baptism new year's eve

 We had a great day to close out 2016! Last night we went to a friend's house for a New Year's Eve Eve party.  It was fun and the girls had an absolute blast.  They were not happy we were the first to leave the party, but we had a big morning today and we wanted to get them in bed at a decent hour.  This morning we woke up and got ready and headed to Kentucky to our nephew Hubert's baptism!  We are so glad we only live 2 hours away now!  I was asked to give a talk and Jeff was a witness.  It was such a great day and we were so happy we could support Hughie.  We had a nice luncheon after the baptism and then headed home.  We decided to invite a couple of families over for an impromptu New Year's Eve party. It was a blast!  The kids were in

heaven playing with their friends. 2016 really has been an overall fun year for our family. We are grateful for the friends, family, and love that have surrounded us this year and look forward to what 2017 will bring.  Happy New Year!

christmas break activities

 The girls go back to school next Wednesday. I really can't complain because I have been able to have them home for two and a half weeks.  I'm a terrible influence because they keep telling me they want to go back to school and I say, "Oh, I don't want to school to start.  Aren't you going to be sad to wake up early and be rushed to get out the door?  You're going to be so tired being gone all day again."  Terrible, I know.  I just miss them so much and I have loved having them home.  There were a few things on our list of Christmas activities that we weren't able to do before Christmas and decided after Christmas would be even better, because they wouldn't be as crowded!  We went to the zoo in the morning, because, well, the zoo is always a hit and we have a family pass.  From there we went over to Opryland to check out the lights and trees.  It's always fun to see year round, but Christmastime is extra special.  From there we headed to Jellystone park where they have a dancing light show.  The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever!  You drive a few miles through lights with your radio tuned to a certain channel playing music that was s
 synchronized to the light show.  It was great and the girls asked if we could go every year.  We had a fun, jam packed day!

baking

 Grandma Hunziker made the girls the cutest aprons for the girls!  She gave them baking mixes, bowls, and all sorts of utensils!  Such a fun and thoughtful gift!!!  When the girls opened it, they had no interest in opening any other gift!  They wanted to start playing right away!  Tonight we made some of the cookies and it was a blast!  They love having aprons and I love that they have them, because I rarely cook without at least one of my girls by my side. I let them have control of the cookie baking with minimal assistance from me and they were in heaven...it was messy, but it was worth it!  Nothing but smiles all around and they sure loved eating the cookies when they were done!

enjoying christmas break

 Christmas break is my favorite.  Now that Heidi is in school all day, I love it even more.  We have been having the best two weeks and I am absolutely dreading returning to the grind next Wednesday.  I love seeing the girls have so much time to spend together.  They have been having the best time with each other and I know it's going to be hard to not have as much time to play together.  They get along so much better when they are together more, which is funny because I would think the opposite would happen.  These last two weeks have reminded me of how our days used to me, and man oh man do I miss those days!

The girls got such fun gifts this year.  We try so hard not to go overboard and try to think of things that will be fun beyond Christmas day.  This year the big girls got nightstands and Caimbree got a Dirt Devil. She gravitates to toy vacuums and I decided a real vacuum would be more fun...for her and me haha.  She LOVES it and pulls it out of the closet multiple times a day.  It's a win win!  She loves to chase her sisters around with it while laughing hysterically.  It is absolutely hilarious.

 My best friend in California (Auntie N-Dogg)
 sent the girls gifts that kept them busy for hours...a stencil set, a spirograph, and a book kit where they can write their own hardbound story.  It has been so fun watching them create together!

