We Love Our Neighbors

It doesn't happen often that you are lucky enough to live next door to great people.  Not just great people in the sense that you say hi to them when you are outside or wave to them from your car when you drive down the street.  We have neighbors that are not only great people, but great friends.  They are the type of people that you can run next door in your sweats and ask for a cup of sugar if you need it.  Or the type that will take your kids for the afternoon when you are about to pull your hair out (Thanks, Jamie!).

The neighbors have two girls which I have talked about numerous times in my blogs that my girls just adore.  Gabby is just a year younger than Quinn and Livy is a few months older than Sullivan.  All four of them get along great - almost like a group of four sisters (who don't fight)!

This past weekend we were lucky enough to go to the zoo with them.  The weather was great (while we were there) and it made for a great Saturday morning outing.

The girls always, always insist on feeding the goats in the children's zoo area.  But after about two times of feeding them, they are totally done. They are uninterested in doing anymore feeding.  !

The merry-go-round is also a must on a trip to the zoo.  Here Livy and Sullivan ride the merry-go-round.

Quinn and Gabby ride as well.

After I looked at this picture, one would never know we were at the zoo by looking at this picture.  It doesn't look like we are observing much, but we were taking in the giraffes.  For some reason, they were in their cages this day and not out in the open like they normally are.  

After the zoo, we went out for lunch with them.  And if that wasn't enough togetherness, we joined them later that evening at their house for supper and drinks!  One would think we would run out of things to talk about or get sick of spending time with each other, but that never is the case!  We love hanging out with them and are so blessed to have such great friends!

The Things We Love - Letter Y

Quinn - Yogurt

Quinn doesn't much care for fruits and vegetables.  We can get her to eat a few fruits - grapes, peaches, and mandarin oranges, but overall she is pretty picky.  So instead she eats a lot of yogurt.  Lemon yogurt.  Quinn may just turn into a giant lemon one of these days.  

Sullivan - Yakking

Sullivan can talk - boy can she talk.  She loves to talk and interact with anyone who will listen.  I joke that she could be the Wal-Mart greeter because she has to say good-bye to everyone as she leaves daycare each day.  She says bye to her friends, her teachers, random parents that we don't even know.  She loves people and loves to talk.  Two winning combinations.  A future politician? Motivational speaker?  Wal-Mart greeter?  

Ryan - Yard Work

Ryan loves being outside... any excuse to be outside is an excuse Ryan is willing to use.  He loves the outdoors - the sunshine - the gratification of doing projects around the yard.  I am thankful for him. Thankful that he enjoys doing it.  I can honestly say that I have never run our lawn mower and really don't even know how to start it.  (That sounds bad!).  But I honestly, even if I wanted to, I don't think Ryan would want me to mow.  It is his therapeutic release.  And if works for him, it works for me!!

Audra - Yellow

No, not really.  However if you ask Ryan what my favorite color is he will say yellow.  Or at least he thought that yellow was my favorite up until a few months ago.  After 14 years of being together, you'd think that your spouse would know that.  Why he thinks yellow is my favorite is beyond me.  I don't like yellow - not really at all.  Who knows!

Easter, Part 2

On Easter morning, we were able to spend some time with my family after we went to church with Ryan's family.  The Easter Bunny made its way over to the Kemper's house too.  Quinn and Sullivan had a slew of eggs to hunt for there, as well as at our house.

I know it sounds terrible, but our family doesn't take many family pictures.  Usually I am behind the camera so I have a million pictures of the girls and many, many of Ryan and the girls together, but not many of the four of us. So every Easter it is our opportunity to get our family picture taken!  Below is 2012's family picture.

Here is a picture of me with the girls - I love them!

Sullivan and Quinn had a blast entertaining Crew.  Quinn read to him while Sullivan patted him and listened to the book too.  Crew was such a good sport - he didn't fuss or get wigged out by a two year old patting him and getting in his face!

It was wonderful seeing the boys and spending some time with them.  They are growing so rapidly, and have such great temperaments.  We were able to get great pictures of the boys in their Easter outfits.  Absolutely precious!

We had a great time this Easter celebrating with all our families.  Here's hoping that your Easter was as exciting and wonderful as ours.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Dearest Sullivan Grace,

Three years ago you were born - it was a day so sweet for us all!  As your sister heard your first cry from the hallway of the hospital she proclaimed, "My sister is borned!"  She was on top of the moon to announce your arrival - as were we all!

It seems like just yesterday we were in that hospital room meeting you for the first time, yet it seems like you have been a part of our lives forever!  You are so full of life, so energetic, so spunky!  You bring so much joy to your family and your sister adores you beyond belief!

