Our sweet little Abby Kate's 5th Birthday Pizza Party!

Our sweet little Abby Kate turned 5 in January & even though we had a family party for her on her birthday we were just able to have her "friend" party in June! Abby was SO incredibly sweet & patient about having to wait so long! She wanted to have her little friend Chloe at her party & it took Chloe's mommy & I months to coordinate our schedules! (I felt SO sad for making my little Abby wait so long!) We had a pizza party, played games, opened presents, ate yummy cupcakes & Abby gave little goody baskets to Chloe & her little brother, Levi. Amy, Ashley & Ava had so much fun celebrating with their sissy Abby & helped Mommy & Daddy make Abby's party very special for her!

There are so many things I love about my little Abby! She has such a sweet, quiet & gentle personality! She is very girly but our toughest by far! When she was a baby & toddler we nicknamed Abby our "tiny tuff stuff"! She was & still is very petite. She only weighed about 17 pounds at a year old but she would run, climb onto things, jump off of things, tumble & do anything her big sissies would do! When Abby was two years old she tumbled down our 1/2 flight of stairs, literally head over heels all the way down! I was absolutely terrified when I saw her fall & before I could even get to her to scoop her up she sprung up & said in her cute little voice, "I'm OOOOOO-kay"! It was hysterical & scary all at the same time! Once again, I was amazed at my sweet little girl! One of my favorite things I loved when Abby was younger is that she loved Cinderella & named every baby doll or stuffed animal she got "Ella"! One day when Abby was about 2 & 1/2 she got a pair of Daddy's white sport socks out of the laundry & put them on her tiny little hands all the way up to her shoulders (like Cinderella's white gloves!)! We couldn't figure out what she was doing until she climbed up onto the coffee table, started going around in circles, holding her arms out like she was dancing while she was singing, "Ella, Ella, Ella...." in her cute little voice! It was just so precious it melted our hearts! She loved doing that all the time! Abby is adventurous & loves to try new things! She loves to be a big girl & do anything & everything that her big sissies do! She is a sweet friend & she is always thinking about others! While we are eating dinner Abby loves to "secretly" get everyone's attention (except Mommy, of course!) so that they can all together say "thank you Mommy!"! I love it everytime! Abby is a sweet & patient little sissy, letting her big sisters "teach" her things about life & she is a loving & nurturing big sissy too! Out of all of the "big girls", Ava said Abby's name first!!!!!! Abby was SO happy about that! Starting about 11 months, Ava would stand at the bottom of the stairs & call "Aaaaaaaabbbbbyyyy!" it was SO sweet! Of course, Abby would come running to play with her little buddy girl! When I think of my Abby I think of the word LOVEABLE! She is just precious & so easy to love! I thank Jesus every day for my sweet little girlie! Abby is 5 1/2 now & I can hardly believe how she is growing & changing every day! Happy (late) 5th Birthday my sweet little Abby Kate! Mommy, Daddy & your 4 sisies love you with ALL our hearts! : )

One, Two, "Free"......."BAST OFF".......

