The Johnson Family

Fall Family Fun

2011-10-30T17:35:00.002-05:00

We went to Memphis during fall break to visit family and had a great time. Gran and Granddad took the girls to a pumpkin patch, they both loved it. My how they have grown and how beautiful our girls are.

Rachel is contemplating getting her ears pierced, she goes back and forth on her decision. Only time will tell.

Crawling and Spitting

2011-09-25T21:00:00.003-05:00

Kate has grown so much so fast, it is hard to believe her birthday is just around the corner. We bought a baby swing to add to our outdoor swing set and she loves it. She is somewhat crawling. She will take a few scoots or a few crawls and stop, she has not yet taken off in a sprint yet. And she has discovered how to make a motor boat sound with her mouth...oh yeah!

Memphis

2011-06-22T18:31:00.002-05:00

We took the girls to Memphis to visit Gran and Granddad, we all had a great time. Rachel really enjoyed playing outside with the slip and slide and sprinkler. Kate loved being with her Gran and Granddad, we quickly learned that Granddad's voice was very appealing to her.

School Days are over....

2011-05-24T18:01:00.002-05:00

Summer season is fast approaching. Rachel has finished preschool and is doing nothing but talking about Kindergarten and how excited she is about it. Her Pre K year end program was great. I am so proud of her. She won the Barnabas award in her class for being a leader, helper, and encourager. This award is given out every year at Northside and we are so happy for her.

Disney World

2011-04-23T19:02:00.002-05:00

We surprised Rachel with a family Spring Break Trip to Disney World. We all had a wonderful time and can not wait to have the chance to go again. Kate did great despite her cold, and I must say that Disney is incredibly baby friendly. Kate got to do so many things and ride almost everything Rachel did.

A toothless grin and Baby dedication...

2011-02-12T09:47:00.003-06:00

Rachel is an official kid! Not a toddler, not a preschooler but a kid. Why??? Because she has lost her two front teeth! She looks so much different and I have to giggle every time she speaks because she lisps. She is going to play soccer this Spring and is very excited about it. We are all going to the mountains President weekend for a family getaway and really excited about it. The place is really nice and cozy. Then we are taking the girls to Disney World in April. We have not told Rachel yet, we want to surprise her, she is going to love it. We have booked dinner with Cinderella, Breakfast with Mickey Mouse and a spa treatment at the Bippity Boppity Botique. She gets her hair, nails and makeup done like a princess.

We had Kate's baby dedication ceremony/reception. She wore the infamous ivory dress that is now 40 years old, the fifth and final Houghton--Frith--Johnson girl to wear it. It was very elegent and special.

Time is flying by

2011-01-10T13:25:00.003-06:00

After the Christmas holiday flew by I just can not keep up with life it seems. Kate is already 6 weeks old, Rachel is learning to read and can already recognize certain words. The days of Matthew and I spelling to each other to keep things from her are quickly coming to an end. Rachel is a great helper with Kate, although after about the 10th time of me asking her to put the pacifier back in Kate's mouth Rachel looked at me and said "I am not Cinderella you know." I laughed and said, "you used to always want me to cal you Cinderella, and now you get to be her." Rachel never complains, she loves being there for diapers, helps cloth her, bath her, feed her etc.... For Christmas Rachel got a Wii, and she loves it. I am not sure who plays it more though.... her or her daddy.

The Christmas Program

2010-12-24T17:01:00.002-06:00

Rachel was the head Angel in her schools Christmas program. She got to say "Many years ago God said He would send a Savior" that line opened up the whole show. She did great! She was not nervous or shy at all. I thought she would bale being the first one to speak, but she did wonderful! The program was really cute. Our nephew Grant was a wise man, and all the kids did a good job and looked so cute in their costumes!

Baby Sister and getting ready for Christmas

2010-12-24T16:50:00.002-06:00

Kate arrived on November 29th and we could not be happier about it. No one can hold a candle to Rachel's joy. She just beams around Kate and I am sure as Kate grows she will beam around Rachel. Rachel is an awesome helper, she holds her, feeds her, plays with her, and WATCHES me change diapers.

Rachel is very excited about Christmas, Matthew pulled out some old toys of his like match cars and legos. He and Rachel have been playing legos all day today. An old fire truck came roaring down our culdasac today carrying some kids, and Elf and Santa. It stopped infront of our house and Rachel ran out, gave Santa a big hug, got some pictures taken and ran back to the porch. She was so excited to see him. We got a chance to chat with a few of our neighbors who advised the Santa truck comes every year. What fun!!!

Cheerleading

2010-11-25T03:43:00.002-06:00

Rachel has enrolled in Northsides Knee High Knights cheer squad and she absolutely loves it. She gets to do one cheer and one dance at the half time of the peewee basketball home games. Her Granddad has some video of her I will try to upload at another time. There are quite a few girls on the squad, many from her class so she really enjoys it. I think her favorite part is the pom poms, the JV cheerleaders at the school have taken a liking to her as well. The other day from what I hear via the cheer coach - Rachel and a friend were doing their own cheers on the sideline before half time. Rachel also gave up one of her pom poms to a girl who did not have any, she has such a sharing heart. Lets hope she keeps that sharing heart with a new sister.

