Something New

This is what Kate taught Rachel to do: Kate emptied all of the toys from this little toy box and then got inside of it. So, of course, Rachel got inside of it next. We were playing at home and I find Rachel sitting in it. At least she had the courtesy to not empty the toys (but I still would have made her put them all back anyway). Thanks a lot Kate!

Matt found this rocking chair inside some storage shed at the Verizon yard he works from. He brought it home and sanded and repainted it for Rachel. How sweet!



Rachel now likes to pull her blanket out of her crib and walk around with it. Not all the time, but just some days.
Matt, DJ, Beth, and I were hanging out in the office and Rachel walks in with a diaper in hand. She walks over to Beth and says poo-poo and holds out the diaper. She has been getting really smart about when she needs to be changed, but has never verbalized it. I looked down her diaper and sure enough, she had pooped. Smart cookie! Maybe potty training won't be so bad. We have been enjoying her craigslist Radio Flyer wagon. Matt usually takes her for walks in it when I am at school. He also took her to Josiah's soccer game and she sat there and watched (and stood up and fell out). I have yet to take a picture of her in it though.

Matt and I went ocean kayaking yesterday with the same two friends we play trivia with. We had a blast and got some sun. It was a beautiful day and really nice to have some "us" time! Matt thought it would be a good idea to kayak through some mangroves. I didn't really want to because there are a lot of crabs and spiders in those. Also, you get stuck in branches and it is just kind of difficult. Well, Matt went first and we suddenly hear some screaming and see him try to stand in his kayak. Apparently a crab fell in his kayak and crawled right up his swimsuit. Fortunately, he got it out before it could leave a mark.

Having Fun!

Rachel has been spending more time with Dad now that I am back in school. On Tuesday, he took her to watch a friend play soccer. That is what all of these pictures are from with the grass. Apparently, all she really wanted to do was stand behind the goal. Not smart Rachel.





Love this next one. Why can I just picture a whine coming out of her mouth at the same time?


Due to the hassle of switching car seats two times a week, I decided to just buy a new one for Matt's truck. So, this one converts to a booster seat as well. It has come in handy.

What a beautiful girl!

I got her a baby doll and she likes it, although this picture of the two together doesn't exude excitement.
Teaching is going really well and I am loving my schedule. We are a little more rushed, but this will only last for a few months. I am in a hurry, so this is all for now.

What is wrong with this picture?

This toy has been sitting in our hallway for months and she usually doesn't care about it. Well, she has learned to say "up" for a few things, like getting on the piano bench to play (bang on the keys) and now up to get in the exersaucer. Well, I just loaned it to the lady who will be watching Rachel two days a week so her granddaughter can play in it. I put her in it and she played happily for about 10 minutes. Silly girl!


I have been wanting to pull her hair all the way back and gave it a shot. She looked so cute, but it didn't last long.


Her first Oreo cookie! Yum!

I start back to school in a few hours and am looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it is pouring right now and I hate walking around in the rain. Such is life in Florida and I won't expect much from my hair today. That is all for this post.

Pigtails!

This little girl has more than enough hair for me to start doing cute stuff with. The real problem is her leaving it alone. She is getting better. My friend in North Carolina (Lacie) made us some bows and they are just so cute. We went to Hannah Winter's 3rd birthday party and had a blast. I don't know why people don't like kids parties because we always have a great time!



Here is Rachel reading a new touch and feel book my Grandma brought down with her last week.
It is so cute because she grabs a book and just sits down to look at it. I often find her doing this.
Rachel now loves the gym and they have a big slide. Well, there is no keeping her off it (it is kind of too big for her). She took a tumble off it and bit her lower lip and I guess that is how she got this boo-boo under her lip. She is a champ and is pretty tough for a girl.