.......as our sweet little Ava loves to say as she jumps off of anything she can climb her cute little self up onto to! : ) That's pretty much how it has been around here! Starting in June, we pretty much "blasted off" with a whirlwind of busyness & fun! There has been a lot going on in our home over the past month! We are grateful to God that even though we are busy it is with the things we love & enjoy most in our lives! In the middle of June we found out that our baby #5 is another precious baby girl & we surprised our girlies by telling them with a special Build-A-Bear for Baby "A"! We aren't trying to keep her name a secret, we just haven't chosen one yet! The next week we had our sweet & incredibly PATIENT little Abby's 5th birthday pizza & Abby Cadabby party (her birthday was January 21st but it took Abby's little girlfriends' mommy & I THIS long to coordinate our schedules!)! It was SO much fun to watch my sweet little Abby enjoy her special day! : ) June 20th was our Daddy's 35th birthday & our girls & I gave him a Dallas Cowboys surprise party! I highly doubt that he was actually surprised but he made a good show of it for our girlies & it was so much fun! The next day was Father's Day with another family celebration all in honor of our sweet Daddy! On July 2nd my hardworking & very studious ( I SO could NOT do what he has done!!!!!!!) Hubby completed his last (unless we decide for him to go on for his Master's but we're still seeking God about that one!) college class & he will get his diploma in September! That same week my sweet sister, Emily & her wonderful kids visited us from Germany for a week! We packed every day with something fun for the kids! It was great but we (the adults : ), were exhausted! : ) Randal had the day off from his regular job on the 4th of July but he worked at a firework store to make some extra money for our family. He got lots of free fireworks as part of his pay! : ) All the kids (including the cousins) decided that they wanted to give Daddy/Uncle Randal a surprise Graduation party which we mixed with a July 4th party! They spent ALL day decorating & running around trying to make it special for him, it was really sweet! So when Randal got home that night the kids all surprised him & then we had our family party & BBQ. We had a special "flag" cake that Emily & I made for dessert & then Randal did TONS of fireworks with all the kids in our yard! It was really fun! Emily & her kids left on Monday to go to Florida & will be back on the 24th of July. We will go to North Carolina with them to see my Grandpa for 3 days then Emily & her kids will come back to stay with us for another week or so! All the while my precious little Amy, Ashley, Abby & Ava have been doing & saying funny things, growing & changing every day & teaching their Mommy that I need much of God's amazing grace to be the kind of Mommy (& Wife) that I long to be! : ) It has been busy but we have had lots of fun & special times! I have TONS (which is literally no exaggeration!) of great pictures I can't wait to get on my blog to share with our family & friends! SOON....... I think! : ) I can't help but thank God for making our lives so full of such precious people & things ~ He is SO good!

Happy Father's Day ~ We love our Daddy!

We have been blessed with the most amazing, gentle, kind, strong, sweet & lovable Daddy & we want to honor him & tell him how much we love him today!

Father's Day is a very special & emotional day for me, probably way more so for me than even for my Hubby. Since I was 9 months old, I grew up without a Dad in my life. I always longed to have a Daddy to cuddle with, be thrown up in the air & feel safe in his arms. I DID get all of those things I had always desired.......not for me but for my little girls. I always say that Randal is the kind of Daddy I always wished I had! Not only did God care about a desire deep in my heart which "felt" & seemed unfullfilled for years but far & overwhelmingly exceeded that desire way more than I could have ever imagined!!!!!!! Isn't God amazingly kind & good?! : ) I absolutely LOVE to sit & just watch Randal play with our girls. It just makes my heart happy! I am so grateful to God for my Husband, the man he is, the way he passionately loves, longs for & seeks our Savior, the gentle yet strong way he leads our family & the tender & sweet way he loves, cares for & trains our little girls!

Just to give you a glimpse of how adored our Daddy is.......we are "working" on an issue in our home, having SELF-CONTROL when Daddy gets home from work! Ha ha! It makes me laugh to even think about it! (No seriously we ARE trying to work on it but it's just so stinkin cute I can't help but love it!) : ) I mean these little girls go absolutely crazy when they hear Daddy's keys rattling in the door! The drop whatEVER they are doing & run squealing with all their might to attack, I mean, greet him with love & affection! Even little Ava runs up to Daddy, grabs him by the knees, buries her face in his legs then looks up & says, "hold you Daddy?!" When he picks her up she grabs his face & nuzzles her face into his, wraps both her little arms around his neck as tight as she can, sighs & says, "I luf you Daddy!" : ) SO precious! Amy, Ashley & Abby are getting older & growing in their maturity but they still have absolutely no hesitation about lavishly loving all over their Daddy as they giggle & tell him how much they love him! It is so sweet! That is just one small taste of how much our Daddy is loved, appreciated & respected!

