A Busy Weekend

We have been so busy lately that I just haven't had time to post pictures from our fun adventure we call- life. We had yet another action-packed weekend.

We started out with a family reunion in Alabama. It was a great time!

Can you guess who was at the center of attention?

Yes, my two precious babies stole the show. They were the hit of the day. Everyone loved watching them play together and also spending a little one-on-one time with each of them. 

David pulled up a chair to talk with his Great-Great Aunt and Rachael decided she wanted to join in too.

                          

It doesn't get much cuter. My two little ones sitting on a watermelon.

It was a fun-filled afternoon that ended with two babies taking two very long naps!


Because the reunion was in Alabama, we stayed at my family's "farm" in the area. On Sunday morning, the four of us (and Bogie, too!) took a hike down to the beautiful gorge on the property.


David rode in the big backpack. He loved it!



Rachael rode in the ErgoBaby that David once used to snow ski. She loved the new view.


Once we made the trek down the steep, rocky mountain face, with our children on our backs, we had worked up quite a sweat. So, we had some fun playing in the cool water.




David and Rachael sitting on a rock in the middle of the gorge



Bogie had a wonderful time. Where there is water, he is happy.



Rachael and I found a nice, shady spot to sit while she took a nap.



So precious.


There is nothing I love more than spending times like this with these three people and dog. My heart is it's happiest when we are all together, just us, having fun and enjoying some family time together. The time quickly came to an end way before any of us wanted. We packed everything up and headed back up the rough terrain to the top of the gorge.

On our way home that afternoon, we stopped by Twinkle and Bing's house to see many of our extended family who had come over to visit with Baby Parker.

David showed his Great-Grandmother how to work a Jack-in-the-box.



Both had a great time playing outside with some of the younger kids.



And I just love this picture of Great-Grandparents and their great-grand babies (we were only missing one, he lives in Idaho).


Once we got home on Sunday evening, we were all exhausted to say the least.

Happy 6th Anniversary!

On Sunday, Ryan and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. It's so hard to believe that much time as passed, it has flown faster than I ever thought it could. We weren't able to go out for our usually celebratory dinner like we have in the past on our actually anniversary, but we did this evening!

I will never get over how blessed I am to have these three people in my life

Tonight we went out to our most favorite Chinese/Korean restaurant. David always enjoys a chance to eat with chopstick and Rachael got a kick out of watching her big brother. 

Mama's Helper

David is always offering to help me take care of Rachael. Whether it's changing her diaper, feeding her, or keeping her entertained while I am making a meal, he is always more than happy to help. Here's a quick video of him feeding Rachael her breakfast. David had already finished his breakfast and climbed up in my lap volunteering his service. How could I say No? 

Recent Favorites

As I was going through my camera card tonight, I noticed there were several pictures I haven't shared. So, here they are in no particular order.

David picking the very first red tomato from our garden

Rachael trying to grab Bogie's wagging tail

Success 

Same day- still lovin' on her Bogie

David and Big Daddy fishing

Rachael is so proud of herself now that she can play on David's big toys

David pretending the recycling bin is a lawn mower

Bogie enjoying a roll in the warm grass [probably right after he had a bath]

Look at that wrinkled up nose!

Enjoying a book with Bing

Another visit with Parker!

And finally, Rachael has pulled up a few times, but isn't quite ready to make it a regular occurrence. [that's okay, I'm not rushing her] I was lucky enough to catch this time in the nursery.

         

LOVE

I am in love with my babies.
Of course, it's not the same strong, best friend, romantic type of love Ryan and I share. It's a different kind of love.
 I mean, I can't get enough of them. I take pictures of them everyday trying to capture each special details of their precious faces, personalities, and quirks. And still at the end of the day, as I review the pictures, I feel like they are lacking when it comes to truly depicting who they are. Because I am blessed to be a work-from-home Mama [and most of my work is done at night], there aren't many moments I'm not with them. Yet I find myself longing for more time in their presence. They are my greatest earthly joy. One cannot completely understand the magnitude of love our Heavenly Father has for each one of us until they are a parent. It is an amazing, completely unconditional, selfless, lay down my life for you, sometimes it physically hurts kind of love.

It is agape love.

David, age 26 months & 3 weeks

Rachael, age 9 months 1 week & 3 days

Bogie, age 12 years 6 months 2 weeks & 4 days
(yes, Bogie is my baby too)

David and The Snake

Recently, we've noticed a decrease in egg production from our laying hens. We blamed the heat of the Summer and knew when the temperatures dropped we would soon see more eggs in the chicken coop. But, it turns out it was not the weather that was affecting the number of eggs in our eggs basket. Ryan found this 4 1/2 foot Black Rat snake in the coop, eating an egg!

David wanted to "See. See. See. Snake" [it's still alive here, by the way] 

After letting David inspect the snake, Ryan told us he was going to go kill the snake. David looked at me and said, "Watch. Daddy. Kill. Snake. Mama." Oh my goodness. Seriously?!
I will spare you the details of how the snake met his demise exactly, but I can tell you that David was completely unaffected by the scene, and probably a bit intrigued.

Once the snake was dead, David wanted to hold him. Oh my goodness. Seriously?!


"Hi. Snake."



Then David set in to lecturing the snake.