Queen Esther

2010-11-04T06:04:00.002-05:00

Northside had Spiritual Emphasis week the first week in November, all the Pre K classes were invited to dress up as a bible character. Of course at first we thought of the traditional Mary, Miriam, or even an Angel. But I wanted to be unique. Then it dawned on me....Rachel loves princess wear so why not be Queen Esther. She loved it and truly looked the part. They even let her lead the Pre K parade throughout the school.

Growing Up

2010-10-02T09:15:00.003-05:00

Rachel has many times asked if she could color her hair "yellow" I have always told her when she was an adult she could do that but for now her hair would stay as it is. Her aunt Lisa bought her a yellow cinderella wig and like magic Rachel had her yellow hair. Well now she is on a pink hair kick, so of course I could not resist getting a pink hair wig. Could that smile be any bigger!

Happy 5th Birthday Rachel!

2010-08-15T09:14:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Rachels 5th birthday with a My Little Pony party with her cousins Allison, Nicholas, and Grant. She had a really good time and got some really good loot. School starts Monday which is her actual birthday so we are bringing donuts to class. She is very excited about school and had a lot of fun shopping for her uniform. Let's just hope she enjoys wearing it everyday as much as she did buying them.

Getting Settled

2010-07-21T07:58:00.002-05:00

We are getting settled in our new home in Dothan Alabama. Rachel is adjusting well. She is really enjoying seeing her cousins here everyday. Nighttime has been a little tough. Mostly because her room held so many boxes she was getting disoriented in the night. Yesterday we finished her room and it is adorable. She loves it and slept through the night. Today we go to register her for school. She is excited to see her new school and very happy that her cousin Grant will be in her class. Matthew is also going to see his new office and meet some people at the school before he officially starts in August.

We attended Allison's (cousin) birthday party. It was a Fiesta!!! Rachel did really good with the pinata.

Big Sister Rachel

2010-06-28T15:30:00.003-05:00

Rachel has been asking for a sister and today it was confirmed that she will be getting one. Baby girl Johnson will be here in late November and we could not be happier about it. When the technician announced it would be a girl Rachel's response was.... YESSSSSS! Then I felt her hot tiny hand gently grab my foot as if she was holding my hand in support. I could not help but let a tear roll down my cheek and unfortunately into my ear.

The Beach

2010-05-14T08:23:00.002-05:00

We took Rachel to Panama City Beach Florida for her first beach experience and she absolutely loved it. She is a total outdoors person. She loved the water, playing in the sand, and looking for sea shells.

Easter

2010-04-13T18:37:00.002-05:00

Easter was good, we dressed up and went to church. Came home and I cooked lunch. Rachel enjoyed her Easter baskets. We did not hunt eggs at home since she got to do that at school. Then she got to see her Mimi and Pappa for a couple of days and go shopping. She loves that!

Disney On Ice

2010-04-02T18:00:00.003-05:00

We took Rachel to see Disney on Ice, she absolutely loved it. She just beamed and clapped so hard as all the Disney characters came out to sing and skate. Her favorites were of course the princesses, but the very last ensemble to come out and skate was the cast of Toy Story. She got very very excited when they came out. Then she was talking 90 mph in the car as we headed home, and then silence. I looked back and she had passed out.

Accessorize

2010-02-27T07:53:00.002-06:00

Rachel is all about accessories right now. She likes the belts, jewelry (real not play), matching shoes, tights etc.... I think she will be a huge shoe person, she always asks for new ones. And she is always asking to wear my diamond necklace....ummm I don't think so. I let her wear some of my silver necklaces, but the diamonds and pearls are off limits. I always find her picking up her dad's wedding ring and trying to confiscate it. She is definitely into the bling.

Rachels first snow

2010-02-11T15:11:00.005-06:00

Rachel is 4 1/2 years old and has now had the pleasure of her first snowfall. She LOVES it, she must have those Iowa bones in her.

Rachel eating the snow, yes it is clean snow.

Hitting Daddy with the snowball she made

Making a snow angel

The Princess Snow-Woman

Pajama Day

2010-01-14T20:59:00.002-06:00

Today was pajama day at Pre K, one of Rachels favorite. The kids all look so cute in their jammies. They get to watch movies and eat popcorn and the school also has a magic show for them to attend. I was helping out today so I got to go to the magic show as well. He was really funny. An elderly man who does silly tricks and jokes. The kids just beamed.

Christmas fun

2010-01-04T18:18:00.006-06:00

We traveled a little over 2000 miles this Christmas visiting family in Memphis TN and Dothan AL. But the time was great, we all had a lot of fun. So I posted a photo album of our trip. Move mouse over picture to get story and pause picture.

The Christmas Party

2009-12-18T09:57:00.002-06:00

Rachel's last day of Pre K before Christmas break was Thursday. They played bingo, sang songs, exchanged gifts (a book exchange), and decorated sugar cookies. She loves parties, but most of all as we watch her she is becoming more independent and creative. Her vocabulary has exploded since school started up, just other day she told me that the red fire pull on the wall was for EMERGENCY only. Now at home, everything is an EMERGENCY. She also fascinates us with her memory. Yesterday we bought her some new Christmas jammies with feet in them, VERY CUTE. And she said, "I remember when I had red striped ones like these and I jumped on Mimi's bed with Allison and Nicholas." Okay just to fill you in, that was 2 years ago when Rachel was only 2 years old.

