My little Ava Gracie!

I LOVE this picture of my little Ava Gracie in her "Mr. Potato Head" glasses! Ava thought it was so funny & she kept asking Mommy to put them on her. It was so cute ~ our girlies & I were totally cracking up! : ) I love my sweet little Ava baby!

"Jesus on the Cross" according to Abby Kate!

Abby got this huge "Magna Doodle" for her 5th Birthday. We let her take it to bed the first night & this is what I found in the morning! "Jesus on the Cross" according to Abby Kate! I love my precious little Abby!

Life is busy at the Palmer Home!

(WOW, after re-reading this blog post I realized that I am VERY wordy, huh? As if none of you noticed, come on now! Sorry, I'm going to be working on being more concise, I promise! : )! )

Life has been busy at the Palmer home over the past few months! In November my sister Emily & her baby, Maya came to visit us for 2 weeks from Germany, my birthday was the 25th of November & we traveled to North Carolina to be with my Grandparents for Thanksgiving. In December our little Amy turned 9 years old on December 6th & we had her birthday party, then we spent an awesome, quiet Christmas Eve & Day just as a family. Our little Ashley turned 7 years old on December 28th & we had her birthday party, then, again, we spent a quiet, relaxing New Years Eve & Day as a family. I think Randal & I were in bed by 10 pm on New Years Eve! Whoa, we're getting old but it was still fun! In January Uncle Reed came to see us for 3 days & did all kinds of fun stuff with our girlies & our little Abby turned 5 on January 21st & we had her birthday party! In between all of the fun we had 3 rounds of the stomach flu, pink eye & 2 cases of strep throat! OH MY ~ we are SO grateful to God to be healthy again! Randal had a 4 week break from his college classes in December which was absolutely awesome!!!!!! It was amazing having Daddy all to ourselves in the evenings & weekends when he wasn't working since when he is in school every waking moment he isn't working is almost literally consumed by school! That is something we haven't had over the past 10 months since he started school again & it was really special for our girls, Randal & I to have that time together as a family! Randal & I actually got to have more dates than normal AND each of our girlies got to have TWO special dates EACH with Daddy during that time ~ WOOHOO! We had tons of fun & absolutely loved celebrating our girlies' birthday's & all of the holidays as a family! Now, the only birthday's I have coming up are Randal's on June 20th & my little baby Ava's 2nd birthday on August 10th! That seems like a breeze & I have plenty of time to do my normal obsessing, I mean, planning : ) for those birthdays! Those who know me well know EXACTLY what I mean! Hey, I'm trying to grow......! : ) Even though we've had lots of fun we are ready to get back to our regular routine, school schedule & everyday life! We are considering letting each of our girlies choose an activity that they want to do for the Spring. Amy wants to take Art classes or horseback riding lessons, Ashley wants to taking cooking classes & Abby wants to take tumbling/gymnastics. I am excited about this new season of doing "stuff" but I am a little concerned over the amount of time & toting back & forth that will mean for Mommy! It kinda feels like I'm ASKING for my life to be busier?! I also don't know how it will work for each of our big girls doing something different! That may mean lots of running around & waiting for Mommy & little Ava! We'll have to see what happens with all of that. I'm really looking forward to it & our girls are ECSTATIC about it! We have lots of other things coming up too. Dad & Mom/Grandpa & Grandma (Palmer) are coming to see us for a week in March, Auntie Raigan is coming to see us soon & Randal & I are going on a trip to celebrate our 15th Anniversary (which is April 30th) in May! I am so grateful that our lives are full & busy, not just for busyness sake, but because it means our lives are full of awesome Hubby's, precious little girls, wonderful family & friends & lots of reasons to celebrate together!

Here's where I'm tempted......when life gets busy, like over the last few months & probably the months to come, I get independent & self-sufficient! Although I will never ever be able to do anything on my own without God & His amazing grace, in my pride, I think I can. One thing I am hoping & praying for is that I will recognize my need for God & humbly seek Him every day! I adore my sweet family & it's great having lots of fun fun things to do but I want to remember that everything that we enjoy, all the sweet birthdays, fun family times & holidays are gifts from God! The reason we are so richly blessed is all & only because of our kind & gracious God!

