all of us

Here's the picture I mentioned of us all.

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008: the recap

Christmas Eve

We decided to go to the earliest service at church (3:00!!) because last year we went at 4:30 and it was so packed that we barely got a space for Rachel in the nursery and we barely got a seat (had to sit in the second or third row, squished together). They were asking people with flexible schedules to go to the earlier one, but apparently, everyone else had flexible schedules too, because EVERYONE was at our service. We got there early enough that we got Rachel a nursery spot and we got some seats, but by the end it was packed to the gills. My friend, Emily, said they had to stand! It was strange to walk out of a candlelight service and have it still be light outside. I didn't like that part. Oh, and the rain. I didn't like that either. It's not supposed to rain on Christmas Eve. But it did. All day. Here's Rachel before we went, all dressed up.


We came home and made our annual Christmas dinner. We always make something special. Last year it was scallops. This year we made king crab legs. They were great, and I've never heard my husband go on so about a home cooked meal. I wish he was always so complimentary! Even Rachel ate (and liked!) some crab.

After dinner we had Rachel decorate her own little Christmas tree, which we decided to call our Santa Tree, the place where Santa would place his gifts, to keep them separate from the gifts from Mommy and Daddy. She had a great time decorating it. We got milk and a snack ready for Santa (we didn't have any cookies, so we left him graham crackers and a piece of fudge--he still ate them and said he enjoyed them in the note he left!) and carrots for the reindeer.

She opened her one present on Christmas eve (PJs--a tradition left over from my childhood) and Daddy read her "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the Bible Christmas story before bed, also a tradition we started (he even read them to her on her first Christmas eve, when she was only 8 months old--hopefully she'll enjoy them even more with each coming year).


After she went to bed, Santa's Elves got to work and then we watched "A Christmas Story" (on for 24 hours on TBS--we just watched it once!).


Christmas Morning

Rachel woke us up talking around 5:50. This is becoming a trend lately that we don't like. Usually if she's awake before 6, I go in and tell her that it's still nigh-night time, and she needs to go back to sleep. But since we knew we needed to get going, we decided not to do that. We let her talk awhile, while my husband took and shower and got ready to go downstairs to turn the lights on and the video camera ready. Meanwhile, I went into her room and said, "Merry Christmas! It's Christmas morning!" In the last week or so since the presents had been wrapped, she'd ask to open them and we'd say, "Not 'till Christmas morning!" So when I told her, "It's Christmas morning!" she immediately said, "Open 'em? Open 'em?" She knew immediately what we were going to do that morning.

Once Daddy was ready she and I went downstairs. The first thing she saw was the train table. "Ohhhhhh......trains!" she said, as she ran over to the table. She discovered the sounds it made as she moved the trains around the track. We let her play with it for quite awhile, but then tried to get her to come open the gifts and stocking Santa had left under her little tree. It took a lot of coercing to get her to stop what she was doing--and this continued the whole morning. Everything she opened, she was soooo excited about and wanted to play with. She'd play with it awhile, go back to something else she had already opened, and finally we'd get her to come over and open something else.

Some of her favorite things she opened were the tutu I made her (which she put on over her PJs and then later with her new cowboy hat and bandanna!), chalk for her easel, and the Tinkerbell video (which we bought to go with her portable DVD player she also opened--more a present for us than for her, though, since it means she'll be quiet on long trips from now on!!!). But really, she loved every single thing--even the outfit she opened, which most kids wouldn't be too excited about. She wanted to put it on right away. It was just so fun to see her so excited and enjoying everything so much.


She kept going back to the train table, though. I thought this was so funny--her PJs, tutu, cowboy bandanna, and playing with her trains..... This is how she spent most of the morning.

