Cincinnati Christmas

Saturday, we traveled to Cincinnati to visit Jeff's extended family. We stopped at the Klumps' first (his grandparents). Jeff's grandpa is a great carpenter-he made Lily a train coat hanger and us a Quinn picnic basket. Callie and Lily ran around like wild women while we visited for a bit.

Next, we headed to celebrate with the Quinn side. Jeff's aunt hosted a fantastic party, with lots of food and fun! Santa even showed up for a visit and Lily's papaw read a Christmas story. We don't get to visit much with the Quinns, so this was a great day! Thanks to you all for a really great start to the holiday season!

Lily is very cheesy after opening her puzzles!

beautiful tree

the boys-watching sports I assume!

tony, chris, dan, and caitlyn

sam, jerry, matt, and holly

caitlyn-giving up a smile!

lily's great-grandpa and grandpa

lily played really well with leah-jeff's cousin's little girl

grandpa pat is reading everyone "Twas' the Night Before Christmas"

lily and caitlyn enjoyed the fireplace story reading

santa brought lily a doll-she gave him a five and fist pump

as you can see, lily was all smiles with Santa Clause!

callie and caitlyn were not all smiles!

this is emily-jeff's cousin matt's little girl

lily with great-grandpa wes

our family

jeff's sister holly with eric and callie

jeff's brother dan with jen and caitlyn

the quinn clan

the quinn grandgirls

It's looking better!

newly dry walled space

Here are some pictures of the office. Jeff has been working hard. He insulated the walls and dry walled today. No more paneling!! It is starting to take shape!

Let the renovation begin (or end finally, depending on how you look at it!)

here are some "before" pics so you can watch the progress of the remodel

paneling, you will not be missed!!!!

Once we took everything out of the office, I saw just how dusty and dirty things can get that you never see. It was gross!

Anyone who has been to my house knows that it is a work in progress. It is an older home, so we have been putting our touch on it from day one. Since I am married to someone who does construction for a living, no project is ever easy! Jeff likes to take everything to the next level. Instead of just painting, we knock out walls. The problem is, Jeff is a perfectionist, and things take forever!

Well, tonight, he started cleaning out our home office to begin the remodel. It has been torn apart for a year, and I have been begging for him to finish it off so I can organize it (or have Sarah organize it!). My Christmas present is supposed to be this project-we will see how long it takes. We will probably decide to move as soon as we get the house the way we want!

I guess I better say, "I love you Jeff," because I know he works hard and doing this is the last thing he wants to do! So, thanks Jeff! I appreciate you!

Is this week over yet?

All of you out there that are teachers (and those who are simply just over work) can understand that this week is probably the worst week of the school year. Have you ever tried to contain the Christmas excitement of 23, 8 and 9 year olds? It is a losing battle-so, for the last couple weeks, I have just been trying to keep as sane as possible. BUT I AM READY FOR A BREAK! Forget trying to take tests or teach anything new...it isn't happening. Luckily, I only have 2 more days with my students. Friday is a work day for teachers.

We will be traveling to Cincinnati this weekend to celebrate with Jeff's extended family. I am excited to start all the family time!

I hope to have lots of pictures soon of all of our holiday festivities!

Pig Tails!

I know they are little ponies, but it tickled me!

she was thrilled to have her picture taken (she would say, "one, two, seben.")

Okay...so those of you who know me know that I love to try new things with my hair, so having a daughter and doing her hair was going to be so much fun. Well, I had a bald baby :) BUT the wait is over!! Tonight, with Lily's tiny bit of hair, I was able to make little pig tails! I know it seems silly, but it was a lot of fun, and Lily loved it! There is hope for her in the girly department yet (despite Jeff's encouragement of wrestling!).

Let it snow, let it snow!

these are some decorating pictures for you...

making a plan for what to take off the tree next!

Well...I just think it is always interesting to watch people after the first bit of snow and cold weather. It was very slick out today, and there were a lot of wrecks. I guess that isn't very funny...it just makes me chuckle because we all actually forget how bad it is (even though it happens every year). This morning's bit of snow and ice made for an eventful Monday start-late to work, late school buses, crazy! Sadly, I am sure there is much more snow and cold weather coming our way.

On a positive note: I only have 8 more days with students until Christmas Break. Students and teachers alike look forward to this break. It is a much needed time gather myself and come back with a fresh perspective with the coming New Year!

The Quinns are very excited about this holiday season!! This is always such a magical time of year where we can reflect on all of our blessings! I am so lucky to have such wonderful gifts in my life and am happy that I will be spending so much time with my family and friends in the coming weeks :) No matter how bad the day gets, Christmas music can solve all my problems!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

our tree...I love watching t.v. at night with just the tree lights on!

my table setting...I didn't want to pay a huge amount for napkin rings, so I got crafty and used snowflake ornaments

ornament centerpiece

Klumps' Thanksgiving

tonight lily was having a ball pestering Jeff while he was trying to relax on the couch

My favorite time of year is here! I just love Christmas time...lots of family and friends, food, and fun! It is just a magical time of year. The music, church, everything is just wonderful. We were able to decorate our house this weekend (the inside, the outside still is bare). On Sunday, we traveled to Cincinnati to Jeff's grandparents for Thanksgiving. It was good to see everyone and visit for a little while. I am looking forward to going to Dayton this weekend where Sarah and I will be shopping for Christmas gifts.