Thursday, January 03, 2008
Tea Anyone??
When the girl next door invited Hannah over to play in her backyard yesterday afternoon, which left Rachel standing at the door in tears, I had to quickly come up with something special to entertain her. So we sat down to a tea party consisting of sparkling apple cider, fruit snacks, and peppermint filled cookie sandwiches. It was simply lovely.
Memories of 2007
When a year comes to a close, and we start a new year, I like to look back at all the pictures I've taken over the last year. We've had a lot of milestones and events in our family for 2007. For Rachel it was a big milestone of moving into a twin size bed and potty training, although you'll find no pictures of that event. :) Her biggest milestone was probably starting preschool!
As for the other events and happenings that can be shared, I put some of those pictures in an album, Memories of 2007.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Don't Be Shy...
Start the New Year out right, sign Rachel's Guestbook and let us know you're following her journey! It's always fun to know who and where people are following from.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
New Year's Day Happenings
Rachel is usually not one to sleep in. She's always been one you can count on to get up before 7:00, no matter how late we'd been out the night before, she's up early. But not this morning. Rachel actually slept in until close to 9:00! Course it helped she was wide awake and going on full steam until after midnight. LOL. We now know she CAN sleep in, it just takes staying up in the wee hours of the night to do so!
With it being a late night, and everyone getting up later, it was a lazy morning of watching the Rose Parade and eating leftover goodies from last night.
Mid afternoon, we met up with Uncle Bart at Disneyland. This is the last week of the Christmas season so we headed down for the afternoon and evening for the lights and festive atmosphere. We had a great time and was a great way to start off the year!
With it being a late night, and everyone getting up later, it was a lazy morning of watching the Rose Parade and eating leftover goodies from last night.
Mid afternoon, we met up with Uncle Bart at Disneyland. This is the last week of the Christmas season so we headed down for the afternoon and evening for the lights and festive atmosphere. We had a great time and was a great way to start off the year!
New Years Eve
Our plans for New Year's Eve were to spend the evening at friends house. Rachel kept asking ALL DAY LONG when it would be time to go to Bethany's house. Finally, the time arrived and we were able to go.
Our friends were watching their four nieces and nephews over night which brought the kid count to 8! Rachel had so much fun!! I didn't think she'd make it, but she stayed awake past midnight and saw the New Year in!
What could be better for dinner on NYE than pizza! 
Playing their own version of Connect Four. 
The evening wouldn't be complete without playing the Wii. 
It's 11:10pm and she's starting to fade. 
With her friend Bethany, wearing their New Year tiaras. 
Asleep, not even five minutes in the car. Sometime after 12:30am. 
Our friends were watching their four nieces and nephews over night which brought the kid count to 8! Rachel had so much fun!! I didn't think she'd make it, but she stayed awake past midnight and saw the New Year in!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Christmas 2007: Year of the Monkey
The girls got monkey blankets, sock monkeys, sock monkey slippers, sock monkey pajamas, boxes of Kleenex with monkeys, Rachel got Curious George panties, and a barrel of monkeys!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Christmas Boots
Rachel received these cowboy boots for Christmas this year. You can't tell by the picture, but they are fushia in color. They are very special cowboy boots. They were passed on to her by her sweet cousin McKenzie, who came up with the idea to pass her boots on to Rachel all on her own, and even wrapped them herself.
Rachel is very honored to have received such a special gift and says she's gonna wear them to school!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Day
Christmas Day started off in a way that was totally unexpected. Due to the horribly strong winds in the night, power lines snapped and we were without power from 1:00am until 11:30. It was weird to be without power for so long and we really had to be flexible. Rachel didn't understand why the lights wouldn't come on when she went in to use the bathroom. LOL. We made it through, it's definitely a Christmas for the memory books.
Our morning started off with doing our stockings in the living room, by candlelight. While it was after 7:00, it was still pretty gloomy in the house so I tried to provide some light by opening the blinds wide open and lighting candles. Thank goodness for flash on cameras!
Moving into the family room, the girls opened thier presents from us, as well as out of state family. The girls get three presents from us, after all, Jesus only received three presents. Rachel got a Dorothy dress and ruby red slippers, a Little People Campset, and Mega Builders, foam and fun stuff to build things with.
Papa Steve joined us for a few hours this morning. Here Rachel offers him a helping hand to open his Christmas present cause she hasn't quite opened enough of her own. LOL. 
