Family Photo...or not!

I thought you might be interested to see the behind the scenes action on trying to take a family picture with a very active toddler. This is only a sampling, but I hope it makes you laugh! You may notice something in Rachel's hand...we ended up having to bribe her with cheese in order to get her sit still and even cheese couldn't do the trick.

Pig Tails and Proud!

Rachel loves to have her hair in pigtails now! Isn't she so cute? The picture to the right was taken in November and the the one on the left was in December for our Sunday School class Christmas party!

(November - December 2006)

Rachel's translators

I thought I would "translate" a few of Rachel's words so you can just sit and imagine her saying them. If you could only hear her...it is so sweet! She is very verbal and had lots of words but these are some of our favorite pronuciations of hers. She has since outgrown saying some of them this way (which makes me sad - I love her little words!) but I thought you might enjoy hearing them anyway. If I can't think of everything, I'll come back edit it later to add some more.

"Baka Ba" Avocado
"Bidee" Video
"Mease" Please
"Wiburdy" Library
"Padee" Paci
"eyebrauda" eyebrows
"mook" Milk
"Brocki" broccoli or also refers to Veggie Tales
"chudoo" cheerios
"di do" thank you
"weewee" kiwi

Daddy's little helper!

Rachel loves to help Mommy and Daddy (well, most of the time anyway) and today she helped us rake the leaves in the yard. Who cares that she had the rake turned the wrong way!

Cousins!

Here are couple of pics of Rachel and Faith(one of Rachel's cousins that is only 3 weeks younger than her)!

Riley and Rachel

Here is a pic of my friend, Tracy Brinn's daughter Riley and Rachel on a recent visit to Bristol.

Cute as Bug!

Rachel is all dressed up in her Lady Bug costume!
Isn't she cute as a bug?

Bear's Breakfast!

I love this picture of Rachel feeding bear - it is too cute!

Mountain Climber

To her, I'm sure it seems like a small mountain. She is really into climbing these days and decided she would take advantage of a this climbing opportunity! Yes, those are all her clothes (and there are even a few more containers)sorted by size and season. I'd like to make a disclaimer though that most are hand me downs! (October 2006)

Who is the cutest pumpkin of all?

Rachel, of course! We had a fun trip at the pumpkin patch today and I tried to get it all on camera. Rachel said "cheese" for the camera a couple of times then informed me that we were "all done" (taking pictures, that is). She keeps us laughing that is for sure. (October 2006)

Beach

We went to the beach last weekend with our Sunday school class. We had a great time and enjoyed a little time on the beach even though it was quite cold. (October 2006)

Grannie and Rachel

Fun times with Grannie Jackson! We always have a great time when we visit Grannie. The last few times we've been to Bristol, we've been able to at least spend an afternoon with her. (October 2006)

Ouiet Time or Demolition???

We've been working on having quiet time in Rachel's room. I usually have my quiet time in my room during that time with the monitor turned up. During a recent quiet time, I heard her say "uh oh, uh oh" several times and wondered what happened. Well, I guess you can see what happened. Needless to say, we had a little talk and usually have a talk after most of her quiet times about what things are off limits. She seems to find something new to get into each day...little Rascal! To give her some credit, when she is not into demolishing her room she is quite adept at stacking blocks! (September 2006)

Pig tails and Pouting

I thought it would be so fun to try and put Rachel's hair in pig tails. Fun for me, but not so much for her. Let's just say she wasn't too happy about the pig tails. I'm actually suprised I got as many pictures as I did before she pulled them out (the second and only other time I tried she pulled them out within seconds :) - she sure is a fast learner. (September 2006)

One sleepy little girl makes makes a happy daddy!

Boy, can you tell Vimal misses Rachel taking a nap with him? He loved for Rachel to sleep on him when she was little then she grew up and now it is nearly impossible. A few Sunday's ago he took advantage of her drowsy state. When we leave church each Sunday Rachel is fast asleep before we make it home and even if we wake her to eat, she refuses and says "night, night". One sleepy little girl makes a happy daddy. (September 2006)

Friends!

This is a picture of Rachel and her friend Ryann! They enjoyed some fun times together this summer and are sure to have more. (September 2006)

Fun times at the Park

Rachel loves going to the park. Any time we pass a park that she can see from the car she says "Weee, more, more!" Of course, she usually heads straight for the sand box to get all gritty! This summer she learned how to climb up and go down the slide all by herself! (Sepetmeber 2006)

In a predicament

One of Rachel's new facinations is crawling under any table and around the chairs. One day she decided to climb through the chair and she got stuck. For some reason, I can't resist taking pictures of all of the crazy things she does :) Enjoy!

