Lily's First Sleepover

This past Monday, Lily enjoyed her first sleepover at a friend's house.  She has spent the night away before at my parents house or in Birmingham with Liz, but she has never stayed overnight with a friend before.  She was overjoyed when I told her on Monday morning that she was going to Anna Powell's house and that Anna Claire Wright would be there too.  She immediately wanted to start packing up and getting ready even though we weren't going until about 5PM.  When I got home from work, she was all ready to go. 

When we got to the Powells, we could hear the kids playing in the backyard.  Sure enough Anna and Anna Claire were in the back playing with Anna's older sister, Sophia.  Her two younger brothers and parents came out to greet us.  Mia came running behind Lily, jumped and spread her arms wide open and proudly announced, "Guess who's here?!"  Anna's eyes got really wide, and she leaned in to whisper to Lily.  I heard Lily respond "No, she's not going to stay."  All the kids played for a few minutes while I talked to Sonya and Chad.  Then I rounded up Mia so we could go on our date, and gave Lily a big hug.  She excitedly ran back to her friends.

The next day, she couldn't wait to tell me all about it.  She told me how they made their own pizzas for dinner; Sonya told me there were making English Muffin pizzas, and how she put sauce, three pepperonis and cheese on it.  She said she had the choice of watermelon or blueberries and she picked blueberries because she loves them.  She told me all about getting to wear one of Anna's bathing suits so they could go to the pool in their neighborhood, and how much fun that was.  She is really loving swimming these days!  She told me how they watched a great movie called Spy Kids, and she wondered if I had ever seen it.  When I said no, I hadn't, she said "It was great Mommy.  You have to watch it sometime soon."  She told me how she and Anna Claire slept on the bottom of the bunk bed while Sophia slept on top and Anna slept on the floor.  When they woke up they had "the most awesome Cheerios.  They were way better than ours.  More crispy."  Honestly, I don't think we have stale Cheerios, but apparently, we do.  Anna Claire's mom picked her soon thereafter, and then Sonya brought Lily home.  Liz said she went to her room and fell asleep about 10:45 and then she didn't wake up until almost 2:00!

Obviously, Lily had a blast.  I am so glad she has such sweet friends, and it's so fun to see her enjoying her time with them.  I hope we can do this again soon!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy birthday to America!  We love celebrating the 4th of July around here.  We are trying to teach the girls what it means to be proud to an American, and the 4th is the day it seems to come together.  Liz and I had fun celebrating with the girls while Ryan is in Alaska.  Here are a few pictures to show what we've been up to.  I did not put any pictures of the dessert I was very excited about but failed at.  I knew the girls would absolutely love having ice cream sandwiches that they got to dip in red, white and blue sprinkles.  Unfortunately, I accidentally purchased ice cream squares which are completed covered in chocolate instead of ice cream sandwiches which have the ice cream exposed between chocolate wafers.  I tried cutting the sides of the chocolate off, but that made a big mess as it fell to pieces.  I will say the girls still enjoyed that treat, but it totally wasn't what I pictured...oh well, can't win them all I guess!

Liz helped the girls make hand print flags.  I love hand print art!  It makes me smile to see their sweet little hands.  Here is Mia's flag.

 Lily did a great job with her flag too.

 On the morning of the 4th, we headed over to the Marietta Square to watch the parade.  Last year, we all really enjoyed this parade, so we were excited to go back.  Thankfully, the weather started out nice and in the mid-80s; that was a relief from the 108 we experienced less than a week ago!  The girls were given balloons and small flags by different groups walking around which made them very happy.

 I always love to see the flags come in.  It may sound corny, but I feel so proud to see the American flag!  Of course, I like seeing the Georgia one as well; the third is the City of Marietta flag, and since we don't live there, I never really think about it.

 Just behind the flags was a Scottish band playing bagpipes and drums.  The girls were in awe of the bagpipes.  They sounded great too; what a treat to hear and see them.

 Of course, the many different fire trucks and police cars are fun to see.

 What a welcome surprise to see Santa Claus!  The girls couldn't believe he came all the way down from the North Pole to be in this parade.

