A Nice Surprise...

Mother Nature provided us (along with a good portion of the United States) with bitter, bitter cold weather.  Because of that, we have been out of school for the past two days.  The girls spent a good portion of their days completing their e-learning activities, but they were able to take a pause to spend some time with some very special visitors passing through Indy....

Grandma Jane and Margaret were on their way back to Ohio yesterday and stopped by to spend the evening with us.  We were able to get a quick card game in before they hit the road this morning!  Although the time was not very long, it was great to see them and we were willing to take what time we could get!

Yearbook Contest...

A couple of years back, Sullivan entered a yearbook cover design contest for her school.  She did such a nice job that her picture actually won the back cover.  You can check out her design HERE.  

Fast forward to the present... Sullivan came home with this year's contest form last week.  She set her mind to creating a great design and instantly got to work.

When all was said and done, Sullivan did a BEAUTIFUL job!  I might be bias, but it is definitely cover worthy in my eyes. 

 Let's just hope it gets chosen as the winner...time will tell!

International Fair...

Quinn's school held an International Fair on Friday night.  It was a night to celebrate the different cultures and different backgrounds that make her school so unique. 

Each student (or pair of students) essentially chose a country out of a hat and was assigned to do research on that country and make a visual display of their findings.

Quinn and her friend chose Syria.  It's probably not the most uplifting country to have drawn, but definitely a teachable moment for Quinn.  It truly showed her how very blessed we are to live where we live and to not take our freedoms for granted. 

We attended the event Friday night so that we could see Quinn's presentation and see all the other great presentations as well.

The night did not disappoint...it was a great celebration of diversity!

Little Old Ladies...

Check out these little old ladies who were insistent on putting their hair in curlers before bed...

Aren't they the cutest things?!

A Good Read...

Quinn and Sullivan made a cozy sleeping spot in our closet a while back.  They filled it with a million blankets and pillows and such.  Each curled up with a good book to read before bedtime.  Apparently Quinn must have really been hooked by her book and couldn't put it down.  After some time, Sullivan was ready to go to sleep and the light in the closet was keeping her awake.  I went up to go to bed a couple hours later, and this is what I found...

Quinn was reading by the light in our bathroom.  She just couldn't put the book down - just enthralled by the happenings in the book!  Love, love, love it! 

Another Lost Tooth...

Gosh, somehow these pictures got lost in the shuffle of all the Christmas pictures and I failed to blog about Quinn's lost tooth.

Quinn lost one of her molars back on December 23rd.  The tooth fairy tried to visit that night, but wasn't able to find Quinn, with us being back in SD and Quinn actually staying at the hotel with Gigi.  

So as it turns out, the Tooth Fairy actually visited Christmas Eve night and Quinn woke up on Christmas day to Santa's presents and the Tooth Fairy's treat.  The Tooth Fairy was so worried she was going to get in Santa's way, but she was able to sneak in and get her job done!

The Tooth Fairy left her usual note, along with her money fittingly folded like a Christmas tree!

As she mentioned in her letter, her time visiting Quinn is coming to an end.  Only 3 more teeth to loose. 

Winter Shminter...Yuck!

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not really a fan of snow or winter or cold.  I much prefer to be indoors snuggled up in a blanket by the fireplace.  Mother Nature was a bit (or a lot) unkind to me this past weekend - dumping 8 inches of snow on us.  Yuck, yuck, double yuck!

The girls went sledding with the neighbors over the weekend and soaked up all the snow time they could.  Sullivan must not have gotten enough snow time this weekend though because she was determined to build a snowman after school today.

Sullivan set out and started to build the bottom layer of her snowman.  After seeing Sullivan struggle for what appeared to be a century, I just couldn't take it anymore.  She put so much brut force and shear determination into making the largest bottom layer of a snowman.  The darn heavy, wet snow was making it hard for her.  She wasn't giving up though.  Sullivan was in it for the long haul. 

So I laced up my boots, got on my coat, and headed outside to help her.  Together we built the best darn looking snowman that we could.

Or at least I thought so!!  Sullivan still thought it was missing something, but couldn't put her finger on what.  She ran off to the garage and came back with some snow paint.  Duh!  The snowman was missing some color!

A few minutes and a thing of snow paint later... the snowman was PERFECT!

I have to say, building a snowman was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. I much enjoyed the snow.  I much enjoyed the winter weather.  I much enjoyed my time with Sullivan. 

Mother Nature is set to dump another load of snow on us this weekend - a repeat of this last round of snow.  Let's see if I am still have the same jolly, loving attitude toward snow on Saturday!  Any bets?!?

Christmas 2018 - The Final Installment

Christmas was over a couple of weeks ago, but it looks as though I have drug this process out for quite some time!  This is the last of the pictures I have from Christmas 2018!

These sweet girls were more than fabulous on the long and exhausting car ride home across the great Midwest.

As has become tradition, the girls were insistent upon opening a present when we got home from SD.  It didn't matter if it was 10:00pm, 1:00 pm, or 5:00 am.  It was a MUST no matter what!

After opening the first of the gifts we still had left to open here, we all settled in for some much needed rest.  In the morning, we were up early and ready to open what remained...

The girls got some pretty great gifts, as did Ryan and I.  Ryan added a Notre Dame garden rock to join the Vanderbilt one he already had for the yard.

Christmas was good to us this year - as it is usually is.  We couldn't be more thankful for the amazing gifts that were exchanged, but more importantly for each other, our good health, our wonderful house, and the amazing friends and family that we love so dearly.

Here's to an incredible 2019...!

Christmas 2018, Part 2...

Our Christmas celebrations continued with my side of the family.   Quinn and Sullivan couldn't be any more thrilled to get in some quality play time with the cousins, and let's be honest, I was in that same boat!

We played LOTS of school and let me tell you, the Kemper kids make pretty good principals.  They must get that gene from their Grandma Kemper!

Before Christmas could roll around, some late night, last minute presents had to be wrapped.

The night before Christmas the (new) stockings were laid out by the fireplace waiting for Santa to come.  The girls sported their new Christmas pajamas from Grandma Jane too.

We are fairly certain Santa came late in the night, as a big thud was heard at 3:30 a.m. Ryan and I were QUITE blurry eyed.  The next morning, these sweet faces were ready to open some presents.

The cousins on Christmas morning in their pajamas...

Passing out the presents...lots of kids wanted to play 'Santa'.

The day was spent in true Christmas fashion - opening gifts, playing with the toys, opening more gifts, playing some more, and so on!  It was perfect!

The day after Christmas we had a get together with my extended family - aunts, uncles, cousins all together to share great food and even better company.  

Aside from the great meal, we also played a couple games.  It was very laid back and so great to have most everyone together again.

Throughout the week, the annual puzzling took place.  

Seeing Hallie was also a must.... oh how the girls love spending time with her!

A trip was made to the mall by some...

Opening presents with Grandma Jane...

 

The next Von Trapp family band?!

We had a trumpet player too, but he was camera shy.  

One night, Sullivan and Elsa decided to dress up in their fancy clothes and strut around the house with their purses.  It was the cutest, sweetest thing!

It would be wrong to say that Tessa didn't also get some love and attention throughout the week...

As evident by these pictures, great memories were made this year!

We had the very best time while back in SD.  To say that we are blessed to have such amazing family is an understatement.  Christmas 2018 was definitely one for the books!