Rachel's School Valentine Party

Rachel's other Valentine outfit (from Target) that she wore Monday
Love those spongerollers!

Daddy couldn't get over how cute Rachel looked with rollers.

Samantha and Rachel

Rachel is making a craft at the party.

Me and Rach

Laura, Hannah, Hayla, Mimi K and Rachel

(It was a fluke that Mimi K looks like she's scooting away from Rachel,

she was about to get up when I happened to snap the picture.)

Today was Rachel's Valentine Party at school. She wore her special heart dress that I found at Target and we rolled her hair with sponge rollers last night. This was Rachel's first "sponge rolling" experience. I couldn't wait to try it out on her since my mom rolled my hair a million times when I was growing up. Rachel loved it and couldn't wait to see her curly hair the next morning. Unfortunately, I didn't quite do enough rollers, or they might should be a smaller size and/or I might should put a little bit of hair spray or mousse in her fine, silky hair. All but 2 of the rollers fell out in her bed last night and she didn't have quite the curls that I had envisioned, but she did get a little bit of body and she LOVED it! We had a great time at the party and all the kids looked so cute in their heart shirts and outfits. Ironically, Rachel and another little girl, Samantha had on the exact same dress. Of course, they loved that they were wearing the same dress and were automatically "best friends" for the day. This is ironic because Samantha is NOT one of Rachel's favorite people. Of all the kids in her class, Rachel has complained the most about Samantha. According to Rachel, Samantha has taken her best friend, Kate, away from her numerous times and not allowed them to play together. I think that Samantha has a very dominant personality and so she sometimes clashes with Rachel, who is not a pushover, but also not a dominant type, either. Anyway, it was funny that they were best friends today simply because of their dresses. Bradley stayed with Gege so I could help the other moms and have some mother/daughter time with my sweet little girl.

A little bit of Cousin Time

A couple of weeks ago, I offered to watch Thomas and Heather for Erin and Tommy. Rachel was ecstatic that her cousins, Thomas and "Hedder" were coming over to play. She had decided that she would watch "Hedder" and that I could watch and play with the boys. Thankfully, Heather loved Rachel as much as Rachel loved her and let her pick her up and lead her around and play with her. Rachel was in "little mommy heaven." Thomas and Bradley played around each other...but not together...as they sometimes do. They were both content to do their own things and Bradley mostly just wanted to be with me. Anyway, I didn't take many pictures, but got just a couple that I wanted to share. Thankfully, Pop came over this day to help me with the kids. I was grateful since I hadn't really thought about how tired I might be or that I would be pregnant AND watching 4 kids aged 4, 3, 2 and 1! Even though they were all REALLY good, it was so nice having another pair of hands to help!

Rachel Jane Photography

Nick took this one of the silly kids!
Rachel took this one of her precious daddy

Rachel took this one of her sweet little bubby!

Rachel took this picture...her special bear

Rachel loves taking pictures. So, a few weeks ago, after Nick had snapped a few of the kids, she decided to take some. I thought they were cute and I love her subject matter. Some of her choices aren't what I would consider "picture-worthy" but isn't art in the eye of the beholder?!

Gotta love this spring tease!

This is so much fun!
Layin' in the grass and gettin' some rays!

We have really loved this recent spring-like weather! We've spent more time outdoors than we have in months and unfortunately, know it's not going to last. I'm sure February and March are going to have some more freezing, unpleasant days, so we're enjoying this nice weather while we can. We recently got a new charger for Rachel's Gator, so after re-charging it, the kids have found that it's like having a new toy! They haven't ridden it since May, when the last of the battery juice finally gave out. I don't think Bradley even remembers riding on it, so he is ecstatic while riding it and squeals lots. He also likes to say, (as they are driving off) "bye ma," "bye da". He usually says this about 10 times like he's going real far real fast. Honestly, the little gator is so slow, I can walk at a comfortable pace along side them with Rachel going at full speed. Thankfully, Rachel is the driver right now, and Bradley is very content being the passenger. It's so nice for Rachel that Bradley's not aware that he could probably drive on his own if he wanted to. Anyway, they've been putting the miles on the little gator and soakin' up some nice warm sunshine also!