A Very Rippey Christmas :: Pt. 2

Christmas morning was pure torture for the little ones as we made them wait upstairs until all 7 of the adults were up and ready before they could come downstairs. 

 As much as we tried to unwrap in a civilized manner where we went one by one and oohed and aaahed over each gift...it quickly devolved.

 I think we have a picture of Zane putting together Legos on Christmas morning for the past 5 years.

 Hannah giving Grandpa a temporary tattoo.

 Zane mustache you a question.

 In the afternoon we took a trip over to Eagle Bluffs for some fresh air.

 The girls play Mouse Trap with Grandma.

 A fun game called Tsuro.

A lot of drawing happened.

 The Magic Tree was magnificent as always.

 Hannah and Grandpa play Gnomes at Night.

 Uncle Same said goodbye by eating their feet...of course.

 Zane spent a lot of time practicing driving his new drone. He's pretty good at it! Already he can maneuver to land on stuff and make it do flips.

 A post dinner jam session.

 The Colorado contingent left very early in the morning. The rest of us headed to Rocheport to walk the MKT trail.

 Hannah wanted me to take a lot of pics of her.

 We found a weird hut at the end of a pier. After checking to make sure no one was hiding out in there, we had fun exploring.

 Hannah made us strawberry tarts with her new baking kit.

 Heart and butterfly shaped!

The temperature dropped by 30 degrees the next day and our activities were limited to the indoors. We enjoyed the indoor pool in town, went to see Aquaman, and Doris and I tackled the mall before saying goodbye to them this afternoon. We are so happy we were able to get so many Rippeys together! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

A Very Rippey Christmas :: Pt. 1

We had 10 Rippeys under our roof (including ourselves) and it was awesome! Uncle Sam flew in from Rhode Island. Uncle Chris, Aunt Megan, and Scarlet drove from Colorado. Grandpa Dave and Grandma Doris flew from DC - it was great watching all the different groups interact! Here are Scarlet, Uncle Sam, and Hannah as the Plaid Triplets.

 We drove over to the Audubon Society Nature Preserve near our house to enjoy the sunshine. Here are the gents...

...and the ladies.

 Zane gets words of advice (I'm sure) from his uncles.

Scarlet and Hannah are so naturally cool that I'm jealous. 

 Zane did some "cousin sitting" while Hannah took a lay down for a bit. It involved a lot of caramel corn and screen time, but both were having a blast!

 Grandpa supervising the sugar cookie decorating.

 Christmas Eve was also Grandpa Dave's 70th birthday!!! He started the day with a huge hug from the grandchildren.

We walked off our breakfast at the columns.

 Hannah had been in distress most of the morning due to a super wiggly tooth. A grand mix of tooth know-how (she was a dental assistant), patience, extra hugs, and a wee bit of sneakiness....Aunt Megan was able to yank it out and rescue Hannah (and the rest of us) from a day of anxiety.

 Surf n' turf was on the menu for Grandpa's birthday dinner!

 A gingerbread village was constructed while dinner was being made.

 I love that our table could comfortably seat everyone!

 Uncle Matt's brainchild was to collect photos from each of the 4 families to put into an album for Dave's birthday. He loved it!

 All of the stockings were hung by the fire with care...

 Cookies, milk, and letters were left out for the big man.

Winter School Fun

These are the gnomes I made from the aforementioned post.

 There was a tropical themed staff party for the school. Aloha!

 Every day the week before break there was a new and exciting, fun thing going on. On this day there was a hidden Principal Elf hidden in the school and if you found it you were entered to win a little something.

 Hannah loves the big tigers in the MU book store.

 Zane's basketball team kicked off the season with a 6 hour tournament at the MU rec center. They were 3-3 and had a great time!

 We saw Santa! The pic with both kiddos with him isn't digital and I haven't gotten around to making it digital, so for now here is the pic of Hannah and the big guy. We have a picture of just Zane and Santa that we display every year so it was about time that Hannah get one too.

 Nothing says Christmas like target shooting...if you're at Bass Pro.

 Zane's class had a writing celebration and I got to learn all about dust storms and see his online weather report that he's been working on for 3 weeks.

 Both kiddos are in chess club again.

 My team and I as elves.

 Hannah's winter performance consisted of a Cinderella play (she was a stepsister), shadow puppet performance, and songs.

 This is her Royal Portrait hanging in the hallway.