September Fun

Part of me feels like September has been a little slow, and the other part of me feels like it's almost over!  Here are a few of the pictures from the month.

We love having friends come over to hang out and spend the night!  Molly Kate and Sophie came over to spend time with the girls, and we all had a great time.  We put the big screen up outside because it was a beautiful night.  It was fun to watch Aladdin together.

 Our family was out and about one Saturday morning.  After having breakfast at Tupelo Honey we saw a dog store that had a fun little football in it.  We couldn't resist getting it for Decker.  He loves it and wants to play with it all the time!

 The girls were invited to spend the night with Eliza and Olivia Eberhard to celebrate Olivia's birthday.  They went to Willy's for dinner which is always a hit. The girls had a great time at their friends' home, watching movies, playing games, and celebrating Olivia.

 7th grade together on the Middle School Retreat up in North GA.  Lily loves this overnight trip; she has a blast with her friends.  We love our school!  This retreat actually was on Ryan's birthday this year, so she was having fun here while Ryan, Mia, and I had a blast at the Braves' game.  It was a gorgeous and cool evening, and we got the win!

 I love this girl.  We were all having fun at the Taste of Smyrna festival, and I couldn't resist snapping this cute picture of Mia.

 Grandpops and Grandma Jan asked Lily what she'd like for her upcoming 13th birthday, and Lily asked for Grandma Jan to come down and take her shopping.  Grandma Jan flew in on Saturday morning, and we all went to the Taste of Smyrna together.  We hung out there for a little bit before these two ladies left for their shopping adventure and a night at the St. Regis.  How fun!  On Sunday evening, we met back up for dinner together at Kyma which was delicious, and they surprised each of us with gifts.  On Monday, Grandma Jan was able to come to the girls' volleyball game with us which we were really glad for.  Both played well, and we got the win!  We are so thankful for awesome grandparents!

 Just a cute picture of Decker.  We love him.

 The girls' volleyball team played great on Thursday.  Both girls played a lot which was fun.  Lily had several good bumps and saves.  Coach let Mia serve at the end of the game (her first time to serve in a game), and she won both points, once with an ace!!!  She didn't think she was strong enough to even serve it over, but she did, and she did it really well.  We were even more excited because Lily was out on the court too.  This was the first time they've actually played at the same time, so that was really cool.

We also had parent teacher conferences one afternoon, and both girls are doing so well at school.  We are very thankful for Stonehaven and the opportunities it affords.  This school is such a blessing!

We met the Smith family up at The Battery one evening to catch a Braves' game.  They clinched the division the night before, so this was a fun and relaxed game to attend.  It was a fun night catching up with old friends.

 Ryan had a night out with Mia one evening, and he snapped this picture.  I love this girl.

 Sarah, Abigail, and Lydia Fox came by to hang out one evening, and they had a blast with our girls.  They did all sorts of things together, but they also played Spicy Uno which led to all sorts of laughs.

 Decker giving Lily his best puppy dog eyes begging for some danish one morning.

 Our family went to see Darci Lynne perform at CEPAC one evening.  She was so amazing with her puppets and voice projecting.  We all loved this show!

What a fun month we've had!

August is Here!

The school hosted its annual Back to School Picnic on August 1st.  This is always a great way to catch back up with lots of friends that we haven't seen over the summer along with meeting new families.  It was awesome to see so many new people this year; Stonehaven is growing rapidly!  Lily was excited to see Annie Harvey.  Lily had made a beautiful painting for Annie at Crestridge this year, and this was the first time we've been able to see them since getting back.  Annie's mom told me later that she had placed this painting prominently in the middle of her room.  Such a sweet bond these girls have.

We headed over to Birmingham the first weekend of August which was a fun way to wrap up our summer.  We couldn't wait to get over there and meet our newest niece, Emma, who was born while we were in New Smyrna Beach.  Of course, we were happy to see the rest of the family too.  Decker enjoyed his I-20 ride in Lily's lap; I don't think he left it the entire ride.  He and the girls stayed at Bama's home with her while Ryan and I stayed at a nearby hotel.  On Friday evening, we enjoyed a wonderful evening with Kyle and Shannon Kline; it's been so long since we have seen them!  The girls had a fun dinner out with Bama which ended with a delicious visit to Steel City Pops.

 Look at this precious little one!  Oh, we all loved meeting sweet Emma!

  Sunday night arrived, and we had fun looking back at all the fun things we did and people we saw over the summer.  It was a great one!

 Lily made this cool unicorn dreamcatcher that afternoon, and she did a beautiful job styling Mia's hair that morning.

 The first day of school is here!  It was a beautiful day, great for stepping outside for our annual "when I grow up" pictures.  A baker and a robot engineer...I love my girls!

 We are ready for another great year at Stonehaven!

 Lily read me a short story one evening that her class had read earlier in the day.  I love seeing how their materials grow and deepen as they mature.  I always enjoy reading with my kids.  Ryan took Mia on an after carpool date one day while they waited on 7th grade to return from their first Pathfinders trip of canoeing down the Chattahoochee.  They stopped at the Marietta Food Hall and had a crepe; I may have been a little jealous!

  There's a couple of new things going on around the school this year.  5th grade is enjoying an expanded orchestra period this year, and they got to choose their instruments recently.  Mia was super excited to pick the trumpet.  She's had a few lessons in school and is enjoying it!

