August Happenings

We're getting back in to the swing of the school routine which is helpful.  Here are a few other items going on.

We were happy to finally get to celebrate Emily and Jeffrey's wedding!  It was originally scheduled for the end of March, but they had to push it off due to the pandemic.  They got married in their backyard on the original date in a very small and sweet ceremony, but it was great to have the big wedding and reception they'd planned this Fall.  It was a lovely event.

The new 6th grade girls had a fun after school party one Friday to celebrate a few birthdays and being back together.  They made several tie-dye pieces and had lots of fun.

We sure do love these girls!

Decker sure does love Ryan.  Granted, he's begging for food here, but he loves to be near Ryan.  When Ryan leaves the house, he goes and sits by the door for awhile until he comes home.

Mia made a cool picture collage to hang on her classroom wall.  It shows 10 high points in her life.  It was so fun to relive these memories with her!

We were beyond thrilled that the AMC theater finally reopened!  It's been closed for months, and our family has missed going to the movies.  There are no new movies out right now, but we were happy to go see The Black Panther on the big screen.

Pretty sure my fortune cookie from a lunch date with Ryan is just mocking me.

Mia made a fun little thumbprint art one day.  I loved all the bright colors that it used.

Upper School had to change their annual Camp Highland retreat a little this year.  They couldn't spend the night like usual, so instead, they left earlier in the morning and stayed later into the evening.  Lily had a blast.  I think this is one of the highlights of the school year for her.

Mia really hopes to be Spiderman for Halloween this year.  We found a costume at a great price, so we went ahead and purchased it.  She tried it on, and it's awesome!  Now the hard part is not wearing it again until the end of October.

I still enjoy leaving little messages for the girls on the white board outside their bedrooms.

It's so nice to be back into a somewhat normal routine; we're very thankful for this.

Back to School!

It's hard to believe back to school time is really here!  We are so incredibly grateful for Stonehaven.  They have come up with a really well thought out and prayed over plan to return kids to a face to face school setting.  A few families have chosen to continue using the blended learning method that we used last Spring, and I'm glad that option is available.  Our family is ready to go back though, so we are very thankful this has been planned out.

The process started a few days early as Mia got to go inside and decorate her new locker.  This is such an exciting time for the new 6th graders!  She has several pictures hung up, a little whiteboard that friends can write on, and a cute little disco ball that lights up.  Love it!

 Masks on since they are in a big group; lots of great friends all excited to decorate!

 The big day arrived!  I love seeing these signs each year.

 These two are ready for a great year.  We are praying this will be a healthy and wonderful year for them.

 Lily is excited to be a part of the new Upper School.  Their new building is still under construction (the pandemic shut down a lot of window production so we're stalled out right now).  We are temporarily renting space from Roswell Street Baptist Church to house our 7th-9th graders.  After taking a picture and dropping Mia off at the Lower School location, we drove over to drop Lily off.  We had a little help from Mrs. Hobson to get a picture of her, Avery, and Nate that day; hard to believe these three met each other 10 years ago!

 Mrs Hobson also sent this picture later on in the day.  I love seeing these happy girls together.

 Socially distanced chapel services too.  I appreciate all the steps the school is taking to keep our kids safe and healthy.

Earlier this summer, the foundation of the new school was laid and beams were put up for the new building.  The school reached out to Upper School families to ask what Bible verses they wanted to pray over the school.  They took those and wrote them on the beams that are now inside the walls of the school.  God's Word is the at the heart of our school, and this is no different.  Man, I love this!

Our family couldn't pick just one verse, so we submitted several.  Mrs. Jackson took pictures of each one, so we could see how they were written out.  Our family chose
1 Cor 13:11, Prov 9:9-11, Prov 3:5-6, and Col 3:16-17.

We are so thankful for this school and can't wait to see how it continues to impact God's Kingdom.  To God be the glory!

July and The Beach!

We were finally able to get a change to our scenery this July with our annual family beach trip to New Smyrna Beach.  This was one of our best trips there in several years.  I'm not sure if was being around people again, the beautiful weather we enjoyed, or simply getting to travel, but it was great.  I'm so thankful we have this tradition.

Mia and Papa enjoyed lots of time together, whether hanging out in the condo or boogey-boarding in the ocean.

I sure do love my people.

One of the coolest parts of the week was seeing a Space-X launch from the beach.  It was so bright!  It was a gorgeous day, so we were able to follow the rocket quite high into the sky.

Nice form for cornhole Papa!

We took a break from the sun one day to drive to Orlando and enjoy a delicious Giordanos' pizza.  It was almost like being in Chicago!

Look at that cheese pull!

Much love for these people.

We are so thankful for Granna and Papa.  They're always great, but we such do appreciate that they share their condo with us each year.  I love this time with them.

Dad with his brothers; these three are something else!

Sid, Elaine, Papa, Granna, Judy, Joe, Robin, Randy, and Georgia.  All these cousins love this time with their families.

A somewhat socially responsible picture gathering this year.

It was a wonderful week that we needed!

A few other things going on this month:

Lily has been loving the paint by number kits that we purchased.  Here are three recent ones that she completed.

Decker was not super excited to have the tortilla blanket put on him, but he may the biggest fan of the Dad's beef jerky.

 I love when Lily gets creative.  She made this box for Avery to celebrate her birthday.  She painted the balloons on the cover and then made it a blue theme since that's Avery's favorite color.  She filled it with all sorts of goodies...candies, gum, nail polish, candle, card, etc.  It was so cool!

 More examples of Lily's creativity.  Love it!

 We went up to The Battery for dinner one evening, not connecting that it was finally opening day at home for the Braves.  No one is allowed inside the stadium, but many gathered just outside to watch the game on the big screen.  This is baseball in quarantine times.

It's been a hot month, but we're grateful that we are all healthy and doing well.