Picnic at the Park

Monday night we went to a local park to eat dinner and let Rachel roam around. I made sandwiches and packed some chips and off we went. The park was nice and quiet, we enjoyed having a relaxing night off where we didn't have to think about packing up the house and doing repairs before we move.

While we were eating, a gray squirrel came scampering up to our table. Wes threw him some bread and the squirrel quickly gobbled it down. We began throwing more and more bread to the squirrel. This squirrel was not afraid of us at all and he came very close to us at times to get food. Of course Rachel was very intrigued and wanted to help feed the squirrels too. I was a little nervous because I thought this brave squirrel might jump on Rachel to get to the snacks she was holding. (Then we end up on some terrible TV show like...When Animals Attack not to mention we'd be on our way to the hospital.) Thankfully he wasn't that brave. By the end of the night our one little squirrel had called two of his friends over. We were watching and feeding three squirrels.

We also saw geese while we were there. We fed them for a little while and then we left, they weren't as friendly as the squirrels. We walked around on some trails and really wore Rachel out. She slept like a champ that night (which is every parents goal - right)!

Wes and Rachel feeding North Carolina's state mammal, the gray squirrel.

Rachel had just given the squirrel one of her snacks from her cup

Rachel feeds the squirrel. I was a little nervous at this point.

Rachel sat down and watch the squirrels for a while. Very nervous at this moment.

Wes dropped bread by his foot and the brave squirrel came and got it.

We finished up our walk and headed home. Rachel was so tired she wanted to be carried instead of walking by herself. If you know Rachel this does not happen very often she loves the freedom walking brings.

Tacky Day!

Thursday was Tacky Day at Rachel's Weekday school. She dressed in her finest! At school the children listened to a story about a penguin named Tacky and then got to color on a piece of paper and place it on the belly of a big penguin hanging on the wall. Rachel is always give out after school. She usually makes it about 5 minutes in the car before she's asleep.

Quick update on Rachel:

She's working on two more teeth on the top and has been on an eating strike for weeks.

She loves to walk and climb the stairs.

She is saying a few more words like, fish, shoes and socks, walk, and ball.

She loves to watch Barney.

She loves music and she likes to dance. Her favorite songs are The Wheels on the Bus and ABC's.

Rachel is wearing a sweater that her Aunt Kim used to wear. It's really cute but provided some tackiness with the colors pink and purple.

SOLD

HOORAY! What a blessing from God! Our house is under contract and is on it's way to being sold. We've had it on the market 3 1/2 months and have had over 30 showings. We're happy it sold and now we're a bit overwhelmed at the task of moving. We were cleaning out a closet and I found some old Sparklers. I promise I've probably had these Sparklers for 5 years. I told Wes that the Sparklers go in the Use It or Loose It pile. We quickly found a lighter, grabbed the box of Sparklers and headed outside to celebrate the selling of the house. We went through 6 boxes of Sparklers (I was surprised they still worked). Lighting the Sparklers was a lot more fun than just throwing them away! We finally got rid of the Sparklers!

Saturday Walk

Last Saturday the family went on a long walk. Our house is for sale and it was showing most of the morning so we thought, "why not enjoy this beautiful weather and walk around the business park." Wes and I walked while Rachel strolled. She seems to like strolling a lot better now. They have a pond at the park with a nice sidewalk around it. We decided to let Rachel walk around it. On our walk Rachel saw a turtle and a duck swimming in the pond. The walk was a long one for Rachel and by the end she was pretty tired but she loved the freedom of walking around by herself. And now one of her new words to say is, "walk."

Rachel needed a bit of encouragement to finish the last leg of the pond walk.

Pizza Pizza

I broke down and ordered pizza last night. Wes and I rarely order pizza anymore. I usually just pop a frozen one in the oven. The pizza came right as Rachel was about to go to bed. She is very curious about the foods we eat and always wants to try it. She could have the same thing on her plate but she would rather eat what's on ours. So I let her have a bite. I was pretty certain she wasn't going to like it but boy was I wrong!! She loved it (today, anyway)! She ate several bites of mine and then moved onto Wes.

Snow Day

It snowed Monday! We got maybe 4/5 inches. This is the most snow we've had in a while. Wes even stayed home and enjoyed the snow with Rachel. This is the first snow that Rachel has actually gone out and played in. Well, I don't really know if she played...she mainly just walked around and looked. Wes kept Rachel very entertained all day. Take a look at their day.

Wearing Daddy's Gloves

Dancin' with Dad

Off to Nana and Pop's

Last weekend we went to visit Wes' family. While we were there, we went to Wes' favorite Mexican restaurant and then walked around downtown. We went into a store called the Rusty Bucket. I got Rachel a little sign for her room that said, "Has anyone seen my glass slipper?" (Thought it was cute!) