sisters

Heidi and Savanna absolutely adore Caimbree.  Savanna has been known to protest loudly when Caimbree goes down for a nap or to bed and has also been known to climb in Caimbree's crib and wake her up trying to get her to play peek-a-boo.  It's hard to be mad about it because it's so cute.  Heidi is so helpful with Caimbree.  If she is ever crying, Heidi rushes over and does everything she can to make her happy.  She also likes to carry her around, which makes me a bit nervous, but it's cute to watch.  I thought by now they would be a little annoyed with their little sister, but I actually think they are more excited about her now than they were when we brought her home.  Caimbree is the most interactive baby and I think that makes her all the more lovable to the girls.  Caimbree also adores them. It just warms my heart how she starts kicking her legs like crazy the second she sees one of them.  She is always watching as they play and you can tell she just wants to be a part of whatever they are doing.  Yesterday while I was making dinner Caimbree started fussing.  Heidi carried her into the living room and got out her toys.  Savanna joined right in.  Caimbree was happy as could be feeling like she was part of the game.  It was the cutest thing ever!  I can't wait for many more moments like this!  I am so glad they have each other...sisters are the best!

funny little things

I don't write down the funny things my kids say enough.  I wish I was better.  I don't want to forget how when Savanna doesn't want to be tickled or teased she says, "Mood."  In other words, she's not in the mood.  It's probably not as funny typed out as it is when she says it.  Maybe that's why I am not so great at recording them.  I don't want to forget that she refers to herself as "Zanny".  We now all call her Zanny...or Zans....or Zanzibar.  You know, whatever fits.  It's pretty funny to hear Heidi hollering down the stairs for Zanzibar.  Then there was the time it was so warm a few weeks ago we went to the park. That night at dinner we were talking about it and I told Jeff I was so surprised Savanna was a chicken about going down the slides. So she started flapping her arms and bawking like a chicken. Oh how I love my kids.  We hit the jackpot big time.

Today Heidi and I were having a conversation about Doc McStuffins.

Heidi: Mom, have you noticed that Doc always wears her shoes.  I mean all the time.  She never takes them off.

Me:  Maybe it's because she lives somewhere warm so she goes in and out all the time and doesn't want to have to keep putting them back on.

Heidi:  Ummmm....hello??  She lives at Disneyland.

Maybe it's not that funny typed out but when she busted out "Ummmm...hello?"  I about peed my pants.  How could I forget where she lived???  What is wrong with me??  Speaking of that, she thinks that's where every kid friendly animal lives.  We were crumpling ads to start our fire this morning.  There was a picture and ad for Chuck E. Cheese.  She told me the mouse lived at Disneyland.  I was explaining how it was a pizza place with games and the mouse was there.  She said, "No he lives at Disneyland.  When I watch my Doc show it says, 'Chuck E. Cheese is a proud sponsor of Disney Junior.'"  Oh okay.  Now I see why she thinks everything lives at Disneyland....Disney to her is Disneyland.  Never thought my 4 year old would tell me what was a proud sponsor of Disney Junior.

Please stop growing little ones.  I mean it.  Stop.  At this rate they will be moving out of the house in a week.  I can't stand that thought.  I wish I could keep my girls little forever...they are so much fun.

winter storm octavio

 Our stay in Nashville was not as we had anticipated.  We bought our tickets quite awhile before we left.  The week before the weather showed it was going to be cold and might get a little snow.  We didn't anticipate the worst storm that ever hit in 30 years to hit.  It came in Sunday night.  By Monday morning the roads were sheets of thick ice and it was raining freezing rain.  It only got worse as the day went on.

 We spent a lot of time in the hotel since everything was shut down...as in, every restaurant, every store, everything!  It was crazy!  We knew no flights were going out of Nashville and while we had hope it would be better Tuesday morning when we were scheduled to leave, we did not have much hope.  We got up at 2AM and headed to the airport.  We were 40 miles from the airport and it took us 3 hours.  It was the scariest drive of my life!  Jeff did well and we made it there without issue.

