Cool girl

Aleeza loves glasses, hats and shoes. :)

Fun with Aunt Selena and Uncle Jared

Aleeza had a good time this past week while Jared and Selena were down checking out the area. She especially had fun with her cousin, Adry... or as she called her all week Baby, Baby. That is pretty much all I have heard since they have left too. She walks past the door and says Baby, Baby. I think she is going to enjoy her new little sister. :) Aleeza loved giving her kisses and hugs.

Please pray again...

Please pray again, it looks as though the Lord is leading us to now sell our house at this time. Not by our choice but apparently the Lord has different buyers in mind. We will be more settled on all of this tomorrow. We will still have it on the market and the right buyers that the Lord has for this house will come along and buy it. We want that to be just perfect and we know the Lord has someone special in mind for this lovely home. I just want to throw in here how hard of a worker my husband is and how much I appreciate everything that he does for this family. We ran our booth at the home and garden show this past weekend and the Lord has seen fit to bring in a lot of work from this. We are so thankful for this. Thank the Lord for a godly, honest husband that will watch the quality of work and do his best to make it right. The Lord truly has great things in store for us even if we don't see them right now, and right now we are at a low point and don't see them, but we know that the Lord makes no mistake and everything will work out for His glory. What a shame when people don't have any one to turn to and can not rely on the Lord to meet their needs.
Soon I will have pictures to post of baby Adry and Aleeza who is absolutely loving her cousin who is visiting us for a week. How fun to see her interact with a baby.

SOLD??

Please pray.. we have a contract and will hopefully sell. We are very excited but don't want to get our hopes up too much. Thanks for thinking of us.

PLEASE PRAY!

Please pray as we have an open house this Sunday. Our realtor will be here from 2-4 showing the house. We had two very interested ladies stop by yesterday and had two showings. They are both interested. Please pray that we will sell it soon. I know reality is moving into an apartment and now that it is getting close to when the baby is due I really want to be settled in and have Aleeza settled before the baby comes. We actually are excited about down sizing for a while. Of course our next house will be culture shock to us when we move in I am sure but we will be ready for more room when that time comes. We are excited about just selling this house and being down with it. Please pray also as Brandon has two contracts coming up to sign. We are seeing the one for sure but the other one is in limbo. Please pray that things will speed up. He is wrapping up house number 7 next week and needs to get another one rolling. House number 8 is just entering the HVAC stage. Framers and Graders are literally booked up till August. The Lord has been so good with that. We also have the Home and Garden Show coming up next week, where Abbott Graders and Landscapers, Abbott Framing and Abbott Builders will be featured. :) Please pray we will generate some houses from this show. We are excited and our marketing crew has been working so hard. We are excited about everything they have done for us. Thanks America In Design... :)
Funny picture of the week in Abbott Buisness..... hhmm.. pretty much boys being boys is what this picture boiled down to!

Spring pictures early

I needed to take some pictures of Aleeza for a flyer for Bows for Best friends. It was quite chilly while I was trying to do this.. She was so happy to be in her new dress and new shoes though. She is quite the little princess. Strausburg has ordered 1800 more korkers and we are trying to get into Children's place and my faithful friend at my consignment store has placed another order of 30 or so. Thankfully I have found Ultra pak my one stop shop. They did my last 150 for Strausburg and some other girls did the only 200.. thanks you girls.. :)

Make up morning

Thanks daddy... you made her morning.

"Potty, Potty"

For the past few days Aleeza has been obsessed with sitting on the potty. I was wondering why? but I think we might almost be ready. I on the other hand am not ready for this.. that means my baby girl is growing up. Well today she ran up to me and was like "potty, mommy, potty" I said do you have to go and she said " yes!" So I followed her in there and she put her seat up on the toilet and went potty!!! Brandon was home and we were both floored. He told her she deserved a big treat so she got a sucker.. ( of course loved every bit of it). It has not happened again today but we are going to try after nap time. She is quite the character. Never really sure what she is going to do, but that is what makes it fun! She is such a joy!

Happy Valentines Day

How appropriate is the following post that I found. If Aleeza were older I am afraid I would be dealing with the same questions! Thank you for posting this!