 We watched the parade for about 1.5 hours before deciding to leave.  In all honesty, it started to get pretty boring after awhile.  We were excited to see the different public service vehicles, bands and soldiers, but then it was just one political candidate or group after another as we have several elections coming up in just a few weeks.  It was neat that near the beginning our Georgia Senior Senator, Johnny Isakson, stopped and talked to Lily for a moment.  I knew I liked him!  Anyway, the girls were obviously bored and starting to get hungry, so we headed out before the parade ended.  Moes was running a 4th special, so we enjoyed a little lunch there before heading home.

After nap time the girls helped me make some patriotic cupcakes.  The batter was of course supposed to be red and blue.  Well, it turned out a little more dark pink and turquoise, but they, they tasted good and the girls thought it was hilarious.

 A little white frosting, some red, white and blue sprinkles and viola!  (Yummy) patriotic cupcakes!

 I think it's safe to say Mia enjoyed hers!

Dress Up Day

We couldn't help but get Mia a Captain America costume.

 The girl loves this particular Superhero because she met him on Father's Day; she has no idea of the storyline.  When she asked what his superpowers are, we tell her that he is very brave, fast and courageous.  We say that he helps people.  And (thanks to Wikipedia for this one) that he is really good at gymnastics; she really likes that.  She was beyond THRILLED to get this costume!  She added the cape Mom and Dad brought her back from Chicago, and she made a shield out of a paper plate that she defends our home with.  Since Vacation Bible School in Birmingham a few weeks ago, she will come running up and say "I see Satan!  You know what I say?  Get back Satan!  Get back!" You tell him Mia!

This past Sunday, my parents church had a patriotic parade for kids to participate in during the church service.  Mom and Dad took the girls, Lily's bike and Mia's scooter so they could join in.  I went to our church because I had nursery duty and wanted to hear a friend give a report on their recent mission trip during Sunday School.  The girls had a great time and told me all about it!  Of course, Mia insisted on wearing her Captain America costume.  She told me she was going to wear her mask too so no one would know it was really Superhero Mia there.  She cracks me up.

The mask goes nicely with her blue eyes.

 We also bought Lily this Ariel mermaid costume.  She has outgrown all of her other dress up clothes, so she was in need of a new one.  She is thoroughly enjoying it.  She loves to hop around in it because it makes the tail fins look like she is swimming.

I love seeing their imaginations at work, and these costumes only help foster that.  They are so much fun to watch!

Mia's First Braves Game

Last week, we took Mia to her first Braves game.  She was so excited!  She has been asking to go for quite awhile now, so we decided to get some cheap seats and head on down to Turner Field.  Here are the girls just before we left; Lily was showing Mia how to do the chop!

 We loved that the great pitcher Phil Niekro's number is outside the stadium so each girl could pose by her age.

 We had to get in and get Mia a hat.  We had purchased one for Lily when we went with Mr. and Mrs. Worrell in May, and Mia really wanted her own hat.  It has a little "a" on it and several flowers; she loves it.

 We had to stop for face painting too.  The girls always love this.  Lily choose a "baseball girl."

 Mia picked a baseball.  They both looked so cute!

 Guest Relations gave us this certificate for Mia's first visit to Braves County.  I couldn't get the picture to rotate but notice in the bottom right of the certificate, it says the name is "Superhero Mia."  She once again introduced herself that way!

 We were all glad Bama was able to come too!

 Ready for the game to get started.

 No Braves game is complete without lemonade soft serve.

 We hung around in our seats until the end of the 7th, and then we headed over to the back of the stadium to get a birds-eye view of the field and let the girls see a few more fun parts of Turner Field.  They loved these huge Coke Adirondack chairs!

 We convinced the girls to go run the base too.  Mia loved it and wanted to do it again even though Lily wouldn't go with her.  Here she is crossing the base.  She has said multiple times "running the bases" was her favorite part of the game.

 Ryan took this picture at some point during the game, and then played with it with his phone's software.  We both love it!  It seems to truly capture the sheer happiness of the girls which is something I will always treasure.

Weekend at the Lake

Last weekend was a great one in our family!  We started out by going to see Brave at its first showing on Friday morning.  It was a very sweet story though Lily is quick to point out there are a few scary parts.  Overall though, both girls loved it.

 After the movie, lunch and packing up, we all headed over to Lake Logan Martin in Alabama.  John's family has a house on the lake, and they had extended an invitation for all of us to come over for the weekend.  So, the four of us and Bama drove over and met up with Kendall and Josh, who had arrived the day before.  John, Amy and Amy's parents arrived later in the evening.  We were expecting beautiful weather, we had tons of great food and we were all looking forward to lots of fun together.