All flights were grounded, but by some miracle they decided our flight was the one they would try to get out.  They worked at it for over 7 hours and finally got the area around the plane de-iced enough to turn the plane around.  We were so lucky.  We missed our connecting flight in Vegas, but made a flight at 7 pm on standby.  Out luggage somehow made it to SLC with us and we got home around midnight.  The whole day was exhausting, but very miraculous.  We were so lucky to even get home and not spend a night in the airport.  We met some really wonderful people while we waited and Caimbree was an absolute dream. No one could believe there could be such a good baby under such stressful circumstances.  It was a trip to remember and we were so very grateful our girls were in such great hands with Jeff's mom.

valentine's day

 Jeff, Caimbree, and I left for Nashville at 3 AM Saturday morning.  We felt bad leaving the girls on Valentine's Day.  We put hearts on their door so they could read all the reasons we loved them when they woke up.  We also left them  little outfit on the table.  They were in great hands with Jeff's mom, but boy did we miss them!

 Our flight to Nashville was very uneventful.  All flights were right one time and Camibree was a dream.

 Such an easy going baby.  There were lots of screaming babies on the plane, but Caimbree happily played with Jeff's hat, loved watching what was going on, and slept on and off.

We got to Nashville around 1:30, picked up our rental car and headed out to meet my brother.  It was a fun day and everything went so smoothly!  We had a fun Valentine's Day and Heidi and Savanna had a great day with grandma!

eight months

 Caimbree turns eight months today!  Crazy!  Caimbree is such a delight.  We love her sweet little personality and chubby cheeks!  She is definitely a fun baby.

*Caimbree has 2 bottom teeth and she has a couple on the top that are ready to break through soon.
*Caimbree really is such a chill baby.  She goes with the flow and rarely cries unless she is tired.
*Naps around 8/8:30 for about an hour or a little more and again around 12:30 for about 2-2.5 hours.
*Goes to sleep around 7.  Sometimes she gets up around midnight, sometimes around 3, and sometimes not at all.  She was doing really well until those teeth started making an appearance.  She is usually up for good around 6 or 6:30.
*Still super, super giggly.  We LOVE this about her!
*Makes the most serious little faces and is starting to make this hilarious face where she scrunches up her nose and closes her eyes.

 *Likes to be sitting, but then gets tired of sitting and always ends up on her belly which she is fine with for awhile, but then gets mad.  She has convinced herself she can no longer roll from her belly to her back.
*Seems to want to start crawling, but hasn't been able to get up on her knees yet.
*Has excellent fine motor skills.
*Loves to chew and make a mess with little crackers.
*Still isn't crazy about solid food, but she does like having finger food while we eat and isn't quite as annoyed when I try to feed her solid food.  She really likes sweet potatoes.
*Gets shy when people she doesn't know try to talk to her.  She hides her face in our chest.
*She doesn't care if she is with me or Jeff, unless she sees me walk past her.  Jeff can make her giggle harder and louder than anyone.
*Favorite sounds are "ba ba ba" and "ra ra ra".
*SO observant!!  She is always watching what everyone is doing.
*Loves to be out and about watching new people and things happening.

 *Ticklish the most in her ribs and legs.
*Loves to be outside.
*When she gets excited she starts kicking her legs and waving her arms around.
*Gets so excited the second we go to open the door to Heidi or Savanna's room in the morning.
*We love her bright blue eyes.
*Absolutely loves splashing in the tub.
*Sometimes she travels in the car okay, other times she makes sure we know she is miserable.
*Still loves the hospital soothie binkys.

We are having such a blast with our little Caimbree Rae!

She is a pure delight! 

I still can't believe she has been with us for 8 months.

four and a half

 I cannot believe Heidi is halfway to five!  Five!  How did this happen?  What a fun, responsible little girl our Heidi is!  We love her so much.  I can't remember what life was like before she joined our family.

