Smarty Pants

Audrey does suffer a bit from Second Child Syndrome. It has nothing to do with her ability, it just has to do with a mommy split between two children. Even though Audrey hasn't learned some of the things Rachel had learned by now, Audrey has learned things Rachel never knew at this age. And some of those things have been taught to her by Rachel. Here's a perfect example:

Mother's Day Picnic

On Thursday, May 5th, Rachel invited me to a Mother's Day Picnic at her school. We were instructed to pack a blanket and picnic lunch. Our child was going to be providing dessert. The picnic started with the children coming in and singing a few songs. And of course Rachel refused to look at me the whole time she was singing. She claims she had to watch Mrs. Fry (her music teacher). It cracks me up how my kids can be so shy and nervous around Andy and/or I.... Here's a little snippet of one of the songs they sang:

Rachel and I then enjoyed a picnic lunch together. Rachel was so excited to give me the bath salts that she had made. She was also very proud of how she kept the brownies a secret. They had made them on Tuesday, so she kept quiet for a few days! :)

After the picnic lunch I walked Rachel back to her class. Outside her classroom there was a poster hung up for each mother to take home. Rachel had filled out what she thought some of my favorites are:

I love how she thinks Candyland is my favorite game. It makes me happy to know that she can tell that I enjoy playing with her. The Sponge Bob thing totally cracks me up! Right now Rachel's obsessed with Sponge Bob Go-Gurts, so I guess that's where that comes from. The song she's referring to is: http://www.freeabcsongs.com/skidamarink.html. It was fun to have the opportunity to spend lunch with Rachel. She certainly makes being a mother a pretty amazing experience! :)

High Five

Today we get to celebrate Rachel's 5th birthday! Rachel is so much fun to have in our family. She makes us laugh and smile quite a bit. And she's very sweet and gentle at times as well. Rachel was definitely meant to be a big sister. She takes very good care of Audrey and takes being a big sister very seriously. Rachel is 40 1/2 inches tall and weighs 29.5 pounds. Currently she wants to be a cowgirl dentist, which means she wants to fix people's teeth with boots on. You can tell she's a Texan at heart! :)

Rachel has really taken off with reading. We are close to being completed with her reading lessons. As long as she's patient and tries, she can sound out most words. She loves being able to read and spell words. Her favorite word to tell you how to spell is S-T-O-P. Rachel is very excited for kindergarten to start. It's a good thing we'll have the pool to distract her this summer, otherwise I don't think she'd be able to survive until August...

It seems like our little 5 year-old is finally weaning herself from a nap. I know, we can't complain. There are days that she will still take a nap, but most days she prefers to hang out with mom. Rachel loves to help in the kitchen, fold clothes, make her bed, wash dishes, dust, and vacuum. I just hope her enthusiasm continues through the years...

Rachel is a movie junkie. If I would let her, she'd watch movies all day long. She does love to have friends over and it also makes her day to get to go over to a friend's house. Like most kids, she loves riding her bike and going to the park. Audrey and her love turning music on and dancing away.

The birthday girl only has a few requests to make her day special. She wants to wear a new dress she got from Papa and Grandma Michaelson (she opened her presents from them on Friday with Papa). Rachel wants to go to Olive Garden and have some mac 'n cheese - it's her favorite. She also wants her daddy to blow up her new swimming pool so she can go swimming on her birthday. Rachel's not a huge fan of cake, so she gets to go pick out an ice cream cake which she is very excited about. Hopefully we will be able to make her day special!

We feel so blessed to have Rachel in our family. She definitely makes life sweet!

These Two Girls

The other day I was off just thinking in my head and the thought crossed my mind that "life is good". And it's good because I get to spend each and every day with these two girls. There are lots of other things that make my life good. But these girls are a HUGE part of that equation. I feel so blessed to be a mother and to be able to try my best with these little ones. LIFE IS GOOD! :)