Ruidoso with The Fabulous Five

Last Spring, my wonderful friend and ex-neighbor called me up and asked if I wanted to go to her parents' vacation home in Ruidoso, New Mexico with her and and her two kids. We have known the Nix family for about 10 years and although we live miles apart, we keep in touch. There was no re-thinking this, as my Momma always said my middle name is "Go". I anxiously discussed it with John and told him about all of the great things we could do. He then let me know that he would not have enough vacation time to join us on the trip. We looked at different scenarios and there just wasn't a good plan for him to be able to go along with us, so I loaded up our big white van and headed to Lubbock for a night and then onto to Brownfield to meet up with Tamera and her children. She is a brave friend to be inviting me with FIVE kids to go along with her on a vacation that would last more than a week!!! Tamera has two children, they are 13 and 11....It has been a while since she has had a 4 year-old and a one-year-old in the house! But that is one thing that I love about Tamera (or Ms. Tamera as my kids call her), she is very laid back and keeps the kids hopping with activity and she LOVES young children and doesn't seem to get annoyed by their childishness or whining or...just being a little kid! We had SO much fun. I had never driven to West Texas before. It was so sad to see how the drought had affected the land and as we got into New Mexico we even saw evidences of wildfires: scorched mountainsides and barren fields and forests. It was quite sobering. We stopped in Olney, Texas to see my Aunt and we ate at a local cafe. The locals stared at us...I mean, I was a site to see being by myself with 5 children in a small cafe, and it was obvious that I was a stranger. It was like a scene from a scary movie! We enjoyed our hotel stay in Lubbock and the kids REALLY enjoyed swimming after a long day in the car. My friend, Gracie loaned me her GPS so it was fun navigating in a new place with the electronic voice telling us where to go! (little did I know that would be the only trip that I would get to use the GPS since someone broke into my van the day after we returned and store the GPS all, cords, my stereo and my wallet...as I digress...sorry) We enjoyed a week of visiting museums, scooter rides, Smokey the Bear, White Sands Sledding, trampoline jumping, swimming in the pool with freezing temps, sweating at night from an unseasonable heat wave, going to a Hoe-Down, watching a little girl beauty pageant, seeing a movie, shopping in town, visiting a haunted hotel, picking cherries and I could go on and on. Tamera has been coming here for long time and she knows all of the fun things to do. We celebrated Father's Day, without either of our husbands present, at the country club. It was such a great trip and I felt rather guilty that John missed out on all of our fun. Savannah's favorite part was going to White Sands, Whitney's favorite part was the theater that we toured, Reagan' favorite thing was the Smokey the Bear Museum, Blayne's favorite part was getting to ride in Ms. Tamera's trunk around the neighborhood of the vacation home and jumping on the trampoline with Noah, and Bryan's favorite part was feeding deer right off the back porch!

Savannah's 13th Birthday

Well, I am sure you have noticed my blog is behind...well, life has been busy (and I sure you would like to see all of the pictures to prove it!) Our computer crashed back in May. I have been so sad because somehow we lost a chunk of pictures...it was Blayne's birthday, end of the year stuff and Savannah's birthday....I have been hopeful to recover them, but so far it has not happened. I was glad that I had uploaded some of my pictures to my facebook account, so pictures like the only ones I have of Savannah's 13th party are here! We had Savannah's party at our house this year. We were supposed to go to the new Hawaiian Falls, but it opened 3 weeks late!!! So, we instead just hung out here and went to our neighborhood pool. I don't have any of the great pictures of Savannah and all of her friends, but I documented the cake that she wanted me to make....it was a huge effort to pull it off, but it was exactly what she wanted and tasted oh so good!!!! I can't believe that I have a TEENAGER living in my house! Savannah is a precious girl. She is soft spoken, sweet, silly, smart, style-conscious, super organized and special....like all of those S's describing our girl??? We are thankful for our Sweet Savannah and the young lady that the Lord is making her into. Happy Birthday Savannah!!!

End of the School Year

Soooo, we got everyone to the end of the school year. Reagan graduated pre-school, but because of a September 5th birthday, she will be home another year. Savannah finished 7th grade, Whitney sang in the school talent show at her NEW school and finished 4th grade and Blayne finished the 1st grade. Everyone did very well academically, and after a tough adjustment, both Blayne and Whitney are now "at home" at their new school. For the record, I would NOT recommend starting your children at a new school in February!!! Here are some pictures from the end of the year.

Blayne's Birthday

It is hard to believe that Blayne is already already 8 years old. Blayne is a sweet and sensitive boy. He makes friends easily and has a charm that attracts others. He can aggravate the girls and push their buttons, but he can also be funny and entertaining and have us all laughing! He is very smart (more than I realized) He has tested very high on all tests at school, he loves to read, and is learning to enjoy writing too! He is very good at math and enjoys it....must have gotten that from his Daddy and his Uncle Jerral. We celebrated his birthday at Jump for Fun...again...and enjoyed our time with his many friends. John and I had to divide and conquer that night because Savannah was getting recognized for her academic achievements at the Middle School that night. I had to enlist my sister-in-law's help to run the party since I was managing as a single parent that night! It all went very well. We love you Blayne Michael Stonecipher and we look forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for your life!

Reagan's Pre-school Graduation

Reagan had a wonderful year at Keller Christian School. She had an outstanding teacher, Mrs. Kimble. She learned a lot and enjoyed making new friends. Her favorite friend is Madelyn. These two girls get a long so well. We plan to keep in touch with her family and keep the girls together with playdates and such. At Reagan's graduation, she was presented with a new Bible. While on stage, it was announced what the children wanted to be when they grew up. There were doctors, race car drivers, mommies, and other community service people. Our daughter's ambition is to be a DANCER and to work at Chuck E. Cheese....hmmm she is not setting the bar real high! The audience laughed...and the fact that she didn't come right on stage because she was admiring her picture on the big screen...then she hopped right up. It is never dull when you have Reagan around!

Easter Brunch

We were invited to our old neighbor's house for the annual Easter Brunch. It was so exciting to receive the e-mail inviation as we did know if we would be invited any more now that we have moved. They had us and The Craycrafts (the family that purchased our old house) all come along with many, many more guests. The food was yummy and it was so nice to have another family with kids there to celebrate. Took some pressure off of me! Made me happy to be there, but also sort of sad knowing that we no longer live on that beautiful street.

End of the Year Party

Reagan had a blast at her End of The Year Splash Day. The teachers worked hard to organize some fun! It was an overcast breezy day, but that didn't hold the kids back from splashing and enjoying eachother's company. There was one child in the class that whined and cried at every game. I mentioned to the teacher that the child "must be having a bad day". Her response "it's like this EVERYDAY with that child"...oh my word, how did she ever stand that? Hats off to Ms. Stannie for fabulous pre-school experience for Miss Reagan Marie. She has another year before she starts school, but we have decided to keep her home and have some fun before "real" school starts. She will be taking dance class and enjoying time with Momma and Bryan. We are also contemplating putting her in a Dual Language program at our new elementary school. She would be taught both English and Spanish. It is a five year commitment and I am inquiring about the program from teachers and parents of students that have/are participating. She has very strong verbal skills, so I think that she would soak it up. How cool would it be for her to be fluent in both languages by the end of 5th grade. We are leaning toward putting her into the program at this point, but thankfully we have another year to get educated on the program and its pros and cons.