Zoo During Spring Break

We headed to the zoo during Spring Break...we went the day after they had their record breaking attendance! I was still shocked at the crowds. We took our friends, Brynlee and Maycee whom we have known forever. (went to DBU with their parents) It is fun to have forever friends that you can pick up with like you haven't missed a day together! We laughed and had a great time even though we were having to maneuver through the crowds all day. It was a fun day and the animals were out and active. The bird feeding was slow...I guess having thousands of people there each day that week, they had plenty of feeding. Savannah was successful at getting the birds out of the trees and luring them in for the smaller kids. Maycee and Brynlee had not been top the zoo in a long, long, time so I think that they enjoyed seeing some of the new additions to our zoo. Fun time with fun friends!

Chuck E. Cheese with Friends

So, I have been in the Chuck E. Cheese stage of life for almost 12 years now....weird to think. Most of my friends are far past that place! I am thankful that my Big Girls are sweet and act just as excited to go as the little kids. I let Blayne take a friend, but he actually got to take two friends because they are twins and well, it is just wrong to take one without the other. The twins were in his class at his old school and he wanted to get to see them. They have siblings with special needs so they don't get out as much. They were on sensory overload at CEC! They all had so much fun. We went for ice-cream afterward and I sent them home sugared up!

Family Birthday Party

We hosted the family birthday party for Whitney (10) and Katie Beth (4) at our house this year. When I went to pick up the cake at COSTCO, I was shocked to find a plain white cake with very plain writing "Happy Birthday Whitney and Katie Beth"....I proceeded to tell the decorator that she had made a mistake, because I had ordered a princess cake....she showed me my order form and oopsie, I didn't make the box by the princess cake...hmmmm why can't people read my mind? COSTCO has amazing customer service and do you know what that lady did? She took my cake, scraped off the icing and redecorated it right there!!!! It was a nice time of being together. The kids all played nicely and we actually got to have some uninterrupted adult conversation! I was supposed to purchase a pull string pinata since we no longer have real trees...oopsie, I messed up and bought a whacking-type pinata...what to do, what to do? John came up with a solution...take the kids to the dirt hill behind out neighborhood where there is lots of construction equipment and tie it up there! BINGO...white-trashy or rednecked, not sure which, but it worked!

Last Post Reminded me of Something

What happens when you you let a beautiful tattooed model.....



Hold your sweet baby boy....


Why...he gets a tattoo, of course!

Sweet Music Video

Do you rememember THIS wedding that I helped with last summer? Well that was the brother of my good friend from college, Beth. Her family has been special to us for a long time. We all lived in Irving after college and then we lived in Keller together for 10 years. I helped babysit their daughter, Hannah when Beth went back to work part-time many years ago. She then had Maddie only 13 months after Hannah was born, and her work days ended! We were all at Florence Elementary together and served on PTA together and many, many events. Their family is one of the BIG things that we miss about Keller!!!

Beth's dad wrote this song in 1959 and he and her brother have formed a band (Curb Service) that performed it and made this video. Proud of them and all their hard work. Enjoy! At the end, that is her red-headed Momma (BING as we call her) and her Daddy heading off into the sunset. You will also recognize Beth's brother Brad and his beautiful wife, Jayme. Isn't that sweet?

I Knew It Was You - Curb Service from Curb Service on Vimeo.

EAT MOR CHIKIN

Only Whitney could come up with this theme for her party. I agreed way before our move to doing a sleepover for her birthday. I knew that leaving her old friends would be hard and I wanted her to be able to celebrate her birthday in a special way. Our move was postponed, and we had not even been in our house two weeks when the party time rolled around...what was I thinking??? Anyway, even though we still have lots of boxes unpacked and don't know where everything is....we were able to pull off a successful party for Whitney. And in true Stonecipher Party form...EVERYONE that was invited was able to come! We started with fun at our house in the hamster ball and runnning around. We enjoyed some Chic-Fil-A nuggest (a huge party tray and they devoured it!), then we headed off to the local skating rink for a couple of hours of fun, then back to the house for cake and a movie then off to bed...whew...makes me tired just typing this. We then got up and enjoyed Krispy Kreme donuts, breakfast casserole and fresh fruit. More Hamster Ball and board games and then it was time to go home. Whitney had a BLAST! She was so happy having all of her friends here. We even let Savannah have her best friend here who is the older sister of one of Whitney's friends. It was a great time of Celebrating Whitney...LOUD and FUN...that is how she rolls!

