How to Unwrap a Christmas Gift...

We celebrated our family Christmas on Wed night since we leave town early Friday morning. So we picked up Rachel from Daycare, had dinner and let her open gifts. It was a lot of fun. In this video she explains how to unwrap a gift, we love that when she sees the doll...her first words are..."hot dog!" She learned that from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show...then sits patiently as Daddy tries to unbox the Ariel doll. As she grows impatient she tries to open another but is told to wait...then as mommy grows impatient the camera shuts off... :-)

Getting Ready for Christmas

It is that time of year where we pull out the Christmas decorations and begin hiding gifts. Rachel loves Christmas, she talks about it and Birthdays all year long. She loves to look at Christmas lights...so of course we went all out this year. I even decided to let her deocrate the tree in Mickey Mouse rather than my beautiful Victorian Tree, but her smile is always worth it. I will try to get some pictures of the house up later, but for now wanted to attach some pictures of Rachel decorating the tree. Love the hat!!! Of course these pictures will also make it to our annual Christmas card along with some others...We have a busy month ahead of us, next week we go to Georgetown to see my mom and step-dad, then we leave Rachel there and Matthew and I head to Houston. We have tickets to see the Titans beat the Houston Texans! We are very excited. Then the week of Christmas we head out to Memphis for a couple of days to see Matthew's parents, and then swing down to Dothan Alabama to my sister and her HUGE family - husband Chris, and the kiddos - Allison, Nicholas, and Grant, and then of course there is Nellie the dog. Then we head back to Memphis for an overnight stay and then head home. Whew...December will go by so quickly. Oh yeah...and today we are driving to Lake Whitney to see my dad and of course Sebastian who we miss a lot...Stay tuned for more posts..since I am home now I hope to do this more often.

The Mug Shot

On Saturday Rachel, Matthew and I took our weekly shopping trip to Walmart. Rachel always likes to bring her baby doll in and then have someone else hold it. Today she wanted her baby and her new purple necklace. We were not even all the way in the store before Rachel decided she did not want to wear the necklace. She proceeded to put it in my purse for later. Matthew and I seperated to make the trip quicker, and Rachel stayed with me in the cart. I was heading down the baby isle to get pedialyte and found some really cute pink gloves on sale for just $1. So I grabed them, a 2 for 1 sale. I handed them to Rachel and she got excited as she always does when it comes to buying her something. I then continued my shopping. As we were in the check out lane Rachel began to unzip my purse, I saw her and said ... "hey - you do not go in mommy's purse without asking." She replied "but I have to get my stuff." I just shook my head and unzipped it so she could grab her necklace. To Matthew and I's shocked expression I found the pink gloves in my purse. She STOLE them! Not really, she does not know any better, but wanted to put her gloves in my purse with her necklace. We just started laughing, pulled them out and put them on the counter with the rest of our groceries. Matthew immeadiately began checking all her pockets for more loot. Thankfully there was none. I am so glad she remembered to pull them out of the purse or else this may have truly been a real mug shot.

November is here...

The weather is getting colder and as we prepare for church Rachel has picked out her long sleeve dress, white tights and brown shoes. Then she asked to wear clips in her hair, and then asked me to take her picture. She is such a little girl and yet, she plays like a little boy. Gotta love her tough and feminine sides!

More Fall Fun...

Rachel has had a good time preparing for Halloween. She and daddy carved a pumpkin together and then she tried to carve her own. She really enjoyed dressing up as Cinderella and going door to door getting free candy for just being cute. As we left one house she looked at all her candy in the bag and said "I have to share this don't I?" I laughed and said "yes." She smiled and said "I share with mommy, daddy, and Rachel."

Fall Fun

Rachel and Matthew took a road trip to Memphis to see Gran and Granddad while mommy stayed home to work. They had a lot of fun. They went shopping, out to eat, rode a carrousel horse, visited the pumpkin patch, and spent quiet time on the porch swing. I think Fall may become one of Rachel's favorite seasons. She loves pumpkins and associates them with Cinderella, so what will Rachel be for Halloween? Cinderella of course! We took her to our church Fall Festival, she had great fun in the bounce houses, getting a heart painted on her face, twirling glow sticks and riding the pretty pony with a pink glittery mane. She did not want to go home.