Where Have All the Valentines Gone?
The boys and I ventured to Wal-mart today to look for valentines for Mr. Wilt.
Big mistake.
I thought we would just slip in there, grab a bit of chocolate, a cute card, and finish shopping for the week with the thousands of others who dash to the store when freezing rain looms in the weekly forecast. Not so much.
We found chocolate fairly easily, but card shopping with a 3 year old for Valentine's Day is NO fun whatsoever. There were multiple questions like these:
"Mommy, why does that lady not have on clothes? Where's her dress?"
"Mommy, why is there a devil on that card? He's scary!"
"Mommy, read me what this card says."
And yes, all of the above statements were made with my sweet boy hoisting an R-rated card in the air, waving it for all to see. I ask with all the other hopeless romantics in the world, what has happened to Valentine's Day?
When I was young, we decorated shoeboxes with construction paper and excitedly opened each valentine on the afternoon of February 14th. Little boxes of Conversation Hearts were given out, and each child enjoyed (at least) one frosting-topped, sprinkle-doused cupcake before heading home. And of course, there was the red fruit punch that we all wore home as mustaches. Sigh. Those were the days.
Now, when you shop for items of a sentimental nature such as these, you are also bombarded with furry handcuffs, explicit dice telling you do whatever to whomever, and other objects that are more than just a wee bit scary. Our world is absolutely consumed with lust. And at this time of year, it can be just a bit frightening.
I speak for thousands of women when I say this: We don't want lust. We want love. We don't care about glow-in-the dark boxers. We could care less about naughty cards. We want so much more than that. Really.
We want a man that will love us faithfully, even when we're old and gray and don't look 21 anymore. A man that doesn't mind baby spit up and gladly hoists children up in the air to play "airplane". A man that studies God's Word and really lives it. A man that won't give up no matter what. A man that will hold us when we need comforted, wipe our tears when we cry, and write the check when we accidentally wreck the van. A man that isn't afraid to smile, to sing, or to smooch his wife when he thinks the children aren't looking. A real man who really knows the meaning of true, Biblical love.
So, Wal-mart, keep your naughty cards. Keep your furry handcuffs. I'll be cooking my valentine his favorite meal and snuggling on the couch this year. And the smooches? Well, they'll come when he thinks the children aren't looking. :o)

A long updated blog

For those of you who can tell what time I am posting this blog yes it is 5:45 in the morning. Sleep is starting to become more rare and much more difficult these days. I fall asleep fine but around 3 in the morning the baby gets very active and has fun trying to get mommy up. Everything is going great with this pregnancy. I have officially decided not to even schedule a c-section but just to try a VBAC. If you think, please pray that everything will go fine. I do not want another c-section. Yesterday's appointment was encouraging since last month the scales were not friendly to me, I told the nurse it was what I was wearing. Really it was. Because yesterday I lost a pound. I wore very light clothing. :)
Our trip to Florida was wondeful. Brandon was able to make many great contacts with some people here in our area and we came back to our plate full of work yet again. The work keeps coming. Brandon is signing another custom home contract today. This will make number 2 for this year and there are three more in the works that will hopefully happen in the next few weeks. The Lord is good. We just keep living and trusting Him day by day and He always brings it in right when we need it. Our most recent addition to the three buisnesses is all new attire for the guys. They look pretty sharp. Black was starting to get old so we kicked it up a notch. I don't have any picture but there should be some updated ones on the website soon. At the convention we walked over 11 miles just to see all the vendors. Quite the task for a pregnant women! :) Maybe that is why I shed a pound. :) The displays were amazing.
While we were there we treated this trip as a early anniversary trip for us and did have some fun outside of the convention. We went to universal studios one day which was very fun trying to decide which rides it is ok for pregnant women to ride. We also were able to see the light show at MGM on Tuesday night. Quite the show!
We had a very good time but were very ready to come back and get back to work and routine and most importantly to see Aleeza. Wow 9 nights with out her! that was a long time but the Lord was good in taking care of her and giving her a good time with my friend Cindy and her family and of course Nana( which she is saying now) and Papi( sounds like it sometimes)
She grew up quite a bit while we were gone. She is repeating a lot of words and has definetely done some changing. She is still so sweet and loves her daddy and mommy to death. I am afraid she thinks I am going somewhere though because we have had a hard time of me leaving a room and she just starts yelling" mommy, mommy" then when she sees me she is fine. Same with Daddy. I think it will just take some time for her to know we are not going anywhere anytime soon. Her latest hobby has been trying on every single pair of shoes that she owns and she does have quite a few. "shoes, shoes, on" It is reallycute!
Last night we went out to Moes' for supper because our house was being touched up by the painters and the kitchen was a mess. They were still working around 6 so we went out. Aleeza was sitting next to Brandon and I made the comment" we are making a mess". She looked right at Brandon and I and said " making a mess". I know our eyes popped out of our heads. We were like say it again.. and of course nothing.

