5 Years of Rachel!

Our little Rachel turned 5 years old! I couldn't believe it when Sarah turned 5 and now #2 (as Richard's dad calls her) is 5!!!
Rachel has been such a Joy to us! Her primary teachers can attest that she is so loving and kind (when she isn't hitting). Anytime she sees them, she runs to them and hugs them!
In honor of the wonderful person she is, here are a few pictures of the life of Rachel (thanks, Heathe for the idea!).

Newborn Rachel- 1/04

1 year old Rachel- 1/05

2 year old Rachel- 1/06

3 year old Rachel- 1/07

4 year old Rachel- 1/08

Happy 5 year old Rachel!- 1/09
(notice the new clothes, including the Piggy slippers

daddy picked out, curly tail and all)

We have learned so much from you, Rachel. There has been so much laughter and so many tears! We are so grateful to have you in our family, Rach!!! You are our favorite little (big) 5 year old!

Take off, to the Great White North!!!!

Ok so we aren't in the North, more like the Mid-West, but it sure feels WHITE!
Snow yes, but more like white as in freezing cold!
Our week was full of Snow Days! I kind of have been wanting one lately because I am feeling a little lazy and I sure got what I asked for.
Richard had class on Monday night and he was supposed to have a test and then a lab. Well, early in the day he received an email from his teacher saying they would only have the test and do the lab on a different day (he has to drive an hour to get to the school). Well, then we watched the news and they closed school and the teacher fired off another email postponing the test until Wednesday. So, we woke up on Wednesday and the girls' school was cancelled as well as Richard's. So now, because of the Human Rights Day holiday on Monday, his test has been moved back until next Wednesday, 9 days later than it was supposed to be. It's great to have a little more time to study, but he kind of wanted to get it over, too!
Also, little Rachel had her Christmas program at school scheduled for the Friday before Christmas. Well, that day was a snow day. So then they rescheduled it for last Wednesday (another snow day). Her teacher joked the other day that by the time they got the their program it would be an Easter program! Oh well!
So our school attendance goes something like this: They had school on Monday and Tuesday. Snow days Wednesday and Thursday. There was teacher inservice Friday and there there is a holiday from school for Human Rights Day on Monday. That will be 6 days off school!!! If we had known this would be a big break, we would've driven to Kentucky (miss you!)!!!
JUST A SIDE NOTE: It was so awesome to hear that someone else watched "WICKED" and screamed her guts out at the end of the first act! I am glad to hear that there is another crazy out there!!! (0:
So being cooped up in the house has been our favorite past time this week! I don't know if you guys know, but the temperature here got so low, it was a record. Thursday was a high of 3 below zero and a low of 20 below zero. With the wind chill on top of that, it was a record!
So that is what people in the Mid-west do. Play inside their houses!
So that is what we did:



PS Check out my curly hair blog for a funny story about church!

Thanks!

Richard, Thanks for you love and support!
Also, I wrote a funny post on my other blog... check it out. Click on the pic of my hair on the right.

Proud of My Becky

I wanted to commandeer the blog for a moment and post this picture. My Becky has been working hard to lose weight and has sometimes felt discouraged. She is not sure if she sees progress in herself (despite being down 4-6 sizes). Well, here is my proof to her and the reason I am proud of her and want to show her off:



I am proud of you, my love! You have made amazing progress in the last year, and I see the difference in you. I look forward to showing you more pictures of how skinny you are getting. I love you!
-Richard

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It was a fun week! We were able to spend more time together and that is always so much fun! And "fun"! Richard worked some during the day, but most of the time we hung out and just played!!!
For New Year's Eve, we headed to a friends house across the street for a night of games and food and friends!

We weren't sure how Emma would do with the late night (we got home at 1am), so we let her bring her baby with her. Big sis Rachel helped her secure it to her coat and she walked over with it like that! The precious cargo made it all the way there, but she didn't really need it and we just brought it home and put it in bed with Emma. It made me laugh so I just had to take a picture!

Me, Tiffany and Angela

Kart Chicks!!!

We played a lot of Wii games! It was fun to see the guys battle on MarioKart and then they convinced us womenfolk to give it a try! We did four races and it was halarious!

We also played Guitar Hero into the night and chatted! It was fun to just hang out! We headed home at about 1am and fell into bed and slept soundly through the night. We are still out of whack, but getting more on schedule.

Of course it was the hardest for Emma. She is still so tired all the time! As proof of this, check out this video... (poor thing!)

Happy New Year! Hope you were all safe and had a fun week! Made some resolutions that included Tai Chi, sewing and being more on time to things! Wish me luck!