The BIG 4-0!!!!!

I may have mentioned it a time or two in the previous posts, but Ryan celebrated a milestone birthday this past week.  Ryan hit the BIG 4-0!

Because Ryan means so much to us, it just didn't seem right to only celebrate this HUGE event on one given day.  We decided to stretch the celebration and make it the "Week of Ryan."  

On Sunday we started simple.  We turned back the clock to 1977 and looked at the major events from that year.  Here is the poster of those events...

On Monday, while Ryan was at work, Grandma Jane, Sullivan, Quinn and I took on a bigger feat.  We hung Ryan's collage from every year that he has been alive.... a little stroll down memory lane, if you will.  

Here is the munchkin that put herself in charge of making sure that everything was level.  

Ryan really loved this memory wall... such great memories from childhood through present time.

I will post these pictures in the next little while...so that you can share in the trip down memory lane.

On Tuesday Ryan received a whole "lotto" love with this lottery ticket gift.  

40 tickets for his 40th birthday...

On Wednesday we shared just some of the reasons why we love him so much.  There are WAY more than 40 things we love about Ryan, but we chose our favorites.

And finally on his birthday, while Ryan was away from the house, we decorated the lawn like this...

Everyone in the neighborhood knew that a milestone birthday was being celebrated at our house!  Sullivan was such an amazing helper with this surprise.  She helped create and display the candles - from start to finish.

We celebrated the big day by going out to eat with Nana and Papa, and then we came home to eat Ryan's favorite ice cream cake!

Ryan got some great gifts too... Nana and Papa channeled Ryan's childhood and got him this wonderful Lego set.

He also got a new Twins sign for his garage....

(Don't judge the sign... I couldn't find one on the Internet, so I resorted to making one myself!)

If the "Week of Ryan" wasn't enough, our neighbors also threw a surprise party for him this weekend.  I wish I would have captured more pictures than this, but this is all I got.  We have the best and dearest neighbors - true friends - that wanted to celebrate Ryan.

Happy Birthday, Ryan!  We hope you had the best birthday week imaginable!  

Now that you are 40...

Nana and Papa's Visit...

Shortly after Grandma Jane's visit, Nana and Papa made the journey out to see us.  They, too, were here to celebrate Ryan's milestone birthday!

Besides celebrating Ryan, we also had a chance to get out and about Indy.  Ryan took us downtown to Eli Lilly's home office.   They have a museum there for employees and their guests that tells the history of Eli Lilly. 

We also made it down to the zoo on Saturday, where they were celebrating the Zoo Boo.  Sadly, the girls did not want to dress up this year.  Despite that, we still had a great time.

The time spent at home was equally enjoyable - playing games and just hanging out!

We were so thankful that Nana and Papa came out to celebrate Ryan's birthday with us and to spend time with us.  What a great visit we had!

Grandma Jane's Visit...

Grandma Jane made the trek out to Indiana to see us last week.  She purposely coincided her visit with Ryan's milestone birthday week (!) and the girls' fall break!

She started out her visit by being Quinn's cheerleader at her race...

We also spent one morning at the Cookies & Canvas studio where the girls each painted a cute fox.

Although Grandma Jane and I didn't paint our own foxes, we did get plenty of practice helping the girls out!

Their finished pieces... so stinkin' cute!

On another afternoon, we headed to the arcade to spend the afternoon indoors.  Mother Nature didn't want to give us any sunshine, so we made the best of the dreary afternoon!

Of course, we also spent a great deal of time playing games and just soaking in as much Grandma Jane time as we could.  

Quinn even gave Grandma Jane and us a personal (and amazing) concert on the trumpet! 

We had the very best visit with Grandma Jane and we were so sad to see her go.  At the airport, Quinn told Grandma that the next time she came to visit, she would most likely be as tall (or taller) than Grandma Jane.  

Quinn just might be right!    

Quinn's Race

Quinn ran her first race this past week.  The race was a city-wide event for students K-6th grade.  That said, this was the year Quinn was going to run it if she ever wanted the chance! She will be too old next year.

Quinn did an amazing job throughout the mile long course - especially given the fact that the only practice she truly had was the couple of times she ran the mile run in gym class!

Here is a  pre-race picture with her friend, Maddie...

Ms. Dodi, Maddie's mom, happened to see this sign in the crowd for another runner named Quinn.  Being the social butterfly that she is, she marched over and asked if she could borrow the sign for a minute!  Here is Quinn with her friend Maddie, and Maddie's sisters, Helen and Emma.  

At the starting line...

And during the race....

Quinn finished with a time of 8:23 - a fabulous time for someone who doesn't consider herself a runner!  She did an amazing job!

Waiting at the finish line was her proud dad, along with Sullivan and Grandma Jane.  Thankfully Grandma Jane made it into Indy with just enough time to make it to the field to watch Quinn run! 

Way to go, Quinner!  We are SO proud of you!

School Pictures (2017-2018)

Here are the latest editions to the girls' collections of school pictures.  I always hold my breath in anticipation of what they will look like each year and get a bit nervous when they pull the picture envelope out of their backpacks.  All that nervousness for nothing this year... the girls' pictures turned out beautifully!!!  They are truly great pictures of both of them!

Sullivan Grace

3rd Grade

Quinn McKenna

6th Grade

14 and 5...

The tooth fairy was a busy one this week.  Both girls lost a tooth, both at school.

Quinn lost tooth #14... a molar on her upper right side.

The tooth fairy crafted two puppies out of the money she left.

Sullivan lost tooth #5... an incisor on the bottom left side.

The tooth fairy left her two hearts, and of course, let her keep her tooth to add to her collection!

Life Lately...

This past week has been a busy one...lots of exciting things happened like this brand new trim that was installed around our arches....

It isn't the best picture in all of the world, but we are LOVING the new look! 

The girls took it upon themselves to organize the pantry this weekend.  Sullivan in particular loves to organize things - wonder where she got that from?! Maybe Ryan.  LOL.  Quinn decided to join in on the fun too.  

The weather was one for the books this weekend - like absolutely gorgeous.  So we did what all people should do on the first weekend in October when the weather is amazing....

We had popsicles.  Indy has a popsicle shop that the girls are in love with, so we visited that Sunday afternoon.  It didn't disappoint.

And finally, Tessa's new favorite place in all of the world and all of the land...

That's right, you can't even see her head.  It is buried so deep in the dishwasher! 

Crazy dog.