Ups and Downs of March

March always seem to, well, march right on by. It's always a busy month at work, and then it's busy at school too. It was a good month though; here's some of the pictures.

Lily's class finally got their trip to Charleston! They were scheduled to go in 2020, and the trip was cancelled less than a week beforehand as everything shut down for Covid. I think the whole class was glad to finally make it!

While they stayed separate most of the time, 7th grade did go on this trip as well. The school is trying to get everyone back on their schedule for these fantastic trips.

Mia's class didn't get to go away for a few days but they did have fun. One day, Ryan and a couple of parents took the class down to The Bible Museum in Lagrange. This is a very well-done museum. Ryan was glad to get to take them; their field trip here was also cancelled in 2020 so this was a great make-up!

Another day the class went to Camp Highland and enjoyed being outside having fun all day. I think Mia enjoyed the ropes coarse most of all!

My birthday falls right in the middle of the month, and I really just wanted a nice evening with my family. Ryan made us the most incredible Wagyu steaks from New Zealand that we found on Goldbelly. They were absolutely perfect!

The steaks just melted in our mouths; they were so good. We had some mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, blueberries, and Tuscan bread to go with it. Truly the perfect meal for me!

We also celebrated with a beautiful Martha Stewart ombre strawberry cake, again from Goldbelly. In all honesty, it looked better than it tasted but I'm glad to have finally tried it.

Fresh flowers are always a lovely gift! David and Jan sent me a gorgeous bouquet of tulips along with fabulous chocolate truffles. I kept these at the office which brightened that space up. Lily gifted me these beautiful roses which made home even better. Not pictured are the wonderful gift cards and books from Ryan and Mia which I was also very excited about. They all made my birthday so special! 

Mom and I have a tradition of eating Chinese food together for my birthday; I always appreciate that she brings it to the office for me. Dad was working with me that day, so he was able to join in which was great. I'm so thankful for these two!

A few food pictures because food ties in closely with lots of fun memories for me:

We very much enjoyed an evening at Melting Pot; this has become our go-to celebratory restuarant.

Ryan and I were excited that the show Ted Lasso was starting a new season. I couldn't resist buying us a couple of pints of "Biscuits with the Boss" ice cream to celebrate.

Mia made this beautiful pillow for the world's best Spanish teacher, Mrs. Hanbury, as she's expecting a new baby in the fall.

I couldn't help but laugh at Decker. I put him in on the passenger side one morning so I could take him to the groomer. I closed the door and when I walked around to the driver side, here he was. Sorry, dude, move it!

Lily had her first date towards the end of the month. Ben Crumly is a very nice young man, and they've become friends through school. He came over to eat dinner with our family, and then they watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We couldn't believe Ben had never seen it before! I loved that he brought me a beautiful bouquet of purple flowers to say thank you for having him over.

More food posts:

A favorite client brought me a ton of Mr. Goodbars at our appointment to help me get through the end of tax season; there's a reason she's a favorite!

The girls and I went to try Zama one evening after a long day of shopping for new spring/summer clothes and dresses. Lily's friend, Tad, had recommended it to us, so we gave it a try. It was really good, and I'm glad we tried it. We'll look forward to going back.

I overheard sweet 8-year-old Lily Cate Elrod talking at church one morning about making chocolate cupcakes. I jokingly said something about "how could you make chocolate cupcakes and I didn't get to try one?!" The next day, she and her mom stopped by my office to deliver one to me. How sweet is that? And, even better, it was really delicious.

Here's another reason to thank the Elrod's for being so sweet. As I was cleaning out some things one day in late February, I realized we had a Dutch oven that had never been used. I've probably had it for a decade, and I thought "I am going to donate that so someone who will use it can have it." I put it to the side because I was hosting a women's event at my house that evening. In conversation that night, Julie mentioned that she really wanted to learn how to make sourdough bread but she didn't have a Dutch oven so she couldn't make it. My ears perked up and I realized I had exactly what she needed. It was a perfect match for the size she needed and everything! A couple of weeks later, she brought me this scratchmade loaf of sourdough; how fantastic! It was so yummy, and I'm so glad she is putting that Dutch oven to work!

We'll end on these two cute pictures. One is Mom and Dad from the cruise they went on recently, and the other is Lily who was wearing the most adorable pigtails.

What a month March has been!

Varied February

February is always an interesting month. It's the shortest month of the year, but it often feels like it can drag on to me. I know a big part of that is work is starting to pick up quickly. With that, I feel like I'm trying to squeeze in as much fun as I can while I have the opportunity. Together that feels like I'm always going which just seems to draw out time somewhat. Here's some of the things going on in our world these days.

