We returned from Italy on Thursday, January 3, around 5 PM. By the time we got home, we were all pretty exhausted, but we managed to stay up for a little bit. We kept the girls home from school on Friday so they could have a little extra rest and recovery. We had a peaceful, quiet weekend before getting back into the groove of life on Monday. Off we go into the new year!
I had the opportunity to chaperone Lily's Pathfinders trip one afternoon. We went to Stone Summit to enjoy some rock climbing. I was very pleasantly surprised that Lily actually did some climbing! Of course, I saw her hanging out with Avery a good bit too; these two are such great friends!
Ryan and I celebrated our 17th anniversary on January 12th. It's hard to believe it's been 17 years! We had a low key celebration given our recent travels. McKayla came to stay with the girls while Ryan and I headed down Ponce City Market. We enjoyed Peking Duck, soup, and green beans at Jai; I love how authentic Jai is! After this we walked over to the cookie dough bar for dessert...so yummy! We took a little time to just walk around and window shop. It was a nice quiet evening; here's to another great year!
We were so proud of Lily. She was inspired at DNOW back in November to start a neighborhood Bible study. So, using her devotional book, she put together a great lesson on Jesus as our comforter, and we invited via Facebook all the neighborhood kids aged 5-12. We were so glad that 8 kids (plus Mia and herself) came! Even better, four of those kids do not attend church, so this is a great way for them to learn more about Christ. She is planning to host this one Sunday every month through May. So proud of her boldness!
John and Kendall gave Mia a cool string art set as part of her Christmas present. She had lots of fun putting this together. I love when the girls are creative!
Lily's been saving up her money as she wants to redecorate her bedroom. Last week, she and I went to Target and she found lots of cute things to make a reading nook. We rearranged her furniture, and she set up a great little area. Now she's saving up for a rug and new bed linens.
Mia is always up for a good cuddle, even with Decker!
Back in November, Ryan and I won an auction item at the school fundraising gala for Mia to take a fencing lesson with a friend and her former 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. St. Hill. She was so excited about this! Her friend Sophie and younger brother Beckett were able to join in. They had a great time!
Mia loved learning how to fence against Sophie!
After Lily rearranged her furniture, she invited Mia to have a sleepover and put the name of the movie they were going to watch up on her new marquee that she got for Christmas.
I snapped this picture as they slept and then lightened it up. I love when they have fun together!
Lily received two Foodstir kits for Christmas. One is a pancake art kit, and she hasn't used it yet. The other is a galaxy donut kit, and she made those for our dessert one evening. They looked so cool, and they tasted so good!
Look how awesome they turned out!
Ryan showed off his creative skills by making pasta one night for dinner, just like how we learned in Italy. He made the dough, rolled it out, and cut it into bucatini noodles. He then made the famous Roman dish of "cacio e pepe," and it was absolutely delicious! Truly amazing, and we're all begging him to make it again soon!
The new year is off to a great start!
No comments:
Post a Comment