AND, I DO happen to have one rockin' awesome family! : ) (Thank you God!)

My Happy Abby Girl!

I just posted about Abby's 5th Birthday but this picture TOTALLY cracks me up! I think Abby might have been just slightly happy about her new Disney Princess watch!!!! I HAD to put this picture on my blog because I absolutely LOVE it!

Happy 5th Birthday my sweet little Abby Kate!

My sweet little Abby Kate just turned 5 years old!

Five years ago, on January 21st, 2004, Abby Kate Palmer, my 3rd baby girl was born! For the 3rd time, I became the Mommy of a precious baby girl, another baby sissy was added to our sweet family! I couldn't believe how God had blessed me, THREE little girls! Our little Abby was born at 4:44 in the afternoon & she weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces. She was just perfect, with those beautiful, blue eyes, fuzzy, soft, light brown hair, which, like her 2 big sissies, turned blond, cute little dimples & the signature adorable little Palmer nose! Abby had a contentment & quiet joy about her, she was happy just to be loved on by her family! She was a very happy, sweet baby who loved to be cuddled & watch her little world around her. She immediately brought so much joy & happiness to her Daddy, Mommy & her 2 big sissies! When Abby was born Amy was 4 & Ashley was 2 ~ they absolutely adored their new baby sissy! They would take turns asking to hold her, give slobbery kisses all over her, touch her soft hair & squeeze her, sometimes too hard but with lots of love! She was a very loved little baby with her 2 big sisters around! Amy would ask Ashley, "what is our baby's name?" & Ashley would reply "Baby Abby Tate" because she couldn't say "K", it was SO precious! I just loved seeing my 3 little girls, my sweet sissies together, it always melted my Mommy-heart! I have said it many times before but I really believe that one of the greatest gifts that we could ever give to our children (besides loving God & each other ~ their Daddy & Mommy) is their siblings! There will never be more precious friends than each other ~ their sisters! From the moment I held Abby & looked down into her sweet little blue eyes I remember being overwhelmed with love, with gratitude to God & I was just absolutely in love with my new baby! Even though I had been in that place twice before, the affection I felt in my heart just overflowed for my new baby girl! I almost couldn't believe that, again, God chose to so sweetly bless me, my Hubby & our 2 big sisters with our little Abby! I couldn't help but cry, how could a Mommy be so blessed, three little girls! I remember the look in Daddy's tear-filled eyes when he snuggled our little Abby Kate gently against his chest for the first time! He told me that he thought he'd be used to the emotions that came that day but he was, once again, surprised by the strong sense of love & the desire to protect his new baby girl! My little Abby is already 5, so big, yet still so little! I am so grateful to God for my sweet Abby & the happiness, laughter & joy she brings to our family & my heart! At a very young age we affectionately named Abby our "tiny tuff stuff" because she was absolutely fearless! If she fell down she would pop up & exclaim "I'm O-kay!"! She is a very tender little girl & very compassionate to the needs & feelings of others! She has a very sensitive spirit & a heart that is tender to God! When she is convicted of sin she prays the sweetest little prayer all by herself "Jesus, please help me to have pure, happy & gentle thoughts" ~ so precious! Abby loves to help Daddy & Mommy, she LOVES to do anything her big sissies are doing & she LOVES to love on & help her baby sissy! Abby loves to tumble, pretend, play dress-up, color, play with her 3 best little girlfriends (her sissies!), go on special dates with Daddy & Mommy, build forts with her sisters & rock her baby sister! My Abbs loves to jump on the trampoline, play outside, run, run, run & run some more but she is VERY girly girly girly girly! For Abby's 5th birthday we had a sweet little "Abby Cadabby" family party at home on Tuesday since Abby's birthday was on Wednesday and, of course, we have care group that night. It was SO much fun!! When Abby came down & saw her party all set up on Tuesday morning, she said, "Mommy, I'm so proud of you that you worked so hard to find all this cute Abby Cadabby stuff, THANK YOU!" (as I found out the hard way, Abby Cadabby stuff was very hard to find!) Needless to say, it was VERY girly, pink, purple & turqouise everywhere! (I can't hide the fact that I enjoyed her choosing pink! : ) I was fine with our big girls wanting to explore other colors this year but I love pink for my little girlies : ) !) We had Abby's favorite foods & yummy Abby Cadabby cupcakes! Of course, that morning AND on her actual birthday morning Abby got to have some of Mommy's coffee with vanilla cream out of one of Mommy's special cups! Abby felt so big & special! We sang to her all throughout the day & her little eyes sparkled every time! On Abby's actual birthday we went to the mall where she got a new Build-A-Bear, a Reindeer that she named "Rainy Deer" : ) & we had pretzel bites & ice cream! We had such a fun day! Our little Abby was so grateful for everything we did for her, what a precious sweetie! Abby got to have MORE cupcakes at care group where we sang to her again! She had an awesome 5th birthday! Abby Kate, I am so absolutely grateful to God for you, our sweet 5 year old Birthday Girl! You are such a gift to Daddy, Mommy & your 3 sissies! We love you with all of our hearts! Happy Birthday Abby!