*Heidi is super responsible.  She helps keep everyone on track.
*What a great big sister Heidi is!  She helps keep Savanna busy and knows just how to make Caimbree happy and giggle.
*Heidi plays really well with Savanna, especially when she feels like she is in charge and Savanna is cooperating with the rules she has set up.
*Heidi's memory is amazing.  I have always been amazed with her memory.
*Heidi is going to do so well in school.  She loves to listen and learn.
*Heidi is such a little rule follower.  She cannot for the life of her imagine why people break the rules.
*Lately she has gotten so much better about trying new things and being in new situations.
*She has had a major growth spurt lately.
*Fitting into 4T clothes in length, but usually they are quite big on her in every other way.

 *Heidi loves to help.  I love having my little buddy help me cook, clean, and fold laundry.
*Dance is her favorite activity.  She lives for Mondays.  She loves her teacher and she loves to learn new dances.  We are thrilled with the wonderful experience her teacher has provided.
*Loves to sing and her ability to remember lyrics is amazing to me.
*Still loves to read.  Nothing is quite as exciting as getting a new stack of books to read.  She could read for hours and hours on end.
*Still loves to play doctor.
*Favorite colors are blue and especially turquoise.
*Likes to choose her own outfits and get herself dressed and ready.
*Really into fashion and clothes.  I can't imagine her being any more girly.

 *Seems to make friends very quickly.
*We have started not giving her naps. She would still take them, but by not giving her a nap, she gets a little one on one time and goes to bed earlier.  We have decided this will help prepare her for kindergarten as well.  Occasionally she will still take a nap when she wants one, but it seems like she goes to bed easier without one.
*Still a horrible sick patient, but she is trying to get more brave.
*We call Heidi our little meat eater.  She loves all kinds of meat, except fish.
*Can't wait for soccer season.
*Heidi has a huge vocabulary.  People are always amazed at how articulate she is.
*Heidi seems very mature for her age.  Her ability to understand and reason amazed me.  She is very in tune with how her actions and the actions of others affect people.
*Very sensitive and falls apart if she thinks she has done anything wrong.

We love you, Heidi Bug!!

We are loving watching you learn and grow!

spreading the love

 We started getting ready for Valentine's Day a few days early this year.  The girls were so excited to make heart cookies to take to neighbors and friends.  Heidi and Savanna love to bake and are such good little helpers.  Savanna was so funny with the sprinkles.  They had an open top so I put them in a bowl and gave them a spoon to spread them on so they didn't all get dumped on one cookie. Savanna didn't get any sprinkles on the cookies.  She was just scooping them right into her mouth.  It was hilarious.

Caimbree worked on learning to crawl while we decorated.  She is at a funny, slightly annoying stage where whenever she is sitting she gets on her stomach and then is mad that she's on her stomach and just flails her arms and legs around.  She doesn't think she can roll onto her back.  She is also at the phase where she gets mad when she's on the ground for too long, but when you hold her all she wants to do is jump out of your arms.  Funny little girl. She is also working on her top 4 teeth....can't wait for them to make an appearance.

We are so excited for Valentine's Day!  I love holidays with kids this age.  Such a fun stage of life. Now if time could just slow down a bit.

warm february days

 We are still enjoying well above normal temperatures around here and we are doing our best to take advantage of it!

The girls could not believe their luck at being able to walk to the post office and go to the park, just like they do all summer long.  Caimbree got her first try in the swing (never thought that was going to be in February).  Surprisingly enough she hated it!  

Heidi couldn't wait to get back on the monkey bars and Savanna wasn't really sure where to start.  My little adventurer surprised me when she sat at the top of the slide looking around for someone to tell her what to do.  We had a fun day and love that we are getting fresh air this time of year!

happy birthday to our favorite guy

Yesterday we got to celebrate our favorite guy!  Unfortunately Jeff had to work, but we thought about him all day and couldn't wait for him to get home.  We heart attacked the door and the girls came up with all the reasons they loved their daddy to put on each heart.  The girls had a blast thinking of things and decorating them with stickers.  Every time Savanna saw the door she would exclaim, "Cute!  Door!  Heart!"

