16th Birthday Party!

We were so excited to celebrate Lily's 16th birthday! We originally had it planned for the Friday after her birthday, but the Stonehaven volleyball team made it to the regional tournament which started that weekend (and it moved on to the state tournament the next week!). Definitely a good reason to postpone the celebration! We pushed it out a couple of weeks which ended up working out well.

While Lily was at school, Ryan and I decorated the basement. We filled it with all sorts of fun items!

Lily kept the main event as a secret from her friends. They all met up right after school, and that's when she told them we were heading to The Splatter Studio over in Sandy Springs. None of them had even heard of it before, so this was definitely a surprise! Everyone was excited to get ponchos and shoe covers on.

So many colors to choose from!

Everyone gathers around to learn some different splatter paint techniques.

Let the fun begin! These girls splattered, sprayed, drizzled, threw, shot, and swirled paint all over the place to make some beautiful abstract paintings!

Each girl had her own station to make her own painting. Then, they came together for several pieces. We bought Lily a Splatter Studio shirt to commemorate the event, and she had everyone splatter on it which was really cool. For parties, they allow up to 12 kids. We had 9 which meant there were three extra blank canvases. The girls had fun collaborating on these. Ryan and I loved this first one so much that we asked if we could keep it; the girls agreed that was fine, so it's now hanging up in our house!

The girls also collaborated on a larger painting that is given to the birthday girl. This first painting shows each girl with her chosen color for the painting, and the second picture shows them with their finished product. This is now hanging in Lily's room. What a great reminder of an awesome birthday with friends!

I snapped a picture of each girl with her painting as each finished up. They all turned out so good!

Lucy Elrod and Kate Jackson

Lauren Martin and Hannah Mauldin

Mary Preston Harvey and Raegan Miley

Emma Scott and Addison Corley

I think it's safe to say they all had an absolute blast!

After our time at The Splatter Studio, we came on home. Ryan and I had decorated the dining room table earlier in the day too.

Lily wanted Chick-fil-a nuggets, so we ordered a big tray for everyone to split. We also had their fruit tray, a variety of chips, and all the Coke products to choose from.

We are so thankful for our friend, Sherilyn Johnson, who is such a great baker! Lily's not a big sweets person, but she raved about a cake Sherilyn had made for someone else, so I reached out to see if I could order one for Lily's party. It's a strawberry cake with a cream cheese icing, and it was so yummy!

Lily's friends spent the night afterwards. These girls always have a lot of fun hanging out together, and we're always happy to open our home up to them. We're thankful Lily has such wonderful friends. The next morning, Ryan cooked bacon and pancakes on the griddle for everyone, and we had more of the fruit tray too. This was an absolutely perfect party for Lily! Happy birthday!

Sweet Sixteen

 Happy Sweet Sixteen birthday to Lily!

Lily's birthday fell just two days after we returned from our fall break trip. Grandpops and Grandma Jan sent her these beautiful flowers to start her day off right. Her volleyball team was supposed to have a game that evening, but the game got cancelled on Sunday night, so we pivoted plans quickly for the evening. We picked up some of her favorite bags of candies (starburst pink and red bag, and nerd clusters in original and berry flavors) and tied some cool balloons to them. We used some of the awesome dinosaur decorations that she loved from Ryan's party, and put all this together to decorate her room a little bit. She got to pick dinner for the evening, and she wanted my sausage croissant casserole, bacon, and sparkling grape juice. It was a low key evening, but I believe it was a lot more fun and relaxed than scrambling to get to a game and grabbing something quick on the road!

Even though Lily really isn't much of a dessert girl, you need to blow out candles on your birthday, so we picked up a cookie cake and some happy birthday candles so we could sing and celebrate her a little more.

We had actually given Lily our birthday present before our trip. We gave her a beautiful mother of pearl necklace that we hope she'll always treasure; she can always remember this was for her 16th birthday when she wears it. We thought she might enjoy having it to wear to shows on our trip which is why we gave it to her early.

Granna and Papa stopped by for a few minutes to give her good birthday wishes.

Even though Lily received her new Honda CR-V a couple of months ago (thank you Grandpops and Grandma Jan!), you need a picture on your 16th birthday with your new car. She has loved driving "Millie" around, and we pray that she has many safe years with this! She has a reservation to take her drivers' test in just a few days.

We look forward to Lily celebrating this big birthday with her friends in a couple of weeks after volleyball season is wrapped up.

I asked Lily the traditional birthday questions to see what her current favorites are. Here's what she said:

Color: Pink

Movie: Little Women

TV Show: Only Murders in the Building

Book: Where the Crawdads Sing

Drink: Cherry Coke

Food: Chicken Biscuit

Friend: Really tough one because she has several great friends; if she had to pick right at that moment, she'd say Kate Jackson

Bible Verse: 1 Timothy 4:12

School Subject: Literature with Mr. Hancock

Activity: Volleyball

Place to Go: Friends' houses

Game to Play: Telepathy

Restaurant: Chick-fil-a

Animal: Otter

Memory from Last Year: Seeing Phantom on Broadway

Most Thankful for: Family and Friends

Goal This Year: Make all A's and pass the AP European History exam

I put these collages together and posted them on social media on the 4th. It's fun to see how my precious baby girl has grown through the years.

Ryan and I are so incredibly proud to be Lily's parents. She is an amazing young woman with a lot of wonderful characteristics. She is honest, witty, articulate, intelligent, responsible, and loyal just to name a few. We really love hanging out with her! She has been created by a God who cherishes her, and we are thankful for her each and every day. We pray that she grows in her love and dependence on God, and that she will use her gifts and talents to honor Him. We cannot wait to see what her future holds!