There was a leotard to go with the tutu. After awhile I finally put it on her. She loved it, but kept saying, "Mommy, where's my pants?"My husband and I exchanged several gifts, too. He had asked for an iPod classic, and I was determined to get it for him, but that meant I couldn't get him much else. But I wanted there to be more presents under the tree, so I wrote a bunch of little poems and wrapped them up in boxes. The first one said something about his gifts being under the tree, "but ten push ups you first must do before you get gift number two." Each box had some task he had to complete, like jumping jacks, running up and down the stairs, and things like that. So after he opened the first five poem gifts, gift number six was his iPod. He spent most of the rest of the morning transferring his music over to it. And if you know him, you know just how much music that is! But there's still over half the memory left, so he has lots more room.

He surprised me on a few things (namely a card table, which I really thought was a painting for the wall when I saw it all wrapped up!). I got the new lamps I wanted for our family room, a microwave, which we desperately needed, since ours is on its last leg, a necklace, some gift cards to some of my favorite places, and a few other things.

This is the marble run Daddy made for Rachel. She loves it, especially the marbles. She sat at breakfast that morning and just watched them speed down the track over and over.

After the presents were all opened, we had to get everything packed and ready to go by 11:00 so we could be at my parents' house by 2:00. Rachel watched some of her Tinkerbell movie on the drive up, but she fell asleep after about 40 minutes and slept almost the rest of the way. We were really glad, since last year she didn't sleep on the ride and it resulted in a way too wound-up/overly tired little girl come evening.


Christmas Afternoon

When we arrived at my parents' house Rachel's cousins were there, and anxious to open more presents. My younger brother, Jack, and his wife, Megan, weren't there yet, but my mom decided to go ahead and have the kids open their presents. It actually worked out really well this way, because we all weren't trying to open our own presents at the same time, so the parents and grandparents could concentrate on watching the kids open their presents and help them get them out of the package so they could play with each one (those awful twist ties and plastic wrap are SO annoying!!!). Since her cousins are older and more experienced, they whipped through their presents pretty quickly, while Rachel wanted to stop and play with each one, so her present opening lasted a lot longer. Some of her favorites were her Little People princess castle and coach, Leo's baton (from The Little Einsteins--here she is conducting), and some Thomas trains: Rosie, Lady, and the musical caboose.

She loved pretending she was "Dr. Rachel" with her new doctor's kit. Here she is giving Grandpa a checkup (looking in his ears and giving him a shot).

Grandma wanted a picture with all of the grandkids. Trying to get four children to sit still, smile, and look at the camera at the same time is nearly impossible. Alex wouldn't get in the picture at first, and then even after he did, he was sad.

We also took a group photo later in the day. My brother, Ted, gave us all picture frames covered in slate from the house where we all grew up (the house has since been destroyed by a fire, which is devastating to all of us, but when he went once to walk around and look at the property, he found the slate from what was once our front hall), and he wanted us to get a family picture to put in it. He got the best one, which I'll try to put on here on another post.

My mom then gave us all our presents--we each got a huge box and she told us to open them at the same time. Inside were all of our gifts, so we only had one to unwrap! My brother said, "It's like a goodie bag of all the things I like!"

The rest of the day was spent playing with toys, talking, eating, laughing, and having a good time together as a family. Rachel was as good as gold the whole time and just had the best time playing with her cousins, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. It was a great day.

The Day After Christmas

The next day we got up and went to celebrate with my husband's family. Rachel had a good time playing with her cousins (especially with Ashley's tent, which was a big Tinkerbell tent that went over her bed) and Granny and Papa. There she opened a present that was more than twice her size! Her uncle wanted to know who was getting the coffin for Christmas.... Can you tell what it is?

If you guessed a sled, you're right! It's the biggest sled I've ever seen! When she told me on the phone before Christmas that we could all three fit on it, she wasn't kidding!

After lunch Rachel and Ashley took a nap and the adults were able to play a game, which was fun. We spent the rest of afternoon with them and then headed back to my parents' house, where my aunt, uncle, and cousins had arrived. It's always fun to see them, and we spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other. We all stayed up late playing a game, which was full of laughs.

It was a great weekend, full of lots of food and fun with family. I'm sad it's over, after looking forward to it for so long, but it'll make it all the more exciting when it comes along next year.

odds and ends

We're home again, recovering from the hustle and bustle of the last week. I'm sad it's all over, but it was really, really fun. I'll write a recap with pictures soon, but wanted to get a short post up now. Here are a couple of funny things that happened before Christmas that I wanted to make sure to remember for posterity.

