2014 Comes to a Close

It's hard to believe another year is coming to a close.  We had a very nice day today.  I took Mia over to play with Danielle while I worked this morning.  Ryan and Lily stayed home and enjoyed a nice, quiet morning.  After Mia and I got home from lunch and a Publix run, we decided to roast marshmallows and make s'mores.  Always a fun treat!

 It was such a lovely day that the girls ended up playing outside for quite awhile after the marshmallows were done.  A little while later, it was dinnertime.  2015 jello was one item on the menu.

 Then it was time to have a little fun before the new year!

 We went outside with glow sticks to blow glow-in-the-dark bubbles (which didn't really work so well as bubbles, but the solution looked pretty cool) and then play with sparklers.  The girls always love that.

 After the sparklers, we played a game Lily came up with called Attack of the Parents.  Basically, it was tag, but we had to get them with our glow sticks.  It was actually pretty fun.

 

From there, we came inside to talk about a few favorite memories from the year (Lily's baptism and our family cruise was a repeated theme).  At 8:00, we counted down.  I was surprised by how excited the girls were, but they loved it!  We took a family picture, Skyped for a few minutes with Grandpops and Grandma Jan and then put the girls to bed; they were zonked out in just a matter of minutes.

Now, Ryan and I are just watching football and waiting on midnight.  It gives us time to think back on the year.  Truly, one of the most joyous moments was being with Lily as she made the decision to trust in Christ as her Lord and Savior; she recognizes that she is a sinner who needs Christ to take the punishment for her sins so she can one day stand before a holy and righteous God.  My heart explodes with joy when I think about that moment and think about seeing her baptized by Ryan a few weeks later.  Nothing short of amazing. 

 

The girls turned 8 and 6 this year; Mia has started to Kindergarten.  I can't believe how quickly they are growing and what awesome girls they are becoming.  They amaze me every day.

 

We had some fun travels this year too.  Our family cruise was a great time for us all; the Allure of the Seas is a fantastic ship.  We also visited Legoland and New Smyrna Beach on that trip.  Ryan and I took trips to North Carolina for our anniversary and Chicago to celebrate Jan's birthday.  Our family went to Chicago to visit David and Jan for a few days this summer which was a lot of fun.  Of course, Ryan and I also had big, though separate, trips to China two times, Africa and Alaska; these trips stretched us and deepened our faith. 

 

We can't begin to count all the blessings we saw in 2014.  We thank God for the provisions and opportunities He has provided.  We praise Him for being good.  We don't say He is good because it's been a good year for us though it has been and we're thankful.  He is good always, and we trust in and rely on that.  We look forward to seeing where He will lead our family and what opportunities He will present in 2015; we pray we notice and use each one to give glory to God and His Kingdom.  We hope that 2015 will be a great year for you and your family as well!

After Christmas Fun

We had one last little Christmas surprise in store for the girls.  When we left Granny's house in Tennessee, we headed into Buckhead to spend the night at the JW Marriott.  It was so much fun!  We got in just after 4, checked in and immediately changed into bathing suits to hit the indoor pool.  We spent a couple of hours playing and splashing; it was great!

 We headed back up and changed into warm, comfy pajamas before ordering room service.  We originally thought we would order a movie, but there really wasn't anything good the kids wanted to see.  Instead, the girls curled up in one of the beds to watch one of their new movies on Lily's iPad.  I joined them soon after and enjoyed cuddling up with them.  Ryan was content to stretch out on the bed next to us and watch football.  :-)

The next morning, we enjoyed a good buffet breakfast and then headed back to the pool.  We played for a couple more hours, then went back up to our room to shower off and pack up.  We went over to Lenox for lunch and to window shop before heading home.  This was a fun little treat to wrap up Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Hooks family!  We hope your family had a wonderful and joyful Christmas!

We wrapped up our Christmas Eve by letting the girls open a gift.  Inside a big gift bag were new pajamas and sleeping bags!  The girls were very excited to put these to good use right away.  Super cute!

 By 6:30, they were begging to go to bed.  They understand the faster they get to sleep, the faster Christmas comes.  On Christmas Eve, we let the girls sleep in our room; they love this.  They both watched movies and curled up into their new sleeping bags.

 Before they could go to sleep, we had to put out carrots and water for the reindeer.

 And of course, there's cookies and milk for Santa.

 One quick family picture, and it was off to bed!

 During the night, the stockings got stuffed and everyone went to sleep.  Lily actually wasn't feeling great, so she woke up a few times during the night.  She finally crawled into our bed about 7AM.  Mia slept until about 7:30.  Then everyone was awake and ready to see what was waiting for them!

 Lily was absolutely thrilled that Santa left her a full-size keyboard!  She loves playing the piano, and since she has moved into octaves higher and lower than what's on her regular keyboard, it was time for an upgrade.  She immediately started playing lovely Christmas music for us.  She was also happy to receive a "Who Was Amadeus Mozart?" kid's biography. 

 Mia was pretty excited to see a Robots, Robots, Everywhere book and an awesome new two-wheel scooter!  When she rides, she says she is "scootering around."  She was a tad disappointed Santa didn't bring her a "miniature real car" but she is enjoying this scooter a lot.

 So I took a different approach to pictures on Christmas this year; I didn't take nearly as many pictures.  I really just wanted to be present with my family instead of constantly trying to catch a great picture.  So, here's just a few from the wonderful, laid-back morning.

Both girls have loved their new bathrobes.  They wear them all the time, not just when they get out of the bath!

 Both girls received new Adventure Bibles.  Mia couldn't wait to dive in.

 Lily was pumped about new Perler beads.  She received more beads, an idea book and several size boards.  She was so excited to start making new designs.  How awesome is this whale!

