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We finally made it to a picture place for Rachel to get her pictures taken. I went a bit overboard in purchasing sheets, so check out what is below and let me know if you'd like any. What size and how many! The printed pictures are a bit different than the ones below because most of them were cropped, but you get the idea... We'll number them, for your ordering convenience. And I have a ton of wallets, so if each cousin wants their own wallet, that's totally fine! Rachel absolutely loves her pink outfit and it defintely won! :)

Photo 1:

Photo 2:

Photo 3 (her belly button is cropped out):Photo 4 (it's a much closer shot printed):

Photo 5: Photo 6:

Rained Out

Last Saturday we were going to try and go to the beach, but the weather didn't cooperate. Our girls get up pretty early though, so we were able to squeeze in a little time at a local park before it started raining on us. The girls enjoyed swinging:

Love that Rachel is finally figuring out how to pump!

Making pancakes:

Climbing:

And getting a little wet:

After naps we decided to head to a mall in Houston. I had heard great reviews about the indoor play place at this mall. So, we headed out and so were not expecting how crazy busy it was. We had to stand in line to get into the play place and then once we were let in it was total madness. The girls did have fun, but I think the next time we go it'll be just me and the girls on a weekday and hopefully it won't be as busy. We do love our family time on Saturdays. The girls love when the weekends roll around and they have two days where their daddy doesn't have to go to work! :)

Four Little Piggies

I didn't think it was possible to have a child with less hair than Rachel, but we do! Audrey's hair is definitely growing a lot slower than Rachel's did. Who knows, maybe she'll have the most hair when it's all said and done. At 21 months, I was finally able to do some pigtails. She loved having her hair up in pigtails yesterday. She insisted that they were called "ponytails" though. Silly girl! :) And yesterday Rachel had, what I would call, her first real pigtails - all her hair pulled up. She was flipping her pigtails around all day. Now I just need to get faster at doing hair. Having girls is lots of fun, but it can definitely be time consuming to do their hair!

Our Morning Visitor

The girls love to watch the squirrels, birds, and lizards that can be seen outside our kitchen windows at mealtimes. Imagine our surprise Friday morning at breakfast when we found a different visitor - a possum. He wasn't too sure of us and scampered up a tree as soon as we spotted him. He stayed there safely until we lost interest. Who knows where he went after that - hopefully he isn't using our attic as his home. We haven't heard any suspicious noises yet...

Separate Holidays

A few weeks ago Andy was asked to help with E&Y (Ernst & Young) recruiting at BYU. The recruiting event was held on the Thursday night before Labor Day weekend. Andy and I decided that it would be fun for him to make a weekend out of it and take Audrey along. So, Audrey and Andy enjoyed a long weekend with family up in Utah. Audrey was certainly spoiled by her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She's one lucky girl!

The weekend held lots of fun for everyone. Andy flew out Thursday morning with Audrey on his lap. He headed down to BYU that evening and the grandparents were put in charge of Audrey. Audrey loves spending time with her Papa and Grandma Smith. Friday was a good hang-out day for the family, including lunch at Morelias (best authentic Mexican food in SLC) and a picnic at the park in the evening. On Saturday everyone headed up to Provo Canyon. Saturday night the boys went to the BYU game. Sunday was spent with family, including Grandpa and Grandma "Bug" (Mills) and then of course Monday they had to fly home. The weekend flew by too quickly!

Audrey enjoying her papa:

Cousin Chase and Audrey having fun at the park on Friday - they're only 10 weeks apart in age:

Audrey and the mountains - we sure do miss the mountains! Uncle Nate and Audrey. Audrey is still walking around saying "Nate-dog"...

Trying on gifts from Grandma and Papa!

Getting put to work and loving it...

Not sure if the water is warm enough in Provo Canyon (as cold as the North Sea)... Chase and Audrey with Daddy and Aunt Natalie:
Enjoying corn-on-the-cob Sunday night:

When we decided that Andy and Audrey were going to take this little trip, I mentioned it to Rachel and asked her how it would make her feel. With tears in her eyes, she told me it would make her sad. So, then I asked her if she'd like to go with me to visit Papa and Grandma Michaelson that weekend. Big smiles... My parents say they'll be the consolation prize anytime!

So, after school on Thursday we drove up to my parents and spent the weekend with him. Lots of fun was had! We went to Dairy Queen for ice creams, Rachel loved playing with the play tool set, we made beaded necklaces, we took naps, Papa taught Rachel how to lay brick, we went to Chuck E. Cheese, the girls went shopping, Grandma and Rachel had fun playing doctor, we went on a boat ride (and Grandma joined us for her very first boat ride!), and had fun just chatting the evenings away.