*Daddy was working on Rachel's marble run he made for her for Christmas, and was covered in saw dust. He came in from the garage as Rachel was sitting at the table eating a snack of graham crackers. "Daddy, you eat gwam cwackers too?" she asked, innocently, as she looked at the "crumbs" on the front of his jacket.

*She was feeding me pretend letter cookies, which were actually pieces of her letter puzzle. She gave me the "N" cookie. I pretended to take a bite and said, "Mmmmm, it's scrumptious!" "No, it's N, Mommy!" she replied!


*We went to a very crowded Christmas Eve service at our church. Rachel was in the nursery, which is only for 2 year olds and under on Christmas Eve, so there were lots and lots of kids in the service (hard to believe that next year she'll be old enough to have to come sit with us!). Anyway, there was this little girl sitting on her daddy's lap right next to me. She was probably 3. She had a hard time staying quiet, and was asking her dad a million questions. After the music, when our pastor went up on the stage to give the short sermon, the little girl asked, "Who's that, Daddy? Is that Jesus?"

run, run, as fast as you can...

Yesterday our house was overrun by gingerbread men!

My mom came down to introduce Rachel to the story by making gingerbread men with her.

It started with the cutest gingerbread men matching aprons (which she then gave to me, so now Rachel and I have matching aprons).

And making the dough.

While the dough was chilling, they read the story.

After naptime they rolled and cut out the cookies.

And decorated them with buttons and eyes (some have more eyes than others....you can guess who did those!).

After they cooled, the frosting was added and then they were ready to eat..

Judging by the amount of dough she ate

and the fact that she ate the entire cookie (and asked for more all night long),

I'd say she enjoyed it!

Thank you, Grandma!!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

It's hard to believe it's less than 2 weeks until Christmas!

Yesterday my husband took the day off because I had a doctor's appointment (still dealing with the headache issues, which I'll write about one of these days) and because he had a day to use before the end of the year. We had decided to spend it doing Christmas things. So after I got home from the doctor, he and Rachel went shopping for Mommy's present while I went grocery shopping. It was so nice to go to the store all by myself! He, unfortunately, didn't have as good as an experience, as Rachel decided to fuss and tell Daddy she was tired and wanted to go home for most of their trip. I guess she really was tired, though, since she fell asleep in the car on the way home! At least she knows what she needs.

During her nap he and I wrapped all of her presents. He grew up having most of the presents under the tree throughout the weeks before Christmas, and that's the way he likes it. He thinks it allows the anticipation to build. It was never that way in our house, so I would prefer to keep them hidden until Christmas morning, but it isn't something I felt was worth arguing about, so her presents are now under the tree. She noticed, of course, after her nap, and wanted to open them right away. I can't count the number of times since then that she's asked to open them. I have to keep telling her that she can't open them until Christmas morning.

Yesterday afternoon Rachel and I made a "gingerbread house," minus the gingerbread. We used graham crackers instead.

She liked making it, but was mostly just interested in eating the candy!

So it's very Christmas-y around here these days!

a fun visit

So we made it! Weather didn't interfere, and though my cold was quite annoying and I couldn't be quite as helpful to Allecia as I would've liked to have been as a result of feeling yucky, I hope that our being there was still a blessing to her (and didn't make any of them sick!).

Sweet Marin was so precious and such a good baby. I had forgotten how light newborns are! And how sweet their little noises are! I enjoyed seeing Allecia dress her up in one of the outfits we gave her, complete with a bow in her hair.

We went to the children's museum for a couple of hours, where I met up with my college roommate and her youngest son (sadly, I didn't get any pictures!....just a few of Rachel playing).She hadn't met Rachel, so it was fun to see them, although we didn't get to talk much, with our kids all running off in different directions.