Celebrating a Decade of Whitney!!!

Whitney turned 10 on Monday! It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years ago that we welcomed Whitney Michelle into our hearts and life! She adds some flavor to this family of ours. She has always marched to a different beat. She has always been loud and fun! She is smart, funny, and comes up with some interesting ideas. She has lots of friends and is growing in her walk with the Lord. She thinks about Eternity and is sensitive to other's need for Christ. We are proud of the girl she has become and look forward to seeing what God has in store for her future. Happy Birthday Whitney!

New School and RIDING THE BUS!

Blayne and Whitney have changed schools with our move. Our new school is brand new, which is different from the school where we previously attended, our beloved Florence. God has paved the way in all of this. Had we stayed in Keller, we would have been at a different elementary school next year, anyway, so there would have been a change for our family. Our new school is beautiful and the people have seemed friendly so far. It has been an adjustment for Whitney because the classrooms are set up for cooperative learning, and not the traditional "be quiet and get your work done" setting that she is used to. There is a lot of hands-on activity and a lot of NOISE! I think that once she embraces this new learning style, she will LOVE it as it fits her personality, but it is a drastic change from her previous environment. Her teacher is a seasoned teacher and is sensitive to all of this transition. There were tears, but she is making the best of everything as she usually does! I was contacted after the first three days and was told that they want to test her for Gifted and Talented. She is standing out as a bright shining star, as she has in the past, but it is different being in a new place. When asked "Whitney where were you in your previous school in Social Studies (state adopted book, so they are all using the same textbook)?" Her response "well, we were a chapter ahead of where you guys are..." then she preceded to give an outline of the next chapter including important dates, names and facts....THAT was probably the day that I received the e-mail about GT. I don't think that the teacher will be asking her anymore questions like that!

Blayne hasn't missed a beat. No complaints, no tears, no negative comments. He is just excited that they let you eat breakfast at school for a dollar if you want! (he didn't realize that was an option at the old school). He likes that they go to lunch and then out to recess for a long time. He told me that he has a friend with "ponytails"...I was picturing hair put up in ponytails like Whitney and was wondering if this was a weird child with parents that won't cut his hair...after many discussions about this favorite friend, I asked if he had brown skin...the reply "nope he has black skin"...so those aren't actually PONYTAILS, they are braids plaided neatly to his head! Whew...what relief. Blayne got another young teacher...you know that is all that he has experienced in his young school career. She seems very sweet. He has homework every night and never complains. He is reading chapter books at night just like the girls do and begs to finish the page before lights out....I am so thankful because I feared he would not love reading like his sisters to.
Well, sorry to make this so long. I will go add the pictures, that is what you REALLY want to see anyway! I haven't taken the embarrassing first day of school pictures with their teachers, YET. I will, just give me time. It would have been awkward on that random Wednesday when they started school.




Oh, and they RIDE THE BUS!!!! It has been wonderful. We are still transporting Savannah to her old school, but I sure am enjoying the others riding the bus. I didn't realize how much less stressful the morning is when I don't have to get everyone out of the house and to school to drop kids off! The bus has been an easy transition until yesterday...Writing TAKS Day...it was really chilly so I had them wait a few extra minutes to go our because the day before we waited for 15 minutes...oopsie, Whitney when out and saw the bus as it was rounding the corner, leaving the bus stop!!! She turned back in tears. Never fear...Daddy will take you! Tears wiped, prayers lifted for a good testing day for her and Savannah and off they went! Not the way, that I wanted her day to start. This is a picture of them riding the bus the first day. Their driver is a very nice lady that is always dressed nice and put together...not what I was picturing for a school bus drive at all! Thankful for the school bus and nice driver.