Laying brick with Papa:

So excited about her new "squishy" Woody that Grandma bought for her:

Playing doctor (Misty trying to play too, she loves Rachel so much and Rachel's still not too sure of Misty):
Rachel LOVED playing with this ace bandage:

That last night we were there Rachel had discovered this blow-up sleeping bag. So, she insisted on blowing it up and sleeping in it on top of her bed that night. Silly girl!

Out on our boat ride - it was a beautiful Monday morning with somewhat cooler temperatures:

We drove home Monday afternoon and beat Audrey and Andy home by about 45 minutes. Even though separate holidays aren't exactly ideal, this one turned out great. It was only for a few days and the girls loved the one-on-one attention they received. Rachel was very concerned the whole weekend about Audrey. When she chose a prize at Chuck E. Cheese, when she picked out her Woody doll, and when she made some jewelry; she always mentioned Audrey and how we had to get/do something for her. So sweet! Audrey and Rachel are such lucky girls to have so many family members who love them so much. We feel very blessed!

ABC's and 123's

Audrey is full of surprises. She is constantly trying to keep up with her older sister. Currently she is obsessed with singing the ABC's. She constantly asks for us to sing, "ABCD" and then if you stop every once in awhile she'll fill in the blanks. Audrey will also do this with several of her other favorite songs. It's so much fun to watch her as she learns new things every day.

Last week Audrey surprised me with her counting ability. I believe she was in trouble, so I was doing the count to 3 thing. I said, "1, 2, 3" and Audrey smiled and continued on for me by saying, "4, 5, 6". So that night I pulled out the camera and was surprised that with a little help she can count to ten. What a clever little toddler we have!

Playground Heaven

Something that we were able to easily enjoy in Holland were the 3 parks that were in our neighborhood. Usually April-October we were able to enjoy. So after moving back to Texas Rachel was anxious to try out all the new parks we were always driving by. However, I kept on using the excuse that it was way too hot...

Well, a few weeks ago on a Saturday morning I decided to take the girls to the playground at our neighborhood elementary school. It was 8 AM and we only lasted about an hour. It definitely was still too hot! About a week later we decided to walk over to the playground after dinner and the humidity was lower that day, so we were able to enjoy the playground a bit more this time. The girls love going to the park. It still isn't cool enough on most days, but hopefully by mid-October we'll be able to enjoy all the parks around here more often. We'll just switch the months around. It seems like we've crossed the equator! :)

The Little Things

Rachel was at the back door last night calling, "Mommy, Daddy, Audrey, come look!" It's a blessing to have little ones to remind you of the beauties of life. Rachel was so excited about the pink sky last night that she insisted on taking a picture of it:

And so it begins...

There's no turning back, we have officially entered the school years. Rachel had her first day of preschool today and she loved it. She goes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-2:00. She goes to school with two other friends from church, Peyton and Mason. It was Peyton's birthday today and she was so excited about being able to celebrate his birthday at school. She came home and told me she held Peyton's hand ALL day long. I doubt she actually did... :)

Rachel came home telling me all kinds of things about school. She named quite a few new friends. They went to P.E. today and she said the funniest thing about the day was when the P.E. teacher told them they couldn't climb in the trash can. I guess they've had problems with this in the past??? Rachel also informed me that they have a "petite" toilet to use at school... Just so you know, she prefers to be referred to as petite rather than small, because she is a big girl! And I guess it's polite to refer to the toilet as petite as well...

When I walked Rachel in this morning she just marched right into the classroom and didn't even turn back to say good-bye. I was so glad she was so happy and ready to go! I was one of those little girls who absolutely LOVED school. I hope Rachel is able to gain and keep that same love. So far so good, she was quite disappointed this afternoon when I told her there's no school tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures of Rachel:

I enjoyed running some errands with only one little one today. Audrey was a bit upset that Rachel was not with us today. She cried in the car for awhile, but once we went to the mall play place, she was just fine. After running errands we were headed home and she kept on saying "Rachel, come here". She'll adjust! Audrey did enjoy some one-on-one time with me today as well. We are so excited for Rachel and what this school year has to bring. Rachel and I did the math last night, and she only has about 18 years of school ahead of her... :)

P.S. If you haven't noticed, Rachel is going through a phase right now of smiling without showing her teeth. I need to discuss this habit with her Uncle Steve...

Monkey See, Monkey Do