Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!  It is so nice to finally live back home close to family.  We spent the day with my family at my grandparents house.  We then headed to Drew's parents house for the night.  It is really convenient that they live so close to each other. 

My family is a bit red neck.  Everyone brought their guns so they could have a little target practice after filling up on turkey.

It was a little more tame at the in laws house.  This picture is hard to see, but Amelia was chasing Lucy around the backyard.

 

I stopped in Jackson, TN on my home and did a little black Friday shopping.  And that night we went and bought our tree and a few Christmas presents.  I am so excited for Christmas this year!

our future olympian

Anna Claire loves to jump.  She looks like she is landing during a tumbling routine. 

Birthday party fun

I am not sure if I have mentioned our new church we are visiting on here yet, but we love our new church!  Everyone is so nice, and we made friends really fast.  The best thing is, they have children that are our kids age!  We had a first church birthday party today.  The little girl is 4 days older than Amelia.  They are so cute together and I really think they will grow up to be best friends.

It was a breakfast party and the girls were suppose to wear their pajamas, but I was bad momma and sent them dressed for the day.  But, Maggie Lynn is the birthday girl sitting next to Amelia.

This is how Anna Claire entertained herself during story time.  She and her friend Blake Leigh went up and down the stairs which is not something she usually gets to do alone

She loved this scooter

Story time is usually one of Amelia's favorite things, but running around on the stage seemed to be a little more fun at the time.  She weaseled her way into get some one on one story time from one of the aunts.

Anna Claire dancing

Since mommy and sister didn't get to go on date night, we had some fun of our own.  I caught Anna Claire breaking out some of her best dance moves!

Daddy/daughter date night

Drew and Amelia were suppose to be going on a daddy/daughter date night to the zoo tonight.  Unfortunately it started raining about 30 minutes before they were suppose to leave.  Amelia already knew about the event, so she would have been heartbroken had they not done something!  So, they went to dinner.  Drew offered to take Anna Claire, but she and I stayed home and spent some mommy/daughter time together.

Being silly.

Ready to have a good time!

Making my day better!

I love my new job.  But, as I said earlier, I don't like the hours.  It wouldn't be so bad except I have to do afternoon clinic in Desoto everyday.  Desoto is no where near Arlington!  But, the one thing that makes it so worth the crazy drive is getting home and the pure joy and excitement that my girls have when I walk through the door!  Tonight, Anna Claire saw me and she was trying to knock Amelia and Drew over to get to me.  Unfortunately for her, she is the smallest, and daddy couldn't see her, so she got tripped, which allowed Amelia to get to me first.  But, it made my heart so happy to see that sweet little trying her hardest to get to me and give me a welcome home hug. 

Feeding the ducks

Since we took the girls to the zoo on Saturday, we decided to take them, along with Lucy, to feed the ducks on Sunday.  There were a ton of ducks and they were really hungry, so the girls had a lot of fun feeding them!

Because of Anna Claire's love of the water, I didn't let her get too far away from me, so she did more observing than she did feeding.

 



Family fun day

Yesterday was the first Saturday in a while that we have had no plans!  We decided we were going to do something fun with the girls.  It was either go to the zoo or go to the park and feed the ducks.  Amelia wanted to go to the zoo, so there we went!  It was cloudy and cool, so we almost had the place to ourselves.  We had a blast.  Since Drew was with me, and it was pretty empty, we let Anna Claire have a little freedom out of the stroller.  She was in heaven!

Anna Claire wanted to stand on the rail just like Amelia.

The orangutan has never been so active.  It was exciting watching him climb up the tree!

I put my gloves on AC and she was just running around like this.  She looked hilarious, but I think she loved it!

 

It was the polar bear's birthday yesterday.  They had a little extra exhibit inside their area.  They had a polar bear coat laid out so you could feel their fur.  It was neat.  It was a lot more rough than I would have expected.  The zoo is getting ready for Christmas season, so they already had a lot of their decorations up.  I am so excited and really starting to get Christmas fever.  I can't wait for Christmas this year!

 

We then went home to rest up and watch the Tennessee/Auburn game.  That night we went to my sisters house to celebrate my mom's birthday.  We had a great relaxing day!

New job new routine

So, I started a new job 2 weeks ago.  I love the job, don't love the hours!  I am working for a cardiologist, and even though I have an extensive background in cardiology it is completely different working in an office versus taking care of someone in the hospital.  So, I am in the training phase right now.  I am seeing patients, but he is following behind me on every patient.  Eventually I will be independent and at that point the hours should be a lot better!  So, we are just looking forward to that time, but right now we are just having to deal with what we have.  So, when I get home I am so excited to see my girls that I can't stand it!  I am determined that with the little time I get with them at night, that there will be no crying!  The girls love to dance, so we turn on the music channels and get to moving!  We have a blast at our nightly dance parties!

Hayride sweetness

The problem with me writing all my posts late is that I tend to forget the little things that I really wanted to include.  I was sitting relaxing today during nap time when I remembered the sweetest moment of our family hayride night.  Amelia is probably the sweetest little girl I know.  She is pretty shy right now and takes a minute to warm up, but once she does, she wants to talk with everyone.  I was running around chasing the girls all night.  My nana was sitting on the porch swing by the fire by herself when Amelia just took off and jumped up there beside her and started talking.  I wish I had a picture of the 2 of them swinging and talking.  My nana had the biggest smile on her face and didn't stop talking about it for the rest of the night.  She told her all about her sister Anna Claire.  She is such a funny little girl! 

Softening up

Anna Claire is not the most loving of my girls.  She really doesn't like a lot of affection at all.  Amelia on the other hand loves giving hugs, especially to Anna Claire.  I sometimes thinks she does it though just to get Anna Claire all worked up.  Well, this past week was especially difficult since Anna Claire is working on her molars.  It has been a nice break this weekend though.  Anna Claire has become the sweetest girl!  Today, after Anna Claire and I woke up Amelia from her nap, we were heading downstairs to get a snack.  I always hold Anna Claire's hand down the stairs for obvious reasons.  She's really good about stopping at the top of the stairs and holding her hand out to grab mine.  Well, today after she already had my hand, she looked at Amelia and held her hand up to hold her hand.  It was the sweetest thing ever!  So, the 3 of us walked hand and hand down the stairs.