To celebrate your birthday this morning, I thought it would be sweet to make you pancakes.  You and your sister love to have a pancake picnic on special occasions.  You spread out a blanket and eat pancakes while watching cartoons.  As much as you enjoy this event, it brings me equal satisfaction to do it!  So your mom fired up the griddle and made you and Quinn special pancakes.

I brought you your pancakes which you initially seemed pleased with, but after a minute or two of picking at them you quickly announced, "I don't want these pancakes.  I want a top-tart."  And if it wasn't your birthday, and if you didn't flash me the sweetest look, I would have said no.  Thankfully for your sweet charm, you won out!  A top-tart for breakfast it was!  I even adorned it with three glowing candles, which you loved!

Sweet Plum, Sully, Sulla, Sulla Bolla, Gracie, Sullivan Grace, Monkey Pants, Squirt, BoBulla - whatever we may call you, we love you more than you will ever, ever know!!!  Happy 3rd Birthday, Sweetie!

Easter 2012, Part 1

8:00 p.m. (the night before Easter) - Quinn becomes very inquisitive about how to Easter Bunny is going to get into our house.  She decides with some prodding to write the Easter Bunny a note asking him how he gets in.

Quinn's letter is in the upper right corner.
She left room at the bottom for the E. Bunny's response.

2:00 a.m. (yes 2:00 a.m.) - Quinn and Sullivan wake their parents up declaring, "The Easter Bunny came.  The Easter Bunny came."  Nice try girls, we aren't getting up yet!

6:45 a.m. - The girls wake up again - this time for good.  The Easter egg hunt begins!

After much searching, the girls (and Ryan) had to stop and count up the eggs!

Along with the eggs, the girls looked for and found their baskets too!  They dug into their baskets to see what the Easter Bunny left them.  

Yes, somewhere along the way Sullivan lost her clothes.  Not sure how or why that happened, but some things aren't worth the fight.  :)

Quinn's favorite gift:
2 new Mercy Watson books!  Yea!!!

Before getting ready for church, I captured how Sullivan truly was feeling...

Maybe that 2:00 a.m. wake up call was catching up to her?!

8:30 a.m. - The girls and I manage to paint toenails, do hair, and get dressed for church- all before Ryan is ready to go!

All snazzily dressed and ready for church.  More Easter pictures to come later this week! 

Take Home Teddy

Quinn's class has a stuffed teddy bear that will be making its way into everyone's house this last month and a half of school.  (While good in theory and concept, my OCD again kicks in.  A stuffed animal that really can't be cleaned or sanitized making its way into 25 different homes - ugh!)  That being said, Quinn was stoked to have Teddy at our house!

Quinn was the first student in her class to bring home Take Home Teddy.  She got to bring it home for one night with the instructions to have Take Home Teddy go everywhere that she went.  Once the night was finished, she was to write a letter by herself about the events of the night and what she did with Take Home Teddy.    

Quinn with Take Home Teddy at breakfast.  

Such pressure on our part - we were the first people to have the bear.  We didn't have a model to go by or any other letters to read to see what kind of "fun" events Teddy did with the other kids.  Anyway... Quinn was jazzed to carry Teddy around all night and took to writing her letter once the night was over. 

I just love reading children's writings.  I love to see how they spell things and what they have to say.  Maybe it is because I am an elementary teacher, but I love the 'mystery' of trying to figure out their writing and what they are trying to convey!  

Take Home Teddy is now off to someone else's house to partake in many more adventures.  Hopefully he has as much fun at other children's home as we had with him!

Preparing for Easter

Easter has sneaked up on us.... I am not sure where the time has gone? This weekend we decided it was time to get our house jazzed up and ready to celebrate this great day!!

We started off by dyeing Easter eggs.  I envisioned splashes of egg dye all over the girls' clothes - so I took precautions and put them in some scruffy shirts.  Don't mind the scruffy shirts!

Grandma Jane stopped by to see the girls on Sunday.  Little did she know that she would be put to work helping us dye our eggs.

Quinn was very cautious when dyeing her eggs.  Sullivan was quite the opposite.  We only had one cracked egg from dropping it in the cup too hard - only one egg because Grandma Jane was diligent about helping her after that point!!  Thanks, Grandma!

Sullivan "spinning" the dye before she put the egg in the cup.

Quinn waiting patiently for her egg to look just right!

The final product... they looked so cute!

After dyeing eggs, the girls wanted to get out our decorations and decorate the house.  Quinn asked Sullivan to be "her assistant" by handing her tape as she hung some Easter cut-outs.  Below are the girls decorating the house.  

It took everything in me not to help determine where we should hang the decorations.  I let the girls decide where everything went - which means there were cut-outs on windows, on doors, on random walls at random heights.  My OCD wanted to make it look neat and orderly, but the momma-trying-to-nurture-her-girls'-independence side of me won out.  (Score one for me-yea!) And I have to admit that I love how they decorated!