The Dance Recital

2009-12-11T20:47:00.004-06:00

After 12 weeks of ballet training it has come down to Rachels recital. The kids did great and looked so cute. Rachels dance teacher even said "I think Rachel is ready fora solo :-)" Rachel's part was small, she plays an angel who does a few turns and then kneels down, but for some reason she danced the entire show with the older girls and did everyones part. It was great, and she loved it.

Tidings of Joy...

2009-12-09T14:27:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures of Rachel trimming the Christmas tree, and her letter to Santa. She enjoyed writing the letter, putting it in the envelope and then putting it in the mail box to be sent to the North Pole. The letter states:

Dear Santa
I want a
Jessie Doll (from Toy Story)
Love Rachel

Then she drew some pictures of presents and a few random letters. :-)

The Tea Party

2009-12-05T17:01:00.002-06:00

Rachel loves having tea parties, she has them in the living room, her playroom, her bedroom, and weather permitting outside in her playhouse/gym set. One day she asked me to help her find more chairs for outside. I looked out the window and there were already 4 chairs set up on the patio. I said, why do you need more? She said "I need one for me." I asked who was sitting in the other 4 chairs. Rachel replied.... Andrew, Anna, Abigail and Alan. (Her cousins, aunt and uncle) so of course I got another chair. Who am I to not let the "invisible" Weaver family over for tea. She then proceeded to serve them all.

A smile that can light up a room

2009-11-21T17:04:00.002-06:00

So a few months back I had decided to make Rachels birthday cake, so I had practiced on some different cake styles until she chose what she wanted. This has sprung into "mom what kind of cake are you going to make me now?" So for fun we will do a new one ever so often. We have done Ariel a couple of times, a teddy bear (Gran gave us), the Cinderella carriage, and now my new attempt...the Belle Doll from beauty and the beast. They cakes are not great....but you can not beat the smile she gets on her face when we make them together.

Halloween!

2009-10-31T19:41:00.003-05:00

We took Rachel trick or treating tonight to a few houses on our block. She loved it as usual. After about the 5th house, she laughed and said, "those trick or treaties... I love them."

Fall Fun

2009-10-23T20:16:00.005-05:00

Every year the church we attend throws a fall festival in their parking lot. They blast Christian music and have tons of food and rides. Rachel loves it. I have also included some pictures of her Pre-School party and Dorothy Gail costume.

You can see more pics via mine or Matthews facebook page. They allow me more uploading of pics than the blog.

Dance

2009-10-02T21:54:00.006-05:00

Our church has a youth program called S.O.F.A it stands for Serving Our Father Artistically. They have all sorts of classes for music, dance, drama etc.... so we enrolled Rachel in a dance class. She absolutely loves it. She enjoys wearing her ballerina outfit each Monday. They are teaching her the different ballet positions, turns and jumps. The class is for 4-5 year old, but there is one 6 year old and a 2 year old who are siblings of others in the 4-5 age group.

In the video she is practicing her Pirouette's, but the music had stopped....oh well, we know the music is always in her heart.

That is the way it is

2009-09-11T17:46:00.003-05:00

Rachel has survived her first day of Pre-K and is really looking forward to more. She knows a lot of the kids in her class from last year which has made the transition good. Also, on Thursdays she gets to start the day in her favorite class which is called Motor Lab. It is sort of like PE, but a lot tamer. They have big bouncy balls, a ball pit, trampoline and etc.... She got to go to the library on her first day and of course what book does she pick out???? Beauty and the Beast an older version. She spent Friday practicing her writing skills. She wrote numbers 0-9 and some letters like Z (which is rarely used). And today at lunch she wrote her name completely on her own, it was messy and yet legible all at the same time. She free handed it with a crayon after I wrote her name, she basically copied it. But got all the letters right and in the correct order. That was a first. She seems to like her teachers and was very excited that she was a good girl that day.

The disciplinary rules - The teachers have a yardstick painted green, yellow, and red. Each child has a clothes pin with their name on it. Each child starts on green. If they act up they are given a verbal warning and moved to yellow. If they act up again they move to red and a note is sent home to the parent. Rachel said "I was green all day!" I said "good girl" she then proceeded to say "Well mom, that is just the way it is."

Happy Birthday Rachel

2009-08-16T21:34:00.003-05:00

Can you believe our BABY is 4 years old! She had a Cinderella birthday party with her cousins, aunt, uncle, and Gran. We had a great time and she was blessed with lots of goodies.

A future talent????

2009-08-02T17:19:00.002-05:00

Not much to say, this is my Aunt Anita's piano and Rachel enjoyed sitting at it and pounding on the keys....hmmmm I would love it if she had a desire to play the piano.

Her first baseball game...

2009-07-14T18:23:00.002-05:00

We went to Houston for the weekend, we shopped a little, celebrated our 12th anniversary and got to see the Astros play. It was Rachel's 1st game. She enjoys watching them on T.V, at the park we hit the Astros shop and she picked out a small bat and ball. She thinks it is just the coolest thing until she hit herself in the ear. OUCH. She really wanted a shirt, but her size was no where to be found. She enjoyed her popcorn, peanuts and purple cotton candy. It was great family fun.

The Little Gym

2009-07-10T18:59:00.005-05:00

Enjoy the video of today's workout...

