C's game, I went to the awards ceremony.  He received an honorable mention ribbon in one category and a 10th place ribbon in another category--so proud of him and the other kids from his school! 

Math team, 4th-6th grades

On February 5th we had our second snow day.  It was barely a dusting of snow, but the kids tried to play in it anyway.  They bundled up and took the sleds out for a while.  When they came in we made hot chocolate.

Houston Trip

Catching up (again)...

January 22-25 I had a wonderful weekend trip to visit friends in Houston, TX.  Heather and Stacy both live there, and Lianne drove down from Dallas to spend the weekend with us too!  Heather picked me up from the airport Thursday afternoon, and I spent the first night at her house.  It was so nice to catch up with her and see her sweet boys.  She is always a perfect hostess.  The guest bedroom had fresh flowers, a welcome sign and a welcome basket filled with snacks, magazines, water and a candle.  Sadly, there was an unexpected death in her husband's family that week, so they had to leave town on Friday, but I'm so thankful we had a little bit of time together!  

So late Friday morning I went to Stacy's house, and Lianne arrived that afternoon.  We had so much fun talking, laughing, eating and shopping.  Stacy introduced me to Trader Joe's cookie butter.  YUM.  We (I) already ate the jar that I brought home...wish I would have had more room in my suitcase!  We also went to World Market.  I'd never been there before but had heard it was a great store.  I finally found barstools that I really liked, so I sent pictures to Lane, and we decided to order them.

Lianne & Stacy

Love these sweet sweet friends!

We stopped for breakfast at la Madeleine on our way to the airport on Sunday.  I wish we had this restaurant here!

  

Had such a nice weekend but couldn't wait to get home and see Lane and the kids and Bogart!

Two of my World Market purchases:  chalkboard labels for the jars in our pantry and four barstools.

Beautiful January Weather

It was such a nice weekend!  Saturday morning we didn't have to go anywhere so we slept in and made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast.  Rhett and I went out to run some errands.  We were hoping to shop for new eyeglasses for him, but the store was closed so we did a few other things instead.

Saturday evening we had a new babysitter--this was our first sitter since we moved last summer.  She was super sweet and the kids loved her.  Lane and I often go to lunch on his days off, but it was fun to finally go out on an official date at NIGHT!  Ha!  We went to Springfield, ate at Metropolitan Grill (the food was great) and saw American Sniper (also great--I'd go see it again).  The movie was sold out.  We got there 30 minutes early but still couldn't find two seats together! 

Lane was off on Sunday too...it's always so nice to all go to church together.  We went to lunch after church then the kids and I went exploring in the woods behind our house that afternoon.  It was 60 degrees!  It was wonderful to get outside and enjoy the sunshine without bundling up!  You can walk about 10-15 minutes through the woods and get to the lake, but we never tried it this summer/fall because I'm scared to death of snakes.  :)

 The sky looked so pretty.

Loved getting outside with them!

Happy New Year

Happy 2015...two and a half weeks late!  

After the holiday fun and excitement of December, January always seems very dull.  We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home, spent some time cleaning/organizing rooms and closets and drawers, put away all the Christmas decorations, etc.  Here are a few pictures from 2015 so far:

Crosby was my best helper when it came time to put away the decorations.  :)  Everyone else said that it wasn't nearly as fun to take it all down.  I agree...but it had to be done.  C swept tree needles, coiled lights and helped box ornaments.  We built a fire almost every night during Christmas break--one of my favorite things about winter.

Lots of cleaning/organizing/sorting to start the new year:

Jan. 2: Crosby had his first pee-wee basketball practice, we went to Panera Bread with my parents (where Rhett made a funny nose out of his leftover bread) and played a fun game of HedBanz.

Jan. 5:  Last day of Christmas break.  :(  Rhett had a friend over that morning, then R went over to his house that afternoon while Crosby, Alexee and I met some friends at FunSpot. 

I think all three kids had growth spurts during break.  Rhett said he thought it was probably because they all got more rest during break, and you grow while you are sleeping.  :)  It won't be long before he is taller than me.  He started noticing back before the holidays that he couldn't see as well as before, so we found a new eye doctor.  He did need stronger contacts, but the doctor said this was normal and the trend would likely continue for a few more years while he is growing so fast.  I think he got Lane's height and my sight.  

Alexee and Crosby made these cute drawings of them in their sleeping bags.  They all slept in R's room together during break and got along really well, for the most part.

My Christmas cactus finally bloomed for the first time since I bought it!  (It missed Christmas by just a few days.)  I thought the blooms were so pretty--some were pale pink and some were peach.  I loved looking at it every day.

Last Wednesday there was a school assembly honoring the 2nd & 3rd grade students that met their reading and math goals for the first semester.  Here's Alexee when it was her turn to run through the cones (it was a sports-themed, "Super Bowl Celebration").  She also loves to sketch and carries her notebook with her.  Lately she has been drawing slices of pie.  :)

We decorated our tiered wire basket for Valentine's Day.  Alexee and I made the LOVE banner last weekend.  I wrote a verse on the plate, and we have been memorizing it.  I think they know it--time to add a new one!

"Let LOVE and faithfulness never leave you...write them on the tablet of your HEART."  Prov. 3:3

Found these cute little treat boxes at Michael's...fun for their lunch boxes.

We haven't had snow yet (not complaining!) but the icicles have been pretty along the road.

We had a bakery date after school one day.  Everyone had a cookie and hot chocolate with a giant, homemade marshmallow.

Last night was his first game--so cute!  He was so excited!

(These older kids were helping during warm-ups...that's not the other team! ha!)

Hope your new year is off to a great start!