Class Party

We had Lexi's class party today for Valentine's Day. And because I am the room mom (to be honest, I only do half the work. Another parent is room mom with me. So technically I am the "half-room-mom"). Anyway, we had the kids collect kleenex boxes so we could make Valentine mail boxes with them. We lucked out and barely collected enough boxes. We only started collecting 2 1/2 weeks ago. Good thing it's cold season! Here are Lexi and Kendri organizing their decorations. (If they still look a little droopy, it's because they are. The whole kindergarten class has been sick.)

And the finished products......

The kids all had a lot of fun. They think their room moms are totally cool. I think we are too. I mean who wouldn't????

Kendri got lucky because a lot of the kids had extra valentine's that they shared with her. She loves going with Lexi to school.

And because it was a party, I decided I'd bring cupcakes for Lexi's school party. You know the old phrase, "Kill 2 birds with 1 stone"? Well, her birthday is on President's Day. Which means there's no school so I made the party goodies into Lexi's b-day goodies. Aren't I so smart? Don't answer that. (If I was so smart I would've realized I have strep two days ago instead of suffering through it. I actually haven't been to the doctor yet so I can't really be certain. Tomorrow is my appointment. All I know is that at this point, it may actually be less painful to just carve my throat out with a dull stick......Okay, I should go to bed before I scare you with anymore crazy talk. Because I could go on. I could.) Anyway, the party was a hit. We have Lexi's birthday party tomorrow. For those of you who think I'm going to contaminate your kids, I won't. Promise. I disinfected my house today and I'll make Ryan handle the food and I won't touch them either :)

So here's Lexi's teacher, Mrs. England, putting the birthday crown on Lexi. She has decided that she'll tell people she's 6 even though that doesn't really happen until Monday. And that's all I got for now. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Family Week

We have been quite the little partyers these past two months....I feel like every time I update the blog I've been playing! This last week we went up to Angel's Camp and stayed at Gammie's house for the week. The whole Reese clan was there....well, minus a few males (meaning mainly husbands). Every year Greenhorn Creek puts on a Family week which is like a Camp. There is tennis, golf, swimming, arts & crafts during the day and then something at night like an ice cream social (my personal favorite). So we went up on Sunday night and kicked off our last hurrah for the summmer. We had a great time and Lexi even started to swim on her own! WHOOOHOOO! For those of you who have not been in on the "Lexi Will Never Know How To Swim" saga, it's been just that. A saga. A long, drawn out fight to get her to try to swim. We have been trying to get her past the extreme fear she has of getting into the pool without her floaties for the past two years. This past week she has really improved....I think the social pressure got to her. She was watching all of her cousins swimming and having a good time without her. She is still not ready to go off by herself but she has definitely made some progress. Here's a couple of pictures of the girls doing some crafts. They had a huge blow-up water slide outside which would explain the swimming suits. Kendri's favorite was the painting.

Anyhoo, we had a good time and Gammi always throws a good party! Kyson had such a good time during the day that he decided not to sleep at night....that got a little old after the first 3 days. Now he's in the habit of getting up a bazillion times even in his own bed. (I could possibly be the world's most sleep deprived mother. I'd be willing to run for the title because I do believe I'd come close to the gold.) And here we have all the girl cousins except for Kaitlyn....she may have been napping. Rachel, Lexi, Kendri, and Anna blowing bubbles.

This was the second day of golf lessons for Lexi. She got the hang of it pretty fast and seemed to really like it. Kendri wasn't old enough. She'll have to wait another year or two. Now on to other matters....Lexi had her first day of kindergarten today. Sniff, sniff. I couldn't believe I was sad and no, I did not cry. But her daddy did. Well, maybe not on the outside but certainly on the inside there were manly tears shed....He took her to school today and was a little miffed by how readily Lexi got rid of him. Here she is walking to her classroom.

Her teacher's name is Ms. England.

And here are some of Lexi's friends from the neighborhood, Evan and Jacob. She has 3 friends in her class! There are 3 different classes and Lexi managed to get all of her good friends with her in the same class. Watch out Ms. England!

So her first day of kindergarten was a success and she came home at 2:00 and crashed. Tired little thing. And Kendri certainly missed her big sister. She told me, "I sure do miss Lex" probably 7 times today. Maybe more. She was happy to have Lexi home from school. I think she may hate kindergarten by the end of the week. Oh well.