10 Years Old!!!

Lily is 10 years old!!!  How in the world is that possible?  She couldn't wait to celebrate with her two best friends, Avery and Emory, and she was gracious to let Mia tag along.  The girls came home after school with us on the Friday to kick off Fall Break.  After changing clothes and eating a little snack, they gathered around the table to decorate cookie cake slices.

 They loved all the different colors of icing and candies to top them with.

 They had a good time with this activity!

 We went to The Wing Factory for dinner.  Lily loves to go and play the claw machine, and as she said "This is one of Avery's favorite restaurants, and Emory's never been so it will be great!"  They each played several rounds with the claw game, and everyone won at least once.  Mia won 5 or 6 times, so she shared her loot with others.

 After dinner, we popped some popcorn and divided up the cookie cake.

 The girls loved relaxing with their desserts in the comfy chairs and watching a Cutthroat Kitchen marathon.  Each girl picked an episode to watch; they all loved it.

 Finally, it was time to head to bed.  They all piled into Lily's room and stayed up chatting for awhile.  They all drifted off to sleep around 11:30 or so.  This was such a fun afternoon and evening, and it was exactly what Lily wanted.  She loves being with her best friends, taking it easy and hanging out.  What a great way to celebrate!

Lily had her 10 year old check-up last week.  She's doing great and is a healthy, growing girl.  She's moved up to the 30% for height at 4 feet, 5 inches.  She's at 37% for weight at 68.5 pounds.  Her blood pressure, eye sight and hearing all good.  We're very thankful she's doing well.

I always like to ask the same questions each year to see how they are changing.  Here are some of her favorites now:

1.  Favorite Color - Lavender

2.  Favorite Movie - Harry Potter 2 (Chamber of Secrets)

3.  Favorite TV Show - Cutthroat Kitchen

4.  Favorite Book or Series - Emily Windsnap

5.  Favorite Drink - Dr. Pepper

6.  Best Memory from the Last Year - Going to Camp Crestridge

7.  Wants to Be When She Grows Up - Chef instructor for kids

8.  Best Friend - Avery Hobson

9.  Favorite Bible Verse - 1 Timothy 4:12

10.  Favorite School Subject - Art and Latin

11. Favorite Food - Macaroni and Cheese

12.  Favorite Activity - Read or Build Legos

13.  Favorite Place to Go - Lego Store or Michael's

14.  Favorite Game to Play - Clue (Harry Potter version)

15.  Favorite Restaurant - Figo Pasta

16.  Favorite Animal - Toucan

17.  Most Thankful For - Her Family

18.  Goal for the Year - Make as many friends as possible

We are so incredibly thankful for Lily, and the young woman she is becoming.  I love talking with her and seeing how she is growing mentally, spiritually and emotionally.  She's an amazing girl, and I am so proud of her.  I'm so glad she's my daughter.  I can't wait to see what this year holds for her.

A Few Other Items

The girls are still cooking like crazy which is pretty fun.  They make some pretty tasty items!

 Mia is super pumped about her new ninja costume!

 Lily went to her new friend, Isaiah Grace's, birthday party last weekend.  They spent the night downtown, went swimming, did makeovers and nailpainting, went out to dinner and watched a movie.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!

 Both girls really enjoyed reading and watching the first Harry Potter.  They were excited to see all the fun things Barnes and Noble has relating to this franchise, especially the Sorting Hat!

 I was so excited to go on Mia's class field trip to the Monastery this week!  I love getting to be a part of Stonehaven activities like this, and she loved having me along.  It was a beautiful day, and this is such an interesting and fun place to explore.  Of course, bringing home monk-made fudge made it even better!

Love these sweet kids (and Sophie who missed the picture)! 

Gulf Shores Birthday Trip

Oh how I love going to Beach Club in Gulf Shores!  I have so many great memories from here.  I was thrilled when Dad said the condo was available over Labor Day weekend, and we could go down.  What a great way to celebrate Ryan's birthday!  Even better, the Henderson family came down to join us for the weekend.  We made this trip together for 4 years before our different school schedules got in the way.  It was so good to be back down here together!

Our family skipped school on Friday and headed on down that morning.  It was an easy trip, and we stopped for groceries on the way in and had an early dinner out.  When we got to the condo, we decided to head down in our clothes and just play on the beach for a little bit.  We saw the most beautiful sunset that evening!

 The girls were ready for some fun.

 I sure do love these two amazing girls.

 Nobody I'd rather be with and no place I'd rather be.