We were soon joined by Gramma, Papa, Uncle Bart, Uncle Robbie, Auntie, and of course the cousins, Haylee and McKenzie for the opening of even more presents!
Finally, the power came back on and we were able to continue with our Christmas dinner preparations and hooking up the Wii to play. Rachel and Hannah got a combined Christmas gift from Gramma and Papa of a TV/DVD player so that was hooked up and enjoyed as well. And later in the early evening, we played Hannah's new game, High School Musical Sing It! on the play station, Rachel loved the microphone!
We had a wonderful day, and Rachel loved having her cousins to play with all day long. And now comes the task of finding places for all the presents from the last two days.
Our morning started off with doing our stockings in the living room, by candlelight. While it was after 7:00, it was still pretty gloomy in the house so I tried to provide some light by opening the blinds wide open and lighting candles. Thank goodness for flash on cameras!
Moving into the family room, the girls opened thier presents from us, as well as out of state family. The girls get three presents from us, after all, Jesus only received three presents. Rachel got a Dorothy dress and ruby red slippers, a Little People Campset, and Mega Builders, foam and fun stuff to build things with.
We were soon joined by Gramma, Papa, Uncle Bart, Uncle Robbie, Auntie, and of course the cousins, Haylee and McKenzie for the opening of even more presents!
Finally, the power came back on and we were able to continue with our Christmas dinner preparations and hooking up the Wii to play. Rachel and Hannah got a combined Christmas gift from Gramma and Papa of a TV/DVD player so that was hooked up and enjoyed as well. And later in the early evening, we played Hannah's new game, High School Musical Sing It! on the play station, Rachel loved the microphone!
We had a wonderful day, and Rachel loved having her cousins to play with all day long. And now comes the task of finding places for all the presents from the last two days.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas Eve 2007
Rachel is at such a fun age this Christmas. She's mesmerized by the lights and glitz and of course all the presents. Tonight, we spent Christmas Eve at my Grandmother's house for the traditional dinner and gift exchange. She had so much fun ripping through all that paper and pulling tissue out of bags.
After dinner and the gift exchange, Uncle Robbie and Auntie lead the family in Christmas carols. At the end, all three of the preschool girls got up and did one of their preschool songs and it was oh so cute! Children in a large family like ours make for special moments for all.
Rachel was still wired when we got in the car, and it was close to 11:00. However, it wasn't long before sitting still in her car seat put her to sleep. Tomorrow will be another fun day for her and I can't wait to watch her
After dinner and the gift exchange, Uncle Robbie and Auntie lead the family in Christmas carols. At the end, all three of the preschool girls got up and did one of their preschool songs and it was oh so cute! Children in a large family like ours make for special moments for all.
Rachel was still wired when we got in the car, and it was close to 11:00. However, it wasn't long before sitting still in her car seat put her to sleep. Tomorrow will be another fun day for her and I can't wait to watch her
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Christmas Party
Today was a fun filled day for Rachel at preschool. First off, they decorated their ice cream cone Christmas trees. This is always a fun and yummy activity for the preschoolers. As you walked into the room, you could easily get a sugar high from the smell of the frosting.
The fun festivities continued as they came back from playing outside to party time! They had star shaped cheese sandwiches and sliced carrots with Ranch dressing. And sugar cookies to frost and decorate with sprinkles, which was a huge hit with all the kids.
With one of her teachers, receiving Christmas hugs after having given her teacher her present, hand soaps from Bath and Body Works!
Last month, at Rachel's parent teacher conference, it was stated that Rachel specifically plays with the same friend day in and day out. Here they are together. Aren't they cute??
Rachel had such a fun morning. She got to bring home all of her Christmas crafts she's done the last month and we've proudly taped them to the sliding glass door with the rest of the school made crafts. She even opened her own present that was suppose to be for us. I don't think she fully understands whats to come in the coming days, but she's excited nonetheless, that or on a sugar high. :)
The fun festivities continued as they came back from playing outside to party time! They had star shaped cheese sandwiches and sliced carrots with Ranch dressing. And sugar cookies to frost and decorate with sprinkles, which was a huge hit with all the kids.
With one of her teachers, receiving Christmas hugs after having given her teacher her present, hand soaps from Bath and Body Works!
Last month, at Rachel's parent teacher conference, it was stated that Rachel specifically plays with the same friend day in and day out. Here they are together. Aren't they cute??
