Wrapping Up Spring in May

I'm catching on to what's happening here.  Now that the girls are older, there aren't as many "cute" stories of funny things they have said and done.  That means I don't update nearly as much as in the past.  I think this once a month bit is working out fine.

We wrapped up May which always includes the hectic end of year activities at school.  "May-hem" as many people call it!  Still, lots of excitement in the air for our family as it feels like a new year since tax season has just ended, and the dawn of summer is upon us.  Here are several things we did this past month.

Lily made a delicious lemon cake and made this super cool polka dot fondant design on it.  It was delicious, and how cute is she making it?!

 I love when Mia reads to me.  We enjoyed several chapters of Lemony Snicket together.

 Lily found a nice place in our front yard for studying one lovely afternoon.

 Lily performed "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter at Stonehaven's talent show.  I am so proud of her to play in front of everyone, and she sounded great!

 Ryan went on Lily's field trip to the Bible Museum down in Lagrange.  He and Lily both loved this trip and said it was an excellent place to visit.

 I took several days off and went to Gulf Shores for a long weekend.  I needed to decompress after a hectic tax season, and this is always a great way to do that.  It was absolutely beautiful weather.  I loved watching the sunset each evening over Mobile Bay.  Stunning.

 Lily made this red velvet cake for Mother's Day.  I love how she decorated it to make it appear the flowers were cascading off the cake.  She used the money she earned from filing at my office to buy lots of new piping tools, and she was excited to use them on this cake.

 The two reasons I love Mother's Day, right here.  I'm so thankful to be their mom.

 We were glad that Mom and Dad and Wayne's family were able to come over on Mother's Day evening for dinner.  It was a fun (and delicious) time!

 Lily's class had a "Hobbit" themed end of year party at our house.  Lily volunteered to make the goodies, and she came up with these spiced cupcakes with tye-died icing.  She called them "Dragon's Breath" cupcakes which I thought was so creative.  They looked and tasty so good!

 Mr. Scheidt with his 5th grade class.  This has been a great year!

I had a lot of fun on Mia's end of year trip to the zoo!  I love being with these fun kids.  One of the groups of boys went off on their own path (with a chaperone of course), but most of us stuck together and enjoyed exploring together. 

 At the end of school awards ceremony, Mr. Edwards thanked Elizabeth and me for our seven years of serving on the Board of Trustees.  It has truly been my privilege to do this.  

 5th grade girls.  This has been such a good group of friends.  We're going to miss several of them as they go to a different middle school next year.

Mia was quite excited to get this new Nerf Crossbow in her summer basket of surprises!

   Our family decided to try Bark at the Park this year with Decker!  It's such a fun idea.  They set aside a few sections in the park for dogs and their owners; they given each dog a Braves' leash too.  They have lots of little kiddie pools set up to keep them cool along with tons of bowls of ice water.  King of Pops is also there selling their King of Pups frozen treats.  It was a fun event, just very, very hot!  We made it through the fourth inning before we decided to head on home; it didn't help that the Braves were down 6-0 at that point (though they came back to win in the 9th!).

 At one point, a foul ball was hit, and the sound man rang the doorbell like he usually does.  This time though about 30 dogs started barking wanting to know who was at the door!  It was pretty funny!  Decker was on the big screen once; how could they resist such a cute puppy?  Kelsey (the girl who adds commentary throughout the game) gathered a group of a few people to stand around her with their dogs during one segment, so Ryan and Decker were on tv with her!

 The girls have been using their creative skills now that school is out which I'm thankful for.  I hate to think of them sitting around watching tv or playing on an ipad all day.  One day they came up with something called "The Everything Show" and recorded various segments for it.  They were cute to watch.  We played their recordings on the Apple tv so Ryan and I could watch.  Here's Lily as the host of a trivia game show with Mia as the contestant.  She won.

This has been another great year at Stonehaven, but we're ready for summer!

A Few April Pictures

Well, we're here at the end of April.  I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.  This was by far the most difficult tax season I've worked through.  We are all grateful it's complete.  The majority of these pictures were taken by Ryan and sent to me; they would brighten my day!

Ryan and the girls had a lot of fun in Birmingham for Easter weekend and the start of the girls' spring break at school.  They went to church at Shades Mountain, colored eggs and simply enjoyed hanging out with family.  It was a beautiful, wonderful weekend!

