fun times

Let me start by saying I love my job, partly because of the kids, partly because of the work itself, but mainly because of the ladies and man in these pictures. I love my work family! We had a night out in celebration of Miss Claudie's retirement. It is so fun and refreshing to spend a couple of hours having some much needed adult time, and it is always a good time with these folks.

The retiree and belated birthday girl and Bridgett: Kay, Angie, me, and Kristin:
Our awesome waitress singing Happy Birthday to Miss Claudie:It never fails- at some point during one of our outings, Adrienne will be waving a steak knife. :)

Brigett and Albright:

Amy in the middle of a story and Beverly: Can't wait till next time!

rainy day

Rachel has been asking to play in the rain a lot lately, but we haven't been able to because storms have been accompanying the rain lately. We must have gotten a pretty good rain today while we were gone because she found plenty of puddles to play in when we got home. Practice was rained out, so we played outside for a while.

The tree was full of water, and she thought she was going to get me wet by shaking the branch. That didn't work out so well for her. She thought it was fun though.

Our neighbor started out with two of these little guys, but somehow that number has grown. They are everywhere! These are the most geese I've seen since we have lived here.

Most of the geese are no problem, but meet Loud Mouth Fred: This dude is mean I tell you. He even chases the horse around to let him know who's boss. I don't remember what she was telling me at this point, but it must have been important.
She was trying to think of what else she could get into. We decided on a little soccer since we didn't get to go to practice.

Hold on, let me fix my hair first. Wouldn't expect any less from a princess who plays soccer in a dress and zebra rain boots. :)

She was fussing at me because she said I didn't kick it to her right or something to that effect.

I love that smile!

I really hope it doesn't rain us out Thursday, but it was fun to have this afternoon to just hang out and play.

soccer pictures

I haven't figured out the right settings on my camera to keep the pictures from being so blurry, but you get the idea anyway. This girl loves soccer. Last Tuesday about halfway through practice, the bottom fell out- I mean a toad choker, gully washer. Rachel was upset because she couldn't finish her practice. Her daddy asked her if she wanted to play in the rain, and she told him no, she wanted the sun to come back out so she could play some more. I thought it was kind of fun playing in the rain.

She likes playing red light, yellow light, green light: Sometimes she gets a little too excited and misses the ball. Good try though hunny.

Red light!Come back here ball:Green light!Yellow light!

pouting Prince-ess

Rachel has officially learned the art of pouting- arms crossed, lip poked out, and all. This particular day she was playing dress-up with her cousins and started pouting because she wanted to be Rapunzel and was told she could be the prince because they already had a Rapunzel. She tries hard to pout, but she can't help but smile. You gotta love this kid!

Mommy's Big Helper...

I decided to break out the sewing machine this weekend. After blowing the dust and cobwebs off of it (no, not really), I ended up making two dresses. These were my first ones to do without a pattern, so I'm kind of proud of them, even if one was too small. Of course my little helper was on hand to supervise. Sometimes she is even a little too much help, I think. :)

She was trying it on for size before I sewed it up:

She supervised every stitch:


Even under the scrutinizing eye of Princess P, sewing supervisor, extroidenaire, things happen. Things like sewing a wrong side to a right side: (oops)

That's when it becomes neccessary to break out this handy little gadget: the seam-ripper. I think I would rather pull my eyelashes out one by one that rip apart an entire side of a dress, just saying.

Once the dress was finished, Rachel put aside her supervisory duties and became my little model. And what a good little model she was. The first dress was a little snug around the waist. She bowed out her chest and said, "It's a little tight when I do like this." I wish I had taken a picture of us trying to get her out of the dress. That was an experience. Guess I'll have to save this one to sell at the Blueberry Festival next year.

The pink one turned out so cute, I think. I left it a little bigger so she can wear a long sleeve shirt under it this fall/winter. She has some pink minky pants to match.

Between dresses Rachel and I made cake balls. She was more than happy to take care of the left over icing for me. :)

After supper she even asked if she could sweep the floor. She earned her first allowance, a whole nickel. (That's the only change I had on me at the time.) I told her she worked hard for her money. She agreed and then asked for more money. Oh, and I realize she doesn't match, but she dressed herself, I promise.

Birthday Dinner and this week's "Fortune Cookie Say"

My sweet sister took us out for supper last night at my favorite restaurant- Mai Tai. We had so much fun and laughed until the tears were rolling. There is never a boring minute with Princess P around. By the end of the night Aunt Alicia was wearing the majority of Rachel's supper. She was a good sport though. :) My little love a dove just can't help herself; she loves to hug!
When the fortune cookies came, she opened hers and asked Mamaw to read her destructions (a cross between description and instructions). She cracks me up. I love this kid!
This week's fortune cookie say: "Don't panic." We got jipped on this one.

I love that smile!



Yummy rice!

Rachel was trying to choke Aunt Licia in this one. She loves a bear hug.

Moma is saying don't take my picture. She's probably thinking she didn't sign up for supper with the paparazzi. :) I love you Mommy!