Off to Florida!

Just so everyone knows, Brandon and I are leaving today for a week for Orlando for the National Builders' Show. We hope to learn a lot! We are taking advantage of the trip for a little early anniversary trip also since my due date is really close to our anniversary. Please pray for safety in travel, and that the Lord will protect Aleeza while we are gone. This is a long time, folks!!! 7 nights without her! She is staying with Nana and PaPa on the weekends and my dear friend Cindy during the week. I know she will have a blast playing with Cindy's three kids and will probably not even know we are gone. Hopefully we can come back and share lots of neat things that we have learned! Have a good week!

Had to post this!

Of course this is Aleeza on the left when is was about 8 weeks old and here is her new cousin Adryianna sporting her peace sign. I thought this was cute.. two cousins being cool!

How many bows?

how many bows can Aleeza wear at one time? well she is really into them right now.. but I try to limit it to just one...

We have all been doing well.. really busy. I am still sorting throgh the buisness stuff and organizing. I finally feel like I am getting there. It has been a long three weeks but I am pulling it all together. We are looking forward to the International builders show in Florida in two weeks. That should be fun and relaxing. Brandon needs a break! :) So do I :)
We had a fun time at Nana and Paw Paws on Saturday night. Mom did a combined birthday for dad and I and that was really fun. Dad turns 60 on Sunday.:) well, that is about all for now. Just staying busy and still trying to sell the house. We have had many lookers.. helps me keep the house clean. Hope everyone is well.

Our new neice

This is our new neice Adriyanna. Congrats to Jared and Selena!
Looks just like her daddy!

We are having another girl!

Well yesterday confirmed that we are having another little girl. We are very excited about how close they will be in age and hopefully be good friends... :) everything looked perfect and right on schedule. Thank you for all your prayers. We will keep you updated on a name and so on.

The Korker Bows...

Finally, they are all done... As many of you know I have been working day and night for the past month to make 600 korkers for Strausburg.. Thanks to Laura, Lydia and Joy Keck for helping me we finally got them done... Well Tuesday and Wednesday a man who shall be left nameless because he doesn't want anyone to know how well he is at cutting and fray checking spent over 20 hours with me to get these bows done by 9:30 on Thursday morning. Now this man is one I love very much.. he shall be left nameless but he is a great father and husband.. :) We finally wrapped them all up.. I must say I was glad to see them go.. Here a few shots.. please remember that this is only about 450 because I had already turned in about 150...

Merry Christmas

Christmas day was very fun and relaxing.. Brandon, Aleeza and I spent Christmas morning here eating a yummy breakfast and opening gifts. We had a good time just the three of us. Aleeza had a lot of fun opening her gifts. She was very into this gift opening thing this year... so next year should be way fun. :) Brandon bought me new dishes and silverware.. long story why.. but trust me they were needed. :) Aleeza loaded up herself. After a enjoyable morning we went to Nana and Paw Paws for lunch and more gift opening. What a fun time. Aleeza just enjoyed herself so much. Nana and Paw-paw really showered her.. but that is what grandparents are fow. We had a very good time as a family. What a blessing to have Christian parents who are so supportive of things you do and love you no matter what. Mom and Dad are the prime examples of this. I know one thing.. Brandon couldn't ask for better in-laws.. :) Thanks for a wonderful day... The Evans, Boilings and Jacksons came for lunch. We had a great time of fellowship and yummy yummy food.. :)

Christmas Eve at Aunt Susan and Uncle Malcolm

Tradition has been to always go to the Hampton Park Christmas Eve service so once again... we went.. Aleeza's first time of course she had to spend it in the nursery.. After that we went to Aunt Susan's house for some food and fellowship.. Aleeza was the star as usual..

I am a cheese..

Aleeza has really learned how to turn the smile on!!! Nana taught her to smile big.. :)

Beautful little girl

So adorable... Please take note of the Christmas bow that was whipped up by me.. in between what felt like thousands of other bows I was making... pictures to come..

Christmas time will all the cousins...