Mommy Daughter Time

2009-06-30T10:44:00.002-05:00

Rachel and I spent Monday afternoon baking a cake. She did a great job helping me mix the ingredients and stirring the cake. She was very hesitant about the electric mixer, but loved the eating part.

Our own little Cinderella

2009-06-24T21:34:00.003-05:00

I am sure many of you have heard Steven Curtis Chapmans song "Cinderella" well Rachel loves to dance to it....enjoy.

Family Fun

2009-06-23T19:29:00.003-05:00

The Frith family came to visit us for a few days while in the Dallas area. Kids galore at the house, lots of laughter, lots of fun, lots of swimming, and lots of tears as the good bye's were said. We were able to get some family pics on the last day but as you can see the emotional toll of saying good bye was already weighing heavy on Rachel. She would not hug anyone good bye, and then broke down in huge tears and heaving after the Frith MiniVan pulled away. Then she took an incredibly LONG nap, at least 3 days worth of sleeping. We had a good fathers day, Lisa and I's dad was able to come out Sunday, we had a family lunch and visited for a while. The kids enjoyed giving Grandpa some new pictures.

How things change...

2009-06-15T18:00:00.002-05:00

Rachel will be 4 years old in 2 months, I am sad and excited all at the same time. We have changed her room from a baby/toddler room, to a big girls room. We up'd her bed from a toddler daybed to a full size bed, updated her curtains, name sign, border and created a reading corner for her. How did she go from having a crib, rocking chair and small 3 drawer dresser to having a big bed, toy box, bookshelves, 6 drawer dresser with mirror and reading corner. She is so grown up, that she even helped me place all the circles around her name. She knew just where she wanted them and it was HER decision. Time has flown by, I was updating her baby book yesterday and I began to wonder....when did she start picking out her own clothes (and try to pick out mine),when did she start going potty by herself and not even telling me or asking for help, when did she begin to learn songs on the radio and ask for the radio instead of her children's CD's. She has even begun to pick out her own groceries at the store, what she likes and does not like. When did she learn to use the TV and DVD player, the XBOX (don't ask we don't even know that one). How does she know what Daddy's favorite song is and Mommy's favorite color? She is an observant little bug, and a quick learner. I look at her and miss the olden days so much it makes me cry, and yet I am so excited to see her grow and change.

Summer Activities

2009-06-10T17:05:00.003-05:00

Summer is in full swing here in Rockwall. So we have taken up morning swimming. We hit the pool for at least an hour every day. We get some good exercise, a little sun (yes Andrea is tanning - a little) and some fun. Rachel gets braver and braver in the water. At first she would not let go of our necks, then she warmed up to being safely inside a flotation device for little kids, we are now in water wings which she thinks is so cool. She is kicking her legs and floating on her tummy, she just needs to learn to move her arms in sync. She also has begun the summer semester at the Little Gym, she was very excited on her 1st day and clearly remembered screaming on the high bar from last time. She tried the high bar again with a fearful face. It will take time to get used to it. We will be doing some Preschool learning with some curriculum I bought to keep her mind sharp. So we have her in physical activity and brain activity. As for spiritual activity - of course church on Sundays but she is beginning a prayer life as well. She prays at meals and I quote... "Thank you Father, Amen." Very cute. And we need to get consistent with bedtime prayer as well, but since she wants to list everyone she knows for God to bless, it takes time.

The Leg...the Porch Swing...and another Zoo....

2009-06-02T14:48:00.003-05:00

We have returned from our week long trip to Memphis to visit the family and had a great time, a frustration of events did not hamper the good times. This will be a long post...but worth the read.

It all started on the Wednesday before we left for Memphis...Rachel had a small fever and a sore throat, we took her to the doctor immediately because if she was ill, we had to know FAST since a party was going to be on Saturday and we leave for Memphis on Sunday. Sure enough it was strep throat. Now mind you that this is exactly 2 days after our medical insurance has expired and we are paying out of pocket. The doctor advised 24 hours on the medication and she would no longer be contagious. She is feeling good by Saturday, we were torn on whether or not to let her go to her cousin Andrew's party since she was getting over being sick, but knowing how much she loves bounce houses and Andrew/Anna we went for it.

So Saturday we piled in the car and drove 90 minutes to Weatherford. Rachel was very excited to see her cousins and the bounce houses. About 20 minutes into it Rachel had a MINOR bumping incident with someone and immediately broke into tears holding her knee. We held her, gave her some ice for her knee and assumed she would be back to jumping soon. However, after 2 hours of sitting and crying....she said it still hurt. So we piled back in the car and and headed home.

Sunday I went to church while Matthew stayed home with a still wounded Rachel who advised her knee hurt and she could not walk. We felt telling her if she would walk she could go see Mr. Jason (her Sunday school teacher whom she loves) but that did not sway her. After church we headed to Memphis, a 7 hour drive. Rachel is a great traveler and never complained once. But at every pit stop....she would not walk, she would just cry and say it hurt. We never saw any swelling or bruising so we figured she most likely pulled a muscle or twisted/sprained her knee and it would feel better soon.

At Gran and Granddad's house she continued to whimper with pain and refuse to walk, we could not even get her to stand. At the doctor's office on Wednesday for her sore throat she weighed in at 35 lbs....it felt 3times that when carrying her everywhere. We wrapped her knee in an ace bandage and gave her some ligament ointment to help with the pain, but after 4 days....still no walking. She was scooting around on her bottom using her good leg and arms to get around - it was quite a site. We figure she would get tired or frustrated and would try to walk, but every time we mentioned it, she would break down in tears.

