christmas is coming

 How is it already time for Christmas?  This year really just zoomed so fast.  I have noticed that now that the girls are in school time seems to be speeding up.  Once all of our company was gone we pulled out the Christmas stuff!  I'm glad Thanksgiving was a little earlier so we have longer to enjoy Christmas.  I love letting the girls have all control of decorating the tree!  My favorite part this year was watching their excitement as they pulled out and remembered different ornaments they had made over the last few years.  I cherish those handmade ornaments!  I love that the house is festive and that we have a month to do all of our fun Christmas traditions and to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!  I am SO excited for Christmas and cannot wait to see the girls as they experience all of the excitement of the season!  They make life so much fun!

these three

 My heart could just explode sometimes.  There are so many hard days and moments.  Days that drag and days that I just don't feel well with headaches.  Days that I am overwhelmed by messes and noise and laundry.  But then every night when I read and hug and kiss abd tuck these three into bed, I get sad.  Sad that another day has passed and that they will be one day older tomorrow.  I'm not trying to live in the past or be sad about them growing up, but it's hard.  It's hard because I love this stage and I know that the next phases will be a lot more complicated in so many ways. Every stage has been so fun but I know this is a phase I am really, really going to miss.  And let's be honest, I am not crazy about getting older.  For real.  It's funny how you think you'll be young forever and then all of a sudden one day you realize you're getting old haha.  I love when I capture moments of everyday life with these three.  They love to set up little beds and tents all over the house.  Usually they are found reading together in these spaces.  I hope the remember how much they had growing up together...even if they don't see eye to eye 100% of the time!

ginny

 I love being and aunt and I love all of my nieces and nephews on both sides so much!  I loved when Eric's kids came to stay with us for a week.  I loved when Katlyn came to stay with us.  I loved watching my kids play with Kyler and Kourtney last summer.  The only thing I hate is that I don't get to see my nieces and nephews very often.  Ginny is Mark's little girl and I was so excited for the girls to get some time together.  She is the cutest!  I wish we could see her more often because she is so close in age to our girls and they get along so well.  We were all very gloomy when they left.

thanksgiving

 I love Thanksgiving!  I especially love it when it ends up that we get to see family!  The only hard part about being here is not being close to family.  This year, all of my brothers ended up coming to our house.  What???!  It was amazing that it worked out!  I was SO excited and could not wait for Thanksgiving.   We didn't think anyone was coming, and ended up with everyone!  It was amazing to have all of the cousins together! 

After the Give n Gobble we came home and had a fantastic meal.  Everyone pitched in and we ended up with some hams that Jeff smoked, Mark and Rachel did a turkey, Holly did stuffing and pies, my homemade rolls were the best yet, and we had a ton of other delicious food!  The weather was beautiful and the cousins even got to jump on the trampoline.  My heart was so full.  The only problem was that the day ended in a blink.  I just wanted to re-live the day.  Why can't there be a rewind button?  My kids adore their aunts, uncles, and cousins and I am so grateful they all made the sacrifice to come to our place so we could be together and make some awesome memories!

give n gobble 2018

 Have I mentioned just how much we adore our town?  There are so many times I am just overcome with gratitude that we ended up in such a beautiful and wonderful place.  One of our favorite, favorite things is to participate in the annual Give 'n Gobble 5k.  It is so fun to get out and do on Thanksgiving morning and so fun to see so many people supporting a great cause!  The race raises money for the local Help Center and it always ends up being a fantastic turn out and great fundraiser!  This year they raised over $32,000!  Amazing!  The Help Center does so much good for our community!

This year was extra fun because the girl's cousin, Ginny, was in town to run the turkey race with them!  This is Heidi's last year to participate in the turkey chase and that makes me pretty sad.  So this was the last year they all ran together. 

Heidi has gotten more interested in running and since running the mile last year, she wanted to do it again.  She really wanted Jeff to do it with her.  Jeff wanted to do the 5k really badly, but he wasn't about to miss out on an opportunity to do a race with Heidi.  She ran the mile in 9:02!  She was so proud of herself and we were so proud of her too. 

Since the mile and 5k start at the same time, I ran the 5k.  I did it in 30:40 and while that will never be a good time to anyone in Jeff's family, I am proud of myself.  That's under a 10 min mile and I cut a few minutes off from the last time I ran it.  I got 8th in my age group out of 101 people.  Hopefully next year I can get in under 30 minutes!  I love being active and I love spending time doing active things together.  I hope the Give n Gobble is always a race the girls remember doing together! 

thanksgiving party with caimbree

I help in Heidi and Savanna's quite a bit, but Caimbree's teachers don't ask for much help.  She often asks me when I will be in her classroom.  Can we just freeze time right here and let me soak in a little more the joy of these precious girls wanting me with them?  It.is.the.best and you better believe I take every single opportunity to be there when they ask!  Caimbree's class did a little Thanksgiving lunch and she was SO excited I was coming.  She was really sad when I dropped her off and she realized the party wasn't for a few hours and it took some convincing for her to believe me that I really was coming back!  She made a cute little thankful turkey and I thought it was SO sweet that she said she was thankful for her sisters.  They really are her very best friends and she depends on them quite a bit.  I loved spending time with her in her classroom!

STEM night

 My kids have the best school.  I mean, the.best.  They seriously have the most dedicated staff who truly care and love for the kids at the school and it is so apparent!  There are over 700 kids in the school and the vice principal greets each and every student BY NAME every morning.  It is incredible!  Not only are they learning a ton, but they feel loved and important every single day and it makes me so happy!  I don't love that they spend more time at school during the week than they do at home, but I know it is for their good. 

The school started doing a STEM night (science, technology, engineering, math) and it is awesome!  This year they even had Vanderbilt come out and do a station...it was incredible!  Jeff took the girls since Caimbree isn't old enough to go and they came home just bursting with excitement and telling me all about what they learned.  I love seeing them so excited about learning!  It is the best!  Thank you, Centennial for creating such an incredible learning environment!  I know firsthand just how much time, effort, and sacrifice goes into making all of these extra nights successful and it does not go unnoticed by this mama!