Trip to Arkansas

From the picture, you might be able to guess why we journeyed to the neighboring state of Arkansas yeterday. The four oldest members of our household left Saturday afternoon around 1:30 to head to our friends Scott and Tiffany's wedding. It was a three hour drive and the wedding was held in a pretty chapel. Robbie wasn't overly impressed with the ceremony, but Alexa was in heaven when Scott walking down the aisle after ushering in his mother slowed down and made eye contact with Alexa and said hello to her personally! I think we could have returned home then and she would have been happy . . . EXCEPT, we had been telling the kids about the reception (they are not big wedding attenders, so I would count this as their first wedding) and the dancing. They were both looking forward to dancing and had practiced at home with Rob, and they had a TON of fun! Robbie danced with I don't know how many different lady friends -including his mother and the bride; Alexa saved most of her dances for Rob and one for the groom. They were exceptionally well behaved and super cute all evening! Yes, I know, I am biased, but still, they were adorable! And, going back to the top picture, they each caught their respective "souvenior item" from the wedding couple . . . those extra treats along with a goodie bag of fun candies from the reception were enough to make them already asking when they get to go to another wedding! Too sweet!

We have a ridiculous amount of photos from the wedding as Robbie had control of the camera for a while, so I will try to get a little slide show put together soon of more photos.

Our Refrigerator

I have referred to some people "not feeling well" in a post or two, and here is the full scoop. Robbie started it all with a fever on Monday and complaints of a "hot throat"; he also didn't have much of an appetite which is NOT like him at all. On Tuesday, his throat was still hurting and sounding a bit clogged. I managed to get him in to the doc for a lab appointment only where we were able to confirm he has strep throat. He started his antibiotic that afternoon. Yesterday afternoon, Alexa was "cold" when everyone else was sweating . . . her fever had kicked in and by bedtime, her throat was hurting as well. By 10:30 this morning, Rachel's fever kicked in. The only one not infected (or affected yet) is Cole. We'll see if he manages to avoid it, but it is doubtful. The doctor was nice enough to call in the prescription for the girls today without a visit, lab, or anything. They have both had their first dose.

The interesting part, I think, is this illness has doubled the amount of times we have had antibiotics in our house. Robbie has been on them once before; Cole twice. So, now with the three bottles inhabiting our fridge, we are up to six! Not too bad, all things considering.

It is not a fun way to start summer vacation, but I am glad they did not have to miss school and they have gotten some extra lazy time this week of laying around and watching tv before they get "cut off" (okay, at least limited) for more organized activities starting next week.

Cute New Do

Although Alexa is not feeling well (more info in another post), she did get her hair cut today, and is looking super cute! The red Gatorade mustache adds to the cuteness, don't you think?

Fun with Horses

We were invited to an activity this morning at someone's house who has horses. Everyone had fun, but my fear is Cole has gotten hooked on an expensive habit! Robbie and Alexa have each been on a horse before- no serious riding, mind you, but have at least sat in a saddle and done a little circle ride in a pen. They enjoyed their rides just as much today as their other experiences. Today's ride was the most they have done as far as being a longer amount of time and the distance they were wandering around.

Robbie even got to trot a bit.

Alexa did awesome and seemed very comfortable.

Rachel and Cole have seen horses up close before but have never had the chance to sit on or ride one. Both very excited to see and pet the horses. Cole was very anxious to get to ride one as well. He got plopped in the saddle with Ms. Valerie and had the time of his life! He rode for about an hour and just kept pointing which direction he wanted to go- to the pond, up the hill, back around the circle, pick up the pace . . . he laughed and smiled and waved. I wasn't around when it was time for him to get off the horse, but wouldn't be surprised if he was not interested in the ride being over.

Rachel sat on a horse for a couple of minutes. She didn't really seem scared, but a little uncomfortable as she didn't know the person she was sitting with and was a bit unsure about being so high off the ground. She really enjoyed watching the other three, petting their horses if they wandered by, and waving at them as they rode around.

Fun times for all!

Installment #6: Robbie's Birthday

Robbie's birthday (back in March) was celebrated with friends at a local pizza place that offers indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. It was our first not-at-home party that we have hosted for our kids; I must say there are definitely advantages to this approach! It is not a full service party place where once you get the kids there, the staff does everything for you, but it was nice not to have to clean the house before the party and after the party. It was nice not to have to make the food-all I did was provide the cake. We did play one game (pin the football on the field) to fill some time. Anyway, I digress! Robbie's "friends' party" was on Saturday, we celebrated at home including Grandma Kroll on Sunday, and his "actual birthday" was on Monday. He had a good three day plan laid out, and I think he enjoyed it. He enjoyed his cakes, gifts, and just feeling special. Some favorite gifts . . . probably the chapter books he received (Dinosaur Cove and Matt Christopher-all of which he finished within a couple of weeks) and the lego sets.

Installment #5: Soccer Skip

Hip...hop...hurray!!

Installment #4: Easter Shades

Easter light was too bright!!!! Kids all received sunglasses on Easter Sunday.

Happy Easter again!

New Football Facility Photos

Photo Gallery: FB - WEZ Photos 4-30-09 - Official Website Of Oklahoma State Cowboy And Cowgirl Athletics

Thought I might share progress on the new FB facility. Click the link above and you will see the photos. We move in to the field level in a month. This is the athletic training room, equipment room, weight room, locker room, and team theater. There is a bunch of final clean up and finishing items, but you can see how fun of a place it is going to be to work in. Make sure to click the "next" tab at the bottom of the slide show as there is another 19 pics on a second gallery. 39 in all.

Installment #3: Basketball

PLAYING BASKETBALL
Robbie played his second season of Upward Basketball this year. His team was definitely not a championship team by any means, but he had a great coach who cared a lot about the boys and taught them well, and they all seemed to have fun. Robbie improved quite a bit throughout the season (practices began in December and his last game was the first week of March). On the court (as in most areas), Robbie puts forth good effort, is quick and efficient, and does what he is told. He was a good little dribbler and not a bad shot. Although he played tough defense, he didn't seem comfortable stealing the ball even though he had opportunities where he could have done so.

Waiting for the inbounds pass- more often than not, he filled this role.


Just after making a shot.


Getting in position to take a shot.


Trying to move the ball down the court. (Isn't he a cute ball player?!)

MARCH MADNESS
The other item to report rgegarding basketball is the Hunt family continued with the 2nd Annual March Madness Bracket Contest. All six of us participated this year with Rachel and Cole's picks being selected by Robbie. Robbie follows basketball quite a bit with Rob and asks questions as he makes his selections. Alexa chooses teams based on names, colors, mascots, and used the teams' seed in the bracket a bit. I tend to use history (as in teams that are historically good and do well in the tournament) as my greatest influence in making my selections as well as pick a couple of my favorite teams to move a bit farther in the tournament than what one might suppose they would. I don't follow the teams too much each year in their season as to who is doing well/when, key players who are injured, etc., so I just do the best that I can. Rob's selection process probably doesn't need to be explained, and if it does, he will need to do it. Anyway, that is a lot of information you probably don't need, but we did complete our brackets before the tournament began and kept track throughout. And the winner was . . . . Robbie! I think he had one more point than Rob at the end, but it was close throughout. Alexa and I came in last. Since Robbie had done Rachel and Cole's brackets, they did pretty well too coming in only a point or two behind Rob. Fun for all, folks!