11 wonderful years

 Today marks 11 years of marriage!   Marrying this man was definitely the best decision I ever made.  We have had some really happy times, some really hard times, and some really crazy times.  The last year has definitely been the craziest.  I don't think I would have survived this last year without Jeff by my side.  He is my rock.  He keeps me calm and grounded when I feel like everything is swirling faster than I can manage.  I feel so incredibly blessed.   Happy Anniversary to us!

fun with grandma and melissa

 My sister went to an acting/singing camp in New York and they decided they would fly to our place for a week after.  The girls have been having so much fun with our visitors.  The girls idolize Melissa and haven't left her side.  Whatever Melissa wears, they have to find something to match.  They also have to matching hair dos.

 My mom is into art stuff and has been spoiling them with all sorts of fun activities that have kept the girls happy and busy.  They got a dinosaur egg that they had to dig through to find bones and make a dinosaur.  It kept Heidi and Melissa busy for a long time.

We have also stayed busy showing them all the fun and beautiful things around area.  We have gone to parks, the library,  the state park, civil war sites, bowling, and the girls have absolutely loved having Melissa here for puzzles, card games, board games, trampoline, running in the rain, catching fireflies, playing on the swing set, and enjoying all of the fun things we love about our new home state.  I know there will be lots of tears when Saturday comes and our visitors head back home.

bowling

 We took the girls bowling to keep Heidi's mind off of her fall,  We had a great time! We love watching the girls bowl.

 Savanna was SO much fun this time.  This was the first time we have gone that she really actually understood what to do. She was dancing all over the place and grinning from ear to ear the whole time.  When we were done she kept saying, "Try again okay?"  We sure love her free, happy spirit.

Caimbree was so cute.  She thought it was hilarious to crawl around and try to escape and she also loved the balls.  It was such a fun night and just what we needed to forget about our rough morning.

bumps and bruises

Heidi has a balance bike and she has gotten VERY good on it.  As in zooming down the hills at a much faster speed than I am comfortable with.  This morning on our walk she started even farther up on the giant hill than she usually does before I could even say anything.  It did not end well and I get teary eyed every time I look at her face.  She didn't land on her head, but she rolled a few times with her bike and her face scraped along the pavement.  I am praying I can prevent it from scarring.  Unfortunately it looks even worse than the picture appears.  I have a helmet for her that Jeff was going to dig out last night but never got around to and now I am kicking myself for not insisting that we find it before she got even more brave.  Of course now she is freaked out about riding, but I think in a day or two she will get over that.  She's worried about going to meet her teacher in a week because she is very self conscious about her scrapes.  Anyway, it was a rough morning for both of us.  I am grateful it wasn't worse, especially since she didn't have her helmet on.

While I was rocking her and nursing her wounds, Savanna climbed on my lap.  If you know Savanna she is a bouncy little thing.  She was bouncing around on my lap and banged her face on the wood part of the rocking chair.  Blood was all over her mouth and I was sure she had knocked a tooth out.  Thankfully she hadn't, but she had a nice scrape on her gums that took about 15 minutes to stop bleeding. It was a rough morning.  With Caimbree climbing up and down and all over things I'm sure she's next, knock on wood.  I am hoping for a less eventful afternoon!

safari park

 Last week for family night we made a list of all the things we wanted to do out here.  One of the first on our list was this safari park in Jackson, TN (about 1 hour and 45 min drive).

 You go and drive through with buckets of food and feed the animals.  We had so much fun!  The ostriches were messy eaters and left quite a mess in the van.

 Heidi was all about helping feed the animals, Savanna and Caimbree enjoyed sitting in the front and watching the animals.

 After you drove the loop feeding the animals, they had a little area where they had more animals you could walk around and see.

 There was this little goat area and you had to be careful not to let the goats.  We may or may not have accidentally let one escape.  Oops.

 Of course the girls love the giraffe...my girls are crazy about giraffes.

They also especially loved these little water things that you could walk through to cool off.  It was crazy hot and they ran back and forth through them for quite sometime laughing the whole time.  I think it's time to pull out a sprinkler at home.  We had a great day and we enjoyed marking off the first adventure on our list!

nashville adventure center

 We took the girls to the adventure center in Nashville yesterday.  It was so much fun!  It was a science center with all kinds of cool things to keep the girls busy and happy.

 Caimbree barely made a peep the whole time.  She was intrigued by everything and especially loved to people watch.

 Heidi and Savanna followed each other around and had a blast together.

 There was a motion dance area that the girls loved.

 They also liked the giant piano and there was a fun guitar they could climb in and play the strings.

 I think Heidi's big smile shows how much fun she had.

 There was a whack a mole type game and the girls had soooo much fun and we couldn't stop watching them.  It was hilarious how Savanna had to hold the mallet.