Funny story.... Rachel came to me one day and said "mommy, I want a tail." I looked at her and said "little girls do not have tails." In my mind I was envisioning Rachel with a tail like Mickey Mouse. But that all changed when she said..."I want a tail like Ariel!" (envision Rachel as a mermaid now) I laughed and said "but Ariel is a mermaid, her tail is pretend, you are a little girl and you have legs." Thinking that would stop the silliness, Rachel thought for a moment and looked at me and said "no mommy Ariel has both a tail and legs." Where do I go with that one. I just laughed and said "hmmm, I will have to think about that one." So if you ever see a dress up kit for Ariel the Mermaid let me know, we will have to get it :-)

A great day....

Today was a great day for Rachel! She had her first dentist appointment today. The pediatric dentist office was really cool. See the link... http://www.wyliechildrensdentistry.com/
The lady dressed as the tooth fairy was the one who worked with Rachel today.

They had an amazing lobby of toys, and the all the dentist chairs where in a wide open area so no one was locked away in a solitary room. And as the child lays on their back to have their teeth cleaned/examined there is a plasma TV on the ceiling so they can watch cartoons. The people that work there are incredibly nice, Rachel was very doted upon. She did good until the cleaning part. She was shy, but let them take pictures of her teeth and as they counted her teeth, but when it came time to the swabbing she screamed out in fear. They were very patient with her and got through it quickly. She cried, but seemed all better when they gave her a Snow White sticker and Sugar Free lollipop. She got an "A" on her tooth report card. Her teeth were clean and the growth and spacing looked good. Their only conern was her deep overbite....but hey mommy has that too. And then top it all of they have toy room where Rachel was allowed to pick out any toy she wanted. She picked a blue and white bracelet that matched her shirt. :-)

And to make the day even better, we have decided (with great urging from others) to go cold turkey on the potty training. NO MORE DIAPERS OR PULLUPS. That is right she has gone into big girl panties and today was an accident free day! She did great, sat on the potty at home, the dentist and at school. YEAH RACHEL!

Small Observances

We love watching Rachel grow, not so much in size and looks, but her personality and her big heart. We love the fact that daddy saw her sitting in her rocking chair next to her baby doll's crib "reading" from her small white bible. We love the fact that everyday when mommy comes home from work Rachel runs, wraps her arms around my neck with a big hug and always says... "I love you mommy, I missed you." We love the fact she enjoys going to church and seeing her friends and teacher, everytime we drive by the church she says "I wanna go to church." We love the fact she knows all the words to Jesus Loves Me and will gently pat/rub your back as she sings it to you. We love the fact we can not imagine what our life would be without her, but most of all...we just LOVE her. :-)

Mall of America

While in Minneapolis we just had to take Rachel to the Mall of America, which of course meant a trip to the Nickelodeon Theme Park with in the mall. This was Rachel’s first experience with rides and she loved it. We started out slow with a Blues Clues ride that just went round and round. She smiled a lot...we then worked our way up to the Dora and Boots Ferris wheel - She smiled more with the height. She then got her first taste of a roller coaster, as it whipped her and her daddy around some "fast" turns she squealed with glee. But the absolute best was the one in the picture. I cannot remember the name, but she laughed so hard during the ride she could barely catch her breath. We were laughing just as hard. I must say - we were very proud of her for riding it by herself, she showed NO FEAR, just a little nervousness at first. I wish we could have gotten her on video, even the ride worker was laughing at her. It was awesome and told us that she has a real taste for excitement and maybe a little Dare Devil in her. Oh boy!

Ping Pong

Rachel has found a new game - Ping Pong! She truly takes after her daddy. While in Iowa/Minnesota visiting friends and family Rachel was able to test her athletic side and she loved it. She actually did quite well at hitting the ball - great hand-eye coordination. She laughed a lot, got frustrated a lot, but most of all had a ton of fun!

Reading

Every kid has their favorite book and one of Rachel's is Brown Bear, Brown Bear. It is a great beginning book, the repetitive pattern and colorful pictures make it very easy for memorization. We tried for weeks to catch Rachel reading the book. And finally Daddy caught her without her knowing as she read it to herself in her pink castle tent. The best part is that as she reads it, she takes a sneak peak to the next page so she knows what animal and color comes next. Our next mission is to catch her singing. We found that she has started to memorize songs from her favorite movies or from the radio. She can hear a song on the radio and name what movie it is from...sound familiar (just like mom). So Daddy put together a Mix CD of her favorite songs. Her favorite song to sing right now is "Part of Your World" from the movie The Little Mermaid. Stay tuned for a video once we can catch her!

