Last night we attended the Freshman Honors program. Lily Grace received several awards including BD scholar for her 4. grade point each nine weeks, Good Samaritan in Honors Geometry, St. Mother Teresa Service Award and club memberships.
We are so proud of her! She's had an amazing first year of high school!
This year, Lily Grace joined Matt as his partner in his company golf league. They play each week and it's something they have both been excited about and looking forward to.
They played for the first time tonight and Gracie held her own against those men. She only lost by one stroke to her opponent.
They were all so good to her. However, the guys gave Matt a hard time about LG having a better swing.
Golf is starting back up now that the courses are beginning to open and the weather is allowing for play. Coach Gary decided it was also time for Lily Grace to be fitted for some new clubs. She needs more weight as she is getting stronger and hitting farther.
On Friday, we visited the golf shop for her to get fitted for a new set of custom clubs with a senior shaft and men's club head. We are so excited to see how her game grows and improves this season.
Lily Grace turned 15 yesterday. We spent the weekend celebrating with friends and had so much fun!
On Saturday, we hosted a house full of teenage girls for a party. The girls visited the Escape Room and yes, they made it out before the hour was up. Afterwards, we headed home for a cookout along with hours of laughter, games, music and squeals. Those girls were all over the house.
On Sunday, Gracie woke to presents from mom and dad as well as family and friends. We went to mass, made her favorite dinner and enjoyed the day. According to Gracie, it was the best birthday so far.
Thank you so much to everyone who called, text and sent cards and packages! You made her day extra special!
Happy Birthday Lily Grace! You are such a blessing! You have the biggest heart and the best big smile to go along with it! We love you sooooo much!
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| They escaped with only 7 seconds to spare. |
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| Thank you to all of her friends for thinking of her. |
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| Her friends insisted on singing Happy Birthday to her. It was so cute and funny. I guess at 15 Gracie thought she might escape that. |
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| In the seven hours these girls were together, there was never a dull (or quiet) moment. |
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| They took lots of pics in front of the backdrop Gracie requested. |
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| Such a wonderful group of girls! |
This week we've been enjoying Spring Break. Lily and I had hoped to make a trip down south to visit family, but with my grandmother still not allowed to leave her home, we decided it was best to wait until she could join us all.
Instead, we enjoyed doing things around town and took a little mini trip to Muncie, IN. Gracie has been wanting to visit the Bob Ross experience there. We made the trip yesterday and had so much fun!
Muncie is a small little town and home to Ball State and Ball Family. Yep, the mason jar family. It's was also home to Joy of Painting for several years of the show.
Lily Grace loves art and apparently, Bob Still holds a lot of weight among high school art students. We learned a great deal about him and his art. We even got to see several of his original paintings and many of the works he created on the show.
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| The grounds and entrance to the Minnetrista Museum was beautiful. |
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| The gardens behind the Ball family estate were absolutely beautiful. |
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| Somebody was soooo excited to see the original Bob Ross paintings housed inside the Ball estate. |
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| The studio where Joy of Painting was filmed still stands as it did when the show ended. |
I love Valentine's Day! It was LG's first holiday home the week after we returned from China and I just love it!!
While it's been cold and quite snowy outside, (midwest in February.....uggghh) we had a great Valentine weekend!
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| I caught my little Valentine doing one of her favorite things, sketching. |
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| He's been my Valentine for 30 years. Thank you Matt for surprising and spoiling us girls this weekend! |
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| Our furry Valentine doing what she loves most. |
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| Gracie got surprised with her very own refrigerator for her studio. |
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| Melt my heart...Lily Grace gifted me with 6 new Japanese fishing floats. I learned about these several years ago and how they are used in Japan and get trapped in circular currents of the Pacific Ocean and wash up on the coasts of Alaska, Oregon, Washington and California. Collectors then comb the shores to find them. Matt gifted me this antique handmade dough bowl about 8 years ago for Valentine's Day, along with my first few fishing floats. Throughout the years, I've received more floats for various holidays and birthdays from family. It's quite special. Every time I look at this bowl, I'm reminded just how much I am loved because it's filled by people who love me. It sits beautifully in the center of our dining room table. Thank you Gracie! It's been a while since it's been added to and you went out of your way to so something so special for me. I love you so much! |
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| Lily loves giving Matt a hard time. She gifted him his favorite golfballs, but not without getting in a laugh. |
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| "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father..." |
Lily and I have been missing our trips to Indy to attend cooking classes at Sur La Table. Luckily, we no longer have to. They've started online classes and we joined in this morning to make cream filled French Profiteroles.
We weren't really sure how they would turn out since we had to use gluten free flour. We were quite proud of ourselves. They turned out quite good. The home cook along class was not only convenient, but so much fun. We can't wait to try another one.
Happy New Year! Wishing us all a year filled without face masks, big hugs, in person school M-F, travel, family visits, happiness, get togethers and lots of fun memories!
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| We made it! Pirates of the Caribbean carried us through to midnight. I actually laughed when I saw this picture and noticed it was blurry. Oh well, that's how 2020 has been and I guess it held on until the very end. ha! ha! You'll notice that Molly is absent from the picture. She was sooooo ready for us all to go to bed and nearly worried the life out of us to do so. Hilarious! Here's to a wonderful 2021!!!! ššš |
