nashville zoo

 Today was an exceptionally amazing day.  The kind of day I always want to remember with these three little girls.  First of all, the weather was amazing.  As in, absolutely the most beautiful kind of day that wasn't too hot or too cold.  We started the day by going for a nice run around the lake. Heidi is getting so good on her bike and loves to ride every chance she can.  Savanna pushed her Dora doll in the little stroller and looked so cute someone actually stopped their car to tell me how adorable she was.  Caimbree was just along for the ride and the ducks.  We got home and Jeff headed off to help with our ward service project for a few hours. The girls helped me clean the house, we ate lunch, the littles went down for a nap, and Heidi and I jumped on the trampoline until Jeff got home.  When he got home we woke up the littles and headed to the Nashville Zoo.  Have I mentioned how beautiful the weather was?  It was the perfect day to check out the zoo!

 All of the girls loved all of the animals and we really enjoyed just walking around in the beautiful scenery on an amazingly beautiful day with our little family. We bought a family pass so that we can come as often as we want to and I am sure the girls are going to want to go back a lot...Savanna was already begging to go back the second we got home.

 We tried to get a picture on a little bench but a certain two year old was too interested in the berries on the bush to be bothered with a picture. I always worry she is going to think we never took pictures of her, but for the record, I tried many, many times and may have even resorted to bribery when Caimbree started getting mad, but nothing would tear Savanna's attention from those berries!  Ha ha ha!  Gosh I love that little thing.

 The absolute coolest part of this particular zoo is that there are a few areas where they let you go directly in with the animals.  We went in with the kangaroos and the turtles today.  They got to pet the animals and the girls were fascinated when they saw a baby joey in the mother kangaroo's pouch.  Heidi said the kangaroos were really soft and we all loved watching them jump around.

We stayed at the zoo until closing and then headed home for dinner, baths, and bed.  Heidi even got to go on a special trip when we got home with her dad to buy something with the money the Tooth Fairy left.  All three girls went to bed very, very happy.  It really was a perfect day for so many reasons.  We are praying this weather holds and we have many more days just like this in the near future!

phone photos

 I had a couple of pictures on my phone I don't want to forget about.  Savanna and I made a bubble gum letter machine while Heidi was at school one day.  She was so proud of it and she is starting to know a few more letters every time we work on them.  I just love her face in this picture.  Savanna is really growing up and I fall more in love with her personality every single day. She has the kindest heart and I can always count on her to be the first one trying to make someone who is feeling sad happy.  She never walks past Caimbree without kissing her on the forehead.  Her whole face lights up at the smallest things like seeing two people riding on a motorcycle or smashing a crabapple on the ground.  She is so independent and loves to do things by herself but is a little scared of the dark and bedtime and asks for an extra hug and kiss every night.  I love her curly hair and her huge grin.  Making other people laugh is her goal in life.  I can't imagine life without my Zanny Zoo.  She has helped me see the joy in the little things in life.

The weather cooled down again this week, thankfully.  We hit the lake for a morning stroll yesterday.  Lately the girls want to match every single day. It's a little difficult because they don't have a ton of matching clothes and getting dressed can often take a little convincing and leads to tears from or both on occasion.  I have to admit seeing them matching does make my heart happy.  They were pretty adorable running around the path referring to each other as "twin".  I love it when they get along and I see the love they have for each other.  We are planning on giving them their own room when our house is built but I am not convinced they will actually want to separate when the time comes.

lost tooth

 Tuesday morning when Heidi woke up I realized she had a loose tooth.  What?!  I was expecting this to happen in another year.  I mean, she's is barely, barely 5!  Once she got over the initial shock she got pretty excited and spent a good majority of the day looking at it in the mirror, wiggling it with her tongue, and talking about the Tooth Fairy.

