End of Summer Fun

What a fun July it's been!  Here are pictures of some of the fun we've had.

The girls have baked up a storm.  Lily made s'more cupcakes and Mia made strawberry cupcakes.  We took these over to the Henderson's house to enjoy after swimming, and then enjoyed them for a few days afterwords.  So yummy!

 The girls have had a blast with these chalk bombs from Michael's!  There are three to a pack which works great since our precious neighbor Aberle loves to play with them too.  Nothing like some good ol' messy fun!

 Lily made a fort in her room and slept it in for almost two weeks.  Mia and Aberle enjoyed playing in it with her too.  I think Lily most loved when Decker slept in it with her at night.  I love when kids are creative!

 Our family has gotten into puzzles this summer which has been super fun.

 I've been so impressed with Lily and her Lego building!  She's completed The Tower Bridge and Amusement Park Carousel which are both part of the challenging Expert series.  How cool are these?!

 Mia has pulled out some creativity too.  She had a ton of fun making a slide down our stairs out of pillows, and she used the Jenga pieces to make all sorts of cool and challenging architectural designs.

 4th of July was pretty low-key this year.  We stayed at home and enjoyed a laid back day.  I had fun making star-shaped pigs in a blanket, star-shaped jello dotted with raspberries, and potato chips (how much more American can you get than chips?).  Our dessert was delicious.  I made parfaits with blueberries and strawberries around whipped cream layers.  We topped it with Lane's BBQ new dessert seasonings which were fabulous.  We are thankful for our country!

 Lily broke out the sidewalk chalk one day and made a beautiful design work for Psalm 118:24.  She liked the message that was passing along to all our neighbors as they drove past.

 Both girls have recently started music lessons.  Mia is giving guitar a go, while Lily is adding in the violin; she is continuing with piano lessons as well.  It's neat to see these talents grow.

 And more chalk bomb fun!

This has been such a fun summer!

Happy Father's Day to Ryan

These girls sure are blessed to have Ryan as their dad.  He's a great one.  He loves them deeply and has so much fun spending time with them; he's involved in their lives.  He shows them what a man seeking God looks like.  He leads our home well and often demonstrates selfless love.  He shows them how a husband should treat his wife.  He's funny and good-looking too.  I pray that our girls one day find men as good as him to marry; that's a mighty tall order though.

 We let Ryan plan his Father's Day, so it could be a day that he loves.  He could have chosen going to a Braves' game, but he loves us all too much to subject us to the heat this time of year.  😀  Since we had just returned from NC with the girls from camp, we slept in on Sunday morning and watched the JFBC service from home.  After a lunch at Crafty Hog, we went to Sparkles so the girls could try out their new roller blades.  They had a blast and did so many time trials to see how fast they could get going.  While we didn't skate this time, nothing makes us happier than seeing our girls having fun, especially together.

 We saw that Main Event was having a Father's Day special, so we headed over there in the late afternoon to take advantage of it.  Lily's the only one who has been before, so we were all glad to try it out.  There's so much fun stuff to do!  We bowled a good round (with Ryan winning I might add), played lots of fun and cool arcade games, and then had some pizza in their cafe for dinner.

  The most fun part though was the ropes course!  The girls and I did this a couple of times.  There are several different ones to try, but they all are suspended above the arcade.  It was so cool!

 Such a fun day celebrating Ryan!

Summer in Full Swing

This first month of summer has been filled with all sorts of fun!

We started out in Chicago which was a blast.  On the day we left, we learned that our newest niece, Linley, made her debut.  So we got home, did some laundry, and the next morning drove over to Birmingham to meet her and congratulate Josh and Amy on their healthy and beautiful little girl.  We love little girls in this family!

 While in Chicago, Mia spent her hard earned souvenir money on a neat science experiment set at the Museum of Science and Industry.  She couldn't wait to get home and try some of them out!  She made slime, an erupting volcano, and rock candy.  She's having lots of fun with this.