To help entertain Kaden we made and decorated cookies

played with play doh (over and over and over...and they never tired of it!)

painted, and did some crafts. The kids had a great time. They played hide and seek several times (and each hid in the same place every time....at least it's not just Rachel who does that!) and squealed with glee each time they found the other. Here they are playing horsie....sort of.

I was very sad to leave my friend, not knowing when we'll see each other again. It is nice to be home, though (especially since I won't have to sleep in the same room as Rachel...which resulted in her in my bed on the first night, kicking, singing, and throwing her arms across me declaring, "Mommy, I vewy, vewy hungwy" at 4:00 AM! It was not a good night!). I just wish she didn't live so far away.

(Here's Rachel kissing "Baby Mahwin." She asked to hold her several times and was very gentle.)

my thoughts on winter (and it's not even winter yet!)

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

I can't believe winter technically is not even here yet. I already despise it. Yes, the snow was really pretty the other day. Yes, I'm looking forward to Christmas. But otherwise, winter, I don't like you. Don't bother coming this year, if you please.

Why? The number one reason is sickness. You already read about our "Thanksgiving from hell," as my dad called it many times. (Actually, Thanksgiving was nice. It was the days following Thanksgiving which were less than ideal.) It took my husband and me all week to feel normal again, stomach-wise. And then Saturday night, while on a date together (a once or twice a year event that I had been anticipating for quite awhile), I had a relapse. Ugh. In a public restroom. Not. Fun. At. All. Otherwise, the date was great! Then yesterday I woke up feeling like I was getting a cold. A cold. After just finishing up an antibiotic for a sinus infection less than a week ago! What is going on????

Rachel and I are leaving in a few hours to go visit Allecia, Kaden, and new baby Marin. I've been looking forward to it for months. Now I have a cold (not to mention headache issues, which is its own post for some other day) to contend with. But another reason I despise winter is related to this trip....the road conditions. This trip, like I said, has been planned for months. We knew that after Allecia had the baby, Rachel and I would go visit for several days to help entertain Kaden, cook dinner, and try to help out Allecia in any way we could. But everything has to be dependent on the weather in the winter. You can look forward to a visit forever, but unless the weather cooperates, in the winter, you can't count on that visit. Thankfully, it looks like the weather is going to cooperate for the traveling days for this visit, but sometimes it doesn't always work out that way.

For instance, my mom is planning on coming down next week for a couple of days because she's been wanting to make gingerbread men with Rachel. She got her the story, a stuffed gingerbread man, and even a cute little pink gingerbread shirt, and I've been looking forward to it for weeks (Rachel, I'm sure, would be too if she knew about it....but you can't tell that girl anything more than a couple of hours in advance. I made the mistake of telling her about our trip to see Kaden a couple of days ago and I haven't heard the end of it!) But I can't bank on any of it happening because who knows what the weather will be next week. I really hope it works out.

Ugh. Winter, please don't come. You can sprinkle a little more snow so we have a white Christmas (but please don't interfere with any of our travel plans!), and maybe even play out in it a bit (Rachel really, REALLY wants to build a snowman!!) but then you must go away. Got it?

Note: Yes, it really is 5:40 AM....I've been up since 3:30 with way too much on my mind about this trip--I haven't packed, due to the-worst-headache-in-my-life which I dealt with yesterday. As soon as my husband wakes up I'll be springing into action. Meanwhile, I've been making a list and checking it twice...no, three times.....

kwissmiss time!

Yesterday I spent most of the morning putting up Christmas decorations around the house (all except the tree). Rachel was SO excited and kept going all around the house looking at them, playing with the stuffed animals, and especially with her Little People Nativity set, declaring with glee every few minutes, "It's Kwissmiss Time!"

When it was naptime she asked me sadly, "Kwissmiss over?" I had to try to explain that it's not Christmas day, just Christmas time, and we were getting ready for Christmas day, which wasn't for a few weeks. Time is lost on a two year old.