This morning (Friday) she came in my room when she woke up holding her tooth.  Crazy!!  She's excited for the Tooth Fairy to make an appearance tonight.  It seems like she was just growing these teeth and I can't believe they are already falling out.  A new adventure has officially started in our house...one more sign that they are growing faster than I can keep up!  Congratulations on your first lost tooth, Heidi Bug!

labor day weekend

 We had a pretty good weekend.  We finally found a commuter car for Jeff...hallelujah!  No more driving the truck 70 miles a day.  My dad was here and had fun helping us find the right one.  It's a 2005 Chevy Malibu and only had 87K miles, so fingers crossed it should give him quite a few years.  Jeff is very excited to give the truck a rest and I am excited we found something that I feel like he will be safe in.  In our price range we didn't find many that looked very reliable or safe so we were really blessed to find this one.

 The best part of our weekend was having my dad in town.  He flew in because my nephew, Thomas, was getting the priesthood.  He was at my brother's house and then we went and got him Thursday evening.  We spent Friday showing him our town, our land, and having a picnic and playing at the park.  The girls were really happy to have some time with grandpa.

Unfortunately the weather was miserable!!!  It had been so nice and then we got a nasty heat spell last week and it was pretty hot and extremely humid.

On Saturday we looked at cars (my dad's favorite thing to do).  We were happy to have my dad there to give us advice and his opinion.  We also went to the Tennessee State museum and it was really cool!  The girls were very interested in everything they saw.

 We were very happy to have grandpa along for one of our adventures.  We are hoping the cooler weather that is supposed to come this week will stay so we can do a bunch of the outdoor things on our list!

 Sunday was a wonderful day!  We went up early to my brother's church.  Thomas got the priesthood and it was a wonderful, spiritual experience for everyone.  He is such a great young man and wonderful example, friend, and cousin for my girls.  We love him so much and love being closer to cousins.  The girls had a great time playing with their cousins after church and didn't want to come home.

We got home and put the girls to bed.  Around 2 in the morning Caimbree woke up and was burning up a fever!  103!!  What in the world??  She showed no sign of being sick at all previous to this.  We finally got the fever down with Tylenol and Advil but a few hours after she woke up it spiked again.  Of course with it being a holiday the pediatrician was closed.  I tried every Urgent Care in town and they were all closed as well.  So frustrating.  Since we were able to keep the fever down with medicine every 4 hours, we decided not to take her to the ER but we are obviously hoping she can be seen early tomorrow morning and that she doesn't get worse tonight.  I hope we can get some answers and that no one else gets whatever she has.

Overall we had a great weekend and we are looking forward to cooler temperatures in the next few days!

alphabet tree

Today while Heidi was in school, Savanna and I worked on letters.  First I cut out letters and then I had her bury them in a bowl of rice...totally her kind of thing.  Once they were buried she had to find them and retrieve them with a spoon.  She thought this was pretty cool and even learned a letter or two she didn't know before.  I told her Heidi was probably making a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree at school and asked if she wanted to make her own.  She had a lot of fun figuring out the glue and which side of the letter to put the glue on.  She couldn't wait to show Heidi.  I really hope she will continue showing at least some interest in learning with me because I love teaching my kids!

carnton plantation

 Today went to Franklin to the civil war site Carnton Plantation.  It was fascinating!  When we first got there Heidi was fascinated by the large mailbox and wanted her picture by it, ha ha ha.  The girls and mailboxes.  I wonder when they will stop being such a novelty.

Then we had lunch on a bench next to the war site.  There was a cool path you could walk around with interesting facts and the weather was overcast and very perfect for a walk.

 Heidi wanted to carry Caimbree but finally settled on holding her hand.  The girls had fun playing around on the grass and path while Jeff and I read the history.

I learned a lot.  The story of Carnton is that the McGavock family lived there when Confederate General William Loring's division marched to the plantation and told the family their home would be used as a hospital, as they were anticipating heavy casualties.  By sunset the wounded began to arrive.  A few at first, then scores.  The family assisted as injured and dying entered the house.  Amputations and operations were done by the windows and by lamplight.. John and Carrie McGavock and their two young children (ages 7 and 9) began tearing tablecloths, sheets, and clothes into bandages. The floors became wet with blood and you can still see the blood stains on the original hardwood floors...there was carpet at the time and there was so much blood that it soaked through the carpeting and stained the hardwood floors.  As you can imagine, my little doctor Heidi was fascinated by all of this.  More Americans became casualties in the 5 hour battle than were lost in the first 24 hours in the Invasion of Normandy.  The other thing I learned was that Tennessee had more battles fought in the state than any other state except for Virginia.

