Abby's Big Girl Date with Daddy!

Daddy & Abby went on a special "big girl" date on Saturday! They both wanted to wear light blue & denim to match ~ so cute! She was so happy & felt so special going on a date with Daddy all by herself! Abby got to ride in Daddy's car (which is a very special treat!), get a snack while they were out, go look at toys at Target & go pick out a movie to rent! Very exciting to a precious little 4 year old! Abby was also very excited that "Mommy let me NOT wear bows in my hair!" : ) (also, VERY exciting!) She loved holding hands with Daddy as they walked through Target. : ) (How sweet is that!) Abby's little face was just glowing & she had a sweet sparkle in her eyes when they got home! What is cuter than a Daddy out with his little girlie ~ so precious! We love our sweet little Abby Kate! : )

Our Girlies at the Pumpkin Patch!

Our girls had so much fun at the pumpkin patch & Mommy loved watching them! They were so cute & worked really hard to find our "family" pumpkins! God has been so good to us ~ we love our 4 little pumpkins so much! : )

Our little dancing Ava!

One day my girls & I were watching a little show & Ava LOVED the song they were singing about dancing! She was getting all excited, dancing & stomping her little feet ~ it was so stinkin cute! Ava had just turned 1 year old in this video. You go Girl! : ) (Notice that Ava is still in her cute little jammies ~ it was kinda early in the morning! Also notice all the Cheerios on the floor?!)

Abby & Mommy's MIDNIGHT, candlelight, coloring & ice cream sundae party!

I thought it would be sweet & a lot of fun for just Abby & Mommy to spend some special time together. With Daddy's busy work & school schedule it is nearly impossible to have individual "dates" with my girlies during the week. So, one night last week I got the ice cream sundae stuff & the coloring books & crayons out & lit some candles. I woke up my little sleepy head & carried Abby down the stairs into the kitchen. (My girls have a fascination with midnight! They "know" that only BIG girls stay up til midnight!) So, I told Abby we were having a special time for just us & that it was MIDNIGHT! She was so cute & super happy! We made our yummy ice cream sundaes (Abby made Mommy's too!) & then we colored together. (I LOVE coloring (so do my girls!)! There is something "therapeutic" about sitting down with a box of sharp crayons & a coloring book ~ so relaxing! ) It was absolutely precious to talk to Abby, hear what's going on in her sweet little heart, tell her how much I love her, giggle together & just hear her talk in all her 4 year old CUTENESS! : ) When I saw how happy Abby was it made me realize how special it is to our girls when they are able to spend a little special individual time with us. They LOVE their sissies & they are all best little girlfriends, but they do love being with just Daddy & Mommy too! I can't believe my Abby Kate "Cakes" will be 5 in January ~ she is becoming such a big girl! I thank God for my sweet little Abby! : )

My Sister ~ My Emily !

Hi, Emily Shannon Commerce! : ) Guten Tag Shweister!

My big sister, Emily is the most wonderful sister you could ever hope for! She is only 17 months older than me, we were only one grade apart in school & we shared everything. We grew up sharing clothes, driving to school together in her "banana boat", a yellow Datsun station wagon and we even had the same best friend through all of high school. She is THE original "granola girl" surfer chick who will always (at least in heart) wear long flowy skirts, her Birks & go au natural! She started taking her own bags to the grocery store over a decade ago ~ before it was "cool" because that's just who she is. She is lovable, loyal, fun, sweet & my ONE & ONLY big sister. If she wasn't such a wonderful wife to her Hubby Rob & her 3 adorable children, Mason, Malia & Maya, she would probably be off on a Green Peace tour doing the greater good for someone. (Actually, she does the greatest good anyone could ever do by being a wonderful wife & mommy to her family!) Practically, she serves everyday by supporting her Hubby who serves our country in the Air Force in Jettenbach, Germany! She is very patriotic & has eagerly & faithfully accepted her role as a military wife. Emily is soft spoken, never draws attention to herself & is amazingly humble! I absolutely adore my big sister! I am grateful to God for my sister, my very best friend in all the world besides my Hubby & my 4 little girls! The bond sisters share is an amazing gift that our kind God gives. When I see my little girls together, I think of the bond my Emily & I share, the bond my sweet little girls share & it makes me cry happy tears! : )

My sister lives in Germany because her Hubby, Rob, is in the Air Force. They have been serving there for 1 year and they have 3 years to go. Emily & their youngest, Maya (who is only 7 weeks older than our Ava : ) ! Yay for cousins! ) are coming to visit us at the end of November for 2 weeks! I will get to spend my birthday & Thanksgiving with my sissy for the first time in over 14 years & I am SO EXCITED!

Sissy, if you are reading this......I love you Emily Shannon Commerce! I am so grateful to God for you, you are my heart, my sister!

Love,

Erin : )

Missy's Birthday

My girlies & I gave a surprise tea party for Missy today & it was so much fun! Missy was really surprised, Amy, Ashley, Abby & Ava & I had fun & they were super helpful to Mommy! Ava, our amazing little napper took an awesome 2 hour nap & woke up just in time to have some yummy snacks! We had been planning the party for weeks & it was cute to see how excited our girls were about it. They really love Missy so they were so happy to be with her today. They got to drink yummy tea out of real "big girl" (very fancy & very breakable!) tea cups. Mommy got a little nervous a couple of times but nothing was dropped or broken! We also had great food like scones, mini cupcakes, banana bread, muffins & other goodies. (Thank you Vivian, Judie & Marjorie for all your help : ) !)

I'll try to post some pictures soon but our picture downloader thingy isn't working right & I'm not sure why! I really love putting pictures on our blog so I'm trying to be patient & trust God while we get it figured out!

Missy, we love you & we hope you were blessed today! Happy Birthday!

Fall is here!

I love Fall & so does my family! This afternoon our girlies & I worked on changing our blog background & all the other fun stuff. My sweet Hubby was watching football on the couch beside us & he kindly helped me with all the technical stuff I couldn't figure out. It was a lot of fun & it was so cute to see how excited our girls got about it!

There is just something special about Fall......the smell of goodies baking (like pumpkin muffins ~ yum!), football on TV (I absolutely love to hear the NFL theme song come on because it means my sweet & very hard-working Hubby is relaxing & watching his favorite thing ever to watch on TV ~ even our girls get all excited when they hear it!), fall decorations, beautiful colors (South Carolina is an amazing place to live, especially in the Fall! We actually have all 4 seasons here! Growing up in Florida & living in Arizona for a decade make me especially grateful to be here this time of year!), leaves falling, crisp, cool air, Thanksgiving, knowing that Christmas is right around the corner & a tangible reminder to be grateful for all of the amazing blessings our kind Father has given us!

We thank God for you ~ our family & friends! Have a happy Fall, y'all! : )