Our sweet little Anibella Hope Palmer

Our precious little Anibella Hope was born today, October 28th! She weighs 6 pounds & 7 ounces & is 19 1/4 inches long. She is a tiny, petite, sweet & content little baby girl! We are already SO in love! Anibella was born at 11:19 in the morning! Hard contractions started at 3:15 am & after timing them for about an hour & a half, I woke my Hubby! I got to say those amazing, wonderful words he (AND our sweet girlies!) had been longing to hear & I had been longing to say.........."It's time......!" : ) YAY! Miss Gordon got to our house around 5 am to stay with our girlies & Daddy & I got into OB triage at the hospital at 6 am. When we got there I was already 5 cm, fully effaced & my water bag was ready to break "at any moment" the nurse said! After only 5 hours (of hard labor) & 1 & 1/2 pushes, our sweet baby Anibella entered our world & captured our hearts forever! It has been an amazing privilege & a sweet blessing to spend the day with our new sweet baby girl! God has been so kind & so good, beyond anything we could have ever asked or imagined! I will post more about Anibella's birth later but I wanted to share our sweet news with all of our family & friends who have been excitedly waiting to celebrate with us! I will post more pictures later but here are just a few from labor & delivery.

Our new baby girlie's nursery!

I love our new baby girls' nursery! It is such a sweet, feminine

& happy room! We actually didn't have to DO anything to it!

The only new thing is the adorable crib bedding which was a

gift from close friends! We did the painting, wall stickers,

dresser & rocker for our little Abby when she was born

almost 6 years ago & our little Ava has used the same nursery

& now our new baby girl will too! That is so sweet to me! I love

that the crib bedding matches so perfectly! It is such a huge

blessing that we didn't have to spend any money or do lots of

work! I love it! We can't wait for our sweet baby girl to arrive!

Our sweet little Ava Grace's 2nd Birthday!

Our sweet little Ava Grace, our littlest baby girl, turned 2 years old on August 10th! There are so many things I love about my sweet little Ava!!!!!!! She is a little sweetie pie & she is just so amazingly lovable! Ava has a gentle, sweet, happy & very funny personality! She LOVES kissing & loving on her sissies, Daddy & Mommy! If for some reason when she is trying to kiss us, she gets our cheek instead of our lips, she will use her cute little hands to turn our face, with all her might, so she can square up & give us a big, juicy one right on the lips! It is so cute & really funny too! When Ava tells us she loves us she doesn't just "kinda" love, she always says, "I love you MUCH, Mommy, I love you MUUUUCCCHHH!"! : ) She is very compassionate too! If one of her sissies are hurt or have received correction for something, she will run over, throw her little arms around them & comfort them with lots of lovin! Ava is very girly but also happens to be very tough! She LOVES "persons" (purses), "lick gloss", jewelry & doing our hair! That's right, she already tells her big sisters, "hold (s)till, I gonna put you haiw up Sissy...."! Ha! It cracks me up! It is so cute to watch our big girls let Ava "do" their hair! : ) When Ava falls down or hurts herself she might cry for a tiny bit & come to Mommy, Daddy or one of her big sissies for comfort & love but then she pops right back up & is back to playing! Ava also speaks very well (& a LOT! Hee hee!) for her age, which I'm sure has lots to do with having 3 big & very conversational big sissies! : ) The other day Ava came over to me & said, "Mommy.......I have a question.......is that a bug?"! She spoke so clearly that Daddy actually looked up from his laptop to ask, "Was that Ava & did she say........"? It was so funny! Another cute thing Ava does is that if anyone from our family is not in the room or where she at least knows where they are, she'll ask where they are! She'll say, "We're (she means WHERE but she says it like "WE'RE" : ) !) is........Mommy....." or whoever she's looking for! Last week Daddy watched all our girls for my OB appointment. All morning long Daddy said Ava kept saying, "We're's Mommy.......I give keeessss (kiss)!" then sure enough, the second I walked in the door she said, "there Mommy is, Ava give keeesss to Mommy!" Oh, how it melted this Mommy's heart! : ) Ava LOVES to "help" all of us do what ever it is that we're doing! She always says, "I help you Mommy, I help you", it's really sweet! Ava is becoming such a big girl but she still lets her big sisters "take care" of her & teach her to do things! One of my very favorite things is watching her cuddle with her big sissies, hear them giggling together & hear Ava say their names! I absolutely LOVE to see & hear Ava stand at the bottom of the stairs (waiting patiently at the gate) & calling her sisters names! Aaammyyy....... Aaassshhlleeyy....... Aaabbbyy ...... ~ SO precious! She loves her buddy girls so very much! : ) Ava also understands that Mommy is going to have a baby soon & that she will be a BIG SISSY!!!!!!! Ava loves to kiss Mommy's tummy, zerbit my tummy, call her baby sissy's name & talk about being a big girl! Some of the new things we are working on with Ava are potty training, sleeping in her big girl bunk bed & being passy-free! She is very interested in potty training & will tell us when she has to go.........Mommy getting her up the stairs & onto the potty in time is a whole other thing! : ) We're working on it but I have a feeling she is going to be very easy to potty train like her big sisters were......I hope! We have decided to move Ava to our big girl "bunk room" before her baby sissy arrives so that it is a happy & fun transition all about Ava being a big girl! So far she has taken her full 2 hour afternoon nap in her big girl bunk bed (on the bottom & with a safety rail, of course!) three days in a row now! After 2 weeks of doing well with her naps, we will move Ava into her big girl bed in her sissies' room totally! So far, when she wakes up Ava has called out to Mommy and/or her sissies & has waited patiently for us to come get her from her bed & hasn't tried to get out herself! That's the kind of sweet little girlie my Ava is & I'm SO very grateful to God for that! She has her moments of testing her Mommy & showing me my need for Jesus' patience & grace but she is such a sweet little girl! : ) Every night when our big girls are going to bed & I am taking Ava to her nursery, Ava happily runs into their room to hug & kiss & say "night night" to all of her "guulies"! : ) She pats on her bed & says, "Ava's big guul (girl) bed!" so I know she's excited & happy to be moving in with them! Ava still ADORES her passy! So, we're gonna be working on that soon! : ) On Ava's birthday we had a little birthday breakfast for her with just our girls & I after Daddy went to work. We have a tradition of singing "Happy Birthday" pretty much all day long for every meal so we did that all day for Ava & she loved it! That night we met Daddy at Red Robin for Ava's birthday dinner, it was so much fun! A few days later we had Ava's sweet little family dinner party at our home with just Daddy, our girlies & I! It was so sweet & SO much fun to see how happy Ava was! : ) Our little Ava Gracie is such a sweet & precious & lovable little girl! We are SO grateful to God for our little 2 year old & we thank Him everyday for her! Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet little Ava! Daddy, Mommy, Amy, Ashley, Abby & Baby Sissy A love you with ALL our hearts our yummy little baby girl! : )

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"! : )