Slumber Party Madness!!

Today was Grace's birthday slumber party. Daddy surprised her by renting a limo to pick up her and all of her invited guests!

Toasting each other with Propel!

Lots and lots of girlie silliness!

The limo dropped us off for a very fancy dinner at CiCi's Pizza!

Grace with Charles!

After our limo ride we came home and had cake and ice cream...

...read a few celebrity magazines about Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers...

...had manicures and pedicures...

...crashed watching "Enchanted!"Honestly, they laid down about 10:30 and were all out by 11:45. The next morning we had donuts before everyone was picked up and we headed for soccer.

The whole thing was a blast. It was so much fun watching the girls put on make-up, sing and dance in the back of that limo! I think Scott was overwhelmed by the amount of estrogen in the car. He had a bit of a stunned look about him as he watched them! Thomas who was so NOT looking forward to having 7 girls spend the night and was WAY too cool to consider participating in a "girls" party....completely changed his tune once he saw that limo. Big brother had a great time! Mandy thought she was just as big as the big girls and had to do everything they did. Fortunately, at 7 they all still find her cute and are not yet annoyed by her wanting to do what they are doing. We had the best time and I think it was the easiest birthday party I've ever done.

I was so proud of who Grace has chosen for her friends. They were all smart, polite and charming girls and we ALL had a great time.

Blessings,

Leslie

May 8, 2008

Thursday Grace turned 7!!! Seven. She's a beautiful, funny sassy little girl and she's brought such joy and blessings to our lives.

We started her day with a new outfit and a trip to the donut store.

That evening we asked where she wanted to have dinner and she chose Tino's, a little local Mexican food place by mom and dad's house! We met Gigi and Papaw and Jane and Judy, had dinner, cupcakes and opened presents.

Thomas and Mandy gave her their presents. Mandy had a really hard time with the present part, in fact she had trouble with it being Grace's birthday. I think of all our children, Mandy loves to celebrate her birthday the most!

Grace had a great time at her "family" birthday and had trouble going to sleep because she was so excited about her slumber party the next day.

Blessings,

Leslie

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

We've had a busy week and I'll post more later, but I wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY and share this with you...

More fun in OKC!

We got to sleep in this morning. None of us got up until 9:30. Thankfully there was no chocolate milk crisis to awaken us all! After breakfast the kids and I headed over to the Oklahoma State Capitol. Oh come on....you HAD to know that was coming! Have you ever known me to pass up a state capitol?? It wasn't far from the hotel and easy to get to. Thank heaven for GPS! It's a beautiful capitol with an actual oil well on the grounds. How cool is that? We parked and walked up to the front doors....they were locked. The sign said to enter on the SW side so we walked there...locked. We started on around to the next set of doors when we passed a group that told us they had already walked all the way around and ALL the doors were locked. It seems that the Oklahoma State Capitol is not open on weekends. The hours printed on the door SAID they were open, but it was locked up tight. Thomas was ticked. He announced to all who had gathered at the locked doors that, "TEXAS doesn't close its capitol, it's always open." I'm sure they wondered how an 8 year old was so familiar with the visitation hours of the Texas capitol. Anyway, we snapped a couple of pictures on the steps and headed back to the car. It was very chilly here today. We were fine out of the wind. When they sing, "Oklahoma...where the wind comes sweeping down the plains," they ain't kidding! We went to Wal-mart to buy sweaters for the girls.

After our trip to the capitol we met Scott back at the hotel. We all walked a few blocks to the Oklahoma National Memorial. On our walk there we tried to explain to Thomas and Grace what we were going to go see. We went to the site several years ago during the construction of the memorial, but the museum hadn't been completed yet. If you find yourself in OKC, near OKC, or looking for a weekend trip someplace...THIS IS A MUST SEE. It is honestly one of the best, most exceptionally well done museums I have ever been to. And, you all know that as a history teacher I am a harsh judge of museums. When you enter, this statement is the first thing you see...

"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

I love that line..."May all who leave here know the impact of violence." I always worry about taking the kids to these places. As you know,they've been to the WTC site and Shanksville. However, afterwards I'm always glad we did. This museum does an excellent job delivering it's message to children. Yes, there is sometimes violence in the world, but through it we discover how brilliantly the human spirit shines.

I cried my way through the entire museum. Towards the end they have a room that has pictures of all 168 people who were killed. They are in these clear plastic cases and inside, with the picture is a momento that their families have placed there. The kids...one little girls box had her little plastic dress up shoes...

Let's just say I'll be hugging my children extra tight tonight.

You will feel completely wrung out when you are done. I felt like I did after attending the Holocaust Museum in D.C.

We walked around the memorial garden for awhile and then walked across the street to St. Joseph's church. Their rectory was right across the street and was damaged so badly in the blast that it was torn down. They have erected this AWESOME memorial of their own...

