getting ready for christmas

 Saturday morning we put up the Christmas tree!  Oh how I love having the girls this age!  They are just so excited about everything and the tree was no exception!  They were so cute putting up the ornaments.  They loved that my parents and sister were still here to be a part of the fun.  Caimbree was especially fun to watch this year because it was the first year she really got it.

Now that the tree is ready, the girls spend a lot of time reading around it.  We had our first Christmas family night last night and the girls are so excited about the #lightTheWorld challenge this year!  They are already planning ways to lift others this holiday season and I love their excitement about it.  Today Savanna and Caimbree were playing with the Nativity all day and telling each other the story of Jesus' birth.  It was so sweet.  I love how tender their sweet little spirits are at this age.  They are such wonderful examples to me.  It is going to be a great Christmas season!

thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving was so fun this year.  We were able to have my whole entire family together at our house.  I am not sure that has ever happened since everyone has been married.  The girls could not have been happier.  I don't think I even saw them the first few days my parents and sister arrived.  They had so much fun and they are still crying about everyone being gone.

 Thanksgiving morning we all did the local Give 'n Gobble race to benefit the Help Center.  It was a great way to start the morning.  Our girls started by chasing someone dressed as a turkey to try to catch a feather.  Then Heidi, my sister, and two of my nephews ran the mile while Jeff, my brother Eric, and I ran the 5k.  It was a tough course, but it felt so good to do a race again.  I have been working so hard to build miles and I hope my knee and back can cooperate enough to get me back to running races more regularly.

 After the race we came home and had a delicious Thanksgiving meal!  My mom made a really yummy turkey and Jeff smoked a ham.  It was all so good and it was so nice to be with everyone together!  Thanksgiving is the greatest.

turkey lunch

 Last week was a short week for the girls at school because of Thanksgiving.  Savanna's class had a cute little Thanksgiving lunch the parents were invited to attend.  It was so much fun to see her in her class with her friends and her teachers.

She was so excited to have us there with her and loved that she had her little sister there.  Savanna is so cute because she just lights up when she sees Caimbree or Heidi after not seeing them for awhile.

our farmhouse table

 Jeff has been working long and hard on the table I have been wanting for as long as I can remember!  He went with a solid maple and it definitely took awhile to get it perfect.  Although it took longer than using a basic pine, we are so happy he went with the maple!  It is absolutely gorgeous!

It would have been done a lot sooner if he wasn't also working on his MBA, working a full time job, coaching soccer, serving as young men's president, and being so involved with the girls!  He is truly amazing and I am so glad he has so many talents!  He hasn't had time to make the bench, but that shouldn't take too long.  We have been loving eating around this beautiful table and can't wait to share meals and memories on it in the years to come!

thanksgiving program

 Savanna's school put on a Thanksgiving program.

She has been singing cute little songs for us at home for awhile, but we weren't sure how she would do when the day arrived.  She doesn't always handle new situations well, but she did amazing!!!  She sang all of the songs and was all smiles!  Her school and her teachers have been so good for her.  She has made huge steps in her development and we are so proud of her!  She is growing up way too fast!  Great job, Zanny Zoo!

heidi's fieldtrip

 Heidi had a field trip last week as well!  Her class went to see a play at the Nashville Children's Center.  They saw the play June B. Jones is not a Crook.  I was so lucky to be picked as the one parent that got to go! Jeff took the day off of work to stay with the other two so I could spend the day with Heidi.  She has such a cute little class and teacher.  I hope she continues to love school as much as she does now.  I am so grateful she is having such a great experience.  We loved the play and love that we live close to so many fun places.  It was a great day and the weather was perfect!

savanna's first field trip

 Savanna had her first field trip last week. Her school has been collecting food for the Help Center and on Monday they got to go and deliver loads and loads of food!  Savanna was so excited and it was so fun to see her with her class and her friends.  It makes me so happy to see her enjoying school so much.

This was the perfect first field trip for the girl who loves to make others happy!

family pictures 2016

 I realize this is an absolutely ridiculous amount of pictures. The lady who took our pictures this year was great and gave us every picture she took.  We ended up with a disk of 600 pictures and the girls are so dang cute, it makes it extremely hard to limit it and I want to have these in the blog book.  So here they are!

 Gosh my girls are gorgeous. I can't believe how much older they look.  This whole parenting babies and little kids is going way, way too fast.

I love that she took individuals of Jeff and I with each one of the girls.

I sure love this little family of mine!