Daddy Daughter Dance

The girls were so excited to go to the Daddy Daughter dance with Ryan!  In the past they've gone to the one at church, but this year they decided to try the one at The Georgian Club. I heard all sorts of great reviews!  Other than the music selection (a little too modern pop for our tastes), everyone loved it. Brian and Macey attended, along with Brian's brother and daughter. It was a lovely evening!

First Snow Day of 2016

We got our first snow day of the year last Friday.  The kids were all super excited.  Adults though panicked after the craziness of a couple years ago.  Schools released early, so Ryan picked the girls up and met our friends, the Smith family, at Chick-fil-a for an ice cream treat.  They loved that!

 The snow didn't even start until bedtime, so the girls went to bed excited at the prospect of getting to play in it the next day.  We had less than an inch overall, but they were pumped!  They had a great time making snow angels.  Their attempt to build a snowman didn't work out so well, so they drew one instead.  We were all thankful for our new working fireplace to keep us warm inside!  It was a fun, relaxing day.

 Lily found a few minutes to draw on the whiteboard too.  She loves this creative outlet.

Mia's Surgery

On January 11, Mia had to have surgery to repair a hole in her eardrum.  This has been coming for months, and she was pretty nervous about it.  On the morning of the surgery, Ryan and I brought her to Childrens Hospital; of course Glowie came with us.

 It made me think back, 6 years to the day, when she had tubes put in her ears.  Glowie was there then too.

 Before the procedure started, Zoe the therapy dog came by for a visit which Mia absolutely loved.  She's a full-size Goldendoodle, and she is very well behaved.  We were glad to pet and love on her.

 The surgery took a couple of hours.  When they wheeled her back in, she was sound asleep.  She stayed asleep for about another hour.  When she woke up, she tried to drink a little slushy but really didn't feel well so they let her go back to sleep for another 30 minutes or so.  When she woke up again, she was able to sip a little Sprite.

 It's always hard to watch your baby at this point.  Ryan and I stayed right by her side both times.

At about 5 PM, they released her, so Ryan wheeled her out to the car.  She even managed a little smile as she held Glowie and Kevin the Minion.  Our friends, Brian Fox and Ron Hughes, had stopped by before the surgery to pray with us and encourage us; Ron brought Kevin as a sweet gift.  We are so thankful for great friends like this and the many countless others who were praying for our sweet girl that morning.  We received so many emails, texts and calls, and we are very grateful.

 It was a rough car ride home (5 PM coming around the perimeter), but we made it.  Mia was glad to see Lily and Granna.  Several friends from school had sent notes.  Lily had every 1st and 3rd grader sign a card for her.  Grandpops and Grandma Jan send these beautiful sunflowers.  Granna had taken Lily to Barnes & Noble to use her Christmas gift cards.  Lily bought herself a couple of books but also bought Mia two books to read while she recovered.  She read one of them to her that evening.  Mia enjoyed getting to recover in our bed for a few days.

 We are very thankful for God's provision of skilled doctors and nurses and for our wonderful friends and family.  We are praying for a complete recovery for Mia.  We won't know for awhile if the surgery has actually been successful in restoring her hearing or not.  If it's not, we'll go down that road with confidence that this will be used to glorify God at some point.  No matter, we will praise God for making Mia just the way she is.  She's incredible!

The Last Two Words

Lily and Mia both speak very well as they've learned the rules of grammar at Stonehaven.  However, I love that there are still two words which they say incorrectly.  "Concreek" for "concrete" and "pacifically" for "specifically."  I cannot bring myself to correct them, and it makes me smile every time I hear it.  I think it makes me believe I still have two little girls even though everything else tells me they are growing up.

Closing 2015

2015 is coming to a close today.  After visiting the eye doctor and then Meme this morning, we stopped by Party City to pick up a few supplies - hats, necklaces and glasses.  After dinner, we headed outside for some time with sparklers which is always fun.  After that we came in to snap a few pictures in our celebratory garb.  The girls got ready for bed, and thanks to Netflix, we watched an Inspector Gadget countdown to 2016.  It was a fun and calm way to end the evening.

2015 has been a wonderful year for our family.  Ryan and I are constantly amazed at the blessings in our lives.  While I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to return to China this year, Ryan was able to travel and teach in India and North Africa.  He graduated with his master's degree which is an amazing accomplishment.  We had a fantastic vacation with friends in London.  We took great family vacations to Chicago, Huntsville, Orlando, and New Smyrna.  Ryan and the girls went to Lakeland over Spring Break too.  We had lots of fun and made memories at home and around town.  We welcomed Decker, a miniature goldendoodle, to our family.  We are healthy and so incredibly grateful.  This has been a great year.  I don't know what 2016 holds for us, but we know we have a God who loves us.  We look forward to seeing what opportunities He gives us to serve Him and share His love with others.  I hope you have a healthy and happy 2016 as well!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas!  This was such a wonderful morning.  It was very relaxing, and we were all in great moods.  We all simply enjoyed being together and opening presents.  Because of this, I intentionally decided not to take lots of pictures.  I wanted to just be in the moment with my family.  On one hand I wish I had more pictures, but I absolutely loved this morning.  Here's one I snapped before opening stockings and gifts.