Today after church we put up our tree, which is what Rachel's been talking about wanting for weeks and weeks, every time we ask her what she hopes Santa brings. We kept trying to tell her that we would put up a tree before Santa came, but again, try explaining timing to a two year old. It doesn't work well. But anyway, she was thrilled today. She was mostly in the way while she "helped," but she had fun trying. We did a little while she was up and the majority of it while she was napping, which made it go much more quickly. After her nap she came down to this

and couldn't have been happier. (Notice her Wonder Pets cape....she wears it almost constantly these days, taking it off only for meals and sleeping.)

comfort

Yesterday was a bad day. Nothing really bad....just lots of little annoying things happened, which, when built up, amounted to a frustrated Weed. At dinner last night my husband was trying to cheer me up, which usually doesn't work, but he always tries, bless his heart.

Then he said to Rachel, "Rachel, what should we do to help Mommy get happy?"

She thought a minute, looking at me.

With a big smile and her two year old confidence she declared, "A KWEENEX!"

I started to laugh, and it was just what I needed to pull me out of my funk. See, anytime Rachel starts to get sad about something, she says she needs a kleenex. Whether she's crying or not, a kleenex always makes her feel better. So what else would she think of to make her Mommy feel better!? Of course! A kleenex brings everyone comfort, doesn't it?

some new sayings

Just in the last few days she's developed some new phrases....



*It's so cute, Mommy! (when talking about her baby dolls)



*Yo-ah kidding! (You're kidding--when talking on her play phone--I asked her where she heard that and she said on Max and Ruby)



*Wisten Kwismiss Moosic? (listen to Christmas music? She says this when I take her in to play in her play pen each morning. She has a children's Christmas music CD that I started playing for her and she loves it)



*Jus 'tend, Mommy (I'm just pretending, Mommy. She tells me this when she makes an animal sound and I say, "Are you an elephant?" Or if she fake cries, and I say, "Are you a baby?")

Thanksgiving pictures

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving day--before all of the sickness began.

One of the toys my older nephew and niece enjoyed at Grandma and Grandpa's house was this "Bop It Extreme." My parents have had it for several years and every once in awhile someone gets it out and everyone enjoys playing it a few times. At one point I had the high score, but I don't know if anyone ever beat it.

The kids all love playing with Legos,

and Rachel was finally allowed to join in the fun this year. Up until this year she had been too young because she would've put the pieces in her mouth. I don't think she even tried this time (although there are plenty of times she still does try to put things in her mouth that she shouldn't). She had a great time, mostly pulling the pieces apart (sometimes with help) and making a tower by stacking a bunch of bricks on top of one another.

At dinner time my husband tried to take a picture. Sadly, Rachel was already eating and was in the highchair back in the corner between my husband and me, so you can't even see her in the picture! I'm sad she won't be able to see herself in the future and know she was there, too!

home at last

Two days later than planned, but we made it home this morning around 11:30. I'm feeling much better today after a miserable day yesterday. My husband's still not feeling great, but much better than Saturday, and thankfully Rachel hasn't seemed to catch it.

Today's December 1st, and I had to acknowledge the day with my mom's traditional Dec. 1st song that she used to sing us every year and her mom used to sing her every year.

Oh, December how I love you,
And the joyous sounds you bring.
Winter snow and winter sleighrides,
Hear the merry sleighbells ri--ing,

chorus:
"Jingle, jingle, jingle on the frosty air
Tis a jolly sleighride I de-clar--er--er--er.
Jingle, jingle, jingle all the world is fair,
Jingle, jingle, jingle everywhere.

Hear the voices of the sleighbells
Ringing out so loud and clear
Telling with their merry voices,
"Santa Claus will soon be here---re"

chorus

a recap

Today I'll give you a recap of the last several days of our Thanksgiving "celebration. "

Wednesday--Rachel and I left mid-morning to run last minute errands and then drive an hour north to pick up my husband from work. He doesn't usually work an hour away, but his company has an office up there and he sometimes has to go up to meet with his co-worker up there who does a similar job. He decided to go Wednesday to put him an hour closer to our destination. He got off at 11:30, so we met him up there and continued on our way to my parents' house. Rachel didn't sleep in the car as we had hoped. She almost always does, but this time she decided to tell us every two minutes that she wanted to "go Gwammaw's house." Over and over and over. If I had a dollar for every time she said it, I'd be a rich woman.

