Mia's Graduation

Mia graduated from Bethany's parent morning out program last week.  She was so excited about their graduation program.  She kept it a big secret and refused to tell any of us what they were going to do.  She couldn't wait for Tuesday morning to arrive.

They marched in and sat on the stage.  Mia couldn't contain her excitement as she waved to us.

 Her class; she is second from the left.

 They started out by doing something of an interpretive dance that was cute.  Mia held hands with her friend Ellie the whole time as they spun around with their ribbons.  After that performance, they sang a cute little song about how God loves all the creatures; each child had a mask (Mia was a dog), and they got to "perform" as each creature was mentioned.  I think Mia enjoyed crawling around on stage pretending to be a dog!

 Their last performance was to "go on a bear hunt" which is always fun to watch.  Ms. Dawn asked each child what they wanted to pack for the bear hunt.  Some of the answers included a flashlight, rope and a mom.  When she Mia asked what she wanted to take, she called out "yogurt!"  That's my girl!  This is a picture of her looking for the bear while on the hunt.

 Here she is waving to us from the stage and running over to us after receiving her certificate.

 Displaying her certificate. 

 Mia was so glad Granna and Bama were able to attend her ceremony with Ryan and me.

 Mia with her teachers Ms. Dawn and Ms. Natasha.  We are so thankful how well these ladies have treated Mia and how much she has grown this year.  Bethany has once again been a great experience!

Our happy girl who is now ACCA bound!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was wonderful this year!  I love being a mommy to these two sweet girls.  Lily and Mia light up my world with their joy.  It's not always easy, but it is so worth it!

 Liz helped them to make these cards for me.  Mia's is on the left; it cracks me up that she says I make good food except for couscous!  I make really good parmesan couscous but for some reason, this is about the only food that Mia won't eat.  The rest of us love it!  I love that they both say I give good hugs; I love their hugs!

 Lily couldn't wait to give me all the goodies she has been working on at school.  I truly love this hand print bouquet.  I love capturing their hand prints, so this is a perfect gift.

 She made this sweet card for me.

 Lily answered these questions at school.  I agree with them, especially where it asks "my mom always says" and she correctly replies "Let's go kiddos!"  Hopefully the teacher took that as encouraging "let's go!" and not in the actual use of "hurry up!"

Lily was beside herself to give this to me.  She had mentioned a couple of weeks ago how they were drawing portraits of their moms in art class.  I simply thought they were doing something cute for Mother's Day.  I laughed when Lily said they could do whatever they wanted for our hair, so she decided to make mine red.  Turns out they were doing these drawings in art class, but they were being entered in a local salon's contest.  Lily's entry won for her class which resulted in me receiving a $60 gift card to this salon!  Way to go Lily!

 They made a sweet book of pictures too.

This was my favorite page in the book of pictures.

 Sweet Mia made an adorable hand print art project at school.  I love it!  Her hand prints make up the sun and the song "you are my sunshine" is written across the top.  This precious one certainly does bring a lot of sunshine into my life!

 After church, we went to The Georgian Club for lunch.  My family used to do this every mother's day, so it was fun to continue this tradition.  They have an excellent buffet that we all enjoy.  You can see Mia was a little partial to the chocolate cake for dessert!

While I am very thankful for these two girls who make me a mom, Ryan and I are both so thankful for our moms.  They have always provided a great example of love to us, and we count them as blessings.  We love you!

A Few More Miscellaneous Pictures

Just a few other new pictures...

Mia with my parents at Randy and Georgia's wedding.

Meme was so excited to be at Randy's wedding.  She's been praying for this day for quite awhile.

 Sweet cousins at the wedding.

 Lily was servant of the day on Tuesday.  The share topic this time is "your favorite food."  Lily declared a few weeks ago that salad is her new favorite food, so she took spinach, matchstick carrots, cheese, croutons and ranch dressing to make one for everyone.  It was so cute to watch her make and mix this up then serve it to everyone.

Lily's class performed in chapel this morning.  Here is the link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZyZwYzADPk&feature=youtu.be) to The Insect Song, and here is the link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQCF3zogRpk&feature=youtu.be) to Three Little Kittens by Mother Goose.  Lily is third from the right.  They are all such cuties!

Recent Hooks Happenings

Last Friday was Grandparents, Family and Friends Day at ACCA.  Lily was thrilled to have Daddy, Mia, Bama, Granna and Papa in attendance.