 You could climb up four levels to the top and there was a space ship type thing that overlooked the city.  It was cool.  I love this picture of Heidi and Caimbree looking at each other. They make me laugh because they have recently discovered that they enjoy making each other laugh. They seem to share this funny little bond and Caimbree likes to tease Savanna.  It's hilarious.

Savanna's favorite was the train.  She loved pushing the buttons and absolutely did not want to leave.  We had such a great time playing together.   We are having a blast discovering all the fun things around our new home!

starting young

In the evenings we go to the lake and Jeff and I take turns going for a run while the other walks with the girls.  It has become one of my favorite routines.  The last few times Jeff has taken Heidi on his last time around and run with her for about half a mile.  She feels so special and Jeff couldn't be happier to run with his little buddy.  Heidi has been able to go a little further each time and looks forward to Jeff picking her up at the end of his run.  Heidi has always been such a mama's girl but for the last year or so she has figured out that dad pretty much rocks and they are developing such a neat relationship.  I love that she is realizing how lucky she is to have such an awesome dad.  Last night after playing on the trampoline with him after dinner she came in crying.  I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I just love dad so much. I don't want to come inside."  He always has the best games and knows how to make everything fun.  The girls hit the jackpot in the dad department.

independence day

Fourth of July is one of my very favorite holidays.  I love America and I love how excited the girls get to watch fireworks.  They especially love to go to the firework stand and pick out the ones they want to do with their dad.  It is so fun to watch Jeff share that with the girls.

This year Nashville was having the biggest firework show in the country.  We were a little apprehensive about all the chaos it would entail, but we figured it's pretty cool we are here for it so we probably better check it out!

My brother was going to come down for it, but we never were able to find him...it was a little nuts and when the pedestrian bridge shut down we were opposite ends ha ha.

There was a big concert featuring Martina McBride before the show.  Not really possible to see it with the stroller and the girls, but we heard bits and pieces of the different performers.  Even though Caimbree had taken a short nap, she was a trooper!  We didn't hear a peep from her...I think she was enjoying all the madness!

We sure love how Caimbree is so willing to just do whatever no matter what time of day or night!

The girls got little light up Fourth of July wands.  Huge rip off, but look at how happy it made the girls...priceless.  It started to rain around 7 and it didn't stop all night.  We had an umbrella and the girls didn't seem to mind at all.  Heidi kept wanting to have "rain races" with Jeff while we waited for the show.  Around 8:30 Caimbree was done with the rain so we went back to the van and I stayed with her and Jeff took the girls back to watch after they had dried out a little.

Due to the rain, a lot of smoke was in the air and a lot of the fireworks couldn't be seen but it was AMAZING!!!  I got quite a show even from the van!  The fireworks lit up the entire sky and there were really cool ones like I have never seen before!   Heidi said some of them were in the shape of a heart and music notes.  They must have been lower than my view.  In spite of the rain and crowds, it was a pretty magical and memorable night.  The real downer was trying to get out of the parking lot. It was not very well organized and it literally took us two hours to get from our parking spot into the aisle.  Not joking.  We didn't get home until almost 1:30 am.  At least the girls slept the whole wait and then went to bed easily when we got home.  The girls were up in time for church Sunday and we even made it on time....quite the accomplishment I'd say.  I sure love holidays with my sweet little girls. Happy Birthday, America!!

latest developments

I can't believe it's already July.  Here are few pictures I had on my phone.  The first one is the girls on one of our evenings around the lake.  They like to run holding hands and it never ceases to be one of my favorite things to watch.  The second is just one of my new favs of Caimbree.  Gosh I love these girls.

Last week the weather was pretty hot and miserable.  This week has been pretty delightful.  Overcast, sometimes thunderstorms, and perfect evenings.  This week we completed the purchase of the land we bought.  We need to find a houseplan and get started.  I don't know why we can't seem to settle on one this time.  To be honest I think some of it is homesickness.  I have good days and bad days and I think deep down I that's why I am having a hard time committing to anything.  I know the feeling will pass and I am starting to have more good days than bad.  Change is just always hard and some days I really miss my friends and my house.  I'm not saying I don't like it here, because I do and I don't talk about this much because when I do people tend to freak out and think I am trying to say I want to move back or that I am miserable or something and that is not the case.  I just feel a little out of place and I think it's normal considering the huge change we made.  Sometimes it's a little culture shock and sometimes it's just feeling a little lonely.  I'm so grateful for my girls though.  They seem to know when I'm struggling.  Today I was a little weepy and Heidi was concerned and when I told her I was just missing our old place she said, "Oh, well it's okay.  I love it here and you will too.  We can go outside whenever we want and we go for lots of walks and don't you love the trees?"  It really helped me snap out of my mood.  We will find a plan.  I think we are down to about 2 and if we can't figure it out from there, we will probably just sit down with an architect.  Anyway, just keeping it real.  Exciting things are coming and I am really excited to have a little more space soon.  We are getting excited to celebrate the Fourth in a few days...Nashville has the biggest show in the country this year so I'm sure it will be an exciting day!