Quiet February

It's been a pretty quite February (at least 24 days in to it) which is rather nice.  Of course, work is really starting to pick up, so it's nice to have life running smoothly!  Here are some of the things going on.

Lily joined Nate and Liam to represent Cambridge House in the school geography bee.  These three sixth graders were up against older kids, and they represented well.  Way to go Cambridge!

 Mia has started to learn how to cross stitch which is an old favorite hobby of mine.  It was fun to teach her and watch her grow to enjoy this.  I couldn't resist snapping a picture of her first creation.  I hope this is something she'll continue to have fun with!

 We always enjoy time with friends!  Danae came home for a playdate with Lily one afternoon, and Ryan treated them to bubble tea first.  Lily also enjoyed going to Flourish, a middle school girls' retreat at our church.  She invited Zaya to join her which made it even more fun.

 Ryan treated us to homemade pasta again, but this time he made us bowties to make carbonara.  This was definitely a labor of love, but they sure were tasty!  I love this new hobby he has picked up.

 Lily taught Aberle how to make some yummy cupcakes for our little super bowl party.  We were glad to have Brandy and Aberle join us that evening

 We continued our tradition of putting hearts up on the girls' mirrors each day from Feb 1-14 describing an attribute of each that we admire.  We have a couple of amazing girls.  I'm so proud to call them my daughters.

 A fun little Valentine's dinner of pizza pot pie shaped like a heart, heart strawberry jello, and a red apple.  I rarely do themes but this was fun one to make.

 Mia had absolutely fallen in love with this hedgehog that she saw at CVS!  Ryan couldn't resist giving it to her as a Valentine's present.  Needless to say, she was thrilled!  She named him Ryan.

 Mia has picked up reading the Harry Potter book series, and I'm thrilled!  We read the first one together as a family a couple of years ago.  Lily then picked up the series and read it through.  Mia didn't seem too interested, but suddenly, these books are all 4th grade can talk about.  It's great to be able to talk with her to compare the books and movies.

 I love when she reads to me.

 I enjoy reading with Lily too.  We were reading part of "Lily in London" on this particular evening.

 Lily's view of Decker while she ate a little snack in bed one Saturday morning.

 Now that she's rearranged her furniture, he loves to sit in her room and stare outside.  He stays like this for a bit then jumps up to bark at or watch a squirrel intently.

 The middle school adventure group called Pathfinders was supposed to go walk The Beltline and picnic at Piedmont Park last week, but since it has been raining non-stop, they had to change plans.  They ended up having a blast at Cumberland Community Church where they did group challenges with Highlands Camp. 

 Ryan had a great opportunity recently.  From Feb 10-18, he was in Spain with Ron Hughes, our friend and Sunday School teacher.  Ron is on staff with Johnson Ferry, and he leads some teaching at a seminary in Spain once a year.  He asked Ryan to join him this year.  We were really excited for Ryan to teach again; he's a great one.  He thoroughly enjoyed teaching each day and then getting to explore Madrid and the surrounding little towns.  They also spent the weekend in the Canary Islands leading an intensive study.  The pictures he sent were absolutely beautiful.  I'd never really thought about visiting Spain before, but now it's near the top of my list!

It's been a cold, rainy month so far, but we're all doing pretty well.  I'll give thanks for that!