Birthday Fun!

Rachel received a pink tricycle for her birthday from Mom and Dad. Though she was embarresed to ride it front of everyone, she would ride it up and down the alley for Mom and Dad. Once she was comfortable with that she was ready to show everyone her bike and let her cousin Anna ride it too! Notice she is wearing a nightgown - she got that from her cousins in Alabama! She loves her dresses and wanted to put it on immeadiately!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Rachel celebrated her 3rd Birthday on August 16th! She had her cousins, Gran, Grandad, Abigail and Alan over for a party! It was a Mickey Mouse party and it sure was fun! She got lots of nice gifts and a lot of cake!

Princesses

Rachel is all about Cinderella right now...we watch the movie quite frequently and she brings me her Magna Doodle and asks me to draw the pumpkin. All her dress up shoes are now called Cinderella slippers. So to make it perfect Mimi bought her a Cinderella dress and a parasol for her birthday which is 2 weeks away still. But she just could not wait. Rachel wears it all the time, this is a great picture of her brushing her teeth just after her bath...what did she want to wear that day? Her Cinderella dress of course.

Just a few of her favorite things.....

She loves her dresses so much...every weekend she wants to wear her pink polka dot dress to church. Even though it fits her body, her legs have grown so much it is becoming too short to wear outside the house. She loves to put it on and wear all mommy's play jewelry or her crowns. That must by why we have so many pictures of her in that dress! - Funny Story - at daycare they let the kids put together a collage of their favorite foods, then asked them to choose their 3 favorites and put it up on the board. Kids were choosing pizza, cake, corn dogs all the things kids love! But not Rachel - she chose chicken, bisquits, and syrup....we laughed when we saw it becuase it is just so her to pick those things. She reminds me of Buddy the Elf.

Summer fun

In June Rachel and Mommy flew to Des Moines to visit Mimi and Boppa. We also got to visit with GiGi (Great Grandma Snow) which Rachel just loved. In the car on the way home from Gigi's house Rachel said "Gigi my friend." Rachel really liked the birds in their cages and the silk butterflies in Gigi's room. Of course the cookies from Gigi just sealed the deal as a great adventure. Rachel went shopping, went to the park a few times, watched movies, played dress up, and all sorts of fun things. The picture of is her taking it easy after sliding down the large tunnel slide at the park. Rachel did great on the airplane and talked about it all week. She really enjoyed "going in the sky and going fast."

The Zoo

Rachel really enjoyed the zoo. She liked the elephants and chimps the most. She made monkey sounds and beat her chest...it was funny, then topped it off by waiving and shouting "bye-bye monkey". She also enjoyed the carosel ride at the zoo. She has shown a real interest in horses lately...oh great!

The Zoo Part 2

Rachel also enjoyed Texas Town. We also visited the Texas exhibit and there was a Wells Fargo Stagecoach....so of course we had to get her picture.

Memorial Weekend

Rachel has a small sinus infection so we are not doing too much. Saturday we went to cousin Andrew's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Rachel chattered all day about seeing Anna and Andrew, but once we got there she would not say a word and played the shy game the whole time. Then once we got in the car she said "Andrew where are you?" We just laughed. On Sunday we took it easy. Rachel wore her pretty pink polka dot dress to church, swam in her little pool and played with her new "pretend" make-up kit. On Monday we are going to the zoo in Ft. Worth, hopefully it is not too hot, but she loves to see the animals! - Have a great weekend!

Swimming

Well Summer is finally here and almost in full force so we broke down and bought a kiddie pool for Rachel! She loves it! She tried many times to get Sebastian to swim with her, but for some reason he just would not get in?? I could be that he hates water :-) So Daddy got in with her while mommy took pictures and video taped. Speaking of video...Rachel watched her 1year and 2year DVD's last night and just loved them. She wanted to watch them again this morning.

Pretty Dress

Rachel was shy, but she sure did enjoy wearing a new pretty summer dress. Her doll baby has on the exact same one.

At the Lake

Rachel and Daddy enjoyed some "together" time sitting on the porch watching the boats pass by Lake Whitney. We all enjoyed a warm day in the sun that weekend fishing. Mommy even caught a small perch and Rachel was not scared of it one bit. She even petted the fish.