Rachel had such a fun morning. She got to bring home all of her Christmas crafts she's done the last month and we've proudly taped them to the sliding glass door with the rest of the school made crafts. She even opened her own present that was suppose to be for us. I don't think she fully understands whats to come in the coming days, but she's excited nonetheless, that or on a sugar high. :)
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Christmas Craft
Hannah loves to do crafts and I think that love and enjoyment is rubbing off on Rachel. Either that, or it's all the fun crafts they do at preschool! This evening, following dinner, I broke out a Christmas ornament craft for the girls to do. They both had so much fun.
Preschool Christmas Performance
Is there really anything more cute this time of year than a preschool program??
Today was the Christmas program at Rachel's preschool. They've been practicing since Thanksgiving ended, and their big day has finally arrived. This year, not only were the children accompanied by the preschool secretary on the piano, there were three dads who accompanied on guitar, and one of those dads was my brother.
This years performance was a special one for our family because three of the four grandchildren were performing! It's the first and the last time this will happen because next year McKenzie will be in Kindergarten. There was quite an audience just for the three of them...Gramma, Me, Daddy, Auntie, Great Grandma Dahl, Great Aunt Sandy, and Auntie's Mom.
All three of the girls did such a great job at singing and doing the hand motions and keeping us entertained! Unlike Hannah at this age, Rachel actually sang some of the time and she did the hand motions, which I didn't even know she knew! About 3/4 of the way through the program, the teachers passed out jingle bells and the kids sang a couple songs related to bells, the boy standing behind Rachel full on clocked her in the head with his strand of bells. LOL.
It was a great performance and all the children were so cute and dressed festive. It was a nice beginning to the holiday weekend before us.
Today was the Christmas program at Rachel's preschool. They've been practicing since Thanksgiving ended, and their big day has finally arrived. This year, not only were the children accompanied by the preschool secretary on the piano, there were three dads who accompanied on guitar, and one of those dads was my brother.
This years performance was a special one for our family because three of the four grandchildren were performing! It's the first and the last time this will happen because next year McKenzie will be in Kindergarten. There was quite an audience just for the three of them...Gramma, Me, Daddy, Auntie, Great Grandma Dahl, Great Aunt Sandy, and Auntie's Mom.
All three of the girls did such a great job at singing and doing the hand motions and keeping us entertained! Unlike Hannah at this age, Rachel actually sang some of the time and she did the hand motions, which I didn't even know she knew! About 3/4 of the way through the program, the teachers passed out jingle bells and the kids sang a couple songs related to bells, the boy standing behind Rachel full on clocked her in the head with his strand of bells. LOL.
It was a great performance and all the children were so cute and dressed festive. It was a nice beginning to the holiday weekend before us.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Christmas Tour of Our Home
As a participant in Boomama's 2007 Christmas Tour of Homes, come, take a Christmas Tour of Our House.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
A Quick Trip
With Christmas less than two weeks away, and our Disneyland passes approaching holiday season blackout dates, Rachel and I made a quick trip today to Disneyland. I needed to experience my favorite time of the year at The Merriest Place on Earth, just once more.
We were on our way as soon as dropped Hannah off at school. And because this going to be such a short trip, we did without the stroller!! It was just me, Rachel, and the backpack on my back. It was great!
Taking time to say Merry Christmas to Minnie,
all decked out in her holiday best. 
Normally, Rachel CAN NOT stand to have her hair down, but today, she left it down. It gives her a different look, that's for sure. 
We don't do "the Santa thing" in our home. So to my children, seeing Santa Claus is just like seeing any other character at Disneyland. Today the line was short to see Santa, and since he is so recognizable to Rachel for some reason, we stopped in to say 'Hi" and take a picture. 
Our time at Disneyland was short today, as we were back in time to get Hannah from school. But we had a good morning and enjoyed all the decorations and festiveness of the park.
We were on our way as soon as dropped Hannah off at school. And because this going to be such a short trip, we did without the stroller!! It was just me, Rachel, and the backpack on my back. It was great!
all decked out in her holiday best.
We don't do "the Santa thing" in our home. So to my children, seeing Santa Claus is just like seeing any other character at Disneyland. Today the line was short to see Santa, and since he is so recognizable to Rachel for some reason, we stopped in to say 'Hi" and take a picture. 
Our time at Disneyland was short today, as we were back in time to get Hannah from school. But we had a good morning and enjoyed all the decorations and festiveness of the park.
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