Dinner and A Movie...

Dinner and a movie... No, I am not referring to the TBS special where they show a movie on TV and then during commercial breaks some chef makes dinner.  I am also not referring to a date night between Ryan and I.  What I am referring to is the fabulous night we spent at our neighbors' house last night.

Jamie and I started the afternoon by taking the girls on a bike ride to the park while the guys cooked.  Seems like a good trade off, right?! We hooked up the bike carriers and loaded the girls in!  It was a beautiful afternoon and a great day for the park!

After getting back from the park, we enjoyed some of the best ribs I've eaten!  Jon did an amazing job with them and all the other food was outstanding too!  I think everyone ate more than they had anticipated and we all had full bellies!

The four girls - Gabby, Quinn, Sullivan, and Livy - wait patiently for the adults to finish eating so that we could start the night's entertainment!

The entertainment for the night?!   Jon sent up a movie theater in their backyard and together we all watched Disney's Tangled.  It was sooooo much fun!

The girls getting nestled into their sleeping bags!

The show began and all of the kids were enthralled with the movie - Sullivan, Quinn, Gabby, Livy, and the neighbors' good friends Benson and Vanessa (in the chair). 

The whole neighborhood was buzzing last night and at some point I think every neighborhood child was watching the movie with us!  It really was a great time.  It was one of those evenings that the kids will always remember... "Remember when we got to lay in our sleeping bags outside, eat popcorn, and watch movies with all the neighborhood kids?"

The night ended with a dance party behind the movie screen as the credits rolled.  The kiddos shook and shimmied and had a blast!

Quinn shaking it on the left and Sullivan on the right!

L to R: Sullivan, Gabby, Quinn, Livy, and Benson all dancing together!

What a great way to spend the evening and to celebrate Labor Day with some of our dearest friends!  We can't wait for the next dinner and a movie - unfortunately with South Dakota weather, we may be waiting for a very, very long time!

Are You Ready For Some......

FOOTBALL!?!?

Today is opening day for college football and two people in our house couldn't be more excited.  Ryan is an obvious choice without question.  The second excited one around here?!  Sullivan Grace.

I think Sullivan really has no clue what it means to watch football, but she quickly and excitedly volunteered to watch football with Ryan today when he asked for volunteers.  Quinn gave a definitive NO vote for football.  She has bigger and better things to do today.

On the agenda today...  College Game Day this morning, followed by Notre Dame/S. Florida at mid-day, and ending with Oregon/LSU this evening.  Sounds like a busy day!

This time of year, Ryan bleeds green.  All eyes will be on the Fightin' Irish today to see how they do!  GO Notre Dame... play like a champion today!

Our Obsessions - Letter H

Quinn - Hearts and Rainbows

No explanation needed - the girl LOVES rainbows and hearts.  She has always loved them and is naturally drawn to them.  We have quite the collection of precious artwork from Quinn that includes either a rainbow or a collection of hearts!

Sullivan - Hot and Cold Things

Not sure why, but Sullivan is obsessed with hot and cold things.  She went through a phase not long ago where she refused to eat anything because she thought it would be too hot or too cold to eat.  The silly girl even refused ice cream for a while because she was scared of it being too cold.  Everything she encounters - especially but not limited to food - is followed with, "Cold?"  When you tell her that it is not cold, she immediately asks, "Hot?"  Funny girl!

Ryan - Handy work

My dear husband loves to do handy work.  There isn't a weekend that goes by that he isn't doing some type of project around the house.  I would have to admit that he is pretty good at what he does!  This past weekend Ryan tackled a project that was much needed and a long time coming!  He created a shelving unit in our coat closest for all the girls' shoes. The best projects he does are the ones that help organize all our junk. 

Audra - Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

I do like ham and cheese sandwiches - quite a bit!  I especially love them from Jimmy John's and Bagel Boy.  I am fairly certain that I could eat them for almost all of my meals.  If you are a fan of Jimmy John's subs, I urge you not to check out the nutrition information on their website - unless of course you skip the mayo!  I made that mistake once upon a time!

A New Skill Learned

Check out what Quinn learned how to do tonight.. 

Ryan and I had talked about teaching Quinn how to tie her shoes all summer long.  Like many people's summer, our summer cruised by and that was one thing on our to do list that never got accomplished. With the school year in full swing now, we finally thought it was time to tackle this job.

I never expected this task to take only a few minutes to master, but surprisingly Quinn caught on quickly.  Can she do it right the first time, every time?!?  No, but she perseveres until she gets it! She even thinks she is ultra cool because she learned how to do the double knot!

