He did it! & We made it!

Matt returned home on Friday, March 9th from his two week international study in Spain.  Last Wednesday, he took his LAST final and officially made it through the Purdue EMBA program.  
I can't begin to express how excited we all are and how wonderful it feels to have our lives back.  Matt's been relaxing a bit, all while wearing a huge smile. Gracie and I have been making tons of noise without worry of disturbing Matt's studies.  
We are so very proud of him!  Matt actually had to fly to Mexico for business a week after returning home from Spain and took his final in Mexico.  So, as you can imagine when he got home this past Friday, we spent the entire weekend relaxing, having fun and embracing our freedom as a family.  
With the end in sight, Matt has been looking forward to getting finished, updating his clubs and getting more time on the golf course.  
Thank you God for seeing us through these past 18 months and for the opportunity that Matt was given.  Thank you for such a wonderful job at a company where Matt has worked and grown for more than 22 years and still enjoys so much.  We are so very blessed!  Thanks be to God!
We are so proud of you Matt!  You are such a blessing to Gracie and me.  We love you so much! 

Getting fitted for a new set of Ping golf clubs, which he has definitely earned!

The golf club where we are members opened yesterday at lunch and these two braved the wind and damp cold air just to hit balls on the range after Matt got home from work.  I held down the cart bundled up, it was way too cold for me. We are still in the 40's/20's right now and soooo ready for Spring!

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Dog

Gracie, who just happens to be out of school today for teacher conferences, woke to her money filled red envelope in celebration of Chinese New Year.  This is the Year of the Dog.  Gracie Cakes was born in the last Year of the Dog back in 2006.

Date Night: Daddy Daughter Dance

This past Friday night, Lily Grace and Matt had their monthly date night.  They headed downtown for dinner and then attended the Valentine's Day themed Daddy-Daughter Dance at her school.  
They had so much fun!!!  
I received texts and pictures throughout the night.  I think my favorite text (and unfortunately no picture or video) was Matt bragging that he was cool (complete with 😎) because he made it to the third round of the Daddy Dance off. ha!  I so wish I could have seen that.  According to Gracie it wasn't that impressive. ha!ha!ha!
Regardless of how he did in the dance contest, he is a true winner when it comes to his role as a father.  Matt would do anything for Gracie, especially if it puts a smile on her face.  
Those two arrived home laughing and spilling all the details.  I'm guessing they spent a lot of time on the dance floor since the first thing I heard from both of them as they came in is that their feet hurt.  
Thank you God for the blessing of family!

They looked adorable! 

Pure Love

Family Day Fun: 11 years

Tuesday, January 30th marked our 11th Family Day anniversary, the day Lily Grace was placed in our arms.  
Gracie Cakes usually skips school, Matt takes off work and we spend the day together having fun.  Now that she is a middle schooler, she elected not to miss school and have to make up a lot of work.  We totally understood.  She attends mass twice a week and Tuesday is one of her days so we started Family Day at school with her.  We attended mass and thanked God for the blessing of our family. After school, we headed downtown for dinner to try a new farm to table restaurant. 
With Gracie having the day off from school today for a teacher retreat, we decided to simply move our celebration to today.  Matt took off work and we headed to Indy to try out the new Top Golf, do a little shopping and enjoy a wonderful dinner.  Lily Grace has declared it one of the best family days ever.  
We've had a lot of laughs and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  It has been a very special day indeed.  
We are so very blessed!  

After mass on Tuesday, Gracie thought we should get our picture made by the Holy Family statue.  After all, it is Thanks be to God that we are a family.   This was also Catholic Schools week and LG lucked up and got herself a dress down day.  

We had so much fun at Top Golf despite the cold, and I do mean COLD!  While the bays are heated, they are still open to the outside and when it's 18 degrees out and the windchill is 8, it's COLD!  You also can't pile on too much because it will affect your swing.  We could have cared less.  We took each other on and laughed it up!  We made it two hours before we had to call it and go thaw out. 

Red noses and cheeks...

....and hearts full of love!  

🎉 Happy New Year! 2018 🎉

Another year of blessings has gone and we can't wait to see what 2018 brings our way.  We are blessed, blessed, blessed!

LG set up a photo booth for the night

Even Molly got in on the celebration fun 

LG had her best friend Pearl over to spend the night and ring in the new year.  

They enjoyed playing the night away and a little dress up too!

Happy New Year! 

Blessed Christmas!

 "She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins."  
Matthew 1:21

Happy Birthday Jesus!  Thank you Jesus!  Your love is so great that you lowered yourself as a child to take on our sins.  Thank you for your love and forgiveness.  Thank you Mary for saying, "yes!"  

After the three of us enjoyed a morning at the movies seeing the new Star Wars film, Gracie and I made a birthday cake for Jesus. His love and forgiveness are the greatest gifts we will ever receive.  

Lily Grace actually made this gift wrap for my gift.  

Christmas Eve we enjoyed a late lunch before Christmas Eve mass. 

Christmas Eve brought a winter front and it snowed all day and into Christmas morning.  We had the perfect white Christmas with a high of 18.

Yep! Matt and I played a little joke on Gracie Christmas morning with this picture we took Christmas Eve.  We all got a good laugh.

All smiles as she makes her way downstairs Christmas morning

She was all smiles to find the BB8 droid waiting for her.  

She had Matt get right to work on the assembly and charging of BB8.

This girl still loves a good dress up dress.  She wasted no time changing.

Molly got to dig into her stocking so we could keep her occupied. 

I love my new bracelet.  It has two heart charms, one with L and one with M for the two loves of my life. (Oh! That would me Lily and Matt.  I love Molly but...)

Gracie and I surprised Matt with a new fishing net and lanyard.  

As that thing talked and rolled, Molly found a corner away from the action.

Gracie Cakes and I tried out her new lip balm making kit.

Matt and I took a nap and I woke to find Lily Grace trying out her new architect kit while sitting in the lid of the box.  Molly had fallen asleep right beside her. 

Christmas Card Out-Takes 2017

Acting crazy

Someone wasn't looking...

...and this time the other one wasn't.

Who even knows what got her so tickled?

Merry Christmas!