 I did take this picture for Grandpops and Grandma Jan.  While they sent several gifts for the girls, they both loved these new stuffed animals.  David and Jan adopted animals at Lincoln Park Zoo in honor of the girls: they absolutely loved visiting there over the summer and this was a great reminder of that time together!

 We spent the afternoon relaxing and playing together; it was a great day.

The day after Christmas we headed up to Tennessee to visit with the Farris family.  Here are a couple of pictures of the ladies of the family and Granny with her four grandkids.  We had a fun time together.

 Sunday the 27th was Granny's 92nd birthday.  We had a little party for her at the assisted living home where she lives now.  Mom had a beautiful cake made for her and made several delicious side dishes to go with the Zaxby's chicken.

 The kids were happy to help Granny blow out her candles!

After Granny's party, we all headed back home.  It was a nice weekend visiting family.  What a wonderful way to wrap up our Christmas 2015 celebrations!

Christmas Countdown 2015

I love the month of December.  We continued our fun tradition of doing a daily countdown item together.  Mostly, there's one picture from each day though there are a few exceptions.

Day 1: Game Night where we played the new games Mia got for her birthday - Monopoly Jr and Life Jr.

 Day 2: The girls learned a few Christmas jokes to tell to the Hurst family.  They recently welcomed baby Audrey to their family, so we provided a meal to them and spent a few minutes together.

 Day 3: Change of plans.  We were planning on going to see the lights at Life University, but an ear infection in Lily and a trip to the doctor sidelined that.  Instead, the girls did a few fun activity pages out of this book.

 Day 4: The girls and I went to our neighborhood gingerbread house decorating party.  It was great!  Another mom made the houses and all the kids decorated; they loved it!

 Day 5: We went to see Pan at the dollar theater; we were thrilled that Parker and Macey were able to join us.  We then played at East Cobb Park together and then met Brian and Jill for dinner.  Great evening!

Day 6: A trampoline show in the backyard

 Day 7: Christmas Lego mini sets!

 Day 8: Reading The Crippled Lamb together

 Day 9: Charity day - We used the World Vision gift catalog.  The girls used their own money to support some great causes.  Lily helped provide a wheelchair to a needy child while Mia supported sending a girl to school and providing a donkey to a family.  Love when their generous spirit comes out!

 Day 10: Mad Libs in the car on the way to Columbia, SC.

 Day 11: Ryan's graduation at Columbia International University!

Day 12: A morning at Islands of Adventure's Suessland and an evening at Hollywood Studios.

Day 13: A fun day at Magic Kingdom

 Day 14: Part of the day at Animal Kingdom and part of the day at the Grand Floridian's pool 

 Day 15: Stonehaven's Christmas program

 Day 16: So we told the girls our activity was a "special breakfast" before school of McDonald's at home.

 In reality, our countdown item was actually welcoming a new dog, Decker, into our family!

 Day 17: We had fun buying Decker some new toys at PetSmart.

 Day 18: Fun dessert (make your own sundae) and movie watching (Maleficent)

 Day 19: Bama's Christmas party.  We were so glad Liz, Kendall, John, Caroline, Josh and Amy came over for Saturday and Sunday; what a great time.

 Day 20: Meme's Christmas party which is always fun and delicious.

 Day 21: I took the girls roller skating at Sparkles which they always love.  They had even more fun when they saw their friends, the Crowley family, were also there.

 Day 22: A girly lunch at Swan House

 Day 23: We made cookies for the firemen.  Mia and I made shortbread cookies while Lily and I attempted to make fudge.  It didn't set like we anticipated so it became a delicious ice cream topping instead.

 Day 24:  Christmas Eve!  We switched things up a little this year and did my family brunch gathering today instead of on Christmas Day.  I hosted this year which I loved.  This was such a fun time together.

 Around mid-afternoon, we delivered the cookies, fudge and ice cream (bought to go with the fudge) to our local fire station.  We are so thankful for the individuals who work over Christmas to keep our community safe.

 We ended the evening with the girls getting their new pajamas which will keep them toasty throughout winter.  They were excited to get to have a sleepover together in our guest room downstairs.

 It was another wonderful Christmas countdown this December.  I love this tradition!