100 Days Smarter...

Tuesday marked Sullivan's 100th day of Kindergarten.  And what Kindergarten class would be complete without celebrating such a milestone?!

Sullivan's class was asked to bring a collection of 100 things (pennies, marbles, legos, etc.) and collect them into ten groups of ten.  Sullivan brainstormed what she wanted to bring, but nothing around our house was tickling her fancy.  So when we were walking around the hardware store last weekend running errands, her project jumped out at us and hit us in the face.

Sullivan chose to collect paint sample colors for her 100 day project.

To give back story to her decision, Sullivan is addicted to paint samples at the hardware store.  It never fails that she asks to get some paint chips each and every time we are in the store.  She never does anything with them and 98% of them end up in the trash can when we get home, but there is something about picking out colors that she just adores.  (Quinn too!)

So when she asked to take paint samples on that given day, the resounding answer was YES!  In fact, take 100 samples.  As we sat there collecting all the color cards, I felt a little bit bad taking so many.  But in the name of a class project needing complete, we had to do what we had to do!

In the days leading up to the 100th day, Sullivan collected the colors, sorted them into groups of ten, and then glued the samples onto card stock.  She loved making her project and couldn't have been more proud of it!

She even made a beautiful cover for it...

Here she is with her finished products...

She also sported the 100th Day of School button shirt that I made for Quinn when she was in Kindergarten.  I spent way too much time sewing on those buttons for Quinn to not get as much use out of it as I could with Sullivan.

When Sullivan came home form school, she proudly claimed that her friend Phoebe loved her shirt and wants me to make her one too.  Sullivan asked, "Mom, can you please make her one!?  Please?!" Sorry, Charlie.  Phoebe is out of luck on this one!

Sullivan is now officially 100 days older and 100 days smarter!  

Weekend Wrap-Up...

We had a great weekend...

Friday night Quinn had a friend spend the night.  It was the first sleepover at our house here in Indy, and Quinn couldn't have been more thrilled to have her friend, Leah, here.

Quinn and Leah played and hung out and watched movies.  They got along so well and were so incredibly sweet to include Sullivan in their fun too.  Sullivan was on Cloud 9, and just might now think that Leah is her best friend too.

Saturday we laid low in the morning and early afternoon.  The girls decided to go swimming in the bathtub - swimsuits and goggles and the whole nine yards. Sadly, no pictures of the fun.

We had errands to run and shopping to do in the afternoon.  While somewhat in the area, we stopped at Quinn's all-time favorite restaurant for supper - Pei Wei.

Not one of us was disappointed with that decision. Yum!

After supper we had to stop by the pet store.  Sadly Sullivan's fish, Lovey, passed away this week.  Sad tears formed in Sulla's eyes when she learned of Lovey's unfortunate end.  She tried her hand at detective skills - wondering and questioning me when I had last seen her alive!

Paying tribute to Lovey, Sullivan named this new fish...Lovey. :)

Sunday was filled with church and a couple more errands, followed by a day of this....

Lego building!

The girls are so into the Legos right now - with all their Lego sets built they are taking apart and rebuilding them all over again and again!

A low-key, fun-filled weekend around the house!  

Cousins Pictures

Meredith had the great idea, while back in SD for Christmas, to have all the cousins get pictures taken together.  I  am so glad that she suggested it.  Here are the cute pictures...

I will leave you with a picture that made me chuckle.  In my opinion, a poor choice of placement for people on the part of the photographer.  

Poor Judson.  Who puts a two year old in the middle of the picture with another two year old on top of him... then everyone else crammed around him so he can't move?!  Judson looks uncomfortable, and rightfully so!!  Poor him!

Aside from this one picture, they turned out well.  And we have some great pictures with all the cousins together.  That's the best part!

Fun Filled Weekend

Several weeks back, Sullivan came home from school with a few business cards in her folder.  To make a long story short, Sullivan had gotten in trouble a few days prior to this for writing notes in class (yes, in Kindergarten!) and giving them to her friends. Her "notes" consisted of writing "Ryan - Audra - Quinn - Sullivan - Duff" on slips of paper.  But nonetheless, not what she was supposed to be doing!

When I questioned Sullivan about the business cards, she said they were "notes" from her friends (her friends' parents' business cards to be exact). So I guess this class has a note passing problem.  Anyway, one of the business cards said, "playdate with Phoebe please" written in a child's handwriting on the back.  I didn't think much of it and discarded these "notes" when Sullivan wasn't around.

Fast forward to this past week and again Sullivan got another business card with the same phrase on the back - "playdate with Phoebe please".  Then a phone call came in from Phoebe herself wanting to play.  So it appeared as though it was time to make that playdate happen.

So on Saturday Phoebe came over and played for a few hours.  The girls had the best time playing games, doing crafts, monkeying around, and reading books. Phoebe was a great friend to have over and it was fun to see Sullivan in her element with her classmates!  It was so sweet to hear Sullivan say, "Hey, Phebes!" or  "Come on, Phebes."

Quinn also had a fun-filled time with her friends.  She was invited to a classmates' birthday party at the pizza place and then the ice skating rink.  Hailey's mom had asked for my help at the party, so I got to get in on the fun as well!

Here are the girls enjoying pizza and a little fun time!

I wasn't sure how Quinn would do on the skating rink, but she did an awesome job! 

Can you find Quinn in there?!?

Quinn is on the right...

 She obviously fell a few times, but got right back up and went at it again!  It was a great party and a great group of girls.  In case you are asking yourself how I did on the ice - I didn't partake in the skating activity.  I gladly supervised purses and coats and helped those that needed a break from the ice!

