Rachel's Birthday

Rachel turned 5 on Friday October 24th. I took advantage of snapping her last 4 year old picture.



In the morning we opened presents.



From Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Gary, a jewelry making set,



From Grandma and Grandpa Cole, a My Little Pony Ice Cream Truck



From Mom and Dad an Ironing Board and Iron.



From Sarah a new sand dollar, especially significant because Sarah accidentally crushed her last one that was special from Daddy. You can see how surprised and excited she is about it! You can also see in the background how excited Sarah was to give it to her. She has felt so bad. We have worried how to possibly replace it thinking the only way to get a sand dollar is to find one at the beach. We were so happy to run into one at the craft store! Adam gave Rachel the Rainbow Dash pony by her leg.



Rachel talking to her grandmas on the phone, notice the blizzard of wrapping paper in the background. We had cinnamon rolls with candles for her to blow out after being sung to. Then the girls played all day long with Rachel's new toys.



The next morning was Saturday and we rushed to prepare for her party. We finished decorating her beautiful wedding cake and made it just in time for her friends to arrive.


I had stressed so much all week leading up to Rachel's birthday party. I wish things like that were easier for me. I am exhausted from worrying about it so much, but wouldn't you know it went great in the end. We had a perfect little group of friends and Rachel had a wonderful time and felt special. That was really all I wanted. Of course Rachel planned a million things she wanted to do and changed her mind a million times about them, but in the end this is what happened. They made candy corn men, played the squirt bottle game and fruit basket, did a calm pinata (Hannah Montana) that you pull strings from, had cake and chips (I forgot the ice cream --I know, I can't believe it myself!), then they opened a few gifts and played in Rachel's room until their moms came. Rachel gave out big bouncey balls as favors. We all had a great time.



In other news Adam is learning to sit and eat by himself. We are all so proud of him.

Adam is a bit like I was as a baby...during dinner he squeals happily to let us know he wants to be a part of the party. He has now secured himself a chair at the family table.

You can see how happy he is about that, and we are happy to have him.



The only problem is, now we don't have enough chairs for all of us, so we keep bringing in one of the upholstered dining room chairs. It looks like pretty soon we are going to have to make a table purchase.

We continue to find new foods Adam can eat and now are trying to help him get time time to practice feeding himself. Today was the best yet. He actually got the food off the table and into his mouth!


Rachel is still ironing her clothes every morning, today even in her robe. She is enjoying being 5 very much and keeps doing little chores around the house to show us in her words, "how responsible I am, now that I'm 5."



We have been going to feed the ward pig almost every day. Two minutes after this picture was taken Sarah got stung by a fire ant. I had no idea she would have such a bad reaction. It was so bad. She was holding Adam when they bit, and I was so glad she didn't drop him. She screamed bloody murder all of a sudden and so he freaked out too. We raced home as she, and Adam, screamed for about 30 minutes until we could get the pain under control. I found out on the internet that it could cause her pain for weeks. She kept hollaring mean anti-ant statements. I hate ants! Why did they bite me! I wish I never sat there, I wasn't going to hurt their queen! I wish I could rewind my life and not go there at all! Why do there have to be ants anyways!? She has suffered all afternoon and had a hard time getting to sleep tonight. I hope she feels better tomorrow. And to those of you scheduled to feed the pig, beware the fire ants.



Family game nights are a favorite around here every Sunday night. This particular night I wasn't feeling well, so I decided it would be a good night for Twister. I could handle being the spinner. Tyler is the Twister King! He snatches away the circles next to you and leans on you till you fall.


He and Sarah had a great time and put on quite a show for all of us. Adam wasn't quite sure about all the commotion.


Rachel didn't eat her dinner fast enough and had to endure the natural consequence of not getting to participate, but she still enjoyed the show.





These last few weeks I realize I have been running at 100 mph. I am so happy that I am being able to be the mom I want to be and having enough energy for it. I am feeling very thankful to be so blessed to be able to do so much and feel so well. I've had a special blessing a few weeks ago that blessed me to have the energy to be the Mother I want to be. I can feel those blessings being claimed now. What a wonderful opportunity it is to have the Priesthood in my life to strengthen and bless me and my family.


We accomplished a lot today, but this is as close as we got to doing our grocery shopping, maybe tomorrow. (I think its funny that Sarah LIKES to wear her uniform clothes now that she doesn't HAVE to.)