A True Princess

Grace peeking out of her new pop-up princess house

Happy 3rd Birthday, Grace!

Part of Grace's festivities today included a girly twist on an old classic: Pin the Butterfly on the Flower. With the girls' help, Janelle made a beautiful poster-size drawing of a flower, which we taped to the wall. When the guest arrived, they got to color their own butterfly, which Janelle had earlier cut out of paper. The game was a great hit, especially when the kids realized they each won a lollipop just for playing the game!

The Princess Party House

Grace turned 3 today (yeah!) and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast party with mom & dad and her 3 sisters. The usual breakfast cereal got set aside for an awesome treat of cinnamon rolls, sausage and eggs. Mmmm! Grace got to open her family presents afterward, one of which was a princess pop-up play house. The house gave much pleasure to the girls in the morning, and was a popular hit in the evening, too, when a few families came over for Grace's big party. How many kids can you fit into a 3'x3' pop-up house? Apparently quite a few! Grace (far right) enjoyed this photo op with Ellie & Chloe (far left) and friends Justin, Alicia and Kirra. Fun times for all in the princess party house!

Blast Xtreme

Friday was a day of celebration in the Stoops household. Brad turned, um, well... Brad had a birthday AND the girls enjoyed their last day of Vacation Bible School, which concluded with a performance on Friday night. Hundreds of kids participated, and it was pandemonium until the youth director, "Captain Marshall", called the kids to report for duty. They responded to that amazingly well, and went on to do an awesome job singing several songs and reciting the several Bible verses that they memorized. Way to go Stoops girls!

Girls, Meet your Uncle Scott

A couple weeks ago, we gathered with friends & family in Covina, CA to say goodbye to an amazing woman, Billie Stoops (Brad's grandma). Despite the sad circumstances of our gathering, it was great to be together with family. One particular highlight was for our girls to get to see/meet their Uncle Scott. We'd not seen him since Ellie was a baby, so he had never even met 3 of his nieces (Chloe, Grace & Brooke). Our time together was brief, but enough for the girls to begin to get (re)acquainted with their uncle. We're all looking forward to more time with him when we head back east to Virginia this summer for a quick family visit.