End of Spring

 Wow, these last six weeks have flown by! I didn't even make an April post. Work was unbelievably hectic until the 15th. Then we took a few days off to rest up, and then there's just been things taking my attention. Good things for sure though. So, here we have all of April and a lot of May.

Lily found out a few months ago that one of her most favorite actresses was staring in Hadestown on Broadway. Ryan and I came up with a fantastic idea: he would take her to NYC for a day trip over spring break! Mia was going to be in drivers ed all week, and I was going to be working a ton; they didn't have much of anything going on during the week. She was over the moon excited! They had fun thinking of all the cool things they could do on their daytrip. A few weeks before the trip, Lily found out the actress was only cast in this for a month or so then she was returning to filming her show. Unfortunately, her run was over before their trip. Talk about disappointing! They knew the trip would be fun even still, so on a very early Wednesday morning of spring break, off they went!

They were able to snag a table for two at the famous Stardust Diner. This is known as a restaurant where actors and actresses waiting for their big shot on Broadway work. They break into song throughout the meal. How cool! Lily got caught with someone singing literally right behind her!

We were able to get them really awesome front row seats for the show. The actors could practically spit on them!

They had some time to walk around Times Square and go in a couple of shops. It was cold and rainy the whole time, but these two can always have a fun time together, rain or shine.

They even managed to sneak in a slice of pizza!

This was such a fun day for the two of them, and I know they made lifelong memories on it. Some of the memories though weren't quite as fun (at the time - they're better now!). The rain started to turn into a storm as it got later in the day. After they got to the airport for the flight home, flights started getting cancelled due to weather. They were on a Delta flight, and we knew that Atlanta-based crew wanted to get home, so we were hopeful their flight wouldn't get cancelled. It was delayed once, then twice, then a third time. They were absolutely exhausted at this point and thought they were going to have to sleep on the floor at the airport. Not a good feeling. Thankfully, two seats opened up on a flight that was leaving, and Ryan was able to snag them. They had to book it to another terminal, but they made it! So, about 5 hours after they were originally supposed to leave, they finally headed out. They landed in Atlanta about 3am the next morning. Luckily, they were able to take Thursday to rest and relax from their adventure.

I decided to stay home for the evening after picking Mia up from drivers ed on the day they were in NYC, so she and I could hang out some. We went to dinner at Miyako which is always a treat.

On Friday of Spring Break, Ryan and Lily drove over to Birmingham. They picked up Bama, and all went to a Samford volleyball match together. Yay for Samford coming out on top of UAB! After this they treated Bama to an early birthday dinner at Perry's which they said was delicious. On Saturday morning, Ryan and Lily headed back to Samford for Junior Day. This is a chance for high school juniors to get to know Samford better. I'm pretty sure that this solidified Lily's decision on a college!

On April 8, there was a total solar eclipse! GA was going to receive a little more than 80% totality of the eclipse. Schools let out early (a little unnecessary if you ask me), so Ryan and the girls were home. They donned their special eclipse glasses and enjoyed seeing this from our back deck. I had a pair of the special glasses at the office, so the ladies and I took a little break to go outside and pass them around, so we too could see what all the fuss was about. Not the coolest thing I've seen, but it was neat for sure.

We love happy Decker!

Mia had the chance to go with Brylliant to see Shrek: Reimagined at The Fox. They put this together since their group performed Shrek Jr back in December and at JTF in January. The next night, Ryan and Lily took our friends Adam and Samantha Raeburn since neither Mia nor I were able to go. The consensus all around was unfortunately the show wasn't very good but it was fun to be with friends both nights. A night at The Fox is always going to be fun.

Ryan took the 11th graders to the Bible Museum down in Lagrange on a field trip. They had a great time!

Our small group held a 20's murder mystery dinner party one evening, and it was so much fun! We dressed up according to our roles and had fun figuring out the murderer throughout the evening. Who knew Lindsey had it in her to (pretend) murder the theater owner?!

The weekend after tax season ended was Secret Church. David Platt teaches this each year, and we love it. This year he walked through the book of Ruth verse by verse. He is a gifted teacher, and we always love learning more about God from his teachings. We were happy that Jeff and Ali Pennington were able to join us as well. They are such sweet friends of ours, and we always enjoy time together. This was a great evening.

Our family was excited to celebrate the end of tax season with an amazingly delicious steak dinner at Marcel's. It is always a fantastic experience. Ryan and Mia were happy to order the Baked Alaska dessert which resulted in this fun fire display right at the table.

Six was the next show at The Fox at the end of April. We three ladies love this show! Ryan's seen it a couple of times already, and while he enjoys it, he was okay passing on this go-round. I was happy to invite Samantha Raeburn to join us. She had never seen this show before, so we knew she'd enjoy this. It's fun to share these experiences with friends, and this time, it was so much better than Shrek!

Stonehaven's annual Saltere was in early May. My girls look so beautiful all dressed up!

We loved having Paige Pennington come over to hang our and ride with Mia; she's such a great friend!

Lily met up with a lot of her friends on the Square for a photo shoot beforehand. She was able to snag a few more pictures once she actually got to the school too.

We had a gorgeous Mother's Day in mid-May! After church, our family drove over to Marietta Country Club to have lunch with my parents and Wayne. I am more than happy to get to celebrate my mom on this day. She's the best, and I am so thankful for her.

After lunch we were happy to go Lauren and Kate's graduation party for a little bit. So many of Lily's closest friends are seniors, so we have had a parade of parties this spring. It's both so much fun to celebrate these wonderful graduates, but we know we will miss them terribly next fall.

We dropped the girls off at home and turned around to pick up Ethan and Amanda Evans. We were excited to have them join us for To Kill A Mockingbird at The Fox. It was indescribably good. The whole cast was amazing, but Richard Thomas as Atticus was fantastic. It was really fun to know too that the neighbor in the play, Mrs. Dubose, was played by the actress who played Scout in the original movie (Mary Badham). We all left in awe of this ageless play. It was a great way to end my Mother's Day.

Mrs. Myrick led the Stonehaven choir to victory at a recent competition. We saw the video from it, and they were fantastic! Lily had a lot of fun with this group.

I don't know why in the world Decker chose to sit like this out front for about 10 minutes one beautiful afternoon, but it was cracking me up.

Lily and Peter Smit have been getting to know one another since mock trial earlier this year. He came with Lauren and other friends to one of the Mean Girls performances (that has its completely own post). Afterwards, Lily met him in the lobby where he gave her a beautiful bouquet of flowers that asked her to be his girlfriend on them. It was super sweet! She said yes, and we all look forward to getting to know this great guy better.

Look at this adorable little Crestridge bear stuffmellow Lily got!

Ryan has made such a wonderful connection with the boys he teaches in 9th grade Bible. He taught them in 8th and 9th though of course we've known many of them for years since they are Mia's classmates. The boys finish Ryan's three year survey of the Bible in 9th grade, so they will not have him next year. So, at the end of this school year, they presented him with a Bible. They wrote him the most precious note in the front, and then they filled the margins throughout with notes and inside jokes. This has already become a treasure to him. Ryan's already looking forward to having these boys again (plus the girls!) in 11th grade for Systematic Theology!

It's been a wonderful Spring!