By Thursday the rain had stopped and we decided to go to the Zoo, thank goodness for strollers. She loves the Zoo and always wants to see the animals and of course ride the Carousel which is now a tradition. The weather was perfectly cool and the Zoo is great, one of the best we have seen and we have seen MANY. Really cool exhibits and the animals were awake, alert, and CLOSE. Rachel loved the Panda bears so she got a souvenir...thanks Gran! And yet....no walking.

We began to wonder if it was all in her head or if she was seriously hurt and needed to go to her doctor, but we would have to pay out of pocket and most likely for x-rays. OUCH why did this happen the week after our insurance was gone??? So we started with the bribes. "you can go to the park, eat ice-cream, go swimming, run and play if you will just walk a little" but to no avail she refused to put weight on it. But then....we caught her just a fraction of a second put a little weight on it and she did not even know it. So Granddad got her to STAND on his feet and dance around the backyard, she loved it. But when we asked her to walk...NO WAY, huge tears and now her knee did not hurt - it was her shin. We were so puzzled.

We began to wonder if she was just scared to try, scared she would fall, or scared it may hurt. I asked her outside on the porch swing - just me and her - a quiet mommy daughter moment. "Are you scared Rachel?" She said "yes" and I said... "why, of what?" And she replied "Pete" Pete is the cat character from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, it is Rachel's favorite answer to the scared questions, she just laughs. We were at a loss.

We headed home on Saturday and she refused to walk. However, she had no problem riding her tricycle up and down the driveway. We took her to church on Sunday and told Mr. Jason to not baby her, she had to walk. We were hoping that in a room where nobody knows she is hurt would cause her to walk. But no...it had been 8 days of NO WALKING. That evening we forced her to put weight on her left leg, her eyes grew huge and she let out an enormous scream of pain. Big tears and sobs. I felt bad and we decided she had to go to the doctor, it must be hurt.

So Monday we went to see Dr. Chin her pediatrician from day one. Rachel told her where it hurt and of course she would not walk. We explained the accident, and the several days of events. Dr. Chin did a very thorough examination of both legs, joints, ankle, knee etc... and said it appeared fine. Rachel walked on the tops of Dr. Chins feet and put 100% of her body weight on her hurt leg as long as she was standing on Dr. Chins feet and not her own. Dr. Chin had the other Dr. take a look and all agreed. The leg is fine and she was just scared. Nobody knows how to make her walk 9 days later. Most kids would "give it up" by now and walk so they could run and play. So Dr. Chin gave Rachel a "magic" band aid and said it would make her leg all better in 3 days. Rachel loved the magic band aid idea. We took her home and she would not walk. Rachel was carried to bed Monday night.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning Rachel was standing at our bedroom door. We looked at her and said "did you walk in here?" She immediately went down and said it hurts....that was it...we were done playing games.

Today is Tuesday and we had to practice tough love, VERY tough love. We told her should could not come out of her room unless she walked out. Several times she crawled out and we sent her back crying. The final time she crawled out and then walked on her tip toes holding on to the couch. We praised her and said if she would walk without holding on we would go where ever she wanted. She has been walking on her own ever since. She limps a little, but we think her leg is weak from not being used for 11 days, but she is walking....so she got to go to the swim park and a chocolate ice cream cone!

The Zoo...

2009-05-16T18:28:00.003-05:00

Rachel loves the zoo we have said it many times. We went to the Dallas Zoo, it was our first time to that one. It was nice, but very spread out and they really try to nickel and dime you to death on everything. As always Rachel's favorite is the elephant. We walked miles, miles, and miles that day. We were there over 3 hours non stop movement. Rachel also liked the parrot that kept telling her "hello." She thought that was so cool.

Seriously....

2009-05-15T10:24:00.003-05:00

Ok, it was not too many blog entries ago that I was bragging about how Rachel could dress herself and she did it so well. She has a real sense of fashion and makes good choices....but then today she busted out with this outfit.....seriously? What do I say, do you let her wear it? She just got out of the shower after getting purple marshmellow in her hair so it is a little wild, but i can handle the hair...it is the blue shirt, brown pants, black shoes and bright yellow hospital socks. :-)

Mothers Day

2009-05-10T13:30:00.003-05:00

Happy Mothers Day! I must have heard that from Rachel at least one million times this weekend and it never got old. She says "Happy Mudders Day." And then she asked Matthew, when is Happy Rachel Day? Rachel's preschool had a Mothers Day Luau, it was fun, she gave me lei, a card, an "about my mom" info sheet, and a pretty geranium with a finger painted terracotta pot. We had fun. Then on Friday we all drove out to my dad's house went out to dinner, then did some boating/fishing on Saturday. Rachel had a great time and loves to be on the boat with Papa. I must say if you do a lot of water time with your kids...invest in the bathing suit/life preserver set. It does not crowd around their neck like a normal life preserver...they are great. Then on Sunday Rachel made another card for me in Sunday school and she gave me a beautiful pair of hoop earrings (thanks dad). Matthew gave me 4 coupons....2 for a free back scratching, and 2 to give him Rachel duties when it is normally my turn....you can't beat that :-)

