These Days

October was a fun, and busy month, as you can see from all the other posts in October!  

I caught a picture of Claire wearing her sunglasses upside down while we were in carline to pick up her sisters.  She only falls asleep in car line about once out of every two weeks or so now.  

One afternoon while visiting in Toccoa, Hannah was able to get SO close to this rabbit.  She was walking so slowly and carefully.  Precious! 

One night Bert went to check on the girls when we were going to bed and had me come look at Claire.  I had to run get my phone to take a picture of her cuddling all her animals.  

But then I wanted to take a picture of the other 3 girls too because aren't kids so cute when they sleep?!  They can melt my heart in a second when I watch them while they're sleeping.  

Abs woke up when the flash went off and was in the middle of putting her face in the sheet to avoid the bright light.  I ran out of her room as soon as I took it and she never really woke up, thankfully!! Close call! 

I caught Abby reading one day in this little baby bathtub that we were getting rid of.  We've used this same bathtub for all 4 of our girls.  They all 4 had their first bath in this little tub.  Sweet memories!  

Abby loves to look at books and to color.  If you give her some crayons and paper she will be occupied for a while.  

The book that she is looking at in the picture below is one that my parents recorded for her before she was even born.  It's a book just for her and she loves hearing Mimi and Papa's voice reading the pages to  her.  

One day when the older 3 kids were at school Abby and I tackled the shoes.  The girls shoes were in desperate need of organization so I dumped them all in the living room and started sorting.  We have a lot of shoes, but the picture below shows summer and winter shoes of every size (even the sizes they aren't wearing at this time).  After a couple hours I had all our shoes in boxes in the top of the closet to use for later, in a give away pile, in the trash or in their closet.  We're pretty organized, for now.  

Claire helping Daddy with a project!  

Abby and her friend Hunter!  These two have been friends since they were born and love seeing each other several times a week at church.  They really do get so excited about it!  

One afternoon Claire kept asking Abby to hold her hand and she did it every time.  They are buddies!!  

Abby enjoys dragging out my oven mitts!  

One Sunday Emily was ready for church early and Hannah was sleeping late so she asked if she could go on to church with her Daddy.  I got Hannah, Claire and Abby ready to go and then decided I wanted to quick picture since they were so cute in their pink.  Claire wasn't in the picture taking mood though and Abby wouldn't look at me.  1 for 3.  :)  

One afternoon last week it was an extra beautiful, fall Thursday and I decided that we should have our snack outside.  The girls LOVED this little activity!  After we ate a snack I read them library books while they drank their water.  I love the after school time when I get to hear about their days. So precious!  

That same day we just couldn't head inside.....it was too beautiful, so we headed to the driveway to play with their riding toys.  

I had them pose for a quick picture and it turned out super cute!  I love Claire's hand sticking out in the picture and Abby looks happy to be right in the middle of things!  

The Wednesday before Halloween the kids get to wear their Halloween costumes to Awana.  The picture below is Emily and Hannah with some friends from Church.  Sarah Catherine is beside Emily and Olivia is standing beside Hannah.  Sweet girls and we love doing life with their families.  

This past Saturday morning Bert had something to go to and Emily had a birthday party at a local park so I had to bring all three kiddos with me too.  We played on the little kid playground while Emily played with her friends at the party (and on the big kid playground).  

Hannah was SO sweet to Abby and stuck with her like glue.  She was so careful to make sure she didn't get hurt on anything and had her ride beside her down the slide every time.  Abby seemed to like playing with Hannah and didn't mind having a "second Mama."  

This cute thing played with Hannah and Abby some and played by herself some. Loved this picture of her jumping off the airplane.  She was nervous to jump at first, but once she did it she just kept jumping!  

For the last 6 weeks we've been meeting with these amazing couples and getting ready to start a small group ministry at our church. We are SO excited about this!  The Livingston and Rutledge small groups will start at the first of November.  We're so thankful for these leaders in our church and their desire to build and deepen relationships through small groups.  This past Monday was our last time meeting as a big group before the two groups start meeting on their own and we'll miss our time together so much!! Monday nights was one of my favorite times of the week over the last 6 weeks. Bert and I aren't going to be in a group right now, but will hopefully jump into a group sometime soon.  We're excited about these groups and we are praying for them!  

October has been so fun!!  We're looking forward to November and cannot believe Christmas is less than 2 months away!!