Catching Up

Finally, it seems as though the germs have left the Hooks house! All weekend Lily was a little hoarse and Mia still had diarrhea, but it seems we are now all back to "normal." Here's hoping we stay this way for awhile because man, that wasn't fun.

Even though everyone wasn't at 100%, we had a nice weekend. Saturday late morning, the four of us went to the Taste of Smyrna which was great. It was a little warm, but there were lots of shaded areas to enjoy. Tons of restaurants come out and offer samples of their food for small prices, typically anywhere from 50 cents to $4. We had Williamson Brothers (BBQ), Crepe Revolution (Nutella crepes), The Melting Pot (brownies, pound cake and strawberries with chocolate drizzled over) and Kenny's Pies (mini key lime). Lily and I also shared a lemonade which is always a treat, and both girls LOVED the Blue Raspberry Hawaiian Shave Ice that they shared. Their tongues were bright blue, and they thought that was hilarious. The photographer from The Bright Side (a local newspaper) came by and snapped their pictures; how fun if it ends up in next month's edition!

Ryan and Mia stayed a little longer and enjoyed some of the carnival-like atmosphere (jumpies, exotic bird show, etc) while Lily and I headed out Sierra's birthday party. Sierra is her best friend from school. Everyday when she comes home from school, I hear a report on what Sierra had to eat, what she wore, what color her project was, etc. We also hear about Shelby and Ally, but it's usually about Sierra. I love that Lily has made her own friends; kids she truly enjoys playing with who aren't necessarily kids of our friends (though we like when she plays with them too!). She couldn't wait to get to Sierra's party. It was at a place called DACS Kids which I had never heard of. It was a really neat place. It is an inside playground that looks like a huge pirate ship! They have sand all around it, jumpies to play in and crawl through and little cannon shooters that launch foam balls really high into the air. Lily immediately went to one of the cannons and just kept laughing and having fun. A few minutes after we arrived, Sierra and Ally saw her and came running up. She immediately started playing with them and having a great time. It was so much fun to watch her! Lily also loved the princess castle cake and seeing Sierra open all her presents. This really was a fun party.

On our way home, we stopped into Publix to pick up things for the evening's dinner. Ryan's friend, Allison, was going to join us. Ryan and Allison went to Vestavia Hills High School together, and have stayed friends for a long time. She has spent the last three years in Egypt as a math teacher at a Christian School. She has recently moved back home to Birmingham, but she was in Atlanta for the weekend. We always love to hear about people's travels, so we were thrilled she was able to visit for a bit. She brought some great scrapbooks to look through, and she had lots of cool stories from the places she visited and people she met. The girls were both very well behaved and enjoyed having Allison there too. We all had a wonderful time visiting with her; it's always great to catch up with an old friend.

On Sunday, Ryan, Lily and I went to church while Mia stayed home with some of Ryan's family that was in town visiting. After church, Ryan headed down to the Falcons game with some friends, so Lily and I enjoyed lunch together at Moes. Since Mia wasn't with us, we were able to sit on the high stools against the wall; she thought that was awesome. I really enjoyed getting some one on one time with Lily; she is so much fun to talk with! She went down for her nap soon after we got home. Since Mia had taken a morning nap, she didn't want anything to do with an afternoon nap! This let us have some one-on-one time too which was nice. I am amazed everyday at how big Mia is getting. She is talking so much more, and she is just downright fun to be with. We are so blessed to have these two sweet girls!

The girls are out of school this week for Fall Break, so we're getting to spend more time with them. Ryan spent most of Monday with them before my mom came over. Mom and Dad just returned from a trip to California (they had an awesome time), and the girls were so excited to see her. They brought Mia a cute mix-and-match puzzle that she has had so much fun with. Lily also loves the book they brought her; it shows you how to trace your hand into different animal shapes, and then you can color, glue googly eyes and pom-poms (all included) on to decorate. It's a really cool book, and Lily is having a blast with it. Dad was also able to stop by for just a minute on his way home from work, so they were excited to see him too. After dinner, we cleaned up and then a few friends came over for Girls Night Out which is always fun. Ryan kept the girls downstairs where they played and had fun until bedtime.

He also stayed with the girls a bit this morning while I had a work meeting, but then I came home so he could go to his lunch meeting. I took the girls to McEntyre's Bakery which is always delicious. Ryan had already fed them lunch, so they were excited to get little cupcakes as a special treat while I enjoyed lunch. Lily picked the vanilla cupcake with orange leaf on it while Mia wanted the vanilla cupcake with red leaf. After that we ran by The Dollar Tree to pick up a few things, and then we headed home. We had a lot of fun just playing together (I love it when they play nicely together!), and then mom arrived to take over, so I could return to work. It's been a nice day, and we'll head out to church in just a little bit. We ate a delicious dinner at church on Wednesday evening, and then Lily really enjoys going to choir and mission friends. Mia also has fun in her nursery class where they make the cutest little craft projects and sing sweet songs. Ryan and I join our friends in a study too; this semester we're discussing predestination versus free will and the historical and Biblical aspects of the two. It's quite an interesting topic that gets some lively discussions going!

Well, I think that gets us caught back up on what's going on in our lives. I realize this isn't the most exciting stuff in the world for everyone to read, but I enjoy writing it all down to remember what life is like right now. Our girls are growing up so quickly, and I want to always remember these sweet and precious ages. While working on our scrapbooks, I always read the blog again to help me remember what was going on at that time. Last week I was working on early 2009 (I realize I am really behind in my scrapbooking!), and I just couldn't believe reading some of the blog posts. Mia was only a few months old, and Lily was just getting into conversations. I just kept thinking "I can't believe how different they are now!" as I read it. So, if you read this blog regularly, thank you for allowing me to share our everyday lives with you!