Attempts at Christmas card picture...

Wow, this was SO not fun this year.  With an extremely spirited 15 month old and a verrrrry strong willed five year old, I got to so work for anything this year.  We ran out of time to get professional pics and as these show, I AM SO NOT A PROFESSIONAL!  So here are our outtakes.  I will leave you with bated breath waiting on what we did use!

Yep.  This sums up these two right now.  A older sister always bossing and the younger brother ALWAYS trying to break free from her control!

Beautiful fall...

Because we are now on our 6th week of having to pack in as many memories and family time as we can when Daddy is home on the weekends, it has made for A LOT of time outside!  Playing in the leaves is one of our most favorite activities and Daddy usually spends long afternoons raking leaves into piles over and over again!

And I am loving being out and not having to worry about snakes :)

A story told by Abby Kate...

Once upon a time there was a little girl named momma and I wasn't born yet because isn't that sad? And there was a little Bitty girl named Sweecie who was strong and could carry out boxes but she was scared of mice and rats. I was growing up and I was put out of heaven and had a body. And I was growing and growing and was a teenager and was 4. And they loved counting...123456. They loved counting to 6. And then everything was marlic and sparkly. There were pretty dresses. A big storm came over and there was a big shadows and it was the mean ol twins. They were 2 witches and there were 2 mice and 2 rats on the back of their broom. And then every person didn't turn into a witch. They ran away so they wouldn't turn into witches and hid in the trees. It rained all night. And then it became spring. All the witches stood and didn't become good ever never again. And the witches went to another country. A rose country. And then. It was really big until the end. And the frogs became a turtle and the turtles became a frog. And the witches went to the rose country and then the big other witches loved their little girls. And the baby. And the castle. And the things. And this Story. And then they lived happily ever after. The end.


I think I have a author in my hands....

Classic Abby Kate...

The following conversation ensued tonight as I was putting Abby Kate to bed...
AK:  Mom, lets play the crab game, I am the crab and I pinch you and you are the little girl and you scream, "NO NO!"
Me:  NO, NO!
Me:  We can look for crabs in South Carolina!
AK:  YEAH!  But they might pinch me!
Me:  We can just look at one, not touch it!

AK:  Mom, do you remember that crab we saw in the pool at Costa Rica?

Me: Um, YEAH!  Yeah, I do!  I had forgotten about that crab!

AK:  I should have swam down to see it.  But it might have pinched me.

Me: Yep

AK:  And do you remember I threw up in Costa Rica?

Me:  I do remember...

AK:  And you made me feel better

Me:  Mommas usually do that

AK:  And you made my mouth feel better.  How did you do that?

Me:  That was more God than me

AK: Oh.  Hey Momma.  When you throw up,  I will make YOU feel better

Me:  Do you remember when Bo was in my tummy, I threw up a LOT!

AK: You did!  What did your throw up look like?

Me:  Different every time.  I threw up a lot when you were in my tummy too.

AK:  Why?

Me:  Because babies can make you do that

AK:  MOM!  OH MY GOSH!  WHEN YOU ATE, THE FOOD GOT ALL OVER THE BABY!

Me:  (giggling SO hard) No, the babies are in a bag and are protected

AK:  (Huge eyes and giggling)  Even from the water you drink?!

Me:  Actually, the babies are IN water in the sack, but it protects them from everything else in the tummy!

AK:  WHAT?!!  Was I wearing my bathing suit?

Me:  (Full out laughing) No silly!

AK:  Was I in my clothes?  Did my clothes get wet (remember a previous post on her HATRED of getting wet...this was very disconcerting to her)

Me:  No!  You were naked!

AK:  (LAUGHING SO HARD!)  Naked!!!!

Me:  YES!

AK:  That is SO funny!

I can only imagine what is going to come out of her mouth tomorrow at school....

Halloween!

Playing pin the face on the pumpkin

Bo LOVING being with the big kids!

The only pic we got of Mario in his mustache.  I think he thought we were torturing him!

Sweet Coleman Claire giving Bo lovins...

 Halloween was so fun this year!  Abby Kate had a SUPER FUN party at school in her pajamas.  And then we had so much fun trick or treating.  I told my sister in law how this is one day I am especially loving living in a small town.  It was SO fun to run into friends and see their kiddos dressed up!  I even took AK to the neighborhood I grew up in to trick or treat after hitting all the other fun stops.  We really had a BALL!

Randomness

Exercise Olympics Day before school

Random story but Abby Kate had on flip flops one day and opened the door at Chick-fil-a and ripped her toenail off.  It hung by a tiny piece for weeks and then she finally decided to let it come off and there was already a toenail growing.  It is amazing how God created our bodies to heal!

Abby Kate practiced her letters on my dirty car.

Kourtney

Pop and Ronnie got to baptize her.  It was so special!

The kiddos wanted to take a dip afterward...

Forgive these pics as well but this was just TOO precious of an event to not record.  We had the honor to watch Kourt follow Jesus in believer's baptism and few weeks ago and as always, were SO SO proud of her.  I loved having Abby Kate there to watch.  As I have said a million times on here (and probably will a million more) we are SO blessed that Abby Kate has such a precious big cousin to look up to.  She truly sets such a great example!  Abby Kate idolizes her so we are so thankful she is who she is!

Old McDonalds Farm

AK and her sweet buddy Jaxon.  She talked about him NON-STOP the first few weeks of school.