"Nooo. Eat. Eggs. Snake."

My snake-handling little boy.

WHY??

David has officially entered the stage of "Why?" 

It especially pops up when he is getting in trouble. He wants to know "Why?" he should have to wear his shoes outside, or "Why?" he should have to eat all of his breakfast, or "Why?" he can't ride on his sister like she is a horse. 

9 Month Check-Up

Such a little cutie sitting up on the scale!

Rachael went in for her 9 month check-up today and got lots of GREAT news. First great news- there were no shots needed this time!! Always great news. Second, maybe it's not "great" news, but it's fun nonetheless- all the nurses [and even the doctor] remarked at how adorable and happy Rachael was for an 8:35am appointment. Lastly, her stats. These were most definitely great news-

Rachael weighed in at 17lbs. 4oz. [50th percentile], which is a huge relief to me after all the stress I felt a few months ago as I tried everything to put more weight on her. Her length was a surprising 28 inches [75th percentile]. I recently realized that her limps were long because the sleeves on her size 6 months sleep and play outfits were starting to creep up her arms just a bit but, the part around her torso was still very roomy. In fact, she is still wearing some 3-6 months onesies! Her head size was in the 25th percentile, which is where David's always ranks. But, I've never thought either of them had a small head. 

Rachael showed off her crawling skills, babbling technique, fake cough, and was an excellent patient while she was being examined on the table. She did not, however, like it when the doctor tried to her in his arms. As soon as he picked her up I could tell that wasn't going to last long. Her facial expression seemed to say, "Wait, I know you just looked me over thoroughly and everything, but I don't know you that well. Give me back to my Mama, now!" And he did, immediately after she started crying.

Rachael's next appointment will be for her ONE YEAR check-up. How is that possible? I feel like I just scheduled her one month appointment! Baby Girl is growing up too fast and I'm not sure I how I feel about that. 

Learning about "No"

Since Rachael is now on the move and exploring the house to its fullest, this means she is into everything. Therefor, I am having to tell her "No" several times a day to keep her from ingesting something toxic, making a mess of everything, or causing herself bodily harm.

But, when I tell her "NO" with a very serious tone, this is the face I get in return:

She stops what she's doing for a moment, turns to look at me, flashes me this smile [while giggling], then goes right back to what she was doing. How can I say "No" to that face? This is going to be very interesting...

No Teeth, No Problem

Even though she has no teeth, Rachael absolutely loves eating textured foods- mashed potatoes, green beans, shredded cheese, cottage cheese, over-cooked pasta, slightly mashed avocados, ANY kind of fruit in small slices.

Here she is showing off her big girl skills with a fork full of mashed potatoes. [With David in the background letting me know he's "all done".]

I love how she looks over at David at the end as if to say, "Did you see that? I'm getting big just like you!"

The First of Many

Yesterday afternoon we were all playing in the front yard. I remembered that we had not yet got the mail, so I made my way down our steep driveway to the mailbox. As I was reaching in to retrieve the mail, I heard David calling, " Me. Help. Mama. Mail." I looked up to see my sweet little boy running as fast as his legs could carry him down our very steep driveway. I watched him for about two seconds and then all of a sudden David tripped and fell down face first on the steepest part of the driveway. My whole body ached for him. I left the mail in the box and ran to him. I scooped him up, afraid of what I would see, so I didn't look just yet. We found a shady spot in the yard to sit down and survey the damage. As David was screaming from the scare and the pain, my heart broke when I saw this:









Oh my goodness!! How that must have hurt him!
We got it all cleaned up and after a nice, cold Icey-Pop to cool him off, David was feeling much better and so was I. But, Ryan said I'd better just get used to it because this was just the first of many bad scrapes. I don't think that is possible.
David has talked about the fall many, many times since then. He says, "Run, run, run. Me. Help. Mama. Mail. Boom!" Then he gently falls down.

David wanted to share this picture of his ankle that he also "boomed" in the fall.





Thank you God that scratches heal and that my babies are healthy. There are so many families whose children can't be outside to run around because they are confined by hospital walls and meds. I am humbled by the fact that this is a minor issue compared to those that hundreds of other parents are faced with everyday. Thank you God that scratches heal.  

Happy 9 Months, Baby Girl!

It's hard to believe that Rachael is NINE months old today!!

Check out this move she has been working on the last few days. 

And she can even do this every now and then too. 

She is still a Mama's girl. 

She can be quite emotional at times. 

She is growing into a little girl faster than I would like. She loves to give kisses [which I am trying to get a good video of], loves her brother and her dog, and loves to be tickled. She is a great sleeper- both at nap times and at night, she is a fantastic eater- she has yet to meet a food she doesn't like, she is babbling up a storm- mostly "mamama", "babababa", and she is crawling everywhere now- fast! 


Here's one of her newest tricks:

Happy 4th of July!

The kids had a wonderful 4th of July! The best part was the annual boat parade on the lake. Both kids really enjoyed watching all the decorated boats file by.They especially like the ones that were also playing music.

Pretty Girl having a great time




David waving at the boats as they passed





But, which boat was David's favorite one of all??

The one with the big cow and a man shooting a "gun" loaded with little Chic-Fil-A cows[David and Rachael each got one].



Had to share this one: Look at how sweetly David is looking at Rachael. I love it.