 I thought this was such a cute picture of Mom and Dad!

 I love when Mia reads to me, and doesn't she look beautiful in her new glasses?!

 Not even sure why Lily had all these Peeps on a stick, but it was a cute picture.

 Mia and Ryan have lots of fun playing the Wii together.

 Ryan and Mia had a fun morning at Chuck E Cheese one day during the break.  Mia was quite proud of her ticket count.

 Ryan took the girls to a Braves' game during the break too.  Everyone always enjoys a trip to The Battery.

Lily is such a creative artist!  She colored this beautiful picture on the left, and then she made a self-portrait emoji on a strawberry cake she made from scratch one day.

 Mia spent several hours one day working on a new script for the next Descendents movie.  I love when her creative juices start flowing!

 I couldn't resist snapping these two pictures of Lily sleeping.  For a few weeks, she made a little bed on the floor and enjoyed sleeping there with her Christmas lights going.  We had the Casey family over a few weeks ago to watch Secret Church with us, and they spent the night at our house.  We pulled the girls' trundle beds out and both girls have enjoyed sleeping on those too.  Apparently, Decker really likes sleeping on Lily's trundle as well!

  Always glad to have the Smith family over (even though I missed this fun and beautiful evening because I was working).

I came home the night before the deadline to see this on my kitchen counter.  The note was telling me not to peak.  After school on deadline day, Lily brought these treats up to the office to pull us through the last few hours.  She had experimented with blondies with a homemade caramel sauce, and they were quite tasty!

 

 Mia's class dissected owl pellets to see what the owls had eaten.  I love the look on Mia's face right here as she realized her friend Gabe had picked up his pellet with his bare hand!

 This girl is in the kitchen as much as possible which we all love!

That's about all going on around here!

Other March Happenings

Not many pictures from this month as I'm working way too much right now, but here's a few.

Lily wanted to try working with fondant one Sunday afternoon, so we stopped by Michael's and picked some up.  She made lemon cupcakes, iced them fun colors, and then decorated with fondant.  They were delicious and adorable!

 Decker looking all cute with his St. Patrick's Day bow tie.

 The girls were filing at the office one evening, and Mia left two pennies and this note on my desk: "A tip for my favorite mom! - Mia You deserve it.  I know it's not much.  So sorry."  This made me smile.

 My birthday was this month also.  We had a great time at the Harlem Globetrotters game!  I remember going to see them with my dad when I was younger, and it sounded like a fun thing to do.  Grandpops was in town, so he joined us.  We all had a great time.  They're a really entertaining group to watch.  This was lots of fun!  After the game, we hung around CNN and Centennial Park for a little bit, and then we headed over to Rathbun's for dinner.  Always a win.  On my actual birthday a few days later, this gorgeous bouquet of flowers arrived from Grandpops, Grandma Jan, and Taz.  They brightened up my office for well over a week!

 The girls held a lemonade stand in our front yard to help raise money for their Boosterthon Fun Run.  They raised $24 which they were very excited about.  Pink lemonade and candy are always a hit!

 They had a beautiful day for the fun run!  Both girls ran the maximum of 35 laps.  Decker joined in the fun too!

 Mia had fun running with Layne for part of the time.

 Lily helped lead the 5th grade team of "Dragon Slayers."

 Lily and Eliza had a good time at a Maggiano's cooking class.  They learned how to make gnocchi which I hope she will try out for us at home soon.

 Mia enjoyed her playdate at Eliana's house.  They have a great climbing tree that Mia loves!

 Lots of friends celebrated Emory's 11th birthday at The Battery one beautiful evening.  They had fun hanging out, eating Antico pizza and gelato, and dancing with the Heavy Hitters pep band.  Sweet girls!

 The girls were surprised with their Easter baskets a week early because they will be out of town for Spring Break over Easter next week.  Both received some flip flops, t-shirts, car bingo game, and a couple books.  Lily also received a few cooking items and a Squishable key lime pie she's been wanting for a bit.  Mia was very excited to get several rainbow loom bands and accessories pieces along with a Big Eye dragon that reminds us of Mal from Descendants.  They've been enjoying these items already.  I like doing little fun treats like this, and it's safe to say they enjoy receiving them!