Randal (of course God most importantly) has made me something I have longed to be my whole life, a Mommy! I can't imagine a more wonderful & perfect person than my Randal to spend my life with, have & raise our baby girlies with & love with all my heart! He is God's perfect choice for me as my Hubby & for our 5 sweet girlies as their Daddy! He is an AMAZING Daddy & we are so grateful to God for him!

Happy Father's Day Daddy ~ we love you with ALL of our hearts!

We love you Daddy,
Amy, Ashley, Abby, Ava & Baby "A"

I love you Babe,
Erin

Happy 35th Birthday my Randal!

Today is my amazing Hubby's 35th birthday! Our girls & I want to make this day very special for Randal & let him know how much we love & appreciate him! Sooooo, it is the wee hours of the morning & in an attempt to "orient" myself to my amazing man, I have just finished decorating the house in Dallas Cowboy blue, silver & white for my love! : ) I made cute little (if I do say so myself : ) !) chocolate cupcakes with white icing & silver stars which I (painstakingly) cut out of aluminum foil to stand up on top. Our girlies & I got a bouquet of blue, silver & white star-shaped helium balloons today & they are tied to his "birthday" chair. We also got a whole set of blue, silver & white paper goods, streamers & ribbons & I already have a perfect blue tablecloth to use! Since we are going to be gone at our church picnic while my Hubby studies tomorrow : ( , my girlies & I are getting up early to make Daddy a special Birthday Breakfast! My Hubby LOVES breakfast & could eat any kind of breakfast food at any time of the day! We will make eggs, bacon, link sausage, hash browns, flaky biscuits & toaster struedels. I don't really enjoy breakfast, eating early or breakfast type food at all but this all sounds really good even to me!!!!!!! : ) We bought him his favorite kind of Starbucks frappuccino today, peppermint mocha (minus the whip) & we froze it. I'll thaw it out early in the morning & add fresh whip. I've done this many times before & it tastes as if it were just bought! We got him several little gifts, one from each of our girls & then a bigger one for Father's Day on Sunday. I hope & pray that my Hubby is so blessed today on his birthday! I'm not sure if the day will go as planned but we'll see! I'm sure I'll have more to say later & pictures too!

I HAVE to say how much I love & respect, appreciate & admire my Husband, Randal! He truly is the love of my life & my very best friend! He is an amazing Husband, a preciously tender Daddy, a fun & lovable best friend, a good, strong but gentle leader & he is a man who seeks after God!!!!!!!! I still can't believe he chose ME & asked me to be HIS! I am still amazed at God's amazing grace to bring us together! I love this man with all my heart! Our girlies absolutely adore their Daddy! He brings a sparkle to their sweet little eyes & he truly is their "Prince Charming"!

We love you Babe & we hope you have an amazing 35th Birthday! : )

Love Forever,

Your 6 Girls ~ Erin, Amy, Ashley, Abby, Ava & Baby Girl "A"! : )

Baby Palmer : )

Today at our ultrasound we found out that we are having a....... NOTHER baby GIRL!!!!!!!

We are so happy & grateful to God that our precious little baby girl is healthy & strong! And, I have to say, she looked absolutely adorable, even on the ultrasound! : )

Instead of getting an outfit at Target, Daddy & I decided to go to the mall & get our new baby her 1st Build-A-Bear! We picked out a sweet little bunny with a pink heart nose. We dressed her in a cute little pink t-shirt with bright pink bows around her ears. We brought it home in the "cub condo" for our girlies to open. Amy, Ashley, Abby & Ava sat around the box giggling excitedly waiting to find out what their new baby is! They all closed their eyes as Mommy opened the box & when they saw the bunny dressed in pink some of them said, "pink....?.....again....?" still happy & excited but almost confused since they thought for sure this was their brother! The others jumped up & down yelling, "another sissy!", "it's a baby girl!"! They were all so adorable & sweet! : )

The ultrasound tech & the doctor both said she is doing great &, as far as we can tell, she is compltely healthy! We are SO grateful to God!!!!!!! The tech kept commenting on how wiggly & active she is! When we were trying to see that she is a girl, she had her little legs open in a "V" but she had both hands down in between like she was being modest. It was so cute!