But we finally arrived and she was happy as a clam. Soon after we got here, my brother and his family arrived, and Rachel had a ball playing with her cousins for most of the afternoon. We put Rachel to bed a little bit early and she was more than happy to comply, because she got to sleep in her big girl bed.

Thursday morning we set out to see my husband's family. This year was a little different than usual because not everyone was there and they weren't going to be eating their thankgiving meal until later in the day (which is when my mom's dinner was going to be, too). So we didn't have two thanksgiving dinners like we normally do. Rachel fell asleep on the way out there, probably still tired from the previous day's no-nap. At naptime we drove back to my parents' house, but she didn't take a nap this time. I tried to put her to bed once we got back (she even said she wanted to go!), but she didn't sleep. She sang songs and talked to herself, but at least she was resting.

Thursday evening my brother and his family came back over (they stayed at my sister in law's parents' house), my grandpa came, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins came, who we usually only see at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We ate my mom's delicious Thanksgiving meal and I had my favorite yummy pie. Rachel started crying right before we ate because my husband was setting up the timer to take a family picture. She was "vewy, vewy hungwy" and wanted to eat RIGHT NOW, and when we told her she needed to wait for a minute she started to cry (she hardly ever cries, which is why it's notable that she did it then). So we let her start eating some turkey and drink her milk while he finished up the picture. We put her to bed early, since she hadn't had a nap, and the rest of us played a game, looked at Black Friday ads, and talked until well past our bedtimes.

Friday morning my husband braved the crowd and went Christmas shopping for my presents. He said it was fun, though I don't know any specifics about where he went. My mom and aunt went out for awhile, too. I enjoyed not going shopping and just hanging out with my family, though I was anxious all day, knowing Allecia was in labor, until I heard from her that everything was fine and Marin was born. I also had a frustrating time getting Rachel to nap. She wouldn't go to sleep and kept calling me. After an hour of listening to her alternating singing, calling me, and crying, she finally went to sleep. After she woke up, Rachel spent the afternoon with Alex, since his older two siblings went with their mom and other grandparents to a museum. Alex, who is almost four, loved being the older kid for a change and Rachel loved watching him, laughing at him, and following him around. They were laughing and chasing each other all over Grandma's house. My aunt and uncle left, my brother and his family went back to my sister-in-law's parents' house, and things got a little quieter.

That night I noticed a bag sitting in the TV room and asked my mom whose it was. She didn't know either, so we looked in it--it had a laptop in it, but we weren't sure whose it was. We thought it must've been my uncle's, so my mom called. Turned out it was my cousin's. They were staying at their other grandparents' house about an hour and a half away so we were going to meet them yesterday on our way back home and give him the laptop.

But then my husband woke up Saturday morning sicker than a dog. There would be no going back home. So I did some laundry and hunkered down for another day. Meanwhile, my brother was going to meet them with the laptop instead, because they were heading home. But about 20 minutes after they left, we got a call that my neice had just thrown up in the car so they were going to head back to my sister-in-law's parents' house and spend another night until they all got healthy.

It was a pretty unexciting day. My husband slept on and off on the couch all day long. My dad was in his bed most of the day, too, with a terrible cold. Rachel, my mom, and I hung out watching videos and coloring most of the day. My dad has named this, "The Thanksgiving from Hell."

We're all just waiting to see who else gets it. Hopefully no one, but with so many people sick, it's hard to say it won't happen.

EDIT: Now I'm not feeling well. Oh, brother. I was up getting packed up and ready to leave when I started feeling nauseous. I'm afraid to get in the car, so we may be here yet another day.

ANOTHER EDIT: Yep, I'm sick, too. We're still here. I've been in bed or on the couch most of the day. My husband is feeling a bit better, but still not himself. He'll have to take a sick day tomorrow and hopefully we can finally get back home (provided Rachel doesn't get it, too--oh, I sure hope not).

the best laid plans...