 After a long, hard day at work, Jeff was pretty excited to sit down and read all the reasons we love him.  The girls were so very excited for him to read his hearts.

Heidi was a big helper with the heart activity. She even cut a bunch of them out and was so cute about sharing her stickers and letting Savanna help decorate.  She wanted to hold Caimbree so she could be in the picture as well.  I can't believe how big she is getting.

 While Jeff was at work the girls also helped me make his favorite birthday cheesecake.  They had so much fun helping and sneaking a lick or two in the process.  Not sure how many candles we actually got in the cake...Savanna put a few in upside down and we didn't have 33 candles, but they got quite a few jammed in there.  Caimbree was ready to dig right in but luckily Heidi kept her little grabby hand under control.

Heidi's thoughts on dad:

What is your favorite memory of dad?

One time dad was chasing me to put me in the tickle machine and I was hiding in Savanna's closet.  I was so scared I took my socks off and put them in the diaper box in her closet!  Isn't that funny?  

What do you love the most about dad?

He always plays with me and whatever he plays with me is always super fun.

What makes dad laugh?

When I say, "Cheesecake hair!"  Or like when I say, "Dad, let's go play outside.  Just kidding!  It's too cold!"  (Yes, we have already started saying, 'like'.) 

Savanna's thoughts on dad:

What is dad's favorite color?

blue

What is dad's favorite food?

beans

What do you like to play with dad?

checkers

How old is dad?

three

What do you love about dad?

nuggets (I think she might be meaning she likes when he makes her nuggets?)

What makes you happy about dad?

Princess Bob

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

We are so lucky to have such an amazing man around!

Can't wait to celebrate your day again next year!

warm february days

 I can't ever remember having such a warm, dry winter.  It's supposed to be 60 degrees tomorrow...in February.  It was a little breezy, but we decided to head out this morning and go for a walk.

 Everyone enjoyed getting some fresh air.

 Caimbree. Oh Caimbree.  Her serious little faces crack me up.

 In spite of her serious faces, she really enjoyed being outside and was cooing the whole way.

 Heidi and Savanna held hands most of the way.

 Except for the times Savanna thought it would be hilarious to chase Heidi and try to spank her bum.  That child.  We were all laughing pretty hard and Heidi was quite enjoying running as fast as she could to get away.

Savanna had to stop occasionally to give Caimbree kisses.  We definitely enjoyed getting outside for a little bit this morning.  It seems odd to be going for a walk at the beginning of February, but hey, we'll take it.

playing with grandpa and grandma

 On Saturday we had to run down to Utah for a quick trip to get Jeff a new suit...I guess you could say that was an early birthday present.  Not the most exciting gift, but kind of a necessity since he gave away all of his suits since they no longer fit.  Of course we wanted to meet up with grandma and grandpa H while we were there.

 Grandma had seen these animals you could ride around the mall and wanted to take the girls.  Oh my goodness did the girls love them.  Even Caimbree got to ride with grandma.

 Savanna got to pal around with grandpa and had fun riding the gorilla with him.  I was surprised she was the more hesitant of the two girls to ride, but she had a fun time.

 She started on the small one and you had to use your foot to get it to move.  She figured it out and rode the bunny all around with grandpa by her side to make sure she didn't do too much damage.  Jeff followed Heidi the majority of the time and she may or may not have run into a few displays outside the stores.

We went to lunch and said goodbye to grandma and grandpa.  The girls were very sad to say goodbye.  It had been awhile since they had seen them.  Heidi kept saying, "Grandma sure knows how to have fun."  It's true.  She does always have something fun planned for my girls.  We're glad we got to spend a little time with them!