Happy Birthday Whitney Michelle!!!

Today is Whitney's 9th birthday. Wow! How time flies. To think that she will more than likely be leaving home after the next 9 years, just blows my mind. We have had a good time celebrating Whitney's special day. We did her birthday last weekend, as she chose to go away with a friend instead of having a traditional party. I took donuts to her class (purple sprinkled ones!!!) on Friday and regular sprinkled ones today to her Sunday School class. I had a proud Mommy Moment with Whitney on Friday night. She competed in the local Bible Quizzing with AWANA. Her team came in 4th place, BUT she made a perfect 100% on the written test that is part of the challenge!!! She was the ONLY one in her group to do that! WOW! That is awesome. So proud of her for memorizing tons of scripture..word perfect...and learning to give answer to lots of theological questions.
W-H-I-T-N-E-Y
W--witty Whitney is very Witty
H--hilarious Whitney keeps us in stitches with her funny thoughts and comments
I--intelligent Whitney is very intelligent and LOVES to read
T--talkative Whitney is VERY talkative...wonder where she gets that?
N--nice Whitney is a sweet NICE girl and thinks about others
E--ENERGETIC...yep that's Whitney!
Y--yielding Whitney is yielding to God's word and desires to please the Lord

We love you Whitney...Happy Birthday!

Celebrating Whitney's 9th Birthday

Once again, Whitney opted to do something fun with ONE friend and forgo the traditional birthday party. The idea THRILLED me, as it is cheaper and much easier. She also said she couldn't think of anything for John and I to get her for her birthday "since we JUST had Christmas"....so, John and I discussed it and decided to do a hotel night as her gift! Whitney was elated and thought the gift idea was great. She wanted to take her friend, Ella, to The American Girl Store to shop and to eat at the Bistro. Bee and Grandpa sent her money for her birthday to spend (she spent EVERY penny of it at the store). She bought a new outfit for her doll, she bought glasses and paid to have her ears pierced and her hair done! Her doll, Katie, got a good deal for Whitney's birthday. I did not know that there was a national cheer competition in Dallas this weekend, and I have never seen so much hair and ribbons and make-up! WHOA! Our hotel was sold out and 99% of the guests were cheerleaders! We went to the Galleria to ice-skate, but couldn't do it because of the crowd. The line to rent skates probably had 50 people in it. The girls were so great about it. We sat and ate the cookie cake that I had ordered earlier in the week and we watched the skaters. The girls enjoyed the swans at our hotel and I think that they felt big at the buffet breakfast this morning as they ordered their food! They enjoyed watching TV in their room and sleeping in the king-sized bed. Bryan was with us and we improvised and had a great set up in our part of the suite. Bryan was perfect while we were gone. He got lots of attention. When the crowd was watching the Swans at the hotel, a group of people gathered around Bryan to admire him...it was so funny! The girls were so good, and did so well with waiting FOREVER at the American Girl store and with the disappointment of not getting to skate. I was so proud of them and their great attitudes. Ella bought Whitney a bag of gifts from her favorite store, Justice. She got some new t-shirts, a journal and a book that teaches you how to draw fun pictures. I heard Whitney (more than once) say "this is the BEST day of my life!" She was smiling and laughing the whole time. It was a great time together....Happy Birthday Sweet Whitney....nine years old....that is really 1/2 of your time at home! Isn't that sad to think???

SNOW DAYS Re-Cap

We had some amazing snow last week. The kids had a blast. We got about 12 inches here at our house and it was the good, wet snow that is great for snowballs and making snowmen. We also lost our electricity for 12 hours which made for a COLD night! We layered up and had flashlights ready. It was a fun, memorable time. Bryan has had a total of FOUR snow days in his life! That is unbelievable here in Texas! I had so many pictures, that I did a slideshow instead of making you scroll forever! Fun times at the Stonecipher house for sure!

Elementary Valentine Parties

Bryan's Baby Dedication

Let it Snow...Let it Snow

Reagan and I made 2 snowmen...they both died!


UPDATE***

Big Boy Bryan

Bryan is such a sweet baby. He is growing so fast! You will see in the pictures that his belly now hangs over his jeans...cute on him...not so cute on me! He makes cute expressions and his FAVORITE place in the entire house is on the changing mat in my bathroom where he can look at his "twin" and "talk". We are trying to soak up every minute of his life! It is going by so fast!

Bee and Grandpa

Bee and Grandpa were able to come and watch the girls both play basketball a couple of Saturdays ago. Whitney played in the morning and Savannah played that evening. Bee and Grandpa drove in and met us at Whitney's game and then treated us to lunch at Mooyahs and then we visited at our house for a while and headed back for Savannah's game. We woke Reagan up from her nap and she was burning up with fever. (She would later being diagnosed with Strep throat!!!...never ends)




She looked REALLY sick, huh?

Hoops for Heart

My heart was touched yesterday as I overheard my Whitney and my Savannah having a conversation. They are both having the program "Hoops for Heart" at their school which supports the American Heart Society. Thanks to our special friend, Libby, my kids will ever be changed by knowing that heart defects can affect anyone and how much a person goes through that has a heart defect. Our kids refer to it as a "special heart". Anyway, my girls were discussing the fundraiser. Savannah has been one of the top fund raisers at her school the last two times that she has participated. She is a compassionate child and wants to make a difference and I think that the reality of seeing what Libby goes through has driven to want to help...in some way...in any way. As an incentive to the kids, if they raise more than $150 they receive tickets to Hurricane Harbor, which is a waterpark in the area. The $150 participants get to go to the park on a day that is only open for the kids that have raised the funds, and when John and Savannah went in the past, they were thrilled to find such a low crowd. The award happens to be on Blayne's birthday this year, so Savannah and Whitney came up with the idea that if they BOTH raised $150 they could earn 4 tickets and they with Blayne could go to Hurricane Harbor to celebrate Blayne's birthday. We have really been cutting back around here and our house is on the market, so the girls know that money is tighter than it used to be. They are so sweet to try to come up with how they can give a special gift to Blayne and raise money for a good cause. They spent a few minutes hashing out the list. They divided up the relatives that they are going to call and came up with a game plan. In the past, we have done the fundraising through the website, but Savannah told Whitney that she thought calling was better....I really wanted to interject at that point and push the website idea, but I bit my tongue and let them move forward with "their" plan. So, beware of the call of the Stonecipher girls over the next couple of days! They are raising money! It does my mommy heart good to see them desiring to help others, like Libby, and to want to earn a prize that will be given to their brother. Savannah even told Whitney "if I get the $150 and you don't, then I am going to give the tickets to Dad and Blayne so that Blayne gets to go on his birthday" She would give up her prize for her brother to get to go...how selfless and wonderful!
***It was suggested by my friend that I actually do the website thing with the girls, as it gives the opportunity to pay by credit card and for those living out of state it saves the trouble of mailing a check...so, we worked on the sites tonight.
***UPDATE..BOTH girls are $25 from their goal. If you go to their link, you only see what is posted on-line. Some have sent money in the mail to them. Thank You!
Here is Whitney's:
click here
And Savannah's :
click here
***Libby's brother, Mason, has already raised over $1200!!!! He is so excited!