And the nightstands.  Oh the nightstands.  The absolute perfect gift.  The girls feel so big with their lamps and clocks and the are so cute because they love to snuggle up on their beds and read their new books.  Heidi got a beginning reader book with a CD in it and when she wakes up she gets going reading her books.  She feels and looks so grown up.  I am so proud of how well she is reading and I am also so proud of her for always reading to and including her little sisters in her stories.  I find them snuggled up reading together quite often.  I really have been blessed with the sweetest, kindest little girls.  If only the whole growing up thing would slow down.  My Grandma Heidi always told me this is the very best stage of life and I agree. It's the stage I always dreamed about and it is going way, way, way too quickly!

christmas dresses

 Jeff's mom sent the girls these darling dresses for Christmas!  They looked adorable for church and they were so excited to put them on!  They were the perfect fit!  They got a million compliments!  Grandma always finds the cutest clothes!

christmas 2016

 Oh we just had the best Christmas.  It has been the most incredible month!  We were able to complete so many fun acts of service and the manger the girls made was full to overflowing with acts of kindness.  I am so proud of these girls and I love their hearts and their excitement to make others happy.  We went to bed Christmas Eve happy and excited for the fun of Christmas morning.  The girls expressions and excitement did not disappoint.  I think I was up the earliest waiting for the them to get up...I couldn't wait!!!!

 We had church at 10 so we looked in our stockings and had our traditional German Pancakes for Breakfast.  The girls ended up opening their presents from Grandma Hunziker before we left for church, which included darling matching dresses.  They put those on and played with the other part of her gift--darling aprons she had made them and mixing bowls and utensils to play!  Oh were they happy.  It was hard to tear them away from their mixing bowls to get to church!  We went to a wonderful church service and came home and ate a quick lunch.  The girls were so good about being patient to open the rest of their presents.  We didn't even start to open gifts until around noon, but it made it so fun because it helped prolong the fun of the day.

 The girls got sleds from Santa, but they won't need those for awhile!!  It was 70 degrees and delightful today!  Hopefully we will get one good storm like last year because the girls love sledding.  They also got the best gift...Jeff built them nightstands and they got lamps and clocks.  They were thrilled and it was so special that Jeff had spent all this time secretly building them.  They were so appreciative and excited about everything they got and it was so fun to see their happy little faces!  As always, I am so sad to see the day end.  Next year the girls will be another year older.  Each fun holiday that passes is a reminder of how fast this season of life is going.  I am so grateful for this life I have with this sweet family of mine!  I am blessed with far, far more than I deserve!  Merry Christmas!!!!!!

christmas eve pajamas

Oh how I love these girls and oh how I adore Christmas with little ones around!  Everything about the holidays are magical and exciting.  The girls got to open their Christmas Eve pajamas and they were very pleased with their new set!  They looked adorable.  We went to look for Christmas lights and watched the Great Christmas Light Fight, which is one of their very favorite things to watch this time of year! It was a pretty perfect day and night!  

christmas eve donuts

 Donuts are my weakness. I only allow myself to have donuts on special occasions, and Christmas Eve is our special occasion!!  The girls love going to pick donuts when they wake up on Christmas Eve.  They love chatting about their plans for the day while they eat their donuts.  They weren't sure about going to the donut shop in their pajamas, but I convinced them that it really would be okay and once they got over the initial shock, they thought it was pretty special.  It was a fun morning!

warm december days

 Sometimes summer can be a little much and I get sick of the heat and humidity and bugs.  But truthfully, the winters are more than worth the trade.  I'm not a winter person.  I'm just not.  I'm really more of a fair weather person, but the older I get, the less tolerance I have for frigid weather...especially when it lasts for months on end.  We really enjoy the winters here.  We get some cold days and even snow from time to time, but for the most part, the weather stays warm enough to get outside at least part of the day.  This week has been a dream.  60s and 70s is my perfect climate, and that is exactly what we have had!  We dropped off some Christmas treats to Heidi's primary teacher and then decided to hit a really fun park near her house.  We had so much fun!  We wore the girls out with obstacle courses and we were excited to see Heidi do the monkey bars on her own for the very first time!  She was so proud of herself and we were beaming with pride and excitement for her.  It was a perfect day all around...especially since Daddy was home for his Christmas break!

