Kendall and John's Wedding

On the Thursday of Fall Break, we headed down to Fairhope, AL.  We couldn't wait for Kendall and John's wedding!  After a bite to eat that evening with Liz, we settled in for the night.  The girls were thrilled to get "goodie bags" from Kendall filled with toys, snacks and candy.  On Friday, I headed to the bridesmaid's luncheon at The Fairhope Inn and Restaurant.  Everything was just lovely.  It was the perfect choice for a luncheon in this adorable town.  Liz had selected some amazingly delicious options for lunch.  I went with the crab cake salad, and it was wonderful.  John's aunt picked up a butter cake for dessert too which was yummy.  We rested up for a little bit afterwards, and soon it was time to head to the rehearsal.  Here's a picture of the girls before we headed out.

 Everything went well at the rehearsal, and soon it was time to head over to the dinner on the USS Alabama.  This was a neat place to hold a rehearsal dinner.  It was great to catch up with some family and friends that we don't get to see nearly enough.  Liz's brother, Larry, and his wife, Regina, drove down from Ohio; we hadn't seen them since our wedding, so it was great to visit with them.  Tons of other friends had driven down from Birmingham which was great.  The girls could have stayed next to Amy or Jimmy all night and been happy as clams!  Unfortunately, with two young ones, we weren't able to stay the whole evening; they were fading quickly and we wanted them well rested for Saturday.  I heard the rest of the evening was wonderful though!

Saturday arrived and promised to be another beautiful day.  The girls and I headed over after nap time to start getting them ready.  When we arrived, they were making the final cleaning touches on the dock.  The arch that one of Liz's friends made was truly stunning.  This picture was taken from the balcony where most of the guest watched the ceremony though the seats below were for family.

 Thankfully, Amy was available to fix the girls' hair.  She put braids on both sides of their heads and then pulled it back with a bow.  It looked great!

 Mia wasn't really sure what to think.

 Two beautiful flower girls ready to go!

 The girls with the gorgeous bride!

 The ceremony was wonderful, and thankfully, no one fell into the river (my fear!).  It brought tears to my eyes as Ryan walked Kendall down the aisle and gave her away.  I know it will be my girls walking with him all too soon. 

After the wedding, we snapped a quick family shot before walking upstairs to the reception.  It was a perfectly beautiful evening.

 I don't think I have ever seen Kendall happier; it was so great to watch.  She and John are such a perfect match for one another, and we wish them all the best.

Everyone had a lot of fun at the reception.  The place looked gorgeous, and the food was wonderful.  There was lots of seating to watch the beautiful sunset and enjoy the band.  We were able to continue catching up with family and friends which we loved.  This was a truly memorable evening.

Of course, these are just a few of the pictures we snapped with our phones.  I can't wait to see the photographer's photos when they come out soon!

A Couple of Miscellaneous Items

We had a movie night one evening.  Mia loved getting to try out her new sleeping bag!

 Lily was so excited to spend the night in Mia's room.  It took forever for them to get to sleep which was pretty fun to hear from the next room.

 Mia made this cute little scarecrow at school.

 Love this sweetheart!  I thought this shirt was too adorable to pass up for all the Beatles fans in our family.  Both girls have no problem picking out a Paul McCartney song!

Two excited girls who just found out we're heading to Disney World soon!

Lily's 6 Year Old Check-Up

Lily had her six year old check-up on the Monday of Fall Break.  Ryan took her, and they met our new pediatrician, Dr Schwartz.  Dr. White has moved to a practice closer to her home, so we decided to give the new doctor a try.  Ryan was pretty pleased with her.

Lily did well during her check-up.  Thankfully, there were no shots this go-round; she did get the flu mist nasal spray, but that wasn't a big deal.  She is now 3 feet, 8.25 inches high which is in the 31st percentile.  She weighs 45.6 pounds which is the 55th percentile.  Her blood pressure is 98/62 which is in the normal range.  She passed her hearing and eye test too.  All around, a good visit!  We are very thankful for a healthy 6 year old (how can she be this old?!).

Lily's "Cool School" Birthday Party

Lily couldn't wait for her birthday party on Friday afternoon!  Her original idea was to have a "reading party."  When I asked what she meant by that, she said she wanted to have friends over, and they would all read books to themselves or listen to me read books.  Have I mentioned that I love how much she loves books?  Anyway, we talked about that how that idea might not work out as she expected, so I gave her two ideas that came from a "reading" idea.  First, we could take her favorite book and have a party around that (like a Fancy Nancy theme), or we could have a "school" party and reading aloud could be part of it.  Lily took the school idea and ran with it.  So, we invited some of her closest friends from school and church and had a blast!

Ready to have fun with her reading shirt on!

 Welcome students!

 The birthday cake is ready!

