Rachel Expresses

Rachel has begun expressing herself in new ways. She told us the other day, "I'm so excited about our picnic in the park." After we had a barbecue at Arielle and Jadyn's (complete with a bouncy) she told us, "Had a good time at Arielle Jadyn's house."

Rachel has started to dictate our activities. She began asking to go to the beach on Tuesday detailing her plans to "pick up the sand" and "take off our shoes" and "jump in the waves." Once she secured our promise to go over the weekend, she began to work on us to go to the farmers' market. She's relentless!

In school news, Rachel is part of a small group that explores their community. They plan a walk and talk about what they may see; then the go for the walk. When they come back, they work with pencils and crayons or clay to represent what they saw. In the picture below, Rachel had theorized that she would see a kitty cat, they saw one, and she worked with the clay to create a cat.

Fun Activities for Our 100th Post

Here are a few of the fun things Rachel has been up to lately...

the other day she came marching out of our room wearing a wig and a couple wrist braces, announcing, "I'm ready to exercise!"
undergoing her first battery of football drills
posing for a picture in the park with Mommy

exploring the paint station at the kids museum

peering over the edge of a too-high exhibit

testing Daddy's agility in a very small tunnel

petting a lizard

taking a trike for a spin - for the first time, she really made it go by herself!

The Return of Uncle Denny

Rachel could not wait for Uncle Denny to come to our house for dinner last week. That morning, she woke up and said, "Uncle Denny is coming soon!" When I picked her up at school, her teacher told her, "Have a good dinner with Uncle Denny" and turned to me and said, "Oh, yes, we have heard all about Uncle Denny today."

sharing a laugh with Uncle Denny

unable to control her delight

I'm not sure what they were doing here, but Rachel was loving it

reading one of her favorite books

Our Little Lass Goes to the Games

I spent several summers in my childhood with my cousin Nate, going to Scottish Highland Games and watching my uncle compete as a drum major. This past weekend, Rachel and Dave got to experience their first Games.

But first, a stop at one of our favorite places in California - Laguna Beach

Rachel loves the water and would stay in it all day shivering with blue lips, so we moved to the hotel pool

Then on Sunday, it was time to see Uncle Denny in action

Rachel immediately loved Uncle Denny

He taught Rach how to thumb wrestle

The good lassie that she is, she loved the pipers and drummers

Rachel Meets Janet Evanovich

I love to meet authors of books that I enjoy and get my books signed. When I learned that Janet Evanovich was in town when Dave was away, I was very disappointed. But then I found out the signing was at a reasonable hour at a bookstore where I am friends with the manager. So I decided to bring Rachel so she could meet her first famous author. We had such a fun time.

Not only did we go to the front of the line, but Rachel got a balloon and a Rice Krispies treat. We took a stroll around the Promenade and still got home way before her bedtime.

Arguable, this is Rachel's second brush with the literary world. When I was nine months pregnant with Rachel, I worked on a program with Jonathan Safran Foer.

When Janet signed our book, "To Julie and Rachel," I got a little teary-eyed. I am so happy to share these moments with my little girl.

Play Time

Lately, when Rachel wakes up she'll announce with a grin, "It's play time now!"

showing the Macsky shuffle at a dance party with her cousins

being Daddy's guitar

building a huge tower

deciding everyone needed necklaces

Some of Rachel's Favorite Things

Rachel has so much enthusiasm and cracks us up on an hourly basis with funny things she says. Here are her most favorite things to do and play with:

so so excited to be on the carousel - the 7 minute car ride to the Pier was squeal-filled

this little librarian still loves her books
our little girl is constantly asking for more tickles or snuggles

Rachel loves her friends and will hound us to set up playdates with her favorites

working together with her pals Graham and Kate

her new tricycle was a huge hit

her dramatic play has really taken off and she loves to dress her baby
Rachel started at her school when she was a little over seven months old and has been in the same room up until two weeks ago. She loves being in this new room and yells, "Hey everybody, what's up?" every morning when she arrives.