The Little Gym

2009-04-28T12:31:00.003-05:00

The soccer thing fell through, Rockwall Soccer Tots has been unable to find a suitable location for summer session, so we enrolled Rachel in Little Gym for the summer. It is a fun filled gymnastics class for 3-4 year olds. We took her Monday evening to a trial session that is 60 minutes. For the 1st 7 minutes she walked slowly as other kids ran and danced, she kept staring at us through the window, I could tell she was embarrassed. But then, she just sprang into action and let her embarrassment go. She ran, danced, jumped, did "baby" cartwheels, played with balls and bubbles. Then she got to complete some beginner gymnastic moves. She liked doing cartwheels on the mats, playing on the spring board for jumping, and when it came time for the balance board she was a little tense, but walked across it with her teachers help. However, when it came time to the uneven high bars the story changed....she grabbed on the low bar and hung there swinging back and forth. The teacher always kept her hands loosely around her waist and showed Rachel how to slide her hands from one side to another, and how to turn around on the bar, Rachel was very tense, but a trooper. Then came the flip, the teacher took Rachel's feet and slowly and gently rolled her over the bar. So basically Rachel's tummy rolled around the bar and her feet went over her head and then back down again, the teacher never lets go. Now this is a sound proof room and adults watch from a glassed in foyer. We could hear Rachel scream through the heavy plexi-glass. As she came off the bar her face was red and stressed. We started laughing, she looked at us and we smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She gave the teacher a high 5 and ran off. She looked at the bars all evening in curiosity. She then decided to try it one more time, but just to hang and swing. Flips will have to wait. He session begins in June so pictures will have to come later. She had a lot of fun and is already asking to go back. Yeah! Rachel also got to have fun at Anna's Cinderella birthday party, she just loves her cousins, it is always hard when it is time to go home. We are looking forward to seeing them again in May for Andrew's birthday.

Camping at Lake Tawakoni

2009-04-22T13:58:00.002-05:00

We took Rachel on her first overnight camping trip. She had a lot of fun. Turns out she has a knack for it like her daddy. We spent sometime fishing at the lake, Rachel's bobber got action a lot and as we began reeling in her first catch....it was a turtle. I have never seen anyone catch a turtle before. She really enjoyed her pink fishing pole and we will have to go again soon. We chased bubbles, and played with water guns and we also roasted marshmallows which she thought was fun until she put one in her mouth and freaked out. It was not hot because mommy tested it first, so either the gooey part or the warm part in mouth made her scream out. Roasting fun....eating, not so much.

But Easter's Over.....

2009-04-14T14:32:00.002-05:00

Is it summer yet? The weather is getting warmer, the rain is getting harder, and the allergies are in full bloom. Spring is tormenting the Johnson house. Easter was great! The Weaver Fam came out for an overnight stay so the kids got to play hard, hunt eggs, get dressed up and get their pictures taken. We had a good time. Rachel had an Easter party at preschool, I think all the candy has put her in a coma of disobedience though. For 2 days straight she got in trouble for not being obedient to her teachers. We also learned she growled at one of them. I could not help but laugh at that one. But today we are back on routine and she had a great day at school. Rachel will be "star student" next week so we will have some fun putting together an "all about me" board for her classroom. At school each kid was given a palm branch and learned about the true meaning of Easter. As the kids walked out of their classes each were waiving their palm branch and saying "Praise God" when Rachel came out she was quiet. I asked her "what is that?" she replied "a pom" and I said..."what do you do with it?" She thought for a minute and replied "you swat bee's with it!" We laughed at that one too.

Massive Project

2009-04-05T16:57:00.005-05:00

Rachels Pappa (Andrea's dad) bought all his grandkids a gym set. So Matthew being the skilled craftsman that he is decided he could put it up all on his own. I must say...I am very impressed. He started at 1:30 on Saturday and worked for 4 hours. Then after church on Sunday he completed it in 5 hours. So all in all it took him 9 hours...not too bad considering on the box it advised it would take 8-10 hours for 2 people to assemble. Below is a photo story of how it went. Rachel absolutely loves it and won't come inside.

Preparing for Easter

2009-04-04T10:31:00.002-05:00

Rachel and I went shopping this week to find her Easter dress. I let her pick it out all by herself and she did great! She also picked out a stylish pink sequin purse, it does not match the dress, but hey...she is a girl I could not say no.

Family

2009-03-28T20:40:00.002-05:00

The three of us joined Gran and Granddad (Johnson) for part of their annual Texas Tour. We met them in Abilene and were able to visit with Grandmama Adams and then headed to Lubbock to visit Great Granddad and Grandmother Johnson. We also were able to visit with the aunts and uncles - James, Lesa, Tim and Darla. It was a great time because we do not see them much being so far away. Rachel quickly bonded with Great Granddad and grandmother and held hands and walked with them. As you can see from the picture she went on a mini stroll with Great Granddad out the front door while waiting for the "bus" to take us all to dinner.

Fun in the Sun

2009-03-28T20:33:00.003-05:00

They weather has been beautiful in Rockwall so we have been working a lot on the yard. Pulling weeds, re-mulching the landscaping and adding a few plants. Rachel spent the time riding her tricycle up and down the sidewalk. Then as daddy sprayed the yard down she wanted to be "squished" as she calls it. It was great fun.