Happy 5th Birthday my sweet little Abby Kate!

Well, I'm late posting about my little Abby's 5th Birthday! Unfortunately it seems like this is becoming a pattern! : ( Yesterday, January 21st, my sweet little Abby girlie turned FIVE years old! My girlies & I were out all day for Abby's birthday & then we went straight to care group. After a long but wonderful day, care group, putting our other girlies to bed, spending some special Birthday Girl time with my Abby in her bed singing & giggling together, doing lots of regular "home" stuff, like, you know, ironing for my Hubby, changing over laundry, loading & running the dishwasher, making sippy cups & bottles for the morning & pre-setting the coffee pot (VERY important!) ~ that kind of normal Mommy stuff, I was a wee bit EXHAUSTED! Thank goodness my Hubby took care of Auggie (poor thing mighta had to sleep out in the cold! Just kidding I would never do that to our "Bo Bo"!) Everything in me wanted to stay up & do my sweet Abby's Birthday post with lots of cute pictures of her but I HAD to crawl into bed! SOOOO, I am hoping to do it very soon! I love you Abby, my Birthday Baby!

Our Girlies & Uncle Reed

Randal's little brother & our little girlies' Uncle Reed came

to visit us for a few days right after the New Year. Our girls

absolutely ADORE their Uncle Reed! Just to give you an idea

of how much they love him I'll tell what our little Abby did

one day a few weeks before he came. Abby got dressed in her

little pink Princess Aurora dress-up dress. She laid down on

the couch very lady like, she folded her little hands on her

tummy & said in a very dramatic voice, "I'm waiting for my

2nd Prince Charming to come & rescue me!" Then she looked

over, peeked one eye open & said, "cause, you know....Daddy's

ALWAYS 1st". When we asked Abby who her "2nd Prince

Charming" was she said, "Mommy, you know who, it's Uncle

Reed"! It was so adorable! We were all cracking up at how

dramatic & oh so serious Abby was about it all! : ) Coming in

2nd to Daddy is quite the accomplishment! All of our girlies

feel the same way about Reed! Even though the last time Ava

saw him she was only 4 months old, she went right to him,

let him hold her, cuddled with him on the couch & even gave

kisses! Amy, Ashley, Abby & Ava love to hang out with him

down in the basement, his "room"! They adore him & they

get so excited when he comes to visit! Reed is an awesome

Uncle! He is fun, sweet with our girls, caring, gentle, kind

& very generous! He loves to dote on our girls, take them fun

places & do lots of special things for them! Uncle Reed took

our girls to Chuck E Cheese for the afternoon one day ~ it

was so much fun! We also had a lot of fun just hanging out

at home with him. Thanks for spending your time & money

to come see us Reed. Your 4 little niecies LOVE you & so do

we!