 Mia was thrilled to receive Sofia's Royal Prep Academy.  Ryan put it together right away for her, and she's been having lots of fun with it, all the characters and the neat little accessories.

 In the early afternoon, we headed over to Mom and Dad's house to celebrate with them and Wayne's family.  We had our traditional brunch menu and then moved into the living room.  Lily and Mia did a great job singing "Away In The Manger" for everyone.

 We opened lots of presents, and then most of us played a fun game called "Left, Right, Center."  Then Wayne and Dad took the kids outside to take turns on Zac's new go-cart which they loved.  Before we left for the evening, we snapped this picture of Mom and Dad with their grandkids.

 The day after Christmas we headed up to Tennessee.  We stopped for lunch in Chattanooga with the Sepulveda family which was a lot of fun.  We made it to Granny's house and had a little bit of time before the whole family got together.  We went over to Johnny Wayne and Nancy's house to celebrate.  We had a good BBQ dinner and enjoyed listening to the girls sing.  After opening presents, we were able to take a few minutes before everyone needed to get to bed; it had been an exhausting day!  I was glad to get this picture of Granny and the girls.

 Here's a picture of all the ladies in the family.

What a great way to wrap up our Christmas celebration!  Our season was filled with lots of family time celebrating the birth of our Savior.  We took a different approach this year to try to keep things a little more low-key, and it paid off.  We simply had a wonderful time.  What a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Countdown 2014

I love our annual Christmas countdown.  We decided to scale back this year to reduce our stress levels and simply have fun.  You know what?  It's been the best countdown yet.  We have all enjoyed it.  So, here's a rundown of what we've done to spend time together as a family as we count down to Jesus' birthday.

Day 1 - The girls made these cute little ornaments for their Christmas tree.

 Day 2 - Ryan took the girls on a Daddy-Daughters Date to Chuck E Cheese while I had an evening out with some friends.

 Day 3 - I took the girls roller skating while Ryan had a meeting at the church.  They absolutely love this!  Lily has actually gotten really at skating recently, and Mia has improved tremendously.  By the end of our evening, she had stopped using the skate helper and was going on her own.

 Day 4 - Our family went to Botanical Gardens for their Night of Lights.  It was beautiful!  It was the perfect evening for being outside, and the lights were fantastic.  We also had a lot of fun buying s'more packs and roasting the marshmallows over the fire pit.

 Day 5 - We made pinecone bird feeders to hang in our backyard.  The birds (and squirrels) enjoyed these.

 Day 6 - We painted.  I helped the girls make handprint camels to represent the wise men (though we only had room for 2 per canvas instead of 3).  They then made other paintings on a new canvas.  Lily made a nativity scene while Mia painted a rose bush.

 Day 7 - We had 3D creations for the girls to make.  Usually they love these, but for some reason, these were incredibly difficult.  They wouldn't stay in place, we couldn't locate all the pieces, the glue wasn't working...it just wasn't happening.  This actually left both of them quite frustrated, so we stopped before any of them were completed.  These went straight into the trash can!

 Day 8 - The girls made these little bead designs.  Unfortunately, they weren't real Perler beads; they were a knock-off brand.  This provided a very valuable lesson to the girls that just because something is cheaper, it doesn't mean it's better.  Several of the beads wouldn't melt and they fell apart pretty easily; we've never had that issue with Perler beads.

 Day 9 - We all enjoyed the ACCA Christmas program.  Both girls had solo parts which was really cool.  Mia had a one-line solo in one of her class songs (Angels Watching Over Me), and Lily played a piano solo of Angels We Have Heard On High.  They both did a fantastic job.  We were glad that Grandpops, Grandma Jan and Papa were able to join us too.

 Day 10 - David and Jan stayed an extra day to celebrate an early Christmas with our family.  What a treat!  We surprised the girls by keeping them out of school for the day, and then we met up at Phipps Plaza.  We ate an early lunch at Johnny Rocket's, and then we all thoroughly enjoyed the awesome theatre while watching Big Hero 6.  Afterwards, we came back to our house to exchange gifts, and hang out.  We wrapped everything up by enjoying dinner at Canoe.  What a fun couple of days!

 Day 11 - The girls put together Frozen puzzles.

 Day 12 - We headed to Birmingham to celebrate Christmas with Bama and family!  It was great to have us all together.  We all had a great dinner at Firebirds and then headed over to Josh and Amy's house to exchange gifts.  Bama was very excited to have her three granddaughters together! 

 Day 13 - We drove home from Birmingham, and the girls actually spent the night at Granna and Papa's house because Ryan and I had a Christmas party to go to.  They surprised the girls by inviting Molly over too.

 Day 14 - We enjoyed a special dessert after Lily's piano recital: ice cream at Cami Cakes - yum!

 Day 15 - Christmas mad libs!

 Day 16 - The girls used some of their own money for charitable purposes.  Mia is sending money to purchase vegetable seeds to help needy families while Lily is choosing to help buy Bibles in others languages.  Ryan and I are very proud of their choices. 

 Day 17 - The girls colored their own puzzles and then let their sister put them together.

 Day 18 - The girls made gingerbread / candy cane necklaces.

Day 19 - To celebrate the last day of school, we all went to watch Annie at the movie theater.

 Day 20 - We met the Henderson family at The Georgian Club for breakfast with Santa.  Even though breakfast itself wasn't that great, we always have a blast with our friends.

 Day 21 - Meme's Christmas party.  We always enjoy this evening with our family at Jodi's house.

 Day 22 - A lovely girly lunch with Granna at The Swan Coach House.

 Day 23 - We made lemon sugar cookies to take on Christmas Eve to our local firefighters.

 Day 24 - We delivered the cookies to our firefighters, and Mia made a sweet card for them.

That's the end of our countdown.  Here comes Christmas!