Here is one extra picture of Miss Quinn, on the way to her birthday party, sporting her dad's sunglasses!  So adorable!

Sulla BoBulla....

The other day I was looking at pictures on my phone and came across these videos that Sullivan took of herself last week, when apparently she had my phone and I didn't know it.  Good parenting, I know.  Anyway, they just made me smile.

I showed them to Ryan and he was tickled by them too.  I don't know if it is her intonation, her facial expressions, or what.  But they were too cute not to share!

Check them out here... (if the screen is grey, but still has the triangle in it, click on it.  It will play the video!).

Too stinkin' cute!  

Staying Warm and Swimming

I don't know about the rest of you, but this weather here lately has been brutal.  Snow and ice and cold temperatures have made for inconsistent school routines.  The girls' first day back after Christmas was last Tuesday, which ended up being a two hour late start (which means school starts at 11:00 - how crazy is that?!).  The following day was also a late start and the day after that (Thursday) there was no school.  Friday thankfully was our first full day back with no delays.  We finally felt like we were maybe back on track and headed in the right direction.  That is until an ice storm came Sunday night and cancelled school on Monday this week. Thankfully the rest of this week has been normal, except there is an early release (professional development) tomorrow and no school Monday (MLK day).

I am beginning to wonder if the girls will have any consistent school routine again!

These past couple of weeks the girls have certainly had cabin fever.  The weather has been way too cold to get outside and play in the beautiful snow.  The ice hasn't helped either!  Thankfully the girls started swimming lessons recently.  So that has gotten us out of the house and burning a little (or a lot) of energy!

Quinn's teacher is a pusher - she works them super hard.  So hard in fact, that Quinn was in near tears the first lesson because her legs hurt so much!  After that lesson, Quinn was remarking at how tired she was and how the others in her group were complaining too.  But with hard work, comes great rewards!  So we are certain she will make great progress this season!

Sullivan continues to be a fish in the water and has absolutely no fears whatsoever!  She is thoroughly enjoying her lessons and can't get enough of them!

Here's hoping for some warmer weather and the chance to get outside and burn some energy too!

Mystery Solved...We Think!

Funny story to make us laugh...

Sullivan went to get a treat after supper the other night and noticed that a particular flavor of candy from a bag full of candy was all gone before she was ever even able to have one of them.  She went around the house to each of us announcing that she didn't get any grape candy and "why didn't you save me any?"

Each one of us explained that we didn't eat them all, which is impossible since they are gone - meaning someone didn't fess up to eating them.  That said, Sullivan was stumped.  You could tell on her face that she was plain puzzled.

Several hours later it was clearly still on her mind.  Right before bed, she proclaimed to me that she thinks she knows how the candy got eaten.

S:  Mom, I think I know how the grape candy got eaten.

M:  Oh, really.  How?

S:  Duff.

M:  What do you mean, Duff?

S:  Well she is the only one that is left in the house.  No one else ate them, so it had to be her.

M:  (smiling)  You might be right.  But how did she get them? The candy is on a high shelf.

S;  That's easy.  She stands on her hands and then gets them down.


There you have it.  Mystery solved.... Sullivan thinks!

Last Christmas Memories...

I am feeling way behind with all my Christmas notables.  I think I covered everything from our trip back to SD over the holidays, but have failed to mention the Christmas happenings before and after the holidays here.

12 Days of Christmas

Auntie Mer and Uncle Matt were so so sweet and so so creative this holiday season.  They gave a package for each of the girls to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas.

We cheated a bit and celebrated the 12 days before we left for our trip back to SD so that we didn't have to haul things back and forth.  Each day the girls got to open a present - and each present came with a clue that was associated with that day's phrase (On the __ day of Christmas my true love gave to me ___).

The girls had a blast opening the presents and it literally was the first thing they would do each morning, hence the many pictures of them in their pajamas! It was an awesome way for them to count down the days and look forward to our trip back to see everyone!  Thanks Auntie and Uncle for making this season so special!

Neighborhood Gathering

A couple of days before the holidays, we had a great gathering with our neighborhood friends.  We had a great meal, the kids watched movies, the adults talked and played games, and everyone enjoyed the chocolate fountain for dessert.  It was a perfect way to spend the holidays with our dear friends!

Christopher's Last Days

Christopher took up a new hobby recently and has become quite the artist/painter.  He got into the girls' paint supplies and painted a self -portrait.  I'd have to say he is pretty good at what he does!

The morning we left for our trip to SD, Christopher was here at our house.  He got super creative and dressed himself up as Santa Claus.  He even sported the big white beard and found himself a semi-comfy chair to sit on.  Apparently he was so convincing as Santa, that he had a line of Lego Friends waiting to sit on his lap and share their wants for Christmas!

He was so creative that last day that I couldn't help but share it!

Indiana Christmas

When we got back home to IN from our many days away, we still had presents waiting under the tree to open.  We still had all the presents to each other to open since we didn't want to carry those back to SD.

The girls wanted to open them the minute we walked in the door, but given that it was late we compromised and let them open one and the rest in the morning!

The girls were most excited to get tickets to the Taylor Swift concert that will be here this fall.

They also loved their new fish tanks.  Quinn and Sullivan have been hounding us for months to get a betta fish for their rooms and we finally caved.

We couldn't have been more excited with all we got this season.  We were truly fortunate, not only with the great gifts we got from everyone, but to be able to spend the holidays with the ones we love celebrating the true meaning of the season!

Now on to the new year - we are excited for what 2015 has in store for us!!