Happy 7th Birthday Lily!

Where in the world have the last 7 years gone?!  I cannot believe that Lily is now 7.  I love this girl more than I ever thought was possible.

We started out the day enjoying some butter biscuits together.

 After dropping the girls off at school, I came home to finish getting everything ready for Lily's party.  She was very excited because this was her first slumber party!  When I told Lily earlier in the week that I planned to make her cake, she gave me this doubtful look and asked "Are you really?  You know the bakery can make it."  She wasn't trying to be mean at all, but she knows I'm not the best baker!  Anyway, I have to admit that I was really proud of her cake, and she was thrilled.  She and her friends loved it!

 We weren't really doing a theme to the party, so I just went with bright colors for everything.  Everyone thought it was really neat to see confetti with Lily's name in it on the table.

 Lily made this sign to hang up so everyone knew where to put their presents.

 She was so surprised when she came home and saw this note on the bathroom mirror!

 Finally 3:00 arrived.  Lily, Callie, Avery and Rachael all piled into the car.  I had already picked up all their "stuff" from their parents at drop off that morning, so they were giggling and ready to go.

 Everyone changed clothes as soon as we got home, and it was time for a snack.  One of Lily's favorites is cheese cubes, grapes and crackers with toothpicks so she can make fun structures.  It is always fun to see the creativity come out with these.

 After their snack, Lily asked if she could show everyone one of her scrapbooks; they all crowded around to look through one.

 The girls were THRILLED when I received a FaceTime call from Annie Worrell, their beloved teacher from last year who is now a stay at home mom.  She was so gracious to hold sweet sleeping Lucy up so they could all see her and talk with each girl for a few minutes.  These girls (and the grown ups!) absolutely adore Annie, so this was an awesome surprise.

We moved over to opening gifts next which was lots of fun.  Lily loved each one of the gifts she received!

 Lily's agenda (that's right, she made a full schedule of activities) included an art project next, so the girls made cute bracelets to wear.

 Next up was Lego time!  We had bought individual Lego Friends sets for each of the "big girls" at the party, so they sat down to put those together.  Mia also received a new Lego set, and she had a good time making designs with Ryan at the same time.

 It was a beautiful day, so the next item up while we started getting dinner together was to have some fun outside on the playground.

 Avery and Mia couldn't resist climbing the tree.

 We made a few of Lily's favorites for dinner: pigs in a blanket, macaroni and cheese, rainbow jello and fruit kabobs with grapes, kiwi, raspberries and mandarin oranges.  It was all pretty tasty if you ask me!

 Purely putting this in here because I thought it turned out really cool!  Looking down on it didn't look neat at all, but when you cut into it, you could totally see the layers.  The girls pulled each layer off to each individually which was kind of funny.

 Of course, after dinner it was cake and ice cream time!

 A little bit more outside time.  Rachael and Avery enjoyed the 3D sidewalk chalk.

 Sweet Callie wrote "Happy birthday Lily.  I love you!"

 Precious girls!

 Finally about 7, we changed into pajamas and settled in to watch a movie.  Lily had picked Hotel Transylvania in 3D, and she opted for castle ring pops over popcorn.  Thankfully, everyone sat through the whole movie and seemed to enjoy it (it's really a super cute movie).

 Lily and Mia both love the music that runs during the credits, so we had an impromptu dance party.

 During the dance party, Callie's mom came to pick her up.  Her grandparents were in town visiting, so she wasn't able to spend the night.  We were so grateful she was able to spend the afternoon and evening with us though!

After Callie left, we headed outside once again for some sparkler fun.  Lily had never done sparklers before, but she loved it.  Rachael was a little too nervous to try it, but she stayed to the side and enjoyed watching it.

 You know Mia loved dancing around with them!

 One big fireball!

 Around 9, the girls crawled into their sleeping bags.  We let Mia pitch a tent and sleep in our bedroom so she wouldn't disturb the other girls; she was super pumped about this!  The girls were quite excited about this part of the evening too, so it took about 30 minutes to fully settle down.  By 9:30 though, they were all completely knocked out, and everyone slept great. 

 Lily came into our room at 5 to ask if she could wake her friends up (so thankful she asked us first!).  When I told her no, she headed back to her sleeping bag and went back to sleep. At 6:30 (her normal wake-up time), I heard her and Rachael.  They went quietly into Lily's room.  About 7, I heard Avery too.  Mia got up about 7 also.  It was time to start a lazy Saturday morning.

Ryan ran out to get Dunkin Donuts for everyone.  Avery and Rachael changed clothes but Lily and Mia wanted to stay in pjs which was fine with me. After breakfast we went to release a few balloons which the girls found awesome; I'm loving the easy entertainment!

 We played with more Legos and sidewalk chalk and then the moms came to collect their girls.  Lily later told Ryan this was her favorite party yet which thrills a momma's heart.  I love this precious girls and love to see her happy!  Happy birthday Lily!

Fair Fun

Saturday was a gorgeous day.  We decided to have a fun family day together, so we surprised the girls by going to the North Georgia Fair.  I grew up going to this every fall with my Mama Lottie and Pawpaw.  The girls have asked about it several times since last fall so we knew they would be excited.  Ryan and I were excited when we got there right as they opened and realized the first hour was family free admission and free rides; woo who!

 

We started out on the swings.  Lily didn't want to ride, but Mia and I had fun together.  This girl loves to go high into the air!

 We headed over to a fun ride that rocks you back and forth and swings you around.  The girls were brave for a few moments and held their arms up.

 Ready to roll on their motorcycle.

 They both loved the little roller coaster for kids.

 When the hour of free rides was up, we decided to take a break and get some lunch.  You can't go to the fair without a corn dog, right?  The girls were thrilled to get these Jolly Rancher slushies as a treat. 

 What wasn't so fun is Mia was stung on her tummy by a yellow jacket while we were getting our food.  Poor little bit didn't know what to think.  At one point while she was crying, she asked me "why doesn't the bee like me?"  It was heart breaking.  Our little trooper recovered (after a terrifying lunch of seeing jackets everywhere) though and we moved onward.

 

It cheered Mia up a lot to jump on the trampoline.  She remembered this from last year and couldn't wait to do it again.  I loved the look of sheer joy on her face as she started jumping.

 It didn't take too long before she started doing tricks...splits, "sitting" criss-cross and finally, doing a back flip.  She was elated once she got over!  She did it again and again.  She was worn out after her turn on the trampoline!

 We headed to the petting zoo area next which the girls enjoyed.  We fed the goats, sheep and llamas.  We petted the pigs and the rabbits (but you're not allowed to feed them).  We watched the geese run around and honk.  We also saw cows, chickens, roosters, horses, donkeys, ducks, deer, peacocks and other farm animals.  This is a pretty neat area.

 Next up: horseback riding!  Mia enjoyed riding on Cupcake.

 Lily loved being on Twix.

 We took the Sky Ride across the park.  Lily and Ryan rode together.

 Ryan snapped this neat picture.  It's a great view of the fair with its rides; Mia and I are in the blue seat in front.

 Of course, we had to take a ride on the carousel.

 The dragon ride!

 Mia loved this!

We rode a few other rides and then decided to head out.  We actually went to the Disney Store to reward Mia with a treat since she has officially stopped sucking her thumb!  Other than the yellow jacket sting, this was a really fun day.  We'll all look forward to next year!



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!