Just A Little More Cute

This little girl has been one fun and cute thing after another lately. I couldn't have asked for a better, happier daughter. She cracks herself and me up with the things she does. Right now, her favorite game is to play "boo" and it isn't peekaboo anymore. Now she runs around and we hide from her and try to scare her. She thinks this is soooo fun. She has started hiding too and I get to find her and then say "boo." Of course, she is in love with her shoes too. She loves her own much more than ours and as soon as she thinks we are going somewhere, she is telling me "shoes." She knows exactly what bin we keep hers in and loves to pick some out (not always matching of course). She then sits down and tries to put her foot in it. In this picture below, you will notice a little purple bow in her hair. I had gotten the cutest brand new dress from a lady next door as a hand me down. I decided to put her in it and she looks so pretty in purple. I had the perfect bow to go with it and she actually let me put it in and kept it in for a few hours! The only problem is that all of her shoes have pink on them. I had recently gotten one of those awesome $10 off $10 purchases from JC Penny, so I decided I would get her some cheap white shoes. I settled on some white leatherish looking sneakers (remind me of Keds) and will be perfect for when the weather gets colder. I paid $7 for them!




Rachel was also being quite the ham today and was just being silly. She does not own a baby doll (but I do want to get her one), but loves this dog she got from her birthday named Violet. She put Violet in the shopping cart as if she were a baby and pushed her around. I have never seen her put anything in the cart before. So cute!


She is figuring out how to do more things with her kitchen, especially since she is tall enough to push the buttons on the microwave.


She is also playing with her Laugh and Learn Farm more too. I thought of it as more of a babyish toy, but she didn't play with it a lot like I had hoped. Well, now she gets lots of use from it.

She enjoys being pushed on cars, but of course, I do not have time or want to push her around all day. She does know to put her feet up to be pushed and she use her feet to go backwards. She was getting off the car and decided to do a little daredevil stand on one leg move.


By the way, I hope you like the new background to the blog and hopefully that weird box is now gone too. I don't know what happened, but I changed something on my profile and then suddenly the box appeared and the background was gone. My Mom nagged me in an e-mail to fix this, so I did and I hope you are happy with it!

Too Cool To Show Her Face

This hat is so gross because Matt or DJ wear it when they work outside. However, Rachel wanted to wear it, so I let her. It is just a little too big.


There she is!
Rachel also likes to wear sunglasses over at Hannah and Kate's house, so I thought she might like to wear some that she got for her birthday. She likes to wear them, but wants to take them off and on. She has the taking off part down, but needs my help to get them back on. Mama don't play that game. But she still looks so cute!

Her hair did not get brushed after her bath, so you can see the curls a lot more than usual.

Her is Matt trying to take a Sunday afternoon nap. Rachel was just not about it though. I did eventually take her out and shut the door so he could get some sleep.

Rachel also likes to just lay on the floor and sometimes roll around. It doesn't matter if the floor is soft or hard, but she does know when to very slowly roll her head down so it doesn't hit hard.

She has finally figured out the shopping cart. Except she can only go straight and when she runs into something, she just pushes in the other way or drags it instead of turning it around.
On an exciting note, we should start the remodel of our family room and laundry room soon! Goodbye wood paneling! That should help the look of the room out A LOT. I am very excited about this because that is the last major renovation (besides maybe the back porch someday) taking place in our house. It has come a looooooong way.

Chump Change

So, if you read my blog or know me, you know that I couponing is now one of my hobbies as much as it is a necessity (saving tons of money). I was so excited when I went to Publix yesterday and walked out with over $100 worth of stuff (much of which I was going to donate) and they paid me $14.97. My mouth just kept dropping when the total went lower into the negatives. I made money on that trip to the store. I went to CVS and Walgreens today and probably got close to $70 worth of stuff for $7 and will get some of it back in rebates and rewards. I love it! If you could use some extra money in your bank account (or envelope for us Dave Ramsey followers) and tons of extra useful things around your house, you should really look into learning how to coupon. It will turn into a great game to see how much you can save. Another great benefit is the amount of things you can donate to local shelters and ministries. I have probably donated close to $500 worth of stuff in the past few months and I paid for none of it, except tax. That is awesome!