Fall Festival & School Party

Oct. 28th, the kids went to the church fall festival.  Rhett wore his gorilla mask from a few years ago, Alexee wanted to be a (non-scary) witch and Crosby went as a cowboy.  C wanted to be a ninja, but he only decided that the day before so we ordered a ninja costume from amazon to arrive by real Halloween.  

This clown was so nice and could make anything from balloons!  I think he said he'd been doing this for 25 years!  Crosby was excited to get to hang out with friends from school.

Alexee invited this friend from her class.  She was so happy that H was able to come.  They had a fun night, especially at the photo booth.

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This giant inflatable Minion was set up in front of the school on Friday before Halloween!

First grade also had a pumpkin parade and a class party.  Each student made a pumpkin decorated as a character from a book.  Crosby wanted to do the mouse from If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff.  

These were some of the teachers' characters.

The party was a lot of too.  They made two crafts, played a bowling game and a minute-to-win-it Post-it note game and got lots of sweet treats.

Dogwood Canyon Field Trip

October 26--A wonderful fall field trip with Rhett's 6th grade class!  

We went to Dogwood Canyon, and it was absolutely gorgeous!  It was our first visit there, and I can't wait to go back...hopefully in the spring when the redbud and dogwood trees are in full bloom.  I loved the location, but mostly I loved getting to spend the day with Rhett and his friends. We took a tram ride through the park which gave us a great view of all the beautiful scenery.

                             

The ride included a trip through the wildlife reserve.  We got an up-close look at elk, deer, bison and longhorn cattle.  They were all so neat to see, and they didn't seem the least bit afraid of us.  They stayed right by the tram and ate the food that the guide poured out for them.  

We stopped for lunch at this pretty location.  I sat at Rhett's table, and the boys were very entertaining.  It was fun hearing them laugh and be goofy together.  He's blessed to have such a nice group of friends.

He was sweet to let me take his picture by the hay and pumpkin display.  :)

R's class

It was such a nice, memorable day!

Hiking

The kids and I enjoyed the beautiful October weather by going for a hike in the woods behind our house.  It's really pretty and peaceful there! 

Bogart went too.  :)

Super fun day with these sweet ones!

Family in Town, Lane in Hospital

Oct. 15-18.  We had been looking forward to Lane's parents coming up to visit us, but the weekend didn't quite go as planned.  Thursday morning Lane did yard work and I cleaned the house to get ready for company.  His parents got here Thursday afternoon, and we all went to Crosby's flag football game that evening.  Lane had been having stomach pains for almost a week, but it wasn't a constant pain so he kept dismissing it.  He started feeling worse and worse and by 4 a.m. on Friday he decided to take himself to the E.R. because he felt sure he had appendicitis.  I offered to take him, but he had already contacted the doctor working that night and the staff said they would be watching for him, which was so nice and helpful.  Not long after he got there testing confirmed that it was his appendix and they sent him straight upstairs for surgery to have it removed.  It was a big blessing that his parents were here at the house.  I didn't wake anyone up, I just hurried out the door and got to the hospital before 6:00 to see him before surgery.  I sent Rhett a text and told him to call me when he woke up so I could explain what was going on.  He did, and they took care of everything at home...packing lunches, getting the kids to school, etc.  Surgery went fine, but he did have to spend the night in the hospital Friday night.  Grammy & Bobba took the kids to lunch at Panera (it was a half-day of school that day) then brought them by the hospital to say hello to Lane.  I spent the afternoon and evening there with him and then went home at bed time.  Then things got even a little more hectic over the next 24 hours:  a birthday sleepover for A's sweet friend (my friend Laura was so kind to pick Alexee up for that...and there are lots of super cute party pictures here.  Alexee had a blast!), taking Rhett to meet his coach to ride to the out of town game, picking Alexee up Saturday morning, going to Crosby's and Alexee's games (both at 11:00 at different locations), and Rhett's game was at noon in Harrison.  Poor Lane...we just told him we'd come pick him up as soon as we could! :)  (The timing actually all worked out fine.  His discharge paperwork wasn't even done until right after all the games anyway.)  Even with the change of plans, Bob and Rose Mary were able to see all three kids play a game during their visit, which the kids loved.  They went to R's out of town game while Crosby, Alexee and I checked Lane out of the hospital and got him settled in at home.

