it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

 After we got home from four wheeling, we pulled out the Christmas stuff.  The girls were so very excited.  I was nervous about our tree fitting in our small house and how to make it feel like Christmas, but it worked out perfectly.  The girls were so cute decorating the tree.  Caimbree is a master at taking the ornaments off the tree and the older two are good at getting pretty upset about it and putting the ornaments higher.  It's a pretty funny process to see played out over and over again.  Caimbree had a hoot putting the ornaments in and out of the ornament boxes...that is her new favorite thing to do with any bag or box or cupboard.

I always love watching the girls this time of year.  I keep telling Jeff that time needs to just stop right here for awhile.  It's moving far too fast and the girls are growing quicker than I can keep up.  I love their excitement.  I love how they bring life to the holidays.  I love hearing their little voices singing Christmas songs.  I know it won't be like this forever and sometimes I find it really hard to stomach that thought.

There are a bunch of Christmas activities coming up in the next few weeks that we are excited for.  I am also on a mission to really make Christ the center of our celebrations.  It's such a great time of year to teach the girls about service and giving.  I want them to know their Savior and associate Christmas with Him.

I love this time of year and can't wait to spend it with my sweet little family!

Any guesses who the mystery Santa is ha ha ha ha

hitting the natchez trace four wheeling trails

 Although shopping the day after Thanksgiving is always fun, having Jeff home an extra day means one more day we get to spend together as a family.  Let's be honest, shopping with a million people around isn't really all that fun for the girls or Jeff.  Jeff has been dying to get the Rhino out on some trails for a long time and we figured this would be the perfect day.  I'm so glad we did!  Such a fun way to spend time together and the girls love it more and more every time we go.  It didn't take long to get to the trails and we packed a picnic lunch to have while riding so the girls were super excited.  They are always excited at the thought of a picnic lunch.  Once again we were reminded of how grateful we are for warmer temperatures and more time spent outside as a family.

 The trails were fun and the girls had a blast.  We found a turtle in the road by the lake we passed and the girls thought that was just about the coolest thing ever.  They asked Jeff to move it closer to the lake so it wouldn't get run over by anyone and they were in awe watching their daddy pick it up and move it to safety.

 After our fun picnic lunch we hit the trails again and the two littles were out cold almost immediately.  I about died when I turned around and saw the position in which Savanna fell asleep!  I can't even.  I mean, seriously.  How can you sleep like that, especially with it being so bumpy?!  Jeff, Heidi, and I laughed heartily.  We had such a wonderful day together and it may become one of our after Thanksgiving traditions.  We feel so blessed to live here.  I mean, I don't know how we ever didn't live here.  I can't imagine being anywhere else.  We are hopelessly in love with our new home.

our non-traditional thanksgiving

 Celebrating Thanksgiving was very different for us this year.  My brother lives two hours away and I was assuming we would just get together with them.  Every time I would ask them about it, they weren't sure if they were going to visit my sister-in-law's family in North Carolina.  When they finally had a plan, it was that my sister in law would be flying into Nashville on Thanksgiving morning.  She had a car so she would be driving back up to Kentucky.  That meant that me hosting wasn't really going to happen because they didn't want to drive back down here.  They didn't feel like hosting because obviously just got home.  So my brother suggested just meeting and going out to eat.  I really didn't want to, but I also really wanted the girls to see their cousins.  The girls and I went shopping the day before anyway because I had a feeling we were still going to want a somewhat more traditional Thanksgiving meal at some point over the weekend.  I thought this picture Heidi snapped of Savanna helping put things in the cart was so cute.  I love those curls and how she carries "Baby Baby" everywhere we go.

Thanksgiving morning we went to the lake for a run.  Jeff is recovering from pneumonia and because of the antibiotic he is on wasn't able to run so I got an extra long run and it felt great.  The girls had fun at our favorite spot and we were feeling pretty blessed to be enjoying a beautiful 65 degree weather day.  We don't miss winter even a tiny bit.  We love how active we can be year round.

After the lake we showered and got ready to head to my brother's house.  We met them and went to eat.  Honestly, it was everything I figured....not Thanksgiving at all.  The food was mediocre at best, the girls didn't eat a thing, and we couldn't even have a conversation because it was so loud.  We were missing my mother-in- law's looking something fierce!