Sports

2009-03-19T14:24:00.007-05:00

We have said many times that Rachel has a great balance of being a girly girl and a tomboy, only time will tell which will dominate in her future. Her preschool will come to a close at the end of May, so we have been researching what summer programs we can enroll her in. We have narrowed it down to a dance class or a soccer class. She loves to dress up and dance around the house, but she also loves to be outside kicking the ball and running around. We decided to let her choose. We asked -"Rachel, do you want to dance with your friends or play soccer with your friends?" She thought about for a little bit and said "I want to kick the soccer ball with my friends." So that is it. We will enroll her in the Soccer Tots program this summer. We took a trip to the dollar store today, and told Rachel she could pick out a toy. She chose a plastic yellow baseball bat and ball. She was so excited and ran to the backyard as soon as we got home.

She is a natural! She can not only hit the ball, but does pretty good at pitching, and of course she loves to pose for the camera.

Daddy's Girl

2009-03-15T16:10:00.003-05:00

Rachel is a total daddy's girl. She shadow's him everywhere presses her face against the glass when he goes out to get the mail. She smothers him with kisses, hugs and love each and every day. She is a mamma's girl also, but daddy holds the key to her heart for sure.

Outdoor Fun

2009-03-07T08:49:00.002-06:00

The weather is getting nicer and Rachel is wanting to spend some time outside, which is great! So last night the three of us spent a few hours cleaning off our back patio to create some room for her chalk projects. We moved off all the extra bricks from our house being built, we moved our smoker/grill, we moved our hose, we cleaned out all the leaves, dead grass, and such. We moved our lawnmower and some other yard thing into the garage. Rachel was a big helper. But by the time we finished we were all 3 filthy and it was getting late so Rachel could not stay out but had to go straight to the tub. So this morning the first thing she wanted to do was go outside with her chalk. Not even 5 minutes later I found her covered in pink chalk...so of course....it was right back to the tub.

A true Johnson....

2009-02-27T11:04:00.003-06:00

Rachel has now proven herself to be a true Johnson to the very core....she is now addicted to playing games on the computer. She takes a computer lab at her preschool and has learned to maneuver the mouse, pointing, clicking and so forth. She plays color and shape games at school. So we let her play some "I spy" games on the Disney website for preschoolers. In this video Rachel has to find hidden animals in Belle's forest. It gives her a list of animals and then she has to find them in the picture and click on them. She loves it!

Misc....Rachel Things

2009-02-19T14:29:00.008-06:00

Rachel spent one morning "decorating" her hair for church...I had a hard time explaining why she could not wear the clips that day.

Rachel has been enjoying running around the house with a pillow case covering her whole body...notice the barefeet...too cute.

Rachel's preschool had a patriotic day that included a parade around the church. She looked so cute in her red,white and blue.

Putt Putt

2009-02-13T15:51:00.003-06:00

We took Rachel on her first Putt-Putt experience today. She got tired quickly but had fun hitting and chasing the ball. It was everything we could do to keep her out of the water.

Weekend in Georgetown

2009-02-08T15:38:00.002-06:00

We spent a couple of days in Georgetown, we were able to visit Mimi and Boppa. Matthew was able to attend the Georgetown swap fest and won many prizes. Rachel had fun feeding the fish, playing at the park, but my favorite is that she got her hair cut and it is really cute!!!

Such A Sweet Girl

2009-01-31T17:12:00.003-06:00

Rachel loves to have her back tickled as mommy sings Jesus Loves Me, so I asked her to sing it to me. It is Rachel's feel good song. When she is tired or sick she asks for it. As Matthew has been spending time resting this week, she has sung it to him as well.

The Chair....

2009-01-30T16:49:00.006-06:00

Rachel's Papa (Andrea's dad) gave her a nice paisly recliner chair, and she loves it. It sits in her play room, she sits it in it kicks her feet up and watches cartoons in the morning. However on this day she fell asleep in the chair...it was in a matter of seconds. She was laughing at cartoons so I took her picture, then went to show her daddy and email it to her Papa, and when I went back in she was asleep. Talk about comfort!!!

Matthew's surgery went really well, with having an abdominal hernia repaired he can not lift anything over 5 lbs for 2 months. Pray for me!! So we had to warn and prepare Rachel. Mommy told her that "daddy had an ouchie on his tummy but the dr. would make it all better. daddy will be sore for a while so you can not jump or tackle daddy, we have to be very gentle around him." Surely this would suffice, but Matthew took it a step further and said "the dr will cut daddy's tummy to make it better." She did not react, but I looked at Matthew and said "why would you tell her that?" She never really said anything, but the day of the surgery Rachel and I took him to the surgery center, dropped him off and then I took Rachel to school. I went back to the surgery center to be with Matthew, after taking him home I went to the school to pick up Rachel. Her teacher told me that Rachel spent all day telling people that "my daddy is going to cut up my stomach, but it is okay because it hurts." I could not belive it, and then I had to explain what happened.

But the best part of this experience was getting Matthew out of the house for the first time....we went to Walmart...he rode on the motorized scooter with the basket. I had to walk away from him several times while hiding my laughter, especially when he had to back it up and the cart loudly went " beep, beep, beep." I wish I had a picture.

Playing with the cousins...

