More birthday pics!

Swimming with cousin Isaiah:

Swimming with cousin Brittney:

Opening gifts (my big kids wrapped up their own toys, ones they knew Abe loved, and gave them to him for his birthday :):

The birthday boy!

Abey Baby's First Birthday

Sad but true, my baby is growing up. We celebrated Abe's birthday today at my In-Law's house. We started off with pizza, veggies, fruits and chips then ended with Coldstone Creamery cupcakes, strawberry pie and caramel cheesecake! Here is Abe enjoying a delicious strawberry I picked up from a local grower this morning, then some cute pics of Abe and Daddy swimming:

After a little swimming we busted out the cupcakes! Abe got a slow start but he ate every single morsel before it was over!

Wow, what a blessed year, three beautiful, healthy children! If I could only keep them young a little longer, I'm not ready for this growing up business.

Lots more birthday pics to come!

Happy Birthday Abey-Tales!

Happy birthday to my dear, sweet baby! The past year has flown by so quickly, I can hardly believe he's 1 already. Abe is "the baby of the world!" as my kids have said (I think that came from some children's book we read??).

We are having a pool party for him on Saturday. Yeah, we finally have a summer birthday to celebrate!

As you can see, he is standing. No forward motion yet, but I am perfectly fine with that!

Fishing at Dusk

This past weekend the kids had friends over to fish. They left out on the four-wheelers right before the sun went down. With only a small flashlight, Chad and his friend managed to keep up with all four kids and catch a few fish to boot!

I thought these were funny pics of them loading up on the homegrown four-wheeler attachment:

Getting into Everything

Abe is getting into everything these days! You can always tell where he has been because he leaves an Abey Trail behind. Lately he climbs into the kitchen cabinets and throws out food and Tupperware. And he's really proud of himself too, you can tell by that smile!

Strawberry Picking

Yesterday after finishing our school work, the kids and I went to the strawberry patch. This patch has the yummiest berries I have ever tasted, I never remember getting berries this good! For the last few years we have been savoring those few weeks of the year when the berries are ripe. Yesterday we made 2 different strawberry pies, 2 batches of freezer jam and had a quart of berries left over to freeze!

Spring Fever

We have had the windows open all week enjoying the fresh air and perfect temperatures. This past week was rather uneventful, but that's how we like it!

Piper and I attended a Mother/Daughter dinner last Saturday, the night before Mother's Day. We went with my Nanny, my Mother and my Sisters and my Aunts. The food was delish and the entertainment was cute. Piper was able to help with the "Magic Show" (unusual at a church event??) since she was one of the few young girls there. From there, Piper spent the night with my Mom, Nana.

We watched the church nursery Sunday morning and I was able to finish sanitizing all the toys and furniture. I can barely keep my own home clean, let alone the nursery!

Monday evening I went to dinner with Amber and Bonnie. We had the most wonderful time and plan to go out more often. Nothing beats "girls night out" for encouragement and laughter.

Tuesday was Piper's Keepers of the Home meeting. They are working on their swimming badges and she is so close. She needs to work on her stokes a bit more and she will have it! We are also memorizing the books of the Bible. I was planning to add one a day and learn them with her, but she is flying though them. She's got the first 14 already!

We had our last MOPS meeting Thursday morning. I have been in MOPS for 5 years which has been awesome, but we are ready to move on.

This weekend has been quiet. Abe and I ran errands while Chad had Piper and Nana had Cohen yesterday. It is so much easier to get groceries with one child!