 Also, Tennessee was split in opinion.  While they had a large amount of soldiers fighting for the Confederacy, they also had a large number fighting for the Union.  While 52% of the population in middle TN was enslaved, a lot of wealthy white people had no slaves.  Anyway, there are a lot of things I learned and the plantation itself was fascinating.  No pictures could be taken inside the home.

 After the tour of the home we walked along the grounds.  It really was a beautiful day because of the cloud cover.  The girls did pretty well considering the hour long presentation!

We are having a blast discovering all of the things around us!  We seriously fall more in love with Tennessee every single day.  It was a great move for our family...the girls are so happy and Jeff is a whole new person with his new job.

heidi at five

 I am still a little in shock that Heidi is five.  I don't know why it seems so much older than four.  She is really starting to seem grown up now and I we are having fun watching her discover her independence and talents.

*Heidi still has the most incredible memory.  Vocabulary words, directions, names, and random information.  It never ceases to amaze me.  The other day at the library she reminded me she wanted to see if they had any Betty Bunny books and that the author was Michael Kaplan (I had mentioned the author's name one time two weeks prior to our visit).  I am still shocked she remembered because I had long forgotten.  Friends, family, and even strangers have commented on her vocabulary and memory skills.
*Loves crafting and art activities.  She could color, paint, or draw for hours and hours.  She had so much fun making all kinds of crafts with my mom when she was here.  She is getting really good at drawing now too and her cutting abilities are far better than I would expect her to be at.
*Loves school.  She was built for school really.  Following directions, following rules, being responsible...yeah, all those things make her love school all the more.

 *Still enjoys playing doctor, but she doesn't seem to play as much as she once did.
*Always coming up with games to play.  Whenever she is around other kids, she seems to be the ring leader and invents all kinds of things to play.  It's fun to watch and kind of surprises me.
*More withdrawn in large groups or when she is around people she doesn't know very well.
*Absolutely obsessed with books still.  Checking out ten is just not enough.  She wants me to read them to her the minute we get home from the library and at least 4 times after that and then she spends a great majority of the time reading them to herself.  She is getting self conscious about it and prefers to read if she doesn't think anyone is watching her.
*Enjoys riding her bike and running at the lake.
*Loves puzzles and card games.
*So responsible.  I can always count on her to take care of her stuff and keep everyone on track!
*Still says she wants to be a vet when she grows up.
*Loves building legos and especially loves following the booklet to make what they show.

*Very sensitive and loving.
*She says her favorite foods are pizza and spaghetti but she is a good eater and is usually the one I can get to at least try most things.  She absolutely loves strawberries and would eat a carton a day if she could.
*Loves to sing and picks up on new songs very quickly.
*Heidi is a very, very good big sister.  She is so good at helping me with Savanna and Caimbree and she is always so careful when swinging with Caimbree or just watching her to make sure she isn't climbing something she shouldn't be.
*Loves the trampoline, hide and seek, and tag.
*Loves to say, "Last one there is the rotten egg!"  If she's last she will laugh and say, "Guess I'm the rotten egg!"
*Loves to be silly with her dad.
*Makes friends easily.
*Likes to be in charge.
*Can get very sassy when she's tired...yikes.
*Loves shoes, clothes, and shopping.
*Heidi loves her dance class and is so excited to go each week.  She is getting really good and especially likes that her class is both tap and ballet.
 *Getting braver around water.
*Her nicknames are Heid (I am pretty sure I have rarely heard Savanna call her anything else), Heidi Bug, Heider Spider, Heidi girl, Heids

 We are so happy to have this delightful five year old

in our family!  She brings us all so

much joy.  I am so grateful she is learning and 

growing and developing so many

talents.  I would be lost without 

my amazing helper and buddy.

We love you, Heidi Bug!!!