Our little baby is about 12 ounces & is measuring only 2 days off of my due date, which, according to the tech, is just perfect! Anything within a week is considered great so she & my doctor were very happy about that! So are we!!!!!!! My technical due date is October 29th. I have been 2 weeks early with all 4 of our girlies so we are thinking possibly mid to late October!

We are so grateful to God that our sweet little baby is healthy & strong! Our girlies, Daddy & I are SO excited to meet our precious little sweetie pie!

FIVE girls! God is SO good! : )

I wonder what we're having.......?

We have "the" ultrasound scheduled for Wendesday, June 10th at 1 pm. : ) Our girlies aren't allowed to come in with us so Miss Gordon will watch them here at home. We've always been allowed to have our girls in the ultrasound room with us before so we are a little sad that they won't be able to be a part of this special experience with Daddy & Mommy! But, I am so happy & grateful that my amazing Hubby, the most awesome & tender Daddy & my very best friend will be there to hold my hand & that we will be able to find out together! We are all SO excited to find out if we will be having a (nother) precious little baby girl : ) or our 1st sweet baby boy : ) ! As soon as we leave our appointment Randal & I are going to Target to buy our baby's 1st outfit. We will wrap it in a neutral color & let our girls open it when we get home! I am so excited to see the look on their faces when they find out what their new baby is! : ) We will share with y'all as soon as we can tell the rest of our family in Germany, NC & AZ! Although we are very excited to find out if we're having a boy or a girl, most of all we pray that our precious little baby will be healthy & strong! : ) We are still amazed that our kind & gracious God has blessed us with another sweet little baby! We are so grateful for His amazing grace in our lives in every way! We can hardly wait til Wednesday! : )

Our 15th Anniversary Disney Cruise to the Bahamas!

In May, Randal & I went on a Disney cruise to the Bahamas for our 15th Anniversary & Randal's graduation! It was an absolutely amazing trip! It was so romantic & relaxing & I had SO much fun with my amazing Hubby! Our girlies stayed with the Kryger family & they did amazing! We got to talk to them everyday since our cell phones got service on the ship! They were a little sad at times but I think they had almost as much fun as we did! We were so happy to have our little girls back in our arms when we got home ~ we missed them so much! It was such an awesome
experience & opportunity to have 6 days of romantic time alone together! There are a LOT of pictures here so don't feel obligated to see them all but we just wanted to share a fun & special moment in our lives with you!

On the way down to Florida my sweet & amazing Hubby uploaded a lot of our favorite romantic, fun & worship music to his MP3 player for us to listen to on our trip. One of my favorite songs that he picked out for us kind of became our "theme song" for the week. It is just so sweet & romantic & I loved it! It is called "1, 2, 3, 4 (I love you)" by the Plain White T's! If you would rather see our slide show without the music you can just mute it.

I have to explain one thing you will see in the pictures. When I got my hair braided I got to pick out the color beads I wanted. Since we have 4 little girlies & since we don't know what our new baby is, I just picked all pink! Randal asked if I would do blue beads on the last braid "just for fun"! : ) So, that's why there are four pink & one blue. NO, we don't know what our baby is yet!: )

I am SO grateful to God for my amazing Hubby, my very best friend, the most sweet & tender Daddy to our 4 sweet little girlies & that I have been so incredibly blessed to spend the most wonderful 15 years of my life with my Randal! (We met 19 years ago. I fell in love with & knew he would be the man of my heart 17 years ago!) I am also so grateful that God has given us our precious friends, the Kryger family! Our girlies had so much fun with them & the Kryger's took wonderful care of our precious little ones for us! Lastly, I am so grateful & overwhelmed that my kind & generous family would bless us with this trip! It truly was the trip of a lifetime & we will always remember it! We would love to take our girlies on a Disney crusie some day.....! : )