Growing Up...

Not sure how or when it happened, but Sulla Grace has sprouted from a little peanut into a full grown tween.  I'm trying to find a magic pill to stop time and keep the girls little forever.  I've yet to find it.  Ugh.

While she has definitely grown and matured a ton, her kind disposition and sweet, caring personality remains intact.  

I Heart Q and S...

Today is National Daughter's Day and I could not be any prouder to call these beauties my daughters.  They are the reason that I get the title "Mom." 

I love them with all my heart - more than they will ever, ever know.  

She's Back At It...

During the pandemic, Sullivan's gymnastics studio closed its doors - like out of business, not going to open up again kind of closed.  Sullivan was devastated, to say the least.  

Fast forward to a few weeks ago - out of the blue Sullivan said, "I wish that a new gymnastics studio would open back up where my old one was at.  And I wish Miss Jennifer would be the teacher."  Then literally no lie... the very next day (no joke) I got an email from Miss Jennifer saying that she was opening a new gymnastics studio in the old location.  How spooky is that?!?  

It was a given that she wanted to return, and last week was her first day back at it.  

Grandma Jane and Quinn got to go watch too.  Bonus!

She was so at home and so in her element - a happy camper nonetheless.

On the vault... her favorite!

I am so glad that Sullivan gets to go back to the thing she loves! 

A Welcomed Visit...

Grandma Jane came to visit us this past week...and we couldn't have been more excited to see her!  It had been far too long.

We spent the time together playing games, hanging out, and soaking up as much Grandma time as we could.  Of course, no trip to Indy would be complete without Grandma making chipped beef on toast for Quinn (sadly no pictures, but it was GOOD).

Sullivan, Grandma and I spent one afternoon at the outlet malls...

Someone got a new backpack for IN-PERSON (!!!) school...

We tooled around Indy and thoroughly enjoyed spending the day together.

The time with her was brief, but so, so good for the soul.  

Always happy to have Grandma come visit!

The Second First Day...

Today marked the second "first" day for the girls.... they got to experience their first day back in their school buildings.  Quinn headed off to the high school for her freshman year, while Sullivan returned to the intermediate school for her 6th grade year.  Both were excited to go - both a bit nervous too!  

The sun was yet to rise this morning so Quinn trucked off to school in the dark.  We had to capture our typical porch pictures indoors instead.

Sullivan got to hang at home a bit longer and we were able to capture our traditional pictures on the porch for her.  

Both came home with smiles on their faces.  Both said that the mask wearing all day wasn't that bad.  Both were thrilled to see their friends and meet their teachers in person.  Both said they are excited to go back again tomorrow.

I'll call that a win... especially given that it is 2020!  

A Visitor...

The other evening, Sullivan was walking by the sliding glass door in the kitchen and something caught her eye.  To everyone's surprise, we had a visitor...

The pictures make it incredibly hard to tell, but a frog somehow climbed his way up our glass door and was hanging out.

To give you perspective, the frog is circled in red...

Sullivan with her new friend...

A weird, but fun sight to see!

Starting School....

The school board has approved 5-12th graders to go back to school using a 50/50 hybrid model.  Starting this week, Quinn and Sullivan will begin in-person learning every Thursday and Friday (and every other Wednesday).  On the days they aren't in person, they will be completing learning virtually at home.

Being a freshman at the high school, Quinn was given the opportunity to go walk the halls this week to see where her classrooms are at and get acquainted with the school.  The freshman class was split into 3 groups alphabetically on 3 given days to help lessen the amount of people in the building at a time. Parents were told they were NOT allowed to go with their students.... instead we had to wait in the parking lot.  

Dropping Quinn and Sam off...

Me, with all the other freshman parents, sitting in the parking lot patiently waiting...

Both of them came out with smiles on their faces.  

They didn't seem overwhelmed by the size of the school and said they found their classrooms fairly easily.  In fact, Quinn said most of her classes are pretty close together, which is rare for the size of her high school.  I'm thankful for her opportunity to see the school before she starts this week - it helped ease any anxiety that she might have had.

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...♫ ♫

We decided to get out of town today and explore parts of Indiana we had never been to before.  We headed southwest to Cataract Falls State Park - home of Indiana's largest waterfall.  

It also is home to one of the oldest covered bridges, and only one of six of its kind left in Indiana.  

We did some hiking and exploring and climbing on rocks.

Some of us were more adventurous than others....

Some of us stayed behind to soak in the scenery near the falls...

Isn't it just beautiful!?  

While the waterfalls are not the largest, when you are used to the Falls in SD, they still were pretty.

We hiked to the lower falls too...

There were lots of people out and about enjoying Labor Day, but there was plenty of room to social distance and still enjoy it.

These three make me nervous as can be... standing on the ledge that drops off.  My heart goes pitter patter when they do things like this.

After we were done exploring Cataract Falls, we headed down the road to McCormick's Creek State Park.  This is home to Indiana's 4th largest waterfall and is also Indiana's first state park.  

We didn't do a ton of exploring here, but did walk down to the waterfall area to check it out.  We rounded the corner that overlooks the falls and saw this...

There was WAY too many people in one tiny area.  We decided to skip the certain exposure to Covid and just enjoy its beauty from afar.  That's okay though - the girls were done with the heat and done with the hiking.  It was time to call it a day.

We really enjoyed our day exploring Indiana's beauty.  We don't take enough opportunities to do things like this, but I am always glad when we do.

A Good Start...

We broke tradition tonight and skipped Friday Pooley Pizza night (gasp!), but instead opted for another great alternative...

Sullivan has had a hankering for Taco John's for quite some time... so we finally broke down and made an adventure of it this evening.  With a 45 minute drive one way, it quickly becomes an adventure - but one well worth it!

We even had the entire restaurant to ourselves!  

What better way to start the Labor Day weekend...?!

A New Toy...

Sullivan may or may not have gotten a new toy yesterday... 

Sullivan was picked to play the trumpet (wahoo!!!) and was able to go to school yesterday to pick it up.  Group Zoom band sessions start next week... to be a fly on the wall during those lessons - yikes!

We are looking forward to this exciting time for Sullivan... she has a great role model and teacher just within our house!