My First Cotton Ball

The souvenir cup (thanks, Rene)

Christina and me

my hot date

Me and my sis

me and Amanda (my best friend since 1st grade)

We let these in-laws into our family???

When Rhyne and I lived in Greenwood, we never attended a Cotton Ball, but now we live in Brandon and we plan a weekend to go - go figure? Whenever I have a chance to stay at the Alluvian, I don't care if we are going to the mud races - I am already packing! Ok, seriously, Marcie has been wanting me to come ever since she has been in JA (Junior Auxiliary) and since this is her last year to be on the CB committee, I agreed. The Cotton Ball is one of the Junior Auxiliary's big fundraisers. Thanks to Uncle Craig, we had a free seat and were able to feel important. This Ball is very rich in Greenwood history, therefore, I couldn't leave my best friend at home knowing how much she loves The Delta!! Christina and I dropped my kids off in Carrollton and headed to Greenwood (husbandless too) Friday night. We were able to get pedicures and eat at Giardina's!! We met up with our hubbys on Saturday and just did nothing until the Ball! I even made a souvenir cup so Christina could remember her first Cotton Ball! It was a great weekend and I was so sad to leave the comfy bed at the Alluvian!

Pinterest Wreath

Ann Phelps' work area

Shelley's wreath

Lesley's wreath

I am helping give a shower for my Twin friends. Shelley and Lesley have been a part of my life for 15 years now. Wow - am I that old? They are both having little girls (4 weeks apart)! I found this wreath idea on pinterest - it isn't hard, but very time consuming!! I had to give AP her own work station so she could feel useful too!

Happy President's Day!

Honest Abe

AP's Art Work

Every time AP gets the markers out, she says, "I will not color on my body, only on the paper, Mom!" Then 30 minutes later she looks like this. She then says, "I didn't color on the paper, I colored on myself." I didn't even get a picture of the back of her head under her hair - she literally drew on her whole body!????

Behind the scenes

Discussing bulls with Pap

Ann Phelps making sure she has the

right pose in front of the bulls - Pap of

course bought the kids each a toy at the expo-

AP got a stuffed horse (in the pic) she named Bones-

she got this name from "her" horse at Pap's

Getting a pic with the bulls

Ben thought the transport trailers were

very cool

We walked a lot - Pap can't refuse a

sweet girl when she says, "hold me Pap"!

Because Pap is an investigator for the Dept. of Ag - he knows his way around behind the scenes at the Dixie National. He treated us to a special day at the fairgrounds today. Ann Phelps is a horse lover so her favorite was seeing all the horses. Ben is intrigued by the big bulls so he thought it was so cool he got to see them up close!! And Will, he just likes seeing new things. And me being a rodeo alum, I always like going because it brings back memories - and it makes me want to jump on a horse and run a few barrels ;-) !

Love is all around

Her Valentine outfit - yes, that

is a striped dress with a pink tutu

over it! She wanted to wear both!

Otis enjoyed his Valentine happy

My sweet flowers and bracelet - it says "her children

rise up and call her blessed"!

GLITTER

Sweet Rhyne's pepperoni hearts

Gluten-free version

enjoying the pizza

Ben asked me to make sure the flowers were in

the picture with him

AP clowning

My Valentine Loves

Yes, Valentine's Day made it to the Hooks house. No holiday would be complete without the kids bringing home a dozen crafts with GLITTER all over the place! And I have to stop and brag about my hubby......he is not the most romantic guy- he doesn't see the point in buying flowers that die. I get it. BUT every now and then it is nice. I totally was not expecting anything more than a card for the holiday. He came home with a huge surprise....... flowers, cards and a bracelet. Now this is not just any bracelet - I have been admiring this bracelet since August at a store called Smitten. I had totally forgotten that I had gone in there with my sweet friend, Christina, and had shown her the bracelet. I don't know the details of how the info got to Rhyne, but he brought it home tonight! It is so nice to have a sweet friend who will nudge my hubby to be romantic. Rhyne also cooked homemade pizzas for the kids. He even cut the pepperonis into hearts! It melted my heart to hear the kids say "thank you, Daddy, for this pizza - you did a great job"!!! So, Happy Valentine's Day! I have to go vacuum all the glitter out of my car!!

Star Wars and Frogs

After AP's birthday party, Rhyne took the boys to see Star Wars. Of course the best part was the characters they met in the lobby! And - since Mandy missed the boys' birthday parties this year, she decided to make up for it by buying them frogs! The boys love them! Ben is the most fascinated - he checks on the frogs a bunch!

On a side note: I am so happy Rhyne has an iPhone 4 - he now takes pictures when I am not around so his adventures with the boys can be recorded!

Ann Phelps Day!!

Not the best pic, but it is early in the morning

Birthday Girl

Fabulous cupcakes

I love how Will is looking at her

Mandy partied with us

Sweet class friends

Ok, this is a very special gift. Christina gave AP

this jewelry she had made from some of her jewelry!

How sweet!!! I really hope AP marries one of her sweet

boys so these can be called family jewels!

Yes, the 10th of February is known as Ann Phelps Day around here!! She turned 3 today! Since we celebrated with our families last weekend, we celebrated with our friends today! This was AP's first "real" party - we had it at Bop's Frozen Custard (I call it ice cream?). It was the perfect setting because kids at this age are not that social so a sit down ice cream party is perfect. The kids were fed a tremendous amount of sugar - Ms. Christina's fab cupcakes and then a whole ice cream sundae with chocolate syrup, whip cream and sprinkles- no early bed time tonight??!! After the party, Ann Phelps and I went to Pump-it-Up to celebrate Nan's birthday and the boys went to see Star Wars with Rhyne. After Nan's party, we met Ms. Christina and Vaiden for a special birthday dinner! It was a great Ann Phelps Day!!

Party at School

Ann Phelps had her cupcake party at school today!! We will have the big party tomorrow afternoon on her real day!!!

Ann Phelps' Birthday, Rounds 1 and2

For the first party she decided to

be Rapunzel

DeeDee got her a camera and she

LOVES it

Believe it or not, she gets really shy when people

sing the birthday song to her!

MaeMae is letting her open one gift before the party

Pop showing her how to work her computer

Uncle James was left holding Belle

so AP could blow out her candles

Aunt Kay and AP

AP loves being around the Big girls - Britny and

MaeMae

Uncle James and Ben

I am having Ann Phelps' birthday party on her actual birthday, February 10 - this is a weekday and since many of our family members have jobs, they wouldn't be able to come. The solution: we had a whirlwind family birthday weekend this past weekend! On Friday, we celebrated with my family - Dee Dee, Pap, Marmoo, Uncle Craig, Boots, NelNoo, MawMaw, and Grandaddy! On Saturday, we celebrated with Rhyne's family: Grandmother, Pop, MaeMae, MaMaw, Britny, Aunt Gail, Uncle James and Aunt Kay (it was actually Aunt Kay's real birthday). We had pink and purple princess cupcakes, at AP's request, and (don't be shocked) I made the 3 dozen cupcakes and decorated them!!