2009-01-25T16:43:00.004-06:00

The Weaver family came to Rockwall for a weekend of fun! The kids had a great time and played hard while the adults visited and watched movies. Rachel loves playing with other kids and gets very emotional when her cousins have to leave. We will need to get together with them more often. She was totally exhausted from playing hard with no naps. We tried to get her down, but she wanted to play to much. She had fun playing dress up with Anna and playing rough chasing Andrew. It reminds me of playing with my cousins as a kid. Andrew and Rachel spent the night in her playroom sleeping in their sleeping bags, who knows how late they stayed up talking, I know I could hear them well into the night.

This and That....

2009-01-21T20:28:00.003-06:00

Not much going on lately, but we are heading to a busy week next week. On Tuesday Matthew will be having minor surgery which will require much at home care by me...and everyone knows a nurse I am not. The rough part is that the surgery is Tuesday, Rachel will be at school which is good but then on Wednesday I have a meeting with the Texas Workforce at 9am so Rachel will be home with daddy alone. Pray that she is calm and low maintenance that morning.

We have been spending the past few days cleaning out our attic, pulling down old boxes, going through old toys, pictures etc....and getting rid of some stuff while preparing other things for ebay or an upcoming garage sale. In the attic above our garage we pulled out 10-15 boxes and were able to combine them into 2! Wow that is some serious downsizing. We enjoyed looking at old photos, we each found our old drivers license from when we were 16...and old photos of when were dating...good times.

School....

2009-01-13T11:01:00.003-06:00

Today is "crazy hat, socks, and tie" day at school. So Rachel is sporting her dad's Mickey Mouse tie, and her pretty bright Hello Kitty socks from Mimi. Check out the sweater....they just opened a new kids consignment store called "Kid to Kid" they have great stuff. I got this sweater for only $2 plus two more sweaters and a brand new jump rope all for under $10... Rachel liked the store because they have a pretty pink door that is just for kids to enter in exit from...she thought that was so cool. She is very proud of her Princess lunchbox and backpack as well. Today they go to computer lab....she will love that.

Windy Day...

2009-01-09T13:17:00.002-06:00

The weather has been great this month. I can not believe how many warm days in the '70's we have had so far this January. We took Rachel to the park today, she had fun. We did not get to stay too long becuase the wind was so strong, I was afraid it would bother her ears. We enrolled her in our church's preschool program. She goes a couple of days a week. She seems to like it. They get to go to music class, computer lab, discovery lab and chapel. She goes to the library and gets to check out books to bring home for a few days. We feel really good about her being there. She is growing up so fast, she is no longer a baby, but a little girl. A little girl who talks constantly. We moved around some furniture in house and turned a spare room into her play room. She loves it! It has a lot of direct sunlight and all her big toys go in there, she spends a lot of time in there.

The Holiday's are over...

2009-01-02T16:29:00.002-06:00

I am a little glad, although Rachel was very upset when we took down the Christmas decorations....so we went to Target and bought a small fiber optic lit 32inch tree for her room. We let her decorate it with plastic ornaments and it serves as a great nightlight. Plus it let's her celebrate Christmas all year long! We had a great Christmas, Rachel decorated cookies and a gingerbread house with Gran in Tenessee, she played games and dress up with her cousins in Alabama, and spent 2000 miles in the car over a 10 day period! She is such a trooper!

How to Unwrap a Christmas Gift...

2008-12-18T08:00:00.005-06:00

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

2008-12-05T10:22:00.003-06:00

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

2008-11-23T08:52:00.002-06:00

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...

2008-11-16T08:40:00.002-06:00

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...

2008-10-31T20:23:00.004-05:00

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

2008-10-25T16:13:00.003-05:00

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....

2008-10-06T16:30:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-10-04T12:41:00.000-05:00

Small Observances

2008-10-04T12:14:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-13T16:50:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-13T16:44:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-06T08:21:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-08-17T13:34:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-08-17T13:29:00.003-05:00

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

2008-08-02T08:20:00.002-05:00

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.....

2008-08-02T08:12:00.005-05:00

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

2008-07-06T16:18:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-27T20:06:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-27T20:02:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-25T08:51:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-18T17:19:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-18T17:17:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-18T17:13:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-26T08:11:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-16T08:28:00.003-05:00

Rachel singing her ABC song!

The Lake and Learning

2008-04-16T07:09:00.005-05:00

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

2008-03-24T20:42:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-24T20:40:00.000-05:00

Rachel in her blue dress.

Spring Is Here

2008-03-16T15:24:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-03-15T16:36:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-08T20:53:00.001-06:00

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

Growing Up

2008-03-08T14:12:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-20T19:21:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-01-05T14:11:00.000-06:00

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!

Merry Christmas....I think

2007-12-16T08:26:00.000-06:00

Rachel was so excited to go see Santa, she did a great job waiting in the long line, not messing up her hair, not getting her clothes dirty. Even as she watched other kids laugh, play and cry she just kept saying ....Santa..lap..Santa...lap. So we thought for sure she would enjoy it. Wow we were wrong! She freaked out and froze solid. She would not look at anyone, her eyes were held tightly shut and she just cried. For several days after this event she would not sleep in her own room because....as she stated...."Me scared...Claus" She was just sure he would come to get her. We felt so bad. The nights are getting better, we read and sing before bed and rub her back as she falls asleep. Odd thing is....everytime we see a Santa on t.v or out in public she gets excited and says ... Santa..Lap...Santa...Lap! And we say "absolutely NOT!"