We had planned on going home today, but that was before my husband woke up with some sort of stomach bug. So the poor guy has been laying on the couch all day at my parents' house getting up only to go get sick. Yuck, yuck, yuck. So we're here another day (and crossing our fingers that no one else gets it). My dad has a bad cold, and my brother and his kids aren't feeling well, either (his daughter just threw up in the car on their way back home, so they're turning around and coming back to stay another day, too!), so if we don't catch something from someone, we're apt to catch it from another, but let's hope not.

Ugh.

big news

Going back home today. I'll write more tomorrow.

And the most exciting news in my world isn't actually my news to tell, but since she already put it on facebook, I guess I'm not overstepping my boundaries.....my dearest friend Allecia had a healthy baby GIRL yesterday afternoon! Rachel and I can't wait to go meet baby Marin and help entertain big brother Kaden in a week or two.

Black Friday

Are you going shopping today? I haven't figured out whether I'll be going or not... my husband likes to, but I hate the huge crowds. We'll see if he can convince me to go. I didn't see anything in the ads that I just have to have (for myself or for gifts), so we'll see.

Otherwise we'll be here at my parents' house enjoying lots of family. And more pie! Mmmm....the first bite of butterscotch last night was so delicious--I only get it once a year.

Yesterday was a long, tiring, but fun day. It'll be nice to have a little bit of a down day to recover.

Edited to add: He went without me. He's shopping for me, so that's fine with me! :)

In other exciting news, my friend, Allecia, went to the hospital in the middle of the night to have her baby! Can't wait to get a call (hopefully) this morning!!!!

over the river and through the woods...

...again!

We were just at Grandma's, but we're going back today. Hooray!


Oh, and here is another saying I just heard Rachel say yesterday...but she said it several times, so maybe it's a keeper:

-Good 'dea, Mommy! (idea) --for how long will she be telling me that? I'm sure it won't be long before she's rolling her eyes at my 'deas instead of complimenting me on them!

her latest sayings

Here are a few of the things she's been saying a lot lately.

-Hey guys, whatcha doin' in here?

-I need blanket make my warm.

-I have my hands full! (while carrying all of her babies, or stuffed animals all around the house)

-Look at all deese fings! (all these things)

-Maybe waiter (later)--when I tell her 'no' about something she answers, "maybe later."

-all by MYYYYY sewf (self)

-I got sared! (scared)

-I vewy, vewy hungwy (very, very hungry)--she's never just hungry, but always very, very hungry. Then she eats two bites.

-Dare, dat's bettah! (there, that's better!)

-Good singing, Waytul (Rachel) ....she says this after she finishes singing a song. Nothing like giving yourself a pat on the back!

And lately she's been asking for a "big girl bed." She slept on a mattress on the floor at my parents' house last week, since she's gotten too big for the pack and play she usually sleeps in there, and now she wants one in her room. We hadn't planned on switching anytime soon, since she's still sleeping just fine in her crib and doesn't try to climb out, but maybe we should start thinking about it.

horn of plenty

While at my mom's last week Rachel discovered her cornucopia centerpiece. Grandma told her what it was called and they took out all of the plastic fruits and vegetables inside and played with them.

A few hours later, after it had been put away for awhile, Rachel went up to my mom and said, "Get cokie-cokie-cofia pweeze?" We had no idea what she was saying and asked her to repeat it several times. Suddenly it dawned on me that she was asking for the cornucopia! Now we ask her over and over to tell us what it's called because it's hilarious to hear her call it a cokie-cokie-cofia!

the cape

While we were at my parents' house my mom and I set to work on that cape I was thinking about.

The next morning when we showed her she was so excited.

Her second sentence after, "A Wonder Pets Cape!" was, "Where's my fwy boat?"

So we found her one.

(The only problem with this project is that we had to use glue to put the W on the back because Rachel was sleeping in the room where my mom's sewing machine is, and the glue is really stinky!! I'm hoping the smell will dissipate, but right now I can't stand being anywhere near her when she's wearing it!)