Cheerleading

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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!

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

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.