I think the fun caught up with Alexee Saturday afternoon.  She napped with Lane on the couch.  L's work group sent a beautiful flower bouquet, complete with an Arkansas Razorback bow!  I hate that he was sick, but I enjoyed having fresh flowers in the house.

Before all of this happened we'd made reservations for Sunday brunch at the Keeter Center, and my parents planned to come up and join us.  I thought we'd need to cancel, but Lane insisted on going!  He was really uncomfortable after sitting for a while, but his surgeon did tell him to be sure to walk around and also that he could eat whatever he felt like eating so I guess he accomplished those two things.  His parents left to go back home after brunch, and we came home and rested for the remainder of the day.  What a crazy weekend...but we survived!  And I'm thankful to report that Lane is doing great now!

Things were just too busy to take very many pictures, but here are a few with Grandparents on Sunday.  We were so grateful for their help and support!

Biking, Skating & Baking

Enjoying the great weather!

We loved getting to go to a friend's birthday party at the skating rink (Oct. 10).  We made it out with no injuries, although I did try to "help" Crosby skate and he fell then I fell right on top of him!  That was embarrassing.  I should have known I wasn't qualified to help someone while on skates myself.  We had a fun night!

Time for pizza and cupcakes!

Our friend gave the cutest family party favor--a Halloween cupcake baking kit!  The kids couldn't wait to use it.  They wanted to make them for breakfast Sunday morning, but we waited until afternoon.  :)

Catching Up

Catching up:

Crosby received an envelope in the mail...

It was a new bow tie from Mr. D (my sister's father-in-law)!  He got the bow ties for the boys when they were in Stacie's wedding back in May, and my sister told him how much Crosby liked wearing it.  It was so nice of him to think of C and send him a gift!  We'll have to find an occasion to get dressed up so he can wear it soon.  :)  

Alexee & Bogart hanging out

I had lunch with this sweet girl one day and took her a milkshake from McDonald's.

October 1st--bought a pumpkin when I was grocery shopping to celebrate the beginning of my very favorite month!

Last Friday night I tried to organize everything we needed for Saturday's games.  C had flag football at 10:00, R had football at 12:00 and A had volleyball at 1:00.  We all went to C's game.  He did a good job and had a lot of fun.  He'd been really nervous about knowing the plays, but he seemed to feel a lot better after their Friday practice, which made me feel a lot better too.  I hated to see him stressed about something that's supposed to be fun.  He's looking forward to his next game, so I think it's going to be a good season.  Lane left just a few minutes early to take Rhett to meet up with a friend so he could ride to the 6th grade game with the friend's family, then Lane had to go to work.  After C's game was over we came home for a few minutes to eat lunch then went to A's game.  She scored two points this time--she was excited, and we were happy for her!  I was sad to have to miss R's game, but we got text updates throughout the game.

C's game--aren't they cute!

reaching for a flag

And snacks after the game!  :)

Lunch break at home--such a pretty day we wanted to sit outside.

I noticed the leaves in our yard are just starting to have a hint of fall color to them.

A's game--the girls did great!

After her game we met Rhett then decided to make a quick trip to Flippin for the afternoon.  Mom & Dad were canning honey from their bee hives when we arrived.  They gave us jobs drying jars, pouring honey from the bucket and adding lids and boxing the jars.  It was fun to get to help.

When the work was done we enjoyed warm biscuits and fresh honey!  Yum!  It has such a good flavor.

Then we stopped by my Grandparents' house, and Alexee got to feed Grandmother's bottle calf.

And they went to see the horses and mules in the field.

I went with Mom to feed her heifers. 

Crosby did some drawing while we were there.

Alexee picked up lots of things from their yard to make a fall display.

a fun afternoon!

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Alexee and I planted some fall flowers after school one afternoon.

Happy October!