Wrapping up 10th and 8th Grades

 It's hard to believe another school year is wrapping up. Both girls have enjoyed excellent academic years, and they've lots of activities to be involved in. We are so thankful for our sweet Stonehaven! Of course, one of the best parts of this school are all the awesome people that are a part of it. The girls both enjoyed a very fun end of year saltere with their friends. Lily and her friends met up in Marietta to get some pictures before the dance. How cute are they?

I love these girls, but especially Lauren and Kate.

Lily was glad to meet up with Ben once they got to the school too.

Mia was glad to see her friends and hang out with them at the school.

Ryan enjoyed being there with the other teachers too!

A few other items going on:

Mia's class had an early release after the CLT exam one day, so all the girls and a few moms met up at Zaxby's for lunch. This was a fun and relaxing time to hang out together in the midst of a very hectic end of school season.

Decker hanging out with Mia one evening.

Decker felt he needed to investigate a little more what Ryan and Lily were up to, especially since Ryan kept putting Decker's toy around Lily's legs!

Mia, Hudson, and Eliana on the last day of school. These three have been together since Pre-K!

Stonehaven offered a new drama practicum this year, and they put on a Ramona Quimby play. It was fun to watch them perform and see their hard work! All the kids did an excellent job; we were so proud of them!

Hanging out with my favorite 16 year old at the Jonquil Festival!

Lily has two absolutely lovely pieces of art from her practicum this semester. I love this treehouse drawing she made with Raegan.

This ladybug looked like it is jumping off the page! I am always impressed with Lily's creativity.

It was a fun surprise to receive an email from the school that one of our girls was receiving a special award at this year's end of year award ceremony. Both girls were recognized for their straight-A's all year accomplishment which we were really proud of. Then Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Hancock started to give out the character awards. We were thrilled to see that Mia was recognized for her compassion! This is definitely a natural gift she has which we've seen for awhile. As I was leaving, Mrs. Myrick (the music teacher) along with a couple of different parents stopped to tell me how Mia deserved this and how they (or their children) had witnessed her being compassionate first hand. We are so proud of both of our girls, and they each have so many wonderful gifts, traits, and talents. It was great to see this one recognized!

One evening Ryan and I joined Blake and Heather Martin for a concert at Eddie's Attic to see the band Hawktail. We didn't actually know this band, but we're always up for live music, especially with friends. They turned out to be really good. It was all instrumental (guitar, stand up bass, mandolin, and fiddle), and they had a great sound. It was along the lines of Nickle Creek, so it's no surprise we enjoyed this one.

I'm taking part in the first "Smyrna Safe Business" program. It's teaching small businesses how to prepare and respond to disasters. We've only had one class thus far, but it's really interesting. I'm glad I was chosen for this and look forward to learning more in the next five classes.

We are so excited that McKayla and Bennett are getting married in August! It was a lot of fun to celebrate McKayla and shower her at Jodi's house with the ladies in our family.

We may have purchased an axe-throwing set from Costco for the girls' summer baskets, and we may be having an absolute blast with it!

It's been a great school year; now, bring on summer!

King Charles' Coronation and Mother's Day

There were a couple of special days this May. 

First up was the coronation of King Charles III on May 6. Ryan and I got up at 5:45am to catch the end of the procession and the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. I had made scones the night before so we'd have something fun to snack on while we watched. We put lemon curd on some while we put clotted cream and jam (raspberry though, not strawberry) on the others. They were super delicious.

It was pretty fun to watch this historic event as it was happening.

Mothers Day was the following weekend on May 14. 

We started our morning at church which was lovely; I am always so thankful for First Baptist Smyrna. After that, Mia and I came home to get her ready for her Legally Blonde performance while Ryan and Lily stopped to pick up Publix subs for us. We ate a quick bite then headed up to Woodstock for the performance. After dropping Mia off, we had a a couple hours to kill before the actual performance, so we walked around the cute little downtown area and found a Bubble Tea. I always love a good bubble tea! 

Then we watched Mia's last performance which was very fun. It was about 5:30 when we left the theater, and I asked if we could just go by Whataburger for dinner. It's new to the area, and I thought it'd be fun to get something different. I definitely didn't want to drive almost an hour home and then we start figuring out what to cook! 

After dinner I opened my gift from the girls (a denim jacket I've been eyeing!) and then I headed over to my parents' house. We sat outside in their garden for a couple of hours chatting, and it was so wonderful. I'm very thankful for both of my parents, but on this day, especially for my mom.

It was a lovely day celebrating being a mom and loving my mom. I am blessed by both!

Annie Jr and Legally Blonde Jr Shows

Stonehaven worked with Brylliant Acting again over the whole school year to produce their annual school show. This year they decided to make it for those in grades 3-8. Mia was not originally going to be in this show because we let her participate in Little Mermaid in the fall, JTF festival in January, and Legally Blonde in the spring. However, Brynn let Mia know they needed to fill the role of Warbucks on a couple of days because the other actress wasn't able to be in all performances. We caved to Mia's begging and agreed to let her join the cast after JTF as long as she showed she could keep her grades up (she pulled straight A's both semesters!). Not a big surprise, she absolutely loved it and had such a great time. It truly is so much fun to see her on stage doing what she loves. She made an awesome Warbucks and did a fantastic job! Here are a few scenes she was in.

She and Annie did a great job with the song "I Don't Need Anything But You." I uploaded a video of this performance to YouTube. You can see it here (https://youtu.be/0nsX74l2Qds).

This was such a sweet cast!

We love watching this girl perform!

It's always fun when friend like Eliana and family come to watch too. We were so glad Bama was able to come over from Birmingham; Granna and Papa, Judy, Sid and Elaine all came too.

Just two weeks after Annie, Mia performed in Brylliant's spring production of Legally Blonde Jr. as Enid Hoops, one of Elle's classmates at Harvard Law. She had a couple of other minor roles as a shopkeeper and beauty shop lady too. Here are some pictures from that performance.

Learning how to Bend and Snap in this scene!

They had a real dog in there to play Bruiser Woods!

Mia didn't love that Enid got a perm and she had to wear this particular wig, but it was crucial to the play as Elle asks Enid to pour water on her hair; at that moment, the murderer, Chutney, explains you can't put water on a new perm or it would break down the ammonium thioglycolate and destroy it. This is all the evidence Elle needs to win the case!

This was another fun show to watch Mia perform in!