Rachel's 1st Haircut

Rachel did great for her first haircut- she was a little scared about what was going on, but I think watching the Wiggles helped.

Watermelon Day at the Farmer's Market

Rachel enjoying some watermelon at the Farmer's market. Kristin Stewart and I took Rachel to eat some watermelon (and basically any sample available - she'll eat anything!) and we enjoyed some ourselves.

Little Fish!!

We've had some fun times at the pool this summer! Rachel decided that she liked going under the water so I pretty much had to stay right on top of her in the kiddie pool or before I knew it she would be under the water with no way to get up! Here is she is having fun her daddy!

The Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad, No Good Day!

We were in for a surprise when we took Rachel in for her 15 month Doctor appointment this past Monday. Rachel decided right away that she was afraid of the Doctor (or maybe what He was going to do to her) and pleaded for help from her Mom and Dad. And of course, she didn't perform on command and do all of the really cool things we thought the Doctor should see and hear - like saying "hi Doctor" as she did on the way to the appointment. Who knew these little stinkers hold so much control.

The worst part, of course, was getting her immunizations. I explained to her what was going to happen, but the preparation didn't seem to matter (nor did the Sesame Street band aids). We watched as she begged us with her eyes to do something. Next, another nurse arrived to draw blood for a sample to check for allergies. Vimal left for this part until her heard Rachel crying "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" and he promptly returned to rescue his sweet little princess. It was a sad day for mom and dad to watch our little girl be so scared.

Beauty and the Beach

We tried several times to get some good beach shots and I'm learning that is always a challenge with very active toddlers. She had no idea she was suppose to be posing for the camera...it was all about finding new shells and scooping up sand.

Rachel's Baby Dedication

On June 17th, Vimal and I publically dedicated Rachel to the Lord. Although this is something we have done often in our personal time with Him, this was a special time for us. As you can see from the picture, my parents were able to be there with us. With the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the prayers of others we hope we will be an example to her daily as we point her to God. Our greatest prayer is that one day she will come to know and love God with all of her heart. Will you pray along with us?

Fun in the Sun!

We just got back from a week at the beach with my family. Rachel enjoyed hanging out in the lazy river, digging in the sand, eating the sand and hanging out in the pool with her daddy! Here are a few pics of the week.

Take me out to the Ballpark, Take me out to the game...

Rachel's First Baseball game at the Durham Bulls!

Happy Easter!

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Great Savior!

Winter Wonderland!

Well, I know that it was offically spring on March 20th (which is also Rachel's birthday) but Rachel didn't really get to experience winter until our trip to Minnesota. I wanted to share some of her sledding adventures with you. I think she liked it.

A visit to Minnesota!

At the end of March, Rachel and I took a trip to Minnesota to visit my college roomate and good friend Tracy and her two little ones (and Jeff, of course!). Rachel made friends with sweet Mitchell who is now 2 years old. And she loved poking Miss Claire who was about 7 weeks at the time. Claire is so precious! So, the picture isn't that great, but I think you just take what you can get at this stage! As you can see, Bailey felt left out and decided to she wanted in the picture, too.

"Rachel, how old are you?"

On Rachel's birthday, we taught her how to do the #1 sign. That day we went to have lunch with Dada at the office. She spent most of the day showing off her new trick and would gladly respond when asked, "Rachel, how old are you?".

Grannie Jackson's 90th Birthday!

My Sweet Grannie Jackson turned 90 on March

12th. We were able to be there celebrate with

her. Her birthday cake was perfect for her love

of quilting!

Happy Birthday to Rachel!

It is hard to believe that Rachel had a 1st Birthday! We celebrated Rachel's birthday a little early at my Grannie Jackson's 90th birthday party! As you can see, Rachel is enjoying her birthday cake! She spent most of the time picking off the pink dots (icing).

Chili Champ

Most people who know me, know that I love to cook (I don't have much time for it these days, though). Well, about a month ago, I had the opportunity to enter into a Chili cookoff hosted by our Sunday School class and I Won! Actually, I entered the only white chili in the contest so I had a little advantage. Not to take anything from the recipe, though, because it is quite delicious! My friend, Tracy Erb, gave me the recipe so kudos to her!