Being related to the Bundy's by marriage makes for fun times..... We had a good time at their house last Saturday night.. Aleeza loves K.K ,of course everyone else.. but K.K... just means the world to her right now.. :) She had fun being highly entertained though while we were there. They gave her the Little People Farm which she just loves all the animals.... :) thanks for a fun night.

Our Christmas house....

Brandon finally talked to me into going fake this year for Christmas.. and we found the most beautiful tree that is fake.. :) It is 10 feet tall.... Our house looked too pretty.. :)

Our little tom boy...

She loves to put on Daddy's hats and eat fruit... the whole piece...so cute.

WOW.....

Well, needless to say these past few weeks have been fun, very tiring, exciting, demanding, different, and last but not least not normal.. :) Brandon and I have been through a lot the past few weeks but needless to say the Lord always always always prevails and shows His mercy and grace to us when we lease deserve it. The Lord was very good to us this Christmas. Brandon finally got over his pneamonia, which has made him feel a ton better. The Lord brought some very hard circumstances in our life which in turn has taught us both many lessons and brought us closer together and closer to Him. WE WOULD NOT TRADE THE LAST FEW WEEKS FOR ANYTHING!! Wow.. hope this does not sound depressing... it is not depressing. We have learned so much and are thankful. Well, about the buisness... call us crazy but Brandon can't just own one company.. :) so now we own three.. we are official now... we own Abbott Builders, INC., Abbott Framing, INC, and Abbott Grading and Landscaping , INC... You might ask if we are trying to take over SC... and the answer to that is no... well not right now.. We have a new employee who has moved down from the great state of New York.. an old friend of Brandon''s is going to be taking over the Landscaping.... and we still have our strong 5 that are doing framing and just hired two more great guys to start next week.. of course we still have our one great boss... Brandon!!! :) and great secretary... me.:) The Lord has been so good to us. We are excited to see what the new year will bring us... Well now for the pictures.. what we all want I know.. :)

Will keep us guessing.....

Just so everyone knows... we had our doctors' visit this past week to find out what we were having.. the baby choose not to partcipate in the event.. :) The ultrasound tech was leaning towards a girl but not sure at all. We go back in about 3 weeks to do another one. Everything was great though. Baby was right on schedule and totally healthy and mommy has only gained 2 pounds.. yeah for me.. :) Hope everyone is doing well.

Playing Dress Up!

Aleeza playing dress up. This is her new favorite thing to do.... so cute...

Finishing out Thanksgiving

Again, Sorry... what can I say.. Life is too busy. Soon I will post pictures of the bows the bows yes the many many bows that have been taking my time... Soon.. I will have all 600 done. :)
Rest of Thanksgiving... fun fun. We were able to spend time with two great grand parents. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Playing with Kenzie

Besides the animals the two cats and a dog which were a huge hit with Aleeza, her cousin Kenzie was the best. They played the entire time. Non stop. Aleeza had the best time with her. Here they are playing their famous duet.

Fun shots

Cousin Kenzie and Aunt Liana!

Picking out Christmas trees

We had fun finding the perfect one.

Moo cows

We took Aleeza down to the barn to see the cows. Now normally the girl is crazy over animals and loves to stop near our house and look at the cows. I don't know if since we were very close to them and they were very loud if that is what scared her but she was not happy. She finally warmed up the the idea but it took some time.

Thanksgiving day parade

This parade put Aleeza right to sleep. You can't really see her but she was all cuddled up in her cousins' chair and feel asleep. Very cute.

Back and blogging

Yet again sorry for the delay. Some of you have really been pushing me for those Thanksgiving pictures so here goes. We had a great time in New York. The weather was very warm much like here that week. Flying went really well and was much better than driving. Aleeza did amazing while flying. She kept calling the airplane the "birrrd". She would stare out the windown with Brandon and just poing at things. I don't think she had any idea how high we really were in the air. We were able to stay for almost a week. Poor Brandon was sick pretty much the entire day. He sat at the Thanksgiving meal on Thursday and just stared at all the food eating nothing. He is still not completely well but eating now. So needless to say the first part of the trip was not too much fun for him. We had a great time visiting with family members though. On Wednesday we just pretty much layed around and got some rest. Brandon and I drove to the "near by" mall so he could get a hair cut. Of course Thursday was Thanksgiving. We spent the evening at Great Grandmas house and Aleeza got to play with some cousins she had never really met before. On Friday we did the day after shopping for only about 3 hours. Brandon drove us.. :) We did find some good deals. Saturday was spent searching for the perfect Christmas tree and decorating it. Up there you can buy trees , the most beautiful trees for $25.00. Find it, saw it, haul it off. Very nice. Down here we are looking at like $75.00. Oh well... That night we did Christmas with the family. Aleeza is much more into gifts this year than last. We had fun. On Sunday we were able to go to church. This is the church Brandon excepted the Lord in almost 5 years ago. I love going back there and thanking the Lord for saving him. That church has a special place in my heart. Sunday afternoon Brandon was able to spend with Jesse and old friend. It was fun sharing old stories.. :) Mom Abbott got really sick Saturday night so Sunday was not much fun for her. She had planned this big meal and everything. Well, we did enjoy. Monday was spent with visiting Great Grandma one on one with Aleeza. Four generations. How special. We headed on Monday night. That is the trip in a nut shell. Enjoy the pictures.