Jesus stands with his back to the destruction and the bottom of the statue says...

Absolutely amazing.

After this, we walked back to get our car so we could go to dinner. We went to Old Spaghetti Warehouse, a family favorite.
Dad treated to cheesecake and chocolate cake for dessert.

Afterwards, we took a carriage ride around Bricktown!While on this ride we passed the WORLD headquarters of Sonic!! This was quite exciting for the kids and I. I love Sonic...real Coke, fresh lime..yum. Anyway, as it turns out the first Sonic and the 3000th Sonic are in Shawnee, OK. Since we visit Sonic so frequently, I felt the need to take a picture, so that I know where the $$ goes!Afterwards we went back to the hotel so that the kids could swim. Mandy tried to put her swimsuit on by herself..."I DO IT!" Yes, we are in that phase. After she did it herself this is what she looked like...

Obviously doing it yourself is not always the best option.

The bubbles in the hot tub were the hit of the pool tonight...

Tomorrow we are going to the Cowboy Museum and then we are headed back to Texas! (Where the capitol is always open!)

Blessings,

Leslie

What an exciting, busy day we had in Oklahoma City! Mandy woke us all up about 7:20 by throwing a huge fit for chocolate milk! Since we were all up we dressed and headed down to breakfast. Afterwards, we dropped Scott off at his golf tournament and headed for the zoo.

This is by far the best zoo experience I have ever had! The kids and I had the BEST time. First off, we saw more animals there than at every other zoo we've ever been to combined. And, they were so CLOSE. The habitats were amazing. It's also a botanical garden so it was beautiful.

Just look how close those elephants are!
They had those great old machines that make wax animals while you wait. This was the big fascination of the day. They all had to have one and then wanted to buy one for Dad.

Each species had it's own section of the zoo. At the entrances they had these great statues for the kids to play on and pose for pictures.

We say tons of great animals. I had to include the bald eagle we saw. He was so gorgeous and regal!











Of course we had ice cream and snow cones!

After the zoo we picked up Scott and headed over to see our cousins Scott, Patty, Colton, Parker and Hudson. We had such fun with them, as always! The kids have a great time playing and the adults have just as much fun visiting! After dinner they took us to this great place near Arcadia Lake called "Pops." It's this awesome place that all about soda pop! It's all in glass bottles and they have every flavor you could think of. They had an entire refrigerator case of different black cherry sodas, Scott's favorite! I had a pear soda, yes pear! Thomas had sasparilla, but the girls were not as adventurous as the rest of us...they had Sprite!

Out back they have tables and chairs and a huge lawn. The kids drank their sodas and ran around like crazy. Perfect for running off all that sugar and caffeine!

Even Hudson enjoyed sampling the different sodas!

What a cutie!

Isn't it wonderful to have family that you are also great friends with?! I have lots of cousins being that my mom is one of SIX. When we were kids we were forced to be together and play nice because... our parents made us. As adults we have found that we really enjoy each others company and are committed to giving our kids the blessing of knowing their cousins. For me, as an only child, I really value these relationships with my cousins.

We have had a really fun, exciting, exhausting day...

Blessings,

Leslie

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A! Oklahoma! OK!

Scott has a conference in Oklahoma City this weekend, so the kids and I decided we'd tag along. We left this afternoon after school and we are playing hooky tomorrow! All the times we've visited family in the area, we've never actually seen what OKC has to offer. So, tomorrow and Saturday while Scott conferences, the kids and I are going to explore. We are staying at the Skirvin Hilton in an area of downtown they call "Bricktown." The kids walked in an immediately said that the hotel was "fancy" because of all the red curtains! They wanted their picture taken on the red couch with the "fancy curtains" in the background. Not sure what we are doing yet tomorrow, other than having breakfast with Scott before he goes to play golf. I still don't get how golf is "work." I guess that stems from me working all my professional life in the public sector where that would NEVER fly.

After checking into the hotel, Scott took the kids swimming in the indoor pool.

As you can tell, great fun was had. This is a picture of what happens when you're the youngest and your parents are sleeping 5 people in one hotel room with 2 double beds....Blessings,

Leslie

Even McDonald's Gets IT!!!

Ok...I try really hard to keep this blog about our family, and not about my work, but today I just can't resist.



I saw this McDonald's billboard today...

McDonalds! gets the value of loving what they do. The POWER that they have when it comes to promoting what they do and how what they say affects their image.

Wouldn't this be an AWESOME billboard if the people were teachers???

Corporations spend millions of dollars every year on public relations...because IT WORKS!! Education/Educators are taking serious hits to our image and we MUST learn to do this too. It's the only way to protect our image and turn the tide of negativity regarding our profession.

Ok...I feel better now. Seriously...I'm off my soapbox. I promise. Carry on.

Leslie