My brother had a horrible migraine, which I can totally commiserate with, so we visited long enough for the cousins to play hide and go seek a few minutes and then we headed home.  I don't regret going because I absolutely love seeing my girls with cousins.  It has always made me so sad that they have never had much time with any cousins so any chance we can get to see cousins we take.

 On our way home from my brother's house we stopped in Clarksville where they light up the river walkway.  It was so much fun and the girls absolutely loved seeing all of the Christmas lights!  It really got us in the mood for Christmas!

Overall, we really did have a nice Thanksgiving.  I'm so glad my brother lives within a few hours of us.  Next year I will cook and host for sure, but I don't regret what we did this year.  We made some funny memories and the girls were great little travelers.  The Lord has blessed me with far more than I deserve and I am so grateful to have had a day to remember and think about all that I have been given!  It may not have been "traditional", but it was a very happy, happy Thanksgiving spent with people I love!

thanksgiving program

 Heidi's school put on a Thanksgiving program program last Thursday.  Her school is so incredible and I am absolutely thrilled that we picked it for her to go to.  I am also reminded constantly of how grateful I am that she missed the kindergarten deadline.  She is learning a lot and she is taken care of and loved so much while she is there.  Makes this mama heart very, very happy.

The program was so adorable and Heidi did a fabulous job!  The songs were so cute and the decorations were adorable.  Savanna and Caimbree did a great job sitting quietly and watching their big sister.  They had a book fair after and it was fun to go check it out and we let the girls each pick a new book.  They couldn't wait to read their new stories.  It was a great night and it was so fun to see our Heidi on the stage.

best daddy

I was going through pictures in my phone and found this one of Jeff and Caimbree.  Caimbree is by far the biggest daddy's girl I have had and she has her daddy completely wrapped around her finger.  When he gets home she will run to the door with her arms stretched up for him and always wants to sit with him and cuddle.  He had a high fever a few days ago (don't worry, it's just influenza...again...and yes, we had the flu shot. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be nearly as horrendous as it was in January so far)...anyway, so he was laying on the couch and she went over and found him and snuggled up next to him.  She is the only baby I have had that will actively search for her daddy just to snuggle him and he can't get enough.

Jeff works so hard for all of us and I don't think we tell him enough how much we love him and appreciate him.  He leaves for work extra early just so he can get home at 5 instead of 6 so he has an extra hour with the girls. I know it's not easy waking up an hour earlier than you really need to.  He consistently puts our needs before his own and will do just about anything to put a smile on the faces of his girls.  He is also getting his MBA and it's not easy.  He works on it every night after the girls go to bed and stays up long after I go to bed.  It's going to be a rough two years, but I'm proud of him for trying to make sure he can always provide for us.  He makes sure he is at every important program, recital, open house, family activity, etc. even if it means working extra hours the next day or going in even earlier.  I don't know how he juggles everything on his plate.  No matter how tired he is, he tries to make the girls laugh and plays fun little games with them.  He is also patient when they are "helping" him with whatever project he is working on around the house and tries to teach them and explain how he is fixing or building something.  He constantly tells the girls how much he loves them and always encourages us to go do fun things together as a family.  We are all so incredibly lucky to have such an incredible man to love.  I think tomorrow we are going to let him sleep in extra late and hope his body can heal.  We love you, Jeff!

family pictures 2015

 This is a total spoiler for Christmas cards, but here is a sneak of our family pictures.  I have to limit it down to 20 but I am having a hard time figuring our which 20 to have on the CD.  I thought she got a lot of super sweet individual ones of the girls and of course I loved the location at one of our favorite places...Montgomery Bell State Park.  I haven't mentioned how much we love it here lately have I?  Anyway, I sure love my sweet girls and love that they were mostly cooperative.

air show

 There was an air show at our local small planes airport today so we took the girls.  They also had a car show and you could take a plane ride and there was a bouncy slide.  We mostly just looked at the planes and cars and the girls thought it was so fun.  They really wanted a plane ride but we didn't have cash...maybe next year.  The best part for them I think was the school bus ride.  There was a bus that shuttled you on a two minute ride from the parking lot to the actual airport.  They were ADORABLE sitting on the seat together and happily singing "The Wheels on the Bus".  Everyone was smiling at how cute they were saying with excitement, "I can't believe we get to ride on a bus!"  I'm so happy the girls keep me remembering all the fun little things in life.  They sure help us fill our days with smiles. We are excited to go back to the air show next year!