Tomorrow we will move on to practicing it while the shoe is on - that always seems 120 times harder!  We'll see how she does!

Here's a proud Quinn after she successfully tied the shoe!

An Unexpected Visitor

An unexpected visitor arrived at our house last night.... a visitor that none of us were too pleased to see!

Who or what was it, you ask?!

A BAT!!! 

Yep, we had a bat in our house last night when we arrived home from Ryan's folk's house!  When we got home, I took Quinn downstairs to tuck her into bed.  Before she got into bed I told her to try going to the bathroom.  She walked into her bathroom and instantly shouted to me that something was in her bathroom.  With Quinn as dramatic as she can be, I didn't think much of it.  I was certain it was a dead bug and that all was okay.  She was insistent that I look at it... NOW!  

When I walked into her bathroom, I noticed that the "dead bug" or so I thought, was actually a bat - a very alive and living bat crawling around in her shower.  

Needless to say, I slammed the door shut and yelled to Ryan, who was clearly going to take care of this mess!  Heaven knows it wasn't going to be me!  With a call to animal control, all was taken care of and we are officially bat free again.

The very nice officer informed us that the bat most likely got in through the outside vent and that no, they do not travel in packs.  It was most likely an isolated incident for us, although he was keeping plenty busy last night.  He had 4 bat calls in a matter of 10 minutes. Can't say I envy his job one bit!  

Letter G

Quinn - Gymnastics

Quinn has been in gymnastics for a little over a year.  I credit gymnastics for Quinn's improved coordination and balance.  After taking the summer off from gymnastics, Quinn can hardly wait to get back to her weekly lessons.  She has been practicing her skills around the house - so much so that Sullivan now thinks she needs to give these skills a whirl.  Quinn is our cartwheel queen!

Sullivan - Giggling

I would say that all children's laughter is infectious, however Sullivan's laughter has something about it that I just can't enough of! You will most often hear Sullivan's deep belly laugh when she is up to a little mischief! She loves to laugh and laughs often!  I say laugh on, little girl, laugh on!

Ryan - Ghostbusters (& other movies from the 80s)

We all remember these classic movies - Ghostbusters, Top Gun, Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  These movies are over 20 years old, but are consistently run on TV.  I know this because every time they are on we have to watch them.  Ryan is hooked on these movies.  He grew up watching them and has all the lines memorized by heart.  The true dilemma comes into play when there are more than one movie from the 80s on and Ryan has to choose which one to watch.  9 times out of 10 Back to the Future wins!

Audra - Games

I love, love, love to play games.  There aren't many games that I won't play and enjoy.  I think that is because we were a game family.  I have many fond memories of us playing board games and card games together.  Unfortunately Ryan really doesn't enjoy playing games and on the rare event that I can talk him into playing one, he will only play Yahtzee! with me.  You can only play Yahtzee! 1,876 times before you get bored of it!  I am hoping that one or both of my girls gets the game bug in them and will play games with me as they get older.

If I had to pick, right now my favorite card game is Phase 10 and my favorite board game is Blockus.

Our Big Kindergartner

We officially entered a new chapter in our life yesterday - we entered the school years!  Quinn popped out of bed yesterday morning and was excited to go to school.

Before heading to school, Quinn asked for "special letter pancakes" for breakfast.  She wanted JHE pancakes - which stands for John Harris Elementary.

We couldn't leave Sullivan out.  She requested Mickey Mouse pancakes - not my finest set of Mickey Mouse pancakes ever made, but that's okay.  They still tasted great!

At our house, very special breakfasts are celebrated with a picnic.  The girls spread out their blankets on our bedroom floor and eat their pancakes while watching cartoons (a rarity at our house).  The girls at their picnic breakfast - in Quinn's honor.

The big kindergartner before school in her new outfit.   

Quinn wanted to get a picture with her sister before school.

Showing off the new backpack... Hello Kitty!

Quinn with her proud mama.

In front of her new school.  Quinn is now officially a John Harris Hurricane!

On the playground with her dad before school starts.

Standing in line waiting for the bell to ring. A proud member of Room K02.

In Quinn's classroom, just minutes before we left her to begin her day.  

Quinn came home overjoyed and excited yesterday and again today.  She says that she really likes her teacher, Mrs. Mediger.  When asked what her favorite part of the day was yesterday, she said it was when Mrs. Mediger said they had no homework - that and the video they got to watch during quiet time.  :)

Her excitement and her enthusiasm for school makes me overjoyed.  It makes sending her to school much easier and really makes me question what I was so worried about it the first place!  We are all looking forward to a really great year!