"Oh, that's so pretty!"

I overheard Rachel saying, "oh, that is so pretty" in the the other room a few weeks ago and I came to see what she was talking about. She was not the only one impressed with her block tower - I thought this was pretty good for an almost 2 year old!

Toddler Antics

A few weeks ago, I was going through some clothes that were too small for Rachel to put away. She wanted to try on some things...she ended up with this lady bug constume over her green shirt and one gingham shoe and she refused to take them off even to eat. I don't think she'll be setting fashion trends anytime soon.

Curly Hair Disclaimer

Before I had a little girl with curly hair, I always wondered why parents who had kids with curly hair never brushed it. Well, now I know the answer or at least one of a few answers. It could be that they indeed did brush thier child's hair but it just got crazy again. Or if they weren't going anywhere maybe the didn't even bother (that is my excuse in some of these pictures...I never bother to "fix" Rachel's hair if we are planning to be home for the day and then when it was time to capture a photo moment there was no time to brush her hair!) And the final answer is that simply the child's hair is brushed and fixed it just may not look like it to you :)

Popsicle!

Rachel had her first popsicle today! She has been sick for quite a while - last week it was a virus with a high fever and this week it is the stomach virus (unfortunately, Vimal and I got the stomach one, too!). Well, we've tried everything to get her to eat and take liquids but she wasn't really interested. Finally, I got her to try a popsicle - I think she is enjoying it!

Mommy's helper

I decided to let Rachel help when I was making some muffins couple of weeks ago, it didn't take long before she made quite a mess, but we had fun in the process!

Pretty in Purple

Snowman!

After our first snow I promised Rachel that we would build a snowman if it snowed again. A few days later we had our chance. We had to work fast though because the snow didn't last long. Our snowman is a bit pitful, I admit, but if you notice in the pictures we didn't have much to work with.

Enjoying the Snow!

Bowl lickin' good!

Rachel is enjoying her waffle for breakfast. Just recently, I gave her a little maple syrup to dip her waffle into (she is really into dipping these days) and after she ate a few pieces she decided that she liked the syrup so much that she would just clean the bowl.

"Go Heels!"

Rachel loves to wear Carolina cheerleading outfit and she usually wears it when there is a game. As soon as she sees it she says, "Go Heels!"

Snow...kind of.

We had our first snow a few weeks ago. It really wasn't much but it was enough for Rachel to be excited about, she was especially excited to see a snowman. Fortunately, our neighbors made one for us to see because by the time we made it outside the snow started turning to slush. More snow pics to come!

Belated Merry Christmas.

Unfortunately, I misplaced my camera on Christmas day for a few hours, and as a result I don't have any good photos to share. Hopefully, I can get some from my mom.

Sleeping Beauty!

Rachel has been waking up quite early lately and we've all been suffering the consequenses. Actually, she has always been an early bird, but on these days it must have been early even for her! She normally spends 45 minutes to and hour in her room in the morning having a quiet (or not so quiet) time and a few different times she fell asleep, I couldn't resist taking these pictures. Her high chair pictures were taken right after lunch - she finished eating and said "night, night" and off she went to dream land!

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)