Happy Birthday, Phebe!

Phebe celebrated her 6th birthday on November 14th! The festivities actually started about 3 weeks ago when she partied with Maddox and Rowan, but this weekend she was the star attraction! Several boxes arrived during the week from Florida, so she got to open them on Thursday night.

It was almost like Christmas!
"Look! I'm 6!"

Thank you to all the Florida relatives for the great gifts!

On Friday, Kyle surprised Phebe by showing up at school and eating lunch with the birthday girl. Looks like he has a clean plate! It's been a while since he enjoyed a good old-fashioned school lunch.

After school, several of Phebe's friends came home with us for her "kids party." While we waited for the last guest to arrive, the girls played in her room.

The marker board (gift from Corey and Heidi) was a big hit.

Here's the whole group, posing on the "bleachers" and ready to cheer on the contestants in the pin-the-feathers-on-the-turkey game.

The kids had to yell "Boo" and "Yeah" to help get the feathers in the right spot.

The finished product - not bad, huh? I'm not so sure about the one covering his face....

Next it was "drop the turkey stick in the jar." Each girl got to drop 12 sticks.

The best score was 8 - good job!

After several more games, an art project, and opening presents, it was time for supper, and finally....the cupcakes! Each girl got one candle, and Phebe got 6 (there's actually a cupcake hiding behind that paper cup - bad photography!).

One blow and they were out! The kids had a little time to play after supper, and then, after the guests left, Phebe joined her aunts, uncles, and cousin Maddox at Chuck E. Cheese's for some games (I had a wedding rehearsal to go to - nothing like squeezing a million things into one day). I caught up with them all at Buffalo Wild Wings for more dinner after the rehearsal. Chuck missed all the excitement since those crazy deer up north are still calling his name, and he couldn't miss a weekend of deer hunting.

Whew - what a day! Phebe was exhausted, and although she fell asleep in the car on the way home, she woke up as soon as I drove into the garage and wanted to play with all her new "stuff." Sorry, kiddo. Grandma's tired!

So, happy 6th birthday, Phebe! We're all so glad that you are here and we could share this special day with you!

Fall's Last Hurrah

The first weekend in November was in the 70's, and then last weekend it was snowing! We took advantage of the warm weather for a Sunday afternoon drive to Pepin, Wisconsin. My plan for the day was to wash windows, clean gutters, and work on report cards, but Chuck and Phebe had other ideas. They won, s0 we went to an apple orchard, hiked around the breakwater at Pepin, and stopped for a picnic on our way home. Guess who was still doing report cards at 11:00 at night? Oh well....

By the time we got our charcoal going and some hot dogs roasted, the sun was setting over Lake Pepin. We totally forgot that daylight savings time ended the night before, so it started getting dark really early. It was beautiful!


I don't think we've ever gone on a picnic in November!

Phebe ended up roasting her marshmallows in the dark!

That didn't stop her from enjoying a gooey treat - she loves smores, and usually ends up with marshmallow all over her face and hands (I was prepared with a wet washcloth)!

What a great way to spend a warm fall afternoon. However, it is now snowing, and our gutters are full of leaves! Hopefully, we'll get one more nice day before winter settles in for good.

Halloween

I'm totally convinced of it - Halloween should ALWAYS be on the last Friday of October. Kids could stay up late and eat all the candy they wanted, and I didn't have to deal with them in school the next day! This year, we had a blast with Phebe here. However, we really missed seeing Maddox. He was sick during the week, so Heidi and Corey just took him around their own cul de sac and skipped the CF parade and the annual relative visits.

I paid a surprise visit to Phebe in her classroom during the kindergarten party.

She looked so cute in her kitty costume.

After school, we went downtown for the annual community parade. Phebe thought we were going to be watching a parade - she was very surprised when she found out that she and all the other little kids WERE the parade! She met up with lots of her friends from school, and after walking down the main drag together, the kids could trick-or-treat at all the businesses.

Kyle and Phebe sorted everything from the afternoon haul, and also sampled a few things. The evening haul was a whole lot more! I think Kyle was reliving his childhood as he took Phebe to all of the houses he used to visit 20 years ago.

Ready to go! What a night!