The girls couldn't wait to get out on the boat, so John drove us around the lake for awhile before dinner.  Mia loved the breeze in her face!

 Lily thoroughaly enjoyed riding along.

 Both girls thought it fun to see Kendall ride on the tube behind the boat.

 Taking it all in as we drove along.

 Loving it!

 When we got back to the dock, the girls wanted to go for a swim in the lake.  Kendall and Josh were happy to go with them.

 The girls don't usually wear full life vests while they are swimming, so that took some getting used to, but they quickly adjusted and had tons of fun.

 Go Kendall!

On Saturday, the girls couldn't wait to head back out.  They were very excited to ride in the "big bowl" float with Amy.

 Once we started going though, that excitement quickly faded and was replaced with tears.  Neither girl enjoyed this, so we stopped to let them back in the boat.

 Mia calmed down quickly when John said she could drive the boat.  She loved it!  She has said several times this was her favorite part of the weekend.

 Lily enjoyed relaxing on the boat with Kendall.

 Soon it was Lily's turn to drive and she loved it too.

 The girls were so glad when Josh's best friend, Jimmy Musso, arrived early Saturday afternoon.  They adore him, and we were all excited to have him spend the rest of the weekend with us.

 The best part of the whole weekend happened early Saturday afternoon when Josh proposed to Amy!  We were all in on the suprise, and just couldn't wait for the big moment.  Under Kendall's scheming, the two of them took the boat out.  As soon as they left, we all gathered signs, cookies and champagne and waited on the docks.  They came back a short time later to much cheering and happiness.  We're so excited for this sweet couple!

 Liz with the happy couple.

 Our family with Josh and Amy.

 We of course waited until the boat left the dock with them inside of it before telling the girls.  I wasn't about to risk one of them spilling the beans to Amy and ruining this wonderful surprise.  As we walked out to the docks, Lily exclaimed "Yea! It's wedding day!"  We have been getting them excited about being flower girls in Kendall and John's upcoming wedding, so that was on her mind.  After the initial celebration was over, Mia said "I thought I was gonna throw flowers."  We had to have a couple of conversations on the difference between a wedding and an engagement!

Saturday evening was spent relaxing.  The girls couldn't get enough of Kendall, John, Josh, Amy and Jimmy.  They were stuck to them.

 Before bedtime on Saturday night, the girls couldn't wait to go fishing.  They had never been before, so they were very excited to try.  Here's Josh giving them a few pointers.

 Lily gave it her best, and we saw a few get away; unfortunately, she didn't actually catch anything which led her to sigh "Fishing is boring."  It may be awhile before we try again.

 Amy helped Mia out with her line.  Mia really enjoyed reeling in the line, so as soon as it was cast, she would ask "Should it come in?" and reel it in a little.  Kept her entertained for quite awhile!

 Fishing together off the back of the boat.

This was such a wonderful weekend!  We are so excited for Josh and Amy as they begin this new phase of their life together.  We're so grateful that we were able to share in this happy occassion with them.  A big thank you to the Bingham family for sharing your wonderful lake home with us!

Mia's Prayer

Mia's prayer tonight: "Dear God, thank you for Mommy and Daddy. Help Daddy to feel better so he can have a great day tomorrow. My name is Superhero Mia. Amen."  Love this girl!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

 Ryan is such an amazing dad.  He loves these two, and they light up his world.  We decided to go to Fernbank for the afternoon since it was Superhero Day to celebrate dads.  It was a lot of fun!

We started by making popcycle stick superheros.

 Next up, a little hula-hooping.

 Little archaeologists.

 My three favorite dinosaurs.

 Little cuties.

 The highlight of the day was when the superheros came out!  Wonder Woman, Captain America, Thor and a few others were there.  The girls were captivated.  Mia was especially in awe.  She said she liked Captain America's shield, so I walked up with her to meet him.  He knelt down and said "Hi, I'm Captain America.  What's your name?"  Mia paused for just a moment before saying "Superhero Mia."  I told him that Superhero Mia liked his shield, so he put it down in front of her so she could see it better.  Then we had the chance to take this picture.

After we walked away Lily asked me if that was the real Captain America, and I said yes.  She said "Did you hear that Mia?  He was the real Captain America.  He wasn't just dressing up.  He was the real superhero."  Mia wants nothing more than a Captain America costume now!