 Appetizers for any parents who stayed (we offered for parents to drop off their kids since we were at home).

 Several of the girls had fun playing in the playhouse while we waited on everyone to arrive.  We were so thankful it was a beautiful day outside!

 The first part of our school day was Art Class.  All the girls painted treasure boxes to take home with them.  It was so fun to watch them paint and hear them chatter to one another.  This is such a fun age!

 Lily was loving this!

 Mia was having a blast painting her treasure box.

 Everyone finished up about the same time, so we moved from Art Class to Recess.  We headed down to our backyard.  Kelsey started everyone out on the sidewalk chalk.

 The bubbles were a huge hit.  McClendon and Nara had fun trying to catch them on their wands.

 Lauren got one!

 Rachael did too!

 Mia couldn't resist trying out the bubbles.

 Lily was thrilled that Anna was able to come!

 Mia had a great time mixing the sidewalk chalk and bubble soap to paint on the sidewalk!

 Lily, Jill and Callie had fun on the slide together.

 The girls also played with some balls, swung on the swings and played on the trapeze.  Really, they just had fun together which was great! 

Finally, it was time to line up to head back inside.  Of course, Lily insisted on being the line leader since it was her birthday.

 We settled down a little bit for Library Time.  Lily picked her favorite book (Princess Bedtime Stories) and her favorite princess (Ariel), so we read "Ariel's Special Song."  The girls were all very attentive listeners as they heard about Ariel's friend gathering her courage to sing at King Triton's birthday celebration.

 After Library Time, we headed into the playroom for Lunch.  Each girl had a brown bag lunch with a turkey and cheese sandwich, apple slices, small box of raisins and a baggie of goldfish and pretzels.  They each picked up either a water bottle or juice box too.  We parents enjoyed taco soup that had been simmering all day.

Everyone sat down in a circle to enjoy lunch together.

 As the girls finished up, Lunch spontaneously turned into Music Class as they started singing "In My Father's House" and "Father Abraham."  They were having a blast!

 We decided to keep Music class going and brought out the cake and sing Happy Birthday.  Lily blew out her candles, and then we sliced up the cake and handed out the ice cream (thank you Pintrest for the idea of scooping the ice cream into cupcake liners before the party so we could hand out an individual serving).

Lastly, it was time for Show and Tell when Lily opened her presents.  Below is a picture that exemplifies what I mean when I tell people Lily is my mini-me.  On her own doing, she pre-made thank you cards.  I have worn into her how important thank you cards are, so a few days before the party, she made each girl a card that said "Thank you (girl's name)," and she decorated it with drawings and stickers.  As she held up a present to open, she asked the gift giver to raise her hand and I handed out the thank you note.  She had every detail planned.

 She loved each of her presents...books, new monogrammed shirts, art supplies, craft projects, Barbie supplies...it was all welcomed and appreciated.

 After everyone left with their painted treasure chest and goodie bag (a pencil bag with bookmark, stickers, pencil, eraser and sharpener), the girls played with the new toys some and we relaxed and calmed down from the excitement of the day.  Just before bedtime, we headed outside to release most of the balloons from the party.  What a fun way to end the day!

Welcome to being 6 Lily!

Happy 6th Birthday Lily!

Happy birthday to our sweet Lily!  I cannot believe we have a six year old!  Lily is such a blessing to our family.  We are so proud of the young lady she is becoming.  She is so smart and creative; we love what a diligent worker she is, whether she is practicing her handwriting, learning Bible verses or playing soccer.  She gives her best.  She is so sweet to her little sister and friends.  She is such a precious girl, and Ryan and I are so proud to be her parents.

 

I made cupcakes, and Bama and the girls frosted and decorated them.

 Thursday was Lily's actual birthday, so I took the cupcakes to her school at lunchtime.  We had enough to share with both kindergarten classes which made Lily (and the other kids) happy.  Towards the end of lunch, all the kids in the lunchroom sang happy birthday to her; she said this embarrassed her a little.

 On Thursday evening, Lily opened her presents from us (her very first Barbie doll where she pretends to be a teacher), Liz (I Spy game and great new art supplies) and David and Jan (new outfits and accessories for her American Girl, McKenna).  Lily was excited to receive each of these presents.

 As always, the birthday girl gets to pick the restaurant, and Lily picked Chuck E Cheese.  So off we went for pizza, bread sticks and games!

It was a fun evening to celebrate our sweetheart!

Fair Fun

The North Georgia State Fair is in town right now.  I have so many great memories of the fair.  Most of them center around going many times as a child with my Mama Lottie and Pawpaw.  I also love the time Ryan and I went with our friends, the Rohans, and saw the Josh Turner concert; Lily was born just three days after, so I have always thought this was our last night out before our world was turned upside down (in a great way!).  We weren't able to make it to the fair last year, so I was excited that the girls, Liz and I were able to go after church yesterday.  It was a beautiful day; perfect for the fair!