santa claus

 After Heidi finished school on Friday, we went to the bank where Santa was for the day!  Heidi very happily climbed on his lap and chatted with Santa...this is the first year she has been fine with this situation!  The other two were another story!  Caimbree, being the mellow child she is, didn't want to sit on his lap, but also isn't one to protest loudly so she just sat there wishing she was somewhere else.  Savanna, who we found out later that evening was getting strep, wanted absolutely nothing to do with Santa and especially nothing to do with sitting or standing anywhere near him!  When we got in the car Heidi was asking her why she wouldn't sit with him and she said, "Well, I will be happy with whatever I get and I will sit on his lap when I am 16".  I laughed and laughed about that.  Hooray for Santa!

heidi's school party

 Heidi's last day of school was December 16 and she is off until January 3.  I was probably the most excited person in the world about school ending for a few weeks!!!!  I LOVE having my girls home and not having the crazy pick up/drop off routine for a few weeks is just icing on the cake.  Heidi had a little party and of course I wanted to be there to help out!  She had a great time and she was so excited to end up with her best friend's gift at the end of the gift exchange.  She has a cute little class

 and it's always fun to see her interact in that environment.  Her kindergarten year is quite literally flying by.  I'm so glad she is having a good experience and I am over the moon that I get to keep her home with me for a few weeks!

christmas baking

The girls have been sick with strep, but they are finally over it and back to their happy, healthy little selves!  We are happy to have them back to normal in time for Christmas!  We decided to get all of our baking done, and it has been so fun.  I just love having my little helpers and I love that they enjoy being a part of it so much!

two and half

On December 19 this little sweets had a half birthday!  I cannot figure out how we are already halfway to 3 with our baby.  This whole raising kids thing is going way, way too fast.  Caimbree has been such a dream.  We keep telling hers he isn't allowed to grow anymore.

*Caimbree is still very shy. She talks non stop at home, but if someone comes over that she doesn't know or we are anywhere, she doesn't make a peep.
*She is very observant and takes everything in wherever we go.  She pays attention to what everyone says and does and when we get home, she gives us a recap of what happened.
*Our biggest daddy's girl of the three.  Jeff absolutely loves this and spoils her rotten because of it!  She will even ask for him to rock her from time to time.  One morning she even told me she wanted daddy to get her out of her crib and she is always so excited when he is home.  There is no shortage of belly laughs when she is playing with her daddy.
*Caimbree often does things she isn't supposed to and when you tell her she isn't supposed to color on the wall

or cut mommy's recipes or whatever she has decided to do, she says, "I sorry mommy!  I do it on purpose.  It's okay."  And she has the sweetest little faces and cutest little voice.  It's hard to be too upset!
*My pickiest eater so far.
*Still can't seem to figure out how to smile on demand.
*Follows her sisters around and loves to be a part of whatever they are doing.  She often talks about her school and her dance class, even though she hasn't started either yet!
*Totally potty trained!  We are 100% diaper free and enjoying this phase!
*Loves to read and to be read to.

*When she wakes up in the

morning she says, "Where did my sisters go?"  If Heidi or Savanna come she will say, "There is my one sister.  Where did the other one go?"
*Most people comment on her bright blue eyes.
*Loves to sing, especially "Frozen" songs.
*Her hair is getting really long.
*She likes to do everything, "My own self".
*She is pretty happy and mellow most of the time, but she has her terrible two moments from time to time.

*Caimbree is super loving and snuggly.  She always wants to be held, hugged, and kissed.
*Caimbree loves to be outside and she especially loves to be at the park sliding on the slides.
*Caimbree is very obedient and likes to please.
*She is very girly and loves to get fancy and she especially love to have her nails painted.
*Calls herself "Caim-ee"

*Loves to run laps around house while being chased.
*Likes to play the game Zingo.
*Caimbree is funny because she likes to reassure herself of things that are usually irrational. We will be heading to her room and she will say, "There is no bear in my room" or things like that.
*Occasionally has night terrors.

Caimbree really is so incredibly funny, but so much of what makes her funny are her little facial expressions and the funny voices she uses.  She has always been such an easy going, good natured little girl and we are so very blessed she is in our family.  We love her so much!