Lots going on at the Palmer's! : )

Warning ~ this is an extremely long post! I guess this is what happens when I don't blog for a while ~ sorry ~ life is full & I want to share what's going on with the Palmer's! : )

We have had a great & full couple of weeks since I last blogged. Besides our normal routine of home school, cleaning for Missy on Tuesday, lots of girly dress-up, very imaginative pretending, reading/story time, art, jumping on our trampoline, lots of cuddling and lovin', playing with our dog, Auggie and excitedly waiting for our Daddy to come home every night, we've done a few other things too.

My Hubby got a promotion! Congratulations Babe ~ you are the most wonderful Hubby & Daddy ever ~ thanks for working so hard for your girls! Randal will start his new position as Assistant Branch Manager for SunTrust Bank on the 16th! His boss & manager at his branch took him out to dinner tonight to thank him for his hard work and to show how much he will be missed there ~ so sweet! We are grateful to God for this promotion, especially with the state of our economy right now! Also, we found out some awesome news about his school! Randal talked to his counselor at Liberty University Online this week and found out that if he slightly changes the type of degree he gets, he can graduate a little sooner! If he changes his degree from a "Bachelors of Science" with a major in Business Management and a minor in Religious Studies to a "Multiple Disciplines" degree with his major and minor staying the same, he can graduate in May of 2009 instead of August or December of 2009. YIPPEE! We are SO excited! He has been working very hard and pretty much doing nothing but school and work (and the occasional cuddle with his little girls!) for the last 7 months! God is so good and kind, we are so grateful!

This morning our sweet little Ava FINALLY got her 2nd tooth! It had been trying to come in for weeks and finally it popped through today! Our big girls cheered & congratulated Ava and she looked so happy with herself! It was too cute! Even with such little tooth-age, Ava eats any and everything we do, when there's a will, there's a way! Ava will be 14 months old on the 10th so it's about time that lonely little toothie had a friend! : )

Last Friday our girlies & I spent a day at the Lowrimore's farm (some of our good friends). All of our big girls got to ride their beautiful, blonde horse, "Sunshine" and then lead her around their pasture for a while ~ Amy absolutely loves horses so she was so excited! They held baby chicks, played with their dogs, "Cody 1" and "Cody 2", and they got to play with, chase and be chased by their many goats of all ages. We got to see their adorable baby cow, who is a month old and has the sweetest little "moo"! One of my favorites was their sweet, gentle, old 22-year-old horse named "Treasure" who kept sneaking up behind me and nudging me with his cute, old, wrinkly nose while I was watching our girls run out in the pasture with the goats and other horses! Our little Ashley's dream came true when she got to hold and cuddle with their orange striped kitty! She desperately wants a kitty but our Daddy is even more desperately allergic to cats! Amy's favorite thing was riding Sunshine, Ashley's favorite thing was holding their kitty, Abby's favorite thing was holding the baby chicks (their little girl Chloe, who is 5, told Abby she could name one so Abby named it "black chickie" ~ so cute!) and Ava's favorite part was walking all around their yard with their little guy, Levi, who is 2, and playing with all their toys! Kristin and I enjoyed being together and watching all our little ones have fun! Our girls seemed right at home on the farm in their little denim overalls & piggy tail braids ~ so cute! Thanks Lowrimore's for a great day, we love you!

This past Sunday, our family went apple picking at "Sky Top" orchard with our caregroup. We had so much fun! Our girls loved climbing the trees to reach the apples at the tippy top (with Daddy standing right below, of course) and they loved carrying the cute little basket to put them in! Our girls had a little system going, Amy & Ashley would climb the tree, Abby would stand below and put the apples in the basket (that basket was almost bigger & probably weighed more than her!) & then Ava would nibble on as many apples as she could get her little hands on. Is there anything more precious than seeing a bunch of apples with one little tooth mark in them?! So sweet! It was cute to watch our girls eat fresh apples right out of the orchard that they hand picked themselves with the juice tribbling down their little chins! One of the most special things that day was that Daddy took all of our girls deep into the orchard for a little special "Daddy time" to go find their favorites, Granny Smiths! They were all tuckered out and fell asleep in the Burb on the way home ~ fun day!

Last Sunday, we had our sweet friends, the Kryger's over for the afternoon. The Kryger's have 1 little boy & 3 little girls almost exactly our girls' ages. Our littlest ones, Ava & Sarah are only 2 days apart! Amy & I watched all our little ones play while our Hubby's watched and talked football and fantasy football. I'm so happy that my sweet Hubby has someone here who loves football to talk to about it. I try, but it's just not the same! : ) We had so much fun just relaxing and hanging out together! It's a huge blessing that our children all love each other and play so well together! We love you Kryger's! : )

Yesterday, Missy taught our girls to sew! She gave them each some scrap material, a huge upholstery needle and ribbon to learn on since is easy to see instead of thread ~ so smart! Amy, Ashley & Abby did awesome! The girls listened and watched intently as Missy showed them what to do and they tried so hard to do it just like her! They each made a little change purse and they really turned out cute! They are so excited about their sewing "lesson" next week with Missy! Ava wanted to be a part of what her big girls were doing but she was content to watch them & feed their Bischon, Chloe (who she calls "Co Co") all of her goldfish right out of her snack trap! Mommy is trying to learn to chill about things like that......if you know me you can imagine that I was making the "ick" face on the inside while trying to remain un-grossed out on the outside! After I encouraged Ava for her generous heart and desire to share and gently telling her in a 1 year-old way that doggies eating out of our snack trap isn't included in the sharing code of ethics, I washed it post haste : ) ! It was a fun day as always with our precious friend Missy! We love you Tom & Missy! : )

This post seems bare without any pictures! We loaned our camera to some very special friends to take on their family vacation but I'll be back to picture taking this week! : )

My sweet friend, Julie Rawlings, has loaned me her laptop "until further notice" since I dropped and broke mine two weeks ago! : ( Thanks Jules, I am so very grateful : ) !)

Have I ever mentioned that I love my Hubby & 4 little girls very much? I am so grateful to my wonderful God & Savior Jesus that I get to live everyday life with my sweet family! He has been so good to me, beyond measure. My heart is bursting with love for and gratitude to God!