Mia knows how much I love the gift of time, so for Christmas, she gave me a movie night together with her. She bought me some treats from Buc-cee's (chocolate covered cashews and peanuts along with their very yummy taffy), and she made me this awesome director's board to help me figure out we'd watch Back to the Beach together. It's still my favorite movie even though it was made in 1987! I was so happy to cash this in one evening and have a great time watching this with her. What a great gift!

One of my Christmas gifts to Ryan was an evening to go see comedian Jim Gaffigan at CEPAC. I love when shows come to this venue since it's so convenient to our house. We had dinner at Stockyard with Jeff and Ali Pennington beforehand which was a real treat; we always enjoy our time with them. Then we headed on over for the show. It was a horribly rainy night so traffic was a nightmare. We made it in before the show started though and settled in for a lot of laughs. We had a fun evening, but we agreed this wasn't his best show (we've several of his shows on tv before) and the opening act actually entertained us a little more than he did. Still, we will always take a fun date night out together, so we are thankful for this evening.

Ryan and I had a fantastic date night recently where we went to see an early showing of The Chosen's episodes 7 and 8 of season 3. We both absolutely love this show. It is so well done and stays Biblically true. While the episodes usually release once a week, we couldn't wait so we were happy to go to the AMC and catch the early release. It was so incredibly good!

We were surprised when we came out of the theater and realized that Lara Silva, the talented and lovely actress who plays Eden (wife of Simon), was at the showing too; she said she lives only about 15 minutes away! She was so gracious to meet and take pictures with so many of us. How fun!

Lily participated in her second mock trial season. This year they had a civil case, and Lily said she enjoyed it more than the criminal case they tried last year. She was chosen to be the lead plaintiff attorney. The last couple of years the mock trial competition has taken place over zoom. Everyone seemed glad they were in person this year. We got up bright and early one Saturday morning and headed to the main courthouse in Marietta. Everything started at 8:30, and Stonehaven's plaintiff went first. Her opening statement nailed it! She led our main witness and crossed the defense's main witness. It was so clear that Stonehaven and the other team had prepared and worked very hard. We were incredibly proud of all the kids (but especially Lily). This kid just may have a career in law in front of her! Ryan and I left about 11 after the first trial was over. We didn't stick around to see our defense side present. We didn't realize that Stonehaven would be one of the teams to get picked to go again later in the evening; our plaintiff team presented again and it sounds like they did great. Unfortunately, their team wasn't in the top three to progress to the next round, but they should be so proud. They did great!

One of the parents snapped this picture at one point. How fun to see Lily leading Avery, our star witness!

Grandma Jan surprised us with a Valentine's goody box from Mrs. Prindables...chocolate caramel apples, chocolate dipped oreos, and chocolate dipped pretzel rods. What a fun and tasty surprise!

We've had an unexpected event pop up this month too. Mia has been complaining of her ears bothering her more than normal recently, and we've noticed she's having a harder time hearing. I took her one morning to an audiologist who confirmed there's definitely some hearing loss. The following week I took her for a CT scan so they can better see what's going on inside her ears. It's hard to se your baby girl getting on to a machine like that. We'll meet with the doctor soon to see what the next steps may be to best help Mia hear better.

Ryan and I were happy to celebrate the wedding of our friends, Josh and Anna, recently. They are part of our weekly small group, and we're thoroughly enjoying getting to know them and deepen our friendship. They had a beautiful and God-honoring ceremony in Rockmart. We were happy to get a picture with the sweet couple and our small group just before we headed out from the reception.

I love our Valentine's tradition of posting hearts on the girls' doors telling them qualities we see in them and love about them. God has so wonderfully designed Lily and Mia; we are so thankful for them!

Mia painted this beautiful painting for me!

Lily made a couple of lovely art pieces at school as well. I love when my girls are creative!

Not a super fun picture, but it's one I wanted to remember. Our small group had the opportunity to serve the college ministry after church one week by providing lunch. We had white chicken chili with toppings (perfect for a very cold Sunday afternoon!), salad, bread, and homemade cookies for them. We enjoyed eating together and getting to know them. I appreciate this opportunity!

Lily loves to dress up...sometimes it's in a cute Buccee the Beaver costume, sometimes it's in a beautiful dress to go to a masquerade birthday party for a friend!

Ryan and I were very excited to spend a weekend up in North GA on a church retreat with about 60 others. They were college age and older, some singles, some married; it was a great mix and a wonderful time to worship together and get to know others better. One evening some of us played a lot of fun games like bananagrams and mind the gap while others enjoyed just sitting together and talking. We had a few hours of free time on Saturday, so Ryan and I actually drove down to Mercier Orchards which we love. They were celebrating their birthday, so our friend Ryan Lane was there serving up brisket, pork, and chicken. It was great to eat, but even better to catch up with him. We headed over to a little coffee shop in town afterwards then met up with a lot of friends at a local theater to see The Jesus Revolution movie.

We are so thankful for First Baptist and the people in it!

It's been an interesting month for sure.