Dress up and Obedience

Rachel loves to play dress up, she pulled out her entire trunk of play clothes and proceeded to put them all on at one time. Then she danced around. She then tried to dress Sebastian, but he would have no part in that. Rachel has started speaking in full sentances, and she likes to use the word "very" in everything. "Thank you very much" "I like bannanas very much." "Daddy's very funny"...and so on. But the best moment we had last week was caused by my own hands. Rachel is in her 2's which of course means she is testing everything we do an say. So we use the word "obedient" with her frequently. She understands the word and knows what it means. For example, if we ask her to pick up her toys, and she does not, we look at her eye to eye and say "Rachel be obedient." She then picks up her toys. She knows that "obedient" is the last time we will ask. So last Sunday daddy was putting her shoes on for church. Daddy said "let's go to church" Rachel loves going to church. But I was not ready, so Daddy then said "Rachel, tell mommy to get her shoes on too." Rachel then looked me with the straightest face and said "mommy, shoes on! Be obedient!" we just broke down in laughter. She is so much fun.

The ABC's

Rachel singing her ABC song!

The Lake and Learning

We spent Sunday out at the Lake by Grandpa Houghton's house. Rachel loved all the wildflowers. She has repeatedly asked to go swimming every weekend. It just is not warm enough yet, but we will have to get her a kiddy pool once it is. Her little mind continues to grow and learn. She can now sing her ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Loves Me, and she is great at making up her own songs about Mommy and Daddy. She has been moved into the next class at her daycare and she really likes her new teacher Miss Janette. However Rachel calls her Nick, which should be Nette. She still gets to spend time with Miss Carrie and her Miss Mary, but in her new class they have no sippy cups and potty train. It is great to see her develop so quickly. Rachel loves to sit on the potty and say "I did it!" even though nothing happens. We are getting there....

(Always click on picture to see larger version)

Easter Saturday

Since the weather was predicted to be cold on Easter Sunday, we let Rachel have her Easter basket and egg hunt on Saturday. She really enjoyed it and loved the basket. It has become her new purse!

Happy Easter

Rachel in her blue dress.

Spring Is Here

We bought Rachel sidwalk chalk today and she loves it. She has spent a lot of time on the backyard patio just coloring and then running to tell Mommy and Daddy to come look. She has also tried to get Sebastian to look to no avail.

WOW!

Let me start out by saying that as Matthew and I had the flu we encouraged Rachel to take on some independant roles to try and take care of herself as much as a 2 year old can since Mommy and Daddy could not get out of bed. This has led to a whole new independance that we have caused. Rachel had carried her trainer potty to the bathroom sink, climbed on top, put toothpaste on her toothbrush and was trying to turn on the water when I caught her. Thank goodness she is still too small to reach the faucet. Fascinated by her desire for hygiene I turned on the water for her and stepped out the room to let the dog go outside...and I return to this. She had cupped her hands to bathe herself. Her face, hair, and shirt were completely soaked. She just smiled and said "I did it!" I just love her! She makes me smile.

Eye Luv Ewe

Here is a short video clip of Rachel telling Mommy "I love you" with handmotions....

Growing Up

She is growing so fast. She is now 2 1/2 years old. We have discovered that she can count to 6 in Spanish. It amazes us how much she knows to have only been on earth 2 1/2 years and only talking for 1 year. Her mind just continues to abosrb and her mouth continues to repeat. She and Sebastian have become good friends. He lets her pet him and hug him a little bit. He will even rub his cold wet nose on her cheek which she finds hillarious. Easter is around the corner...watch fore new pics.

Family Fun

The four of us spent 5 days in Mena Arkansas at a cabin way up in the Ouichita Mountains. No phone, no internet, no people, just us...and there is nothing around! It was much needed, it was on a beautiful 450 acres of woods, ponds, and wild life. Rachel kept calling it a forrest, and when she saw deer she asked if Santa Claus was here as well. Sebastian enjoyed running around with no leash and an endless amount of new smells to inspect.

I would highly recommend these cabins. There are 3 on this 450 acres, all very nice and large with full furnishings of everything you can think of including a hot tub! Here is the link, check it out. http://www.meadowpinecabins.com/ We stayed in Doc's Place, very cozy for just us but there are larger cabins for bigger groups.

Our cabin had a "bear" motif as you can see. Rachel loved this statue, most likely because they could see eye to eye!

Happy New Year 2008!

We begin a new year and await new adventures! One of which will be potty training for Rachel. She will be 2 1/2 in February so it is time to get cracken. She will tell me she needs to go potty, and we rush to the bathroom but nothing happens. This takes place several times, and then she potties in her diaper. Gotta love it!