 I wasn't able to attend that day because I had taken a mini-vacation from Wednesday to Saturday.  I headed down to Mom and Dad's condo in Gulf Shores to simply relax for a few days.  I pretty much slept, read magazines and worked on scrapbooks.  I had the balcony door open so I could feel the breeze and hear the ocean.  It as absolutely wonderful.

 On Saturday morning, the girls took part in the first mission trip.  It was "Share the Blessing" Day at our church, and our class went to Clarkston.  It's on the east side of Atlanta and is considered one of the most diverse areas in the nation.  It's the largest refugee area in America.  People from all around the world settle here.  What an amazing opportunity.  Our church goes every month to visit with individuals, but on Saturday they hosted a huge block party.  Everyone had a great time, and God's love was shown to many.

 On Saturday evening, Ryan, Liz and the girls went to the Jonquil Festival.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 enjoyed it!

 Mia tried out the climbing wall and did great!  I love her sense of adventure.

 I love when Lily makes an art project for me.

 I just came across a notebook Lily used last Fall while she was at Mia's soccer practice.  A little late in posting it, but I thought it was super sweet.  Here are two of the notes (or "stories" as she calls them) that she wrote.  Love this sweet girl!

 Mia was a flower girl in my uncle Randy's wedding to Georgia on Wednesday which was May Day.  It was a gorgeous wedding and fun reception.  Mia was precious!  She knew "everyone is excited about the flower girl because it means the bride is next!" At the rehearsal, she had practiced walking down the aisle holding the hand of the two year old ring bearer, Johnathan, but on Wednesday, they decided they wanted each child to walk down.  As they lined up for the procession, I realized Mia had not been in a wedding where she was actually supposed to throw the flowers from her basket as she walked, and she may not know what to do.  So I asked "Mia, do you know what to do with those pretty flowers as you walk down the aisle?"  Mia looked right at me and said "Yes.  I throw them at the people."  I about lost it with laughter!  I wish I hadn't asked!  Of course, I said "Well, no.  Actually you gently throw them on the floor in front of you, and then you can walk over them on the way up the aisle."  Her eyes widened and she said "No Mommy, you can't walk on flowers!"  She loves the show Wild Kratts, and is very big on learning about nature these days, so she was horrified that I would suggest she walk on flowers.  I quickly explained it was okay to step on these because they had been picked and were not in a flower bed.  She agreed and proceeded to do an excellent job.  After the ceremony, she literally skipped back down the aisle which was simply adorable.  I love the joy that overflows from this sweet girl!

Lily couldn't wait to show me her invention when I got home from work yesterday.  She counted down and dramatically unveiled this in her room.  She calls it her "Relaxinator!"  She says it is to get ready for summer break where she plans to read and relax in it.  Later on, she moved it into the den so she could also relax and watch tv.  This morning, she made Mia a smaller version next to hers in the den so Mia could have her very own Relaxinator.  Watch out Lazy Boy...you have some competition!

Mia Makes Me Laugh

I really don't think anyone makes me laugh as much as Mia.  This girl cracks me up without even trying.  Here are two quick stories from this morning.

As we're driving Lily to school, Mia suddenly says "Where did that chiming noise come from?"  I told her it was probably the song on the radio because it has some soft chimes in it; I then turned the radio up so she could hear it better.  She listened and then said "No, that's not what it sounds like.  It must be the noises coming from my head again."  Apparently, she truly does have her own drum beat going!

As we were driving back home after dropping Lily off, Mia asked if I knew what she wanted to be when she grows up.  I ran through the list of occupations she had mentioned recently...astronaut, missionary, pediatrician, mommy, superhero...to which she replied "no" to each one.  Finally I gave up and asked what it was and she replied "A builder!  I want to build big buildings and little buildings and homes!"  Just when I started to agree to that, she said "Wait, no!  I don't mean a builder.  I mean a cowgirl.  I want to be a real cowgirl!  Mommy, do we know any real cowgirls?"

I absolutely love this girl!

Lily's Gifts

I don't think I blogged this story yet, and I wanted to make sure I remember it.  A few weeks ago, Lily and I were talking about how God gives everyone gifts and talents to use to glorify His kingdom.  She thought about it for a few seconds, sighed and said "I just don't know what my gift is.  I was either born to sing or born to color.  I just don't know."  All I could say is "I bet we'll find out for sure when you're a little older."  Love this sweet girl!

Mommy Mia Date

The most difficult part of tax season is that I miss time with my kids.  I can get by with 4 or 5 hours of sleep for awhile, but it hurts to be away from them so much.  I couldn't wait for today because I had closed the office, and I knew Mia and I would have a mommy daughter date in the morning, and Lily and I would have one in evening.  I had planned on taking Mia to the zoo and letting her lead the way wherever she wanted to go.  Unfortunately, the rain put a stop to that idea.  I mentioned the museum, and she got pretty excited so we headed downtown.  We stayed for over three hours because she was having so much fun; she really didn't want to leave but it was almost 1:30, and I think her growling stomach made her realize she needed to head on out.  It was so neat to me to watch her as we played.  You could see the wheels turning in her head as we went along.  You could see her learning as she touched and played with everything!

She couldn't wait to go fishing and painting.  That's what she talked about all the way down to the museum.  She immediately set about doing these two activities.  She loved catching the fish (especially when she didn't use her hand to catch it) and seeing how the paints mixed together.

 Pretending to eat a plum while driving the tractor. 

 Shopping in the farmer's market and milking the cow.

 Back to fishing for a second (outer space raincoat) and third (fire girl raincoat) go round. 

 The special exhibit right now is about the human body which Mia enjoyed exploring.  She used all her strength to move these hands and arms around. 

 Returning to painting.

 She loved playing in the moon sand.  We stayed there for close to an hour making multiple volcanoes and watching them erupt.  We played in the garden area and the mechanical area for awhile.  Last stop was the train track area.  Mia has always loved to play with trains.  We stayed here for awhile before she agreed it was time to head out.

  As we were on the way back to the car, Mia stopped and exclaimed "a mud puddle!"  Her little voice, full of hope, then asked "Mommy, can I please jump in it?"  How could I say no to that?  Precious little one proceeded to jump and laugh for several minutes having an absolute blast.  As much fun as we had at the museum, this is probably her favorite part of the day!

I love this girl!

Happy Birthday Liz!

Happy 60th Birthday to Liz!

For months now, we have been planning a great surprise for Liz for her birthday.  Her main present was the trip to Disney that we took back in November, but we didn't want to let her actual birthday pass without some fun.  We got family and friends in on the surprise and waited patiently for the big day. 

The week before her birthday, Ryan mentioned he had bought tickets for the three of us to go to the Braves/Cubs game on Saturday night (her actual birthday).  Being the sweet lady that she is, she told him to wait until after tax season was over so I didn't have to miss work.  We weren't about to let that happen!  On Saturday afternoon, we headed down to Turner Field.  As we walked in, Ryan noted that our tickets came with club level access, so we wanted to try to find a restaurant we had heard about (for the record, we've been to the restaurant before...it's not on the club level).  We kept walking until we got to Suite 38 (Chipper's family suite last year!).  Ryan said "Hey, let's see if what it looks like from inside here."  Liz immediately started with "Ryan Hooks, you can't do that!"  She was right.  They lock the doors so people can't do that.  So, we kept walking.  I tried to keep her distracted while Ryan tried to get someone from inside the suite to open the door for us!  Finally, Josh opened the door, I got Liz to walk back over that way (for the third time) and she got a huge surprise!  At first, she just saw Josh and kept saying "You're supposed to be in Fort Payne."  She had a look of complete disbelief on her face.  Then she saw Kendall and couldn't believe it.  She thought Josh, Amy, Kendall and John must have driven over for the game to surprise her.  Then she realized Lynell, David, Susan, Dick, Margie, Randy and Susan were there too.  That's when the tears started!  She was in absolute shock.  It was the greatest face ever!  Susan was able to snap some great pictures (Ryan and I were behind her) as she came in, and I will get copies of them soon.  The whole evening was so much fun as it was a beautiful night, and we were able to celebrate a wonderful lady with family and friends.  Oh, and the Braves won in the bottom of the ninth as the Upton brothers hit a game-tying home run and then the game winning home run.  It was a fantastic evening!

Giving Ryan a big hug.

 So glad to have her kids together.

 The whole group.

 About to blow out her birthday cake candles.

 The view from our seats.

 Everyone enjoying the beautiful evening and the game.

We believe this evening was just the first of many more wonderful days ahead!