Happy 7th Birthday my sweet little Ashley Noelle!

My sweet little Ashley Noelle just turned 7 years old!

Seven years ago, on December 28th, 2001, Ashley Noelle Palmer my 2nd baby girl, my 3-days-after-Christmas-present was born! I became a Mommy of SISTERS! I had 2 little girls, my dream come true! Our little Ashley was born at 4:33 in the afternoon & she weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces & oh my, was she adorable. She had bright, beautiful, blue eyes, soft, fuzzy, light brown hair, which turned blond, cute little dimples on her cheeks AND an adorable dimple on her little button nose (that sweet little Palmer nose again!)! Even as a newborn Ashley had a sweetness & joy about her. She was a very giggly, happy & content baby & she still keeps us laughing seven years later. She brought so much joy & happiness to her Daddy, Mommy & big sissy, Amy's hearts! Amy was only 2 when her new baby sissy was born & she absolutely loved her baby! Amy loved to kiss Ashley's soft little fuzzy-haired head, gently touch her baby skin & she would sweetly say, "my baby Ashy"! One of the most precious things to my Mommy-heart was to watch my two little girls together, my sweet little sissies! I have always thought that one of the greatest gifts that we could ever give to our children (besides loving God & each other ~ their Daddy & Mommy) is their siblings ~ lifelong, sweet & the most precious friends! Our Ashy made our Amy a big sister! From the very first moment I held her & looked into her sweet little blue eyes I was absolutely in love with her & I was overwhelmed with affection for my new baby girl! I was just amazed that, once again, God would so sweetly bless me with another baby girl, my little Ashley! When I looked down at my baby I started to cry, our family was growing, my heart was so full of joy! I remember Daddy scooping Ashley up into his arms, snuggling her little nose to his & all the "Daddy needs to protect his little girl" emotions came flooding in, once again! My Ashley is growing so quickly, my sweet 7 year old! I am so grateful to God for my sweet Ashley & the happiness, laughter & joy she brings to our family & my heart! Ashley is very compassionate, tender & has a natural gift for nurturing! God has given her a special way with babies, mostly her 2 baby sisters! She has always known how to hold them, comfort them & take care of them. She is an amazing servant & loves to help her Daddy, Mommy & her 3 sissies! We are so grateful that her little heart is sensitive to God! Ashley loves to play with her sisters who are her 3 best little girlfriends, go on special dates with Daddy & Mommy, pretend, do art of any kind, imagine & she absolutely loves to cook! Ashley has great fashion sense (she didn't get that from Mommy, that's for sure!) & picks out great outfits! My Ash is very girly but loves to run, play & go on all sorts of imaginary adventures! Mommy was very sick with strep throat on Ashley's birthday but, true to her sweet, compassionate heart, my little buddy girl sat beside me rubbing my back, singing to me & saying how sad she was that I was sick! We actually celebrated her birthday two days before (I was so grateful that we had done it early!) with an awesome candy-making party that was SO much fun! At Ashley's request, Daddy made his "famous" homemade pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting ~ YUM! On her actual birthday she got to have some coffee with french vanilla cream (this time she didn't have to sneak sips of Mommy's ~ she got her OWN & got to drink out of one of Mommy's special morning coffee cups!) She felt SO special & like such a big girl! Daddy came to the rescue as Mommy was laying on the couch by letting Ashley (our little chef!) help make homemade chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. We put her 7 little candles in her pancakes & we sang "Happy Birthday" to her! Ashley's colors of choice for her birthday party were sky blue & lilac......I know, I know, you are shocked that I didn't say PINK! Our little Ashy is always so grateful for the things we do for her, what a precious sweetie! Ashley Noelle, I am so amazingly grateful to God for you, our little Christmas present, our 7 year old Birthday Girl! You are such a treasure to Daddy, Mommy & your 3 sissies! We love you with all of our hearts! Happy Birthday Ashley!