Mary and Baby Jesus

One of the dress up days at Rachel's preschool was to dress as an advent character. She dressed up as Mary and carried a baby doll as Jesus. I think the costume turned out pretty well considering what I had to work with (one white sheet!). She was so proud and that made it all worth it!

Bah, Humbug!

The Cary Christmas parade!

We took Rachel and Anna to their first Christmas parade this year and Rachel loved it!! She loved dancing with the different groups as they came by and was so enamored by it all! It will definately be on our list of things to do next year. In this picture, Rachel is in her Ergo carrier - if you haven't ever heard of this carrier - it is great!! Our friends, Greg and April Seymour told us about it. We can carry Rachel in it easily and Anna now fits in it (I think the recommended weight is from 15 pounds to 40 pounds). Rachel always wants to be in her carrier when we go for walks as a family.

Four months old - December 7, 2007

"Do you like it?, do you like it?"

Rachel loves playing in her pottery barn kitchen and often makes pretend meals for everyone. Lately, she especially likes to "feed" Anna. She'll whip something up and bring it to Anna in her swing and then pretend to feed her (we constantly stress that this is just pretend). Then, it never fails, just after she gives her a bite, she asks, "do you like it?, you like it?" It is so cute and funny. As you can see from the pictures, Anna loves this game.

All dressed up for Christmas

November 23, 2007

Oh, Christmas Tree...

Our annual trip to pick out our Christmas tree went well this year. Our tree is beautiful and it was so fun to watch Rachel looking at all of the trees. Maybe one year we'll make to the mountains to cut our own tree.

Hot chocolate!

Rachel enjoying her first taste of hot chocolate! This was the real stuff made from cocoa - yummy! I'm a bit spoiled now and like my hot chocolate made with milk and preferably dark cocoa - I think Rachel would take it any way! November 2006

Farmer Rachel

Rachel had Farmer dress up day yesterday at preschool and although we didn't have any overalls that fit, I thought she still looked cute! I love the way her braided pigtails stick straight out.

Big brown eyes!

If you're Happy and you know it...

Clap your hands! Rachel was singing this song to Anna and clapping her hands (well, trying...Anna's arms were resisting!) and she was laughing! I just missed the laughing but I thought this picture was cute to see them interact.

Three Months old!

Conversation with Daddy

Trick or Treat

Pumpkin Carving

The Patels

Sleepy time friends.

When Rachel was little we use to go into her room and check on her every night. Then she started waking up when we went in so our nightly visits stopped! A few weeks ago she was taking a long nap so I peeked in on her knowing that if she woke up it wouldn't matter anyway and this is what I saw (the picture on the left). She looked so sweet and precious sleeping with "kitty" tucked under her arm. Up until she moved into her big girl bed she never really had any friends of the stuffed variety but now she has her favorites - kitty (from Papaw), big bear and bear (two of my bears from high school if you can believe it!). The picture on the right is one I took a few days later - if you look closely you can see both bears tucked under the covers on each side of her.

All Smiles

This may not seem like a big deal to you but the fact that Anna is smiling while sitting in her little Fisher Price swing is a HUGE deal! For the first six to eight weeks of her life she cried every time we tried to put her in here (which was every meal if she was awake). She is almost twelve weeks old and has only fallen asleep in her swing once. Rachel loved this swing and we're hopeful that these sweet smiles are indication of changes to come!

Look at me!

The State Fair!

We went to the State Fair a couple of weeks ago and had so much fun! Rachel loved the rides and she got to enjoy them with her friend Ryann. Fun times for the Patels and Aycocks (although you notice we didn't get any pics of the adults).

"Mommy, take a cheese"

As you can imagine with having a new baby sister, Rachel is really into babies these days. She likes to nurse them, change their diapers, check their heartbeats, and the list goes on. The other day she was trying so hard to swaddle her baby and finally let me do it (she is also into doing everything herself and asking "why?" all of the time!). So, after the baby was swaddled for the 3rd time she finally sat beside her and said "Mommy, take a cheese!" It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was saying but when I did it made me laugh. And as you can see she has her "cheese" smile on.

October 7, 2007 - 2 months old!

Pumpkin Patch!

Here are pics from our annual visit to the pumpkin patch.

I'm the Big Sister

All wrapped up

Foot Day at Preschool

Each fall at Rachel's preschool they have "Foot Day". They set up stations outside for them to step in, on, etc. to experience the different senstations/feelings. I was able to go an watch and take pictures. She had so much fun!

Sweet Anna

Family of 4!

Smiles

It is one of the sweetest moments when your children begin to smile. I remember when Rachel first started smiling and it was so incredible to see her respond to me in that way. Anna started smiling a few weeks ago and it just melts my heart when she looks at me with a big smile! Catching it on camera is no simple task but I've been trying. Here is a small glimpse of the smiles to come!

Anna's friends

These mobile bugs are Anna's favorite friends of the stuffed variety. We love to watch her as she watches them go around and around. She kicks her legs and coos at them. Of course, she would rather spend her time with Mommy, Daddy and sissy but the bugs keep her company when we can't be right there.