 I'm so incredibly proud of both the girls.  They decided in the spring that they wanted to try out for the 5th-8th grade girls volleyball team at school this fall.  Neither had played before, but they worked hard over the summer.  They went to all the evening camps that Miss Keesee offered, and they would practice at home too.  The week before school started and the first week of school, they went to tryouts/practice.  Then they found out they had made the cut!  How exciting!  They've had a great time already being a part of this team.  

 Mia is the only 5th grader on the team, but I think she has more heart in it than anyone else.  She's picking up the game very quickly, and the coach said she's very good at making adjustments when she's corrected.

  Lily has jumped right in to this team sport which has been something new for her.  Several of her best friends are on the team, so she's loving getting to spend more time and having fun with them.

 So far, this school year is starting out amazingly well!

My Kind of Town

We couldn't wait to get back up to Chicago!  Grandpops and Grandma Jan invited us up for a long weekend.  Mia gets a little nervous as she flies, but Ryan caught this sweet face from behind.  Lily made us laugh with her expression.

 One afternoon we walked over to Maggie Daley Park which the girls always love.  There are so many fun things to do here!  The girls both choose roller blades this year.  They went around the track for about 30 or so minutes and finished with very happy and red faces.

 On Saturday evening we enjoyed the Navy Pier fireworks from David and Jan's home.  It's so fun to look down on fireworks!  They had a great display that we all enjoyed.

 Stan's Donuts for breakfast never disappoints!

 Taz always loves when we visit.  She's so sweet!  We also met Luna on this visit who belongs to Nick and his girlfriend, Allison (or Ali...no one could decide).  Luna is a little more skittish but she did pretty well with Lily.  Lily certainly enjoyed hanging with them both.

We all fell in love with Ali; she is so sweet!  She and Nick took the girls and the dogs on walks each evening which they loved.  It didn't hurt that they stopped at Molly's Cupcakes each time too!  We loved that Ali framed each of these pictures for the girls too to remember their time together.  They can't stop talking about how much fun they had!

 Ryan and I had a date night one evening, and we decided to go to the Peter Lik gallery that has opened in the city.  He is an amazing photographer.  We were thinking about getting a small print, but we fell in love with this gorgeous and stunning picture of the Great Wall.  It's printed on a special paper that has crystals in it, so the sky actually reflects the light off of it.  It's truly spectacular.  On an impulse, we decided to invest in it.  We can't wait for it to be delivered to our home; it's amazing!

This was a more laid back trip than we often have in Chicago because we made the choice to simply enjoy being with family instead of running from place to place (even though it's a great city with lots of fun places to see).  It was a wonderful trip that we loved.  It's always great to visit with David and Jan, and we loved getting to see Nick and Ali on this trip too.  We can't wait until our next visit!

2019 New Smyrna Beach Trip

We had a shortened week in New Smyrna this year.  Ryan came home from Lebanon on the Saturday that we normally drive down.  The girls and I were more than happy to wait for him to get home!  He went to bed early after a quick dinner; he was exhausted.  I did his laundry and had everything else packed and ready to go.  On Sunday morning, we watched part of our church service from home, and then he packed up his items for the week.  We dropped Decker off at Bark Avenue and started our drive down.  It was a very smooth ride, and we made it in before dinner.  I'm always happy to be back at the beach!

I feel like every year I take fewer and fewer pictures of our time here!  Here are a few of the ones we took though.  The girls enjoyed sitting down with their feet in the water one afternoon while they snacked and read after playing in the ocean.  What a great way to relax.

 Lily and I had fun playing in the ocean one afternoon.

 Mia is an awesome boogy-boarder!

 Uncle Randy had his work cut out for him as he helped Mia, Suz, and Karson on the big round raft one afternoon.  They loved it!

 Randy and Mia worked hard for well over an hour trying to get her kite to fly.  It came really close a couple of times, but it just couldn't take off.

The pool gave some fun and cool relief too!

 Mom and Dad with our family after hot dog day.

 Mom and Dad with all their grandchildren.  We are so thankful for these wonderful grandparents!

 The 66 of us who made it down this year.

 Wayne treated us all to dinner at The Garlic one evening which was a nice and delicious treat.

 Randy and Georgia are always so kind to play the birthday money game after our family breakfast.  Randy comes up with a creative game each year, and each kid ends up with around $40.  How awesome is that?!

 One evening a lot of the kids went to ride go-carts.  Mia couldn't wait!  She was tall enough and excited to give it a try.  She did really well, and Lily and I had fun cheering her on from the sidelines.

 After the first round on the go-carts, Lily, Johnathan and Davis went with Georgia to play putt-putt which she really enjoyed.  Mia went around a few more times on the go-cart track with the other kids.  She also took a turn in the batting cage which she loved.  She was socking a lot of them!

 After all that fun, we went to Aunt Catfish for dinner.  It was a late but very fun evening.

The four of us took one afternoon to go see the movie Yesterday which we all enjoyed.  We ate lots of yummy Manny's pizza and Greek salads too and overall had a lot of fun.  It was gorgeous weather this week which was a big help.  We ended up leaving on Friday evening so we could get on back and avoid the Saturday traffic.  It was definitely a good decision.  We got home about 1 in the morning, but we slept in then had the day to do laundry, go grocery shopping, and simply rest up.  On Sunday, we had church and a whole bunch of errands to run, so we were very grateful for that extra day.  Another NSB (short) week is in the books!