A few days after we returned from Chicago and Birmingham, we drove the girls up to Asheville for camp.  After dropping them off, Ryan and I stayed for another night.  We always enjoy this town.  We ate a delicious dinner at Tupelo Honey and then hit up Chocolate Fetish which has lots of things we love.  Then we visited Malaprop's Bookstore and stumbled upon this fun little adventure.  They offer a "blind date with a bookseller."  They have wrapped up lots of books and put a few descriptor phrases on the cover.  You buy the book based off those descriptions having no idea what book you're buying; how fun is that?!  Of course, if you happen to have already read what you select or you simply don't like it, they allow a full return.  I love this idea.

 I couldn't decide between these two, so I ended up with both.

 Can't wait to read my new buys!

 While the girls were at camp, I actually drove up to Charlotte, NC for a work conference on the new tax laws.  It was an all-day conference, so I drove up the evening before (where I found a fabulous Middle Eastern restaurant thanks to Yelp), spent all day in class, and then spent the night to drive back the next day.  I realized I was only about 3 miles from the Billy Graham Library, so I visited that for a few hours.  It was a beautiful day to walk the grounds and learn more about Mr. Graham's life and ministry.  They have a large bookstore to visit before leaving too where I bought "Nearing Home," a book Meme loved before her passing.

 I don't typically take pictures of the food I eat, but Ryan and I thoroughly enjoyed this French Pig Pizza that we made.  It's a Guy Fieri recipe, and it's delicious...pancetta, green apples, Brie cheese, and a balsamic reduction.  Num num num.

  We were finally able to hang out with the Smiths again after several weeks!  We are sad that they are moving to Kennesaw, but we're excited for the new opportunities for their family.  We'll miss having them just down the road though.  We went out to see their new home which they're currently fixing up.  It's so beautiful!  They will make lots of great memories there.  After our visit we all had dinner together at Freddy's which was a fun treat.

 We also spent an evening with them at the Mable House watching The Greatest Showman.  What a fun evening!

 We had Mom and Dad over for a double birthday celebration.  Ryan grilled pork tenderloins and peaches for us.  Mia made salad with a homemade goat cheese buttermilk dressing.  I had the easy job of roasting green beans with Parmesan cheese.  Lily made a three tier strawberry cake with cream cheese icing.  She put a 72 cutout on top and then covered the top of each layer with sprinkles.  It was super cute (and delicious!).

 I took a day off from work last week and took the girls to White Water to spend the day together.  We had a blast!  It was a beautiful day; it wasn't overly hot or overly crowded.  The girls were finally big enough to ride all the rides.  We rode all of them together except this little one, so it was the only one I could snap a picture of.

  Love being with these two!

It's summertime!

Camp Crestridge - 2018

The beginning of June means one thing...it's time to head up to Camp Crestridge!

 Mia was in the Chippewa again this year while Lily and her friend Emory moved up to Creek.  Mia knows the Chip hill well since this her third year as one.  Lily and Emory got to enjoy the 82 steps up to the top of Creek hill for their cabin!

 Both girls enjoyed their cabin mates and counselors.

 It was so fun to see pictures each day that the camp was posting.  I love seeing the girls having fun in their skills, campwide activities and village fun.  The girls enjoyed their skills this year.  Mia took gymnastics, ceramics, horsemanship, archery, soccer, and outdoor games.  Lily had fun with crafts, Bible Study, hand lettering, gardening, health and fitness, and archery.

 Lily having fun with friends at carnival.

 Mia trying her luck at carnival, and then having fun with other Chippewas as they raided the boys camp store!

 Lily adored her counselor, Katie.

 Always having fun with Emory.

 Mia loved her Cherokee big sister, Peyton.

 Mia and friends cooling off with popcycles.

 Everyone loves campfire night!

 Nibble Nook ice cream is always a fun treat on the first evening!

 Twelve days passed quickly, and we were so glad to pick them back up.  Our family was complete again!

 Love my Creek and Chip!

 It was another wonderful couple of weeks at camp.  They are already looking forward to next summer!