 

The doors open at 12:30 on Sunday, so we pretty much headed straight back to the food area; we were hungry!  The girls and I enjoyed corn dogs and fresh-squeezed lemonade.  Then, I had to have a funnel cake; you can't have a fair without funnel cake, right?!  Turns out, the girls didn't really like it...oh well, more for Liz and me.

 After lunch, we started walking around, and Mia wanted to do the trampoline so badly.  She had been talking about it all over lunch, and she was determined.  So once we decided she actually is big enough, they strapped her in and she started bouncing.  She loved it!

 Since the girls didn't really like the funnel cake, I caved and bought them shave ice.  Something about the fair makes me feel like I need junk food.  Anyways, here's Mia enjoying her tri-flavor concoction.

 Lily was pretty excited about hers too.

 We headed to the animal area of the fair next.  Mia really wanted to ride a pony, though Lily would have nothing to do with it.  So, I loaded Mia up on a pony named Grits.  I walked next to her for two rounds and then asked if she wanted to go by herself so I could take a picture; she said that was fine.

 Such a big girl!

 After the pony ride, we headed in the tents to see more animals.  Cows (including a baby who had been born the day before), llamas, pigs, sheep, oh my...they were everywhere.  Liz had the great idea to buy an ice cream cone of food; Mia couldn't wait to start feeding all the animals!  She loved having them eat right out of her hand.

 Lily didn't want to feed any of the animals, but she didn't hesitate to pet the sweet little bunnies.

 By this point, the girls were getting tired and needed to rest a little.  I had decided not to even bother with the game area this time, so we started to head back out.  Mia asked to ride the pony again, and Lily said she wanted to ride one too.  So we made another stop by the ponies.  Lily saddled up on Pepper while Mia jumped on Hot Dog.  They both had fun on their ride.

What a fun afternoon!

Lily's Note

Love this sweet note Lily wrote for Ryan since he is in Alaska right now.  I sent it to him via text message so he could respond.  How sweet is she?

Update on Mia and Soccer

The first two weeks of soccer have been interesting for Mia.  She loved practicing and really did very well; she has great control of the ball and kicks well.  However, she completely froze up when it was game time.  She kept saying she didn't like playing in games, but the moment they were over, she totally brightened up again.  Last Wednesday, she came with me to Lily's practice.  At the end, the coach held a scrimmage between the kids' team and the adults. Mia came out with me, and held my hand for a few minutes as we ran around after the ball.  After a few minutes, she let go of my hand and was off.  She had an absolute blast!  Afterwards, I asked "Mia, do you know what you just did?" and she said "No, what?"  I replied "You just played in a soccer game!"  Her eyes got so big and you could see the realization come together.  She got so excited and said "I did!  I did play in a soccer game!"  Lily was so sweet to encourage her too and tell her how great she did playing.  As we were leaving, I said "Mia, do you think you'll play with the Sharks in the game on Saturday?" and she very enthusiastically replied "Yes!"  I told her if she would try playing, we would go get ice cream after the game.  That's right...I went to all out bribery.  She was thrilled.

Saturday morning came.  I was cautiously optimistic as she was still saying how excited she was to play and go get ice cream.  Sure enough, once they said it was time to play, she ran out and played her little heart out.  It was so much fun to watch!  She actually scored five goals and one own goal during the game (not that anyone keeps score...).  Lily again was so sweet to encourage her and cheer for her.  I was so proud of both of my girls!

Here's Mia dribbling the ball.

 Enjoying the promised ice cream (technically frozen yogurt).  I let her pick everything today; she chose vanilla yogurt with sour gummy worms, chocolate chips, mandarin oranges and strawberries.  She then proceeded to eat every bite and turn the bowl up to drink every last melted sip.

Later, she asked "when is my next game?"  When I told her the game was next Friday but she has practice on Monday, she replied "Ahhh man!  I don't want to practice, I want to play a game!"  What a switch!  Thankfully, practice went very well tonight.  It is so much fun to watch both the girls play hard and do their best!

Mia's Dessert

The girls asked Thursday night what we were having for dessert after dinner, and I told them we weren't having dessert that evening.  Mia replied "Ahhhh!  I wanted more sweet peas for dessert!"  How do you say no to that?  So, she sat down and chowed down on more sweet peas.  For the record, she didn't eat all of these, but she had a good serving!

Precious Mia

I love, love, love our precious Mia.  There are lots of reasons why, but this is the newest one.  Lily has been learning Psalm 23 for her class.  We have been practicing a lot, and Mia has been picking up on it.  Here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8X-49I5Lc&feature=youtu.be) is a video of our sweet little one "reading" her Bible and saying the first part of Psalm 23 that she has learned.  Enjoy!