February Happenings

The cold stayed with us through February, but that's ok. We kept moving forward with all sorts of activities.

The girls had their mock trial competition one Saturday. They have been preparing for months. Lily did a fantastic job as captain preparing this team. It was a long but very fun day at the Marietta Courthouse as they had three rounds of competition. 

Lily made an excellent lead attorney (both on the prosecution and defense side) while Mia played defendant Casey Famsworth well.

Pictures of Lily examining Avery on the stand, and Mia being sworn in before testifying.

Lily won Outstanding Attorney in both rounds 2 and 3, and she was recognized for participating all four years of high school. She has truly loved being a part of mock trial, and it's inspired her to pursue a career in law.

The Quiz Bowl team became state champions! Way to go Mia and friends!

Originally the school was going to host a bbq cooking competition for the dads. Unfortunately, only a few signed up; I'm pretty sure it's because they knew they didn't stand a chance against Ryan's smoking skills! They pivoted and instead hosted a grilling class for several dads and sons. Ryan was one of the teachers here. I think it was a fun event!

We continued with one of my favorite traditions this year. I love putting admirable qualities for each of the girls on these hearts and sticking them to their doors each night. It reminds them that God has uniquely and beautifully gifted them, and they can use those gifts to glorify Him. We have 14 of them, and they go up Feb 1-14.

We had a charcuterie board Valentine's dinner this year. We included a heart-shaped bruton beauty cheddar, gruyere, triple creme brie, whipped feta, and harbison cheeses. The meats were jambon black pepper & cherry, prosciutto, and fennel salami. There was a strawberry lemon lavender jam, honey, garlic herb spread, roasted garlic cloves, dried sierra figs, dark chocolate covered almonds, and strawberry & pink peppercorn shortbread cookies. Of course there was a variety of crackers and pita chips to enjoy all these goodies on. It was delicious!

We had fun decorating little Valentine houses too. They were so cute!

One of Lily's Christmas presents was for the two of us to go see Dancing With the Stars Live at The Fox. This was such a fun night! We were super high up, but we could still see great. Lily's favorite dancer, Rylee Arnold, was there, and it was hosted by my favorite Olympic athlete, Stephen Nedoroscik ("pommel horse guy") who was Rylee's partner this season. This was an incredibly energetic and exciting show to watch. I'm so glad we got to do this together.

Ryan actually came downtown and sat in the Georgian Terrace lobby while we went to the show. As soon as it was over, the three of us drove over to Birmingham. Lily had a day of classes and interviews for Samford's Fellows program the next morning. This is a two year honors program, and it offers classes in the Socratic style; it's basically a continuation of the classical education that Lily has grown up with. As we looked in to this, we knew it was right up her alley and seemed like a perfect fit. They look and discuss all sorts of great literature "from Plato to NATO." Spoiler alert: she got a call a few weeks later inviting her to join the program! This is such an exciting opportunity for her. Even better, her future roommate, Kenzie, was also accepted!

A Starlit Ball

 Stonehaven hosted its first ever formal dance for the rhetoric students at the start of the year too. They called it The Starlit Ball. Lily had a fantastic idea to host a "Brunch & Bouquet" party that morning. This was a brunch to spend time together and then putting flower bouquets together for pictures later on in the evening. All the girls from the class as well as the girls from other schools who were coming as dates of some of the guys were invited. Most of them RSVP'ed they could make it. Lily put so much work and effort into getting everything ready. I was so impressed with how creative she was!

She bought so many beautiful flowers from Trader Joes to use for the bouquets and found some pretty ribbons to tie them up.

I made the food for the party (sausage casserole, pigs in a blanket, bacon, cheese grits, and fruit with dip), and Lily put together a very impressive charcuterie board. She had carafes of orange juice, sweet tea, and water out as well. She hand decorated around each of the items and each place setting. It came together perfectly and looked absolutely beautiful!

I am proud of her for putting this together!

Look how pretty all their bouquets turned out!

Way to go Lily!

Mia looked absolutely beautiful in her purple gown!

Mia was excited to invite her friend, Judson, to attend with her. He used to attend Stonehaven but transferred to Pebblebrook for their magnet performing arts program. They've remained friends with a shared love of theater. How cool that he matched with a purple shirt!

Lily was absolutely beautiful in her navy dress; look how great the bouquet looks with it!

Lily's classmate, Nate Grote, asked her to go to the ball with him. His mom made a gorgeous wrist corsage for Lily which she loved.

Lily and Nate left a little early to head to the Marietta Square where the seniors were meeting up for a photo shoot together. Don't these kids look great?

Lots of Stonehaven kids in this picture! Lily and Mia are both right in the front.

The girls left home at different times, so I wasn't able to get any pictures of them together all dressed up beforehand. I was so excited they took a picture for me at the dance!

It was fun to see several pictures from the evening!

The classes had all choreographed dance routines to perform. Way to go Mia and the sophomore class for taking home the trophy!

The Miley family hosted an after party for the 12th and 10th graders since they have Raegan and Hudson in both classes. I didn't see a class picture for Mia, but Lily's class all changed into comfy pajamas to hang out and snap this one. I love these kids!

Overall, I'd say this night was quite a success!

Welcome 2025!

 Starting the new year with some beautiful snow was so much fun!

Decker absolutely loved running through all the snow. He was zooming all over the yard.

Lots of snowball throwing today!

Ryan and Lily made a couple of snow angels while Mia and I made a cute little snowman.

I promise Decker was having fun even though it doesn't really look like it in this family picture.

Poor boy was exhausted from playing so hard.

A few other items from the month:

Both girls joined Brylliant at JTF this year as they performed Mary Poppins. It was a fun show, and I think they both had a great time.

I gave Lily my leather jacket that I bought my freshman year of college. It doesn't fit me anymore, but it's perfect for her!

& Juliet came to The Fox as part of this year's Broadway season. Ryan didn't enjoy this one, but the girls and I thought it had some great music and was pretty creative.

Ryan and David met up in Nashville for the Ringo Starr & Friends concert. They had fantastic seats and heard tons of great music! Ringo was the main draw, but then lots of other incredibly talented musicians showed up to play: Sheryl Crow (she blew a kiss to Ryan!), Molly Tuttle, Brenda Lee, Emmy Lou Harris, Jamey Johnson, Peter Frampton, and Billy Strings. Ryan's favorite was hearing Molly Tuttle play "Octopus' Garden." This was a super fun evening for them.

The Stonehaven Quiz Bowl Team is having an amazing season. Most of the kids have specialized categories of knowledge. Mia brings pop culture knowledge that these guys need help with.

Lily gave me Clue 3D for Christmas, and we had a lot of fun working on this one together.

One of my Christmas gifts to Ryan was going to see Steve Martin & Martin Short at The Fox. We were laughing pretty much non-stop. These two are hilarious, and they seem to have a truly great friendship. Steve also played banjo with his band, the Steep Canyon Rangers. All I can say is Wow!

It's been a cold but wonderful start to the year!