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! :)

I had no idea...

I really didn't.... Ten years ago I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And I mean that in a positive way. Ten years ago if you had asked me what the next ten years were going to bring, I would have been so off! I am so grateful for a husband who has been by my side the past 10 years. In those years, we've experienced, seen, and done a lot. And it's been an amazing journey so far. I'm not going to make any predictions about the next 10 years, because one thing I have learned is I am far from being in charge. Here are a few of the adventures we've had the past 10 years together:

• Both graduated from college and began our careers (Andy's still going strong with the same one and I've switched gears a bit.)
• Moved to Texas
• Purchased our first home
• Welcomed 2 beautiful, healthy girls to our family
• Moved to Amsterdam
• Traveled to Canada, Mexico, Central America, New Zealand, all over Europe, and we've also covered some of the U.S.
• Moved back to Texas

These are the biggies. There have obviously been lots of stuff in between as well. Life has been good - the ups, the downs and the in-betweens have all been doable with Andy. I am looking forward to the rest of forever with my one and only!
(Next year it won't have to be a picture of a picture... One thing I'm working on currently. And one of the many ways things have changed the past 10 years.)

Hermann Park

Andy doesn't get Good Friday off here in the U.S. And even if he did, it's not like he'd be able to take the holiday anyways, so it's all good... The girls and I decided to go for an adventure that day. And an adventure it was. Traffic was insane! Obviously a lot of people did have the day off and a lot of people had the same idea as me. I circled Hermann Park twice before settling on a parking garage. I had to pay $9, but it was better than other parking garages I walked by after parking... Anyhow, the day started off with a play, "The Princess and the Pea", at the Miller Outdoor Theater. I've recently been introduced by a friend to the free children's programs they have during the week. Andy and I went years ago to an evening performance, but I wasn't aware of the daytime ones... We went to one back in March that the girls enjoyed, so we decided to make another go of it. Rachel loved the show and Audrey enjoyed dancing:

Just in case you are wondering about the background music it was a bilingual play (Spanish/English). Kind of like Dora, they'd plug in Spanish every once in awhile. Here's Rachel enjoying the play:

After the play we were going to attempt to ride the train around Hermann Park, making a stop at the splash pad. Once again, that's didn't work out. After waiting 20 minutes and have 2 full trains pass us by, we walked. The girls enjoyed the splash pad. Our community one is currently closed due to construction, so it was fun to let the girls enjoy one. They played, in the water we had a picnic lunch, they played in the water, Audrey hurt herself, we played on the nearby playground, they played in the water some more, and then finally the girls enjoyed ice cream sandwiches. Instead of spending $9 on a train ride, we spent $5 on ice cream and the girls were happy. They had never had ice cream sandwiches before and they are definitely fans now!

It was a fun day! We headed home around 2:30 and within 5 minutes of being in the car Audrey was sound asleep. One of these days hopefully Andy can just take a random day off work and join us. I think that would be the ultimate perfect day!!!

Celebrating Easter

We celebrated Easter all week long. The week started off with a friend emailing me to see if I wanted to put together a Resurrection Eggs Kit with her. Of course I couldn't resist! I love having friends that share such wonderful ideas. A few days later I was talking to my mom and telling her about this wonderful thing I was doing with the girls each night before bed. We did a fast forward version - 2 eggs per night. My mom, ever so kindly, informed me that she did the exact same thing with me when I was little. Sorry Mom, I don't have a great memory....

On Wednesday Rachel helped me make Bunny Buns. She was in charge of providing snack for her preschool class last week. So, on Thursday we took bunny buns. Next year I am going to make them half the size, but otherwise they were fabulous! I was so proud of myself for not killing the yeast. Rachel had fun decorating the bunnies:

Friday night we dyed Easter eggs. The girls had a lot of fun! And we only had one major spill by Audrey, but she's so cute in her pigtails that it's all good...

Concentration...
Hmmm...what color do I choose?
I love the clarity of this picture. And I love Audrey in pigtails...

Saturday morning the girls and I went to the church Easter egg hunt. The sun was bright, the girls had fun, and all the chocolate they got was a melted mess... The girls looked pretty cute sporting their bunny ears and Rachel was excited to use the bunny bag that she had made at school.

Sunday morning the girls were a little bit excited about seeing what the Easter bunny left for them. Luckily the Easter bunny was smart enough to not leave much candy (we had enough from the previous day's egg hunt).

All decked out in their new stuff. We are definitely anxious for the pools to open!!! :)

We decided to grab a picture of us after church:

After church I was able to convince the girls to get into regular clothes. They wanted to wear their swimsuits.... The girls had fun looking for their eggs:

It was nice to have Uncle Craig to help the girls find their eggs. Andy was busy with the video camera and I was taking pictures. I'll just share the first video with you. The second video has a lot of drama...

The rest of the day the girls were in their swimsuits. As a matter of fact, Audrey's already needs to be washed. After a yummy Easter dinner with friends, the girls and I made Resurrection Rolls (another idea from a friend). Audrey enjoyed eating the marshmallows and Rachel enjoyed helping me. They were yummy! So definitely a new tradition in our household. Rachel's already said she wants to make another batch.

The girls took baths while the rolls baked and then they enjoyed their rolls:

Definitely a good Easter! The girls are quite disappointed that Easter is over. But like any holiday, it will come around again. Rachel was able to gain a better understanding of Easter this year. And Audrey will get there... We are so grateful for our Savior and the blessing and promise we have to live again with Him some day.

Piano Fun

A few weeks ago Audrey was sitting at the piano singing while she played. Of course she became self-conscious once she saw Andy trying to take video of her. But they are still fun videos to watch. And as you will see in the second video, Rachel had to join in on the fun (and attention)... :)

We love our boy friends...

The past 2 weeks we have had various boy friends over quite a few times, whether it was helping a friend out or just having friends over to play. On this particular day there was a boy for Rachel and a boy for Audrey (not brothers). I couldn't resist taking a picture of them when they lined up the lawn chairs so well by themselves to enjoy a snack... And I also loved how the boys are in the blue chairs and the girls in the pink. We love having friends over and it seems like recently they've been all boys!

Pirate Rachel

We do princesses pretty good in our home. So, when I noticed Rachel was supposed to dress up as a pirate this past Tuesday for school, I was stumped. But then I thought of a few friends and emailed them to see if they could help me out. Aren't friends wonderful??? Because of course they did! We borrowed various items from different friends. And Rachel was given the actual dress to keep. The girl who used to own it is 8 years old now and it doesn't fit her anymore. She was so sweet to give it to Rachel. So, now Rachel can be a pirate any day she wants... She's standing really awkward because she wanted everyone to notice her wristbands... :)

You may ask, why did she have to dress up as a pirate? Well, I think the teachers were trying to figure out how to focus on the letter X for 2 whole school days. And this is how they did. The children went on a treasure hunt, made a bottle with sand and treasures to find in it, drew maps with X's on them, etc... So, it was definitely a fun day for Rachel!