Sick

This past Saturday and Sunday Brandon and I were down and out. Yesterday we had plans for lunch with my parents and had everything ready when I woke up pretty sick too. So... Grandpa was more than willing to come pick up Aleeza and she spent Sunday and Sunday night with them. Thanks so much!!! This was so nice for Brandon and I to be able to sleep whenever and just lay around. More baby would have been bored out of her mnd had she been here. Thankfully she has not gotten sick yet so that is good. I am feeling tons better but Brandon is still not back to normal yet. He is still feeling aching and feverish. Pray he will get better soon.

Also please pray for my Uncle Ernest. He is having some serious hip surgery today. Pray that everything will go smoothly and there will be no complications. We love you!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY UNCLE JARED!

I will call you! Have a great day!

HAPPY 85TH BIRTHDAY GREAT GRANDMOTHER POWELL!

Hope you have a great birthday!!! We love you! See you soon!

Getting caught up!

Sorry again for the delay in blogging.. everyday just seems to rush right by. We have a praise and a prayer request. Brandon has been able to secure another house to build. This is a blessing. We also have some people who are seriously looking at our house to buy. Please pray the Lord will work out His perfect will. We are open to whatever happens and had already decided to take it off the market till Spring.. we will see. ( they are coming back in a week to look again) Well, I secured our plane tickets to NY for Thanksgiving so we are getting ready for that trip. We are looking forward to a vacation and away from work. Also Grandma and grandpa Abbott have not seen Aleeza since she started walking so that will be fun. This past week was full of voting, Kindermusik, libary, house showings, a fun Holiday bazaar last night for Bows for best friends and many other adventures. Well, that about wraps up all of our week. Hope everyone is well.

Here is Aleeza with her good friend Beatrice Cheatham in the PJs!!!

Abbott Builders hires a new employee!

What dad?? you are kidding right?? Pumpkin heads can't build houses!!

Blessings from God

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd , I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures:
He leads me beside the quiet waters.
He restores my soul:
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for Your are with me Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me
You prepare a table before me in the precence of my enemies: You have annointed my head with oil , My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

Wow last night at church Pastor Minnick read this passage with us. What an encourgement. This past week the Lord has allowed me to see how He has truly directed my path and has lead me in the path of righeouness. The Lord has brought some very disturbing things to my attention this past week of people I have graduated with or friends I use to have. It is all of the Lord and His grace that I am not where they are or acting how they are. This is nothing I did on my own to get to where I am and as Christians we still have a lot to learn daily about living the way we should. There are plenty of days where I go about thinking how good I have it and how I must have gotten here and leave God completely out of the picture. It is only of His grace and mercy that he saved Brandon and directed our paths together. Brandon and I were discussing last night how blessed we are and how much the Lord, I do mean the Lord has given to us. We have a beautiful daughter and a child on the way. What more could anyone ask for than to be saved, living for God, doing what you know is right and a wonderful family. We take for granted how the Lord has spared our lives and how it is only by His grace that we are not living in some dark alley. My eyes were truly opened this week to thank the Lord daily for His provision for us and His loving grace and mercy on our lives and for our salvation. Brandon and I wouldn't be where we were either if it were not , not only for God first of all , but our parents. Both sets of parents trained us the way they should. It took Brandon a little longer:) but his parents faithfully prayed for him and that changed his life. Thank you to our parents. Also we would not be where we were if it was not for our church, Mount Calvary and the godly preaching we are exposed to every week. Thank the Lord for such an assembly of believers! We have so much to be greatful for. Let us not forget!