The Henderson's got in pretty late Friday night.  On Saturday, we all went down for awhile before all the great college football started.  I promised the kids I wouldn't bug them taking pictures all weekend, but I had to get one purely for this comparison.  This was from our second year down together, in 2010.  Lily would have just turned 4, Parker was 3.5, and Mia and Macey would have been just shy of turning 2.  Love, love, love these kiddos.

We headed in early afternoon on Saturday for a late lunch, and I'm glad we did.  The weather turned ugly a little bit later and stayed like that through Sunday evening.  We didn't really mind though.  We had fun hanging out together, watching football and going to see "Pete's Dragon" at the movie theater.  

On Sunday, Ryan had a surprise for me.  He had calculated how many days he lived before he met me (6,938), and then he figured out when it would be Day 6,939 (this day) meaning he had known me more days than he hadn't.  He gave me a beautiful new watch with this engraving to mark the occasion.  How incredibly thoughtful is that?  I love this man.  He is the most thoughtful person I've ever met.

We left a little before lunch on Monday because we had heard the roads were starting to flood, and we knew we needed to get home.  The trip took about 7.5 hours (2 hours longer than usual), but we made it back safe and sound.  Probably not the most exciting way to spend an actual birthday for Ryan, but the weekend itself was fun!

First Day of School - 4th and 2nd

School time is here!  The week before school started, Stonehaven hosted its annual Back to School Picnic on the Square.  It was wonderful to see so many friends again and welcome new families.  Of course, the girls were most excited about the face painting artist who was there.

 The next day, we got back to school haircuts.  Look how adorable Mia's is!  I love this short do on her.  Notice anything else missing?  That's right, a tooth.  At the picnic, Mrs. Barbulescu helped her pull out the really wiggly one!

Here we go...ready for another great year!

I love seeing their aspirations!

 Mia is looking forward to a wonderful year with Mrs. St. Hill.  2nd grade will be awesome!

 Lily is excited about 4th grade with Ms. Keesee!

 Let's get this new year started!

End of Summer Fun

A few fun things we did to wrap up summer...

First, we most definitely enjoyed these macaroons Ryan picked up for us in the Paris airport on his way home from Lebanon.  He also brought baklava from Beirut.  Our tastebuds rejoiced!

 We took a weekend trip to Birmingham to visit Liz and her new home.  It's so lovely, and we're so thrilled she found it!  We were excited to spend a little time with Caroline and Liam while we were there too.

 Bama having fun in the pool with her granddaughters!

 I think its safe to say that Decker has become part of the family.

 Mia's been having some fun baking recently.  First she made some fudge (some with sprinkles, some without), and then she recently made a key lime pie.  Both delicious!

 Being treated to breakfast in bed is always a nice treat; thanks Lily!

 On one beautiful afternoon, I realized the girls had been outside for a pretty long while.  I looked out the back window to see they had found our huge wheeled trashcan and had filled it with water to create a little mini-pool.  They were having a blast playing in it!

 Ryan took both girls on Daddy Daughter Dates recently.  Since Vini, Vidi, Vici closed, he and Lily are looking for their new spot.  They tried out Valencia, and absolutely loved it.  I had some of her leftover pasta for lunch, and it was fantastic.  I want to go try it soon!  While Lily was at Emory's playing, he and Mia went to Chuck E Cheese.  She scored a pretty big loot that day!

Mia and I had fun together too.  After eating dinner at the Japanese restaurant, we came home to decorate cupcakes that she and Ryan had made earlier in the day.  I taught her to use my decorating gun which she loved.  She thought the way it mixed colors inside of it was awesome.  I love making fun and tasty memories together!

And just like that, summer was over!  I'm not sure any of us really wanted it to end this year, but ready or not, it's time for school!

After Camp Fun

I forgot to write about our after-camp experience.  We were so thrilled to have our family back together again!  After we checked into the hotel, we headed over to a nature center.  It was a fun way to spend a few hours talking with one another and simply enjoying our time together again.

 Painting with water is always fun.

 They thought playing on this old tractor was pretty cool.

 Since they also have several animals here, there is lots of education surrounding that too, from how to care for them and their environment to useful information about each one.  We decided we would actually want to see the bear with this size paw on it.

 This musical playground was pretty neat!

 We all slept well on Friday night, and we headed to Biltmore Estate on Saturday morning.  I love this place.  It reminds me of Downton Abbey which Ryan and I miss terribly.  I love to imagine what life was like while they lived here.

 We took lots of great pictures of this beautiful estate, but I decided just to put this little collage here instead of listing each one separately.

We stayed for several hours taking in the whole house (the girls loved the basement with its kitchen, swimming pool and bowling alley!), but by lunch, they were pretty tired.  We knew the last couple of weeks were wearing on them too, so we headed on home.  It was a great way to have a little fun family time though!