Oh goodness it has been a while since I updated!  I cannot believe how far I had to go back to start the updating.  For our first, Abby Kate's very first fieldtrip.  It was SO SO fun and to make it even more special, Neannie took the day off work to go with us!  We had an absolute ball and our little animal lover could not get enough of the CUTE animals.  This was an exhibit at the fair and when we went back the next night, she wanted to show her Daddy this very first before riding any rides!  Sorry about the pic quality, I forgot my camera and only remembered my phone!

Cuteness...

I just posted a few new posts...

Just an update on our cuties!  Abby Kate is absolutely loving school!  She has met such neat kids and we adore her teacher.  It has literally been one of the best decisions we have made for her this far.  She is thriving and learning a ton but still spending the majority of her day with us.  We love our Wed-Sat. when Daddy is home, especially Thursday when we get to pick up AK as a family from school and play a few hours before naptime!  

The most precious thing that has happened lately is seeing Abby Kate and Bo continue to become such sweet friends.  Every morning, Bo gets up around an hour before Abby Kate.  He usually goes to her room at least 5 times yelling "Sissy!" before I capture him and keep him from waking her.  One morning this past week, she came out after waking and Bo ran to her as he always does squealing "SISSY, SISSY!"  I lifted him up so he could give her a good morning kiss and he just kept kissing her over and over.  I said, "Oh Sissy, Bo just LOVES you SO SO much!"  I looked over said "Oh, are you winking at Bubby?" and she said, "No Mom, I just have happy tears.  I just LOVE him!"  It literally was my favorite parenting moment yet.  

Time seems to be flying.  We are about to start on our house.  We are all so excited to get finished and move out to our farm.  Abby Kate is beside herself because we told her she could get a barn cat.  She ADORES cats but we could never have one because my Mom is deathly allergic.  So we are counting down the days but LOVING being with Sweecie and Poppy too.  They have been SO SO good to us....

The Mouse Hunters...

These pics STILL give me the willies!  So, with a garage FULL of floor to ceiling boxes, out surrounded by woods, we were bound to get a few furry creatures lurking about.  I just didn't want to see them.  At all.  And I would have REALLY loved my child to not see them, or hold them.  But she did.  I have never met a child that truly loves ALL animals as much as Abby Kate.  The second Poppy showed her the mice (dead ones at that) he had caught in the traps, she instantly wanted to hold them.  EWWWWW!  Dad instantly put on gloves and LET her.  Not easily forgiven.  I was SO SO SO grossed out!  I really think I scaled her little hands that night.  But she STILL is talking about the "meeces."

Cousin time...

We had an absolute ball getting to watch Liv for a few days after Luke was born.  There was LOTS of laughter, dancing and playing outside.  SO SO fun to watch these babies grow up as buddies!

Daddy...Protecting and Serving

Here is a pic of Daddy in his uniform.  He is SO handsome!  This was the first time AK had seen him in it and as you can tell in the first pic, she was THRILLED!  We just could not have asked the Lord to provide better for us.  Bobby absolutely LOVES LOVES LOVES his job.  We truly feel so blessed after such a dry season.  We have begun the process of building a house as well.  Poppy bought 140 acres as an investment and is letting us build on it.  We are SO excited to have space to play, raise cattle, grow a huge garden and be together!  Right now, B is working 6am-6pm 4 days one week and 3 days the next.  We are loving being together so much!  Truly, we feel so blessed to see the fruit of waiting for God's best.  He always comes through and His timing is ALWAYS perfect.  Even though the wait feels eternal...

Beautiful...

Poppy took Abby Kate to work on a sprinkler last night.  Bo cried and cried to go out.  So we took him outside to find AK rolling down the hill as Poppy worked.  The light was so perfect.  Delicious.  Amazing.  I ran inside to get my camera.  My sweet, brillant friend Ashley taught us to not wait for posed moments.  The moments of play is what you want to capture most...and remember.  I so wish I could have bottled up last night.  But so glad my camera could capture it!

Abby Kate's First Day of Preschool!

Many new posts today so scroll on down.  Finally catching up on our last month!

We really struggled with what to do with Abby Kate this year.  We really did not want her in school all day every day but knew she was getting bored at home and would love time with other kids.  We found a preschool we ADORE and not only teaches but instills character and the word of God in its students.  She goes three days a week for 3 hours and she absolutely loved it!  Her first words when she got in the car was "that was a BLAST!"

Fun little side story...we went to see some friend's new house yesterday and they had a lake in front with hundreds of lily pads.  Our friend that was with us mentioned that was where frogs lived.  AK is obsessed with frogs.  So the rest of the time was filled with her constantly asking if she could get a frog.  We left without one which made her so, so sad.  This morning, I was taking a shower and noticed something behind the toilet.  When I got out and looked closely I realized it was a frog.  On the third floor.  Inside.  When AK came upstairs to find me, I told her God had sent her a very special first day of school present.  She was elated!  She always credits God for sending her special things.  I love that about her.  So I told her we would let it go before we left but she asked if we could take it and show it to her new friends.  So I told her I would ask her teacher and she tucked it in the side of her new backpack.  On the way over (it is a 20 minute drive) she started sobbing saying her eye hurt.  I pulled over at a rest stop and checked to find an eyelash.  We got it out but AK was very upset.  When she gets in a funk, it is hard to get her out.  I kept trying to get her mind off of it but she could not be swayed.  I just started praying.  I knew the enemy did not want her in this school, learning God's word and being challenged.  So when we pulled up her teacher came to get her out of the car and I told her about the tree frog.  She was so excited and told AK to bring it in and she just cried "THANK YOU!" and took off happily!  When I picked her up, her teacher said they loved that frog and one of them carried it around all day.  I just got so teary thinking of the details God tends to make things special for us.  Even a frog for a 4 year olds first day of school.  Just one of the reasons I ADORE Him!