Fun Times

So proud of Lily for getting the hang of monkey bars!

 Saturday morning craft projects.

 ACCA's second annual family soccer tournament was last week.  Mia was pumped to get to play soccer again!  Here she is with a few of her teammates ready for the game to begin.

 Lily had been sick the night before, so she actually stayed home from school.  I brought her to the tournament though since she was feeling better.  She, Rachael and Avery made up the cheering section for Mia's team.

 Look at them go!  Mia had a blast, and she even scored a few goals!

 It's important to stay hydrated when you play this hard.

September Randomness

All sorts of miscellaneous fun from the last couple of weeks...

 

The girls' school had Feast Day where each class brings food from a different time period.  It's a pretty fun event.  Lily enjoyed eating with Avery and Olivia.

 Liz took the girls to a magic show at the church which was meant for grandparents and grandkids.  I loved this picture!

 After several weeks away, we were glad to make it back to Food Truck Tuesday.  This is on the way to get dessert from King of Pops, and yes, Mia is sporting her superhero cape.

 She loved her chocolate sea salt popsicle!

 Ryan's 35th birthday was just after Labor Day.  Liz brought the girls to meet us at Chick-fil-a for an afternoon milkshake.  We had dinner that night at Rathbun's with Chris and Denna.  The girls and I "surprised" Ryan (as in...he knew all about it because it's impossible for my kids to keep a surprise) a couple of days later with breakfast in bed and a relaxing day of football watching.

 Headbanz Disney is a very fun family game that we like to play!

 The girls had a great time recently with our 3D sidewalk chalk.  I think Mia managed to get more on her than the sidewalk though.

 Lily's teacher sent me a picture of this cool design Lily made in class one day.

 The school photographer caught this picture of Mia working on a puzzle.

 Fun times at the zoo on a recent beautiful day!  The girls were both wearing elephant shirts so we had to snap a picture in front of the elephant; unfortunately, he wasn't very close to us.  It's even hard to see in this picture because he blends in so well with the rocks in the back, but he's there!

 Love my little animals.

 Mia loves to brush the sheep and goats in the petting zoo area.

 Fun on the merry go round!  Big day too...since they are both tall enough now, we let the girls ride it without us!

 Nothing terribly exciting going on right now; just living and loving life!

Labor Day Weekend

What a great Labor Day weekend!  We were so excited when Ryan's uncle, Hollis, invited us to spend the weekend with him, Debbie, Emily and Kate at their cabin in North Carolina on Lake Glenville.  It was amazingly beautiful and so peaceful.  What a great place to get away and relax for a few days.  We headed out about 1:30 on Friday to beat some of the traffic (not all of it, but we're glad we left then!), so we arrived a little after 5.  Not only do you have that wonderful "rustic" cabin feel to get you away from the real world, but everything here was so comfortable.  We spent most of our time sitting on the back deck which gave a beautiful view of the lake (and football games on the outside tv since college football started Saturday).

 We were able to go out on the lake in the boat three times during the weekend which was wonderful.  What a beautiful area!  We all loved the feel of the wind in our hair as we rode along.

 All three girls loved being on the boat.

 Love these two kiddos!

 The kids were each given a turn driving which they LOVED.  Lily concentrated and kept us going steady.  Mia had been driving for about 30 seconds before she asked Hollis "So how fast can this thing go?"  She enjoyed picking up the speed some for us!

 Too cute to not put this in.

 Ready to head out!

Naps came pretty easily on the boat too.

 The three cousins had so much fun together!

 Just a couple of the beautiful views we found while floating along.

 The girls played pretty well together during the weekend.  Here they were playing a game on the iPad while Ryan and I packed up.

 Debbie (aka Sugar) helped them make cute little rock turtles.  Her art skills were put to the test again as she led them in coloring on craft paper.

 Lily and Mia were both excited to learn how to play ping pong (and corn hole, but I don't have a picture of that).  Lily was getting really good at serving by the time we left!

 Enjoying a waterfall before dinner at a nearby restaurant.

 Hanging out on the docks.

 S'more time!

 Each girl carefully roasted their marshmallows.

 Time to dig in...yum!  We always love a good s'more.  Notice Lily ate hers as a marshmallow sandwiched between chocolate, not crackers.  I didn't pay close enough attention (I was enjoying my own s'mores), so unfortunately, Lily ate too many of these; she got sick in the middle of the night poor thing.  Luckily, she was back to her normal self this morning.

 Having fun!

 A sunset view off the dock.  Simply beautiful.

We are so grateful that we shared this weekend with some extended family!  We appreciate their hospitality and making us feel so welcome and comfortable.  Though Hollis likes to go to bed early, Debbie, Emily, Ryan and I enjoyed staying up late and chatting with one another.  We had lots of delicious food and beautiful weather which added to the fun.  The girls had a great time together, and we're grateful they are getting to spend time with one another.  We certainly hope to make this an annual trip!



End of August

It's hard to believe August is already over.  We are settling back into the routine of school, and both girls are adjusting well.  The second week of school, the first graders all took math tests and based on her score, Lily actually moved up to second grade math.  1st grade and up all have math at the same time each day, and you see the kids move to the different classrooms.  She is doing well in that class and actually loves that she has homework each night for this!  Here are just a few miscellaneous pictures from the last few weeks.

 

Lily gave a presentation on her Lego creation.  This is her "dream room" which includes a horse stable, restaurant, pool and hot tub.

 I LOVE when the girls make me cards.  This is a recent one from Mia.

 Mia came home with this coloring one day, and I thought it was cute, especially the little driver inside the bus.

 Lily's drawing of the days of creation.

 Lily's ocean scene.

 Extracurricular activities have started back up.  Mia is very excited to return to The Little Gym each week for a combo ballet/tap/gymnastics class.  Ms. Morgan is a great teacher, and she has a blast each week.  Lily could not wait to start her piano lessons.  She has only had two lessons, but she is loving it.  She has always had an ear for music, so she was thrilled when we told she would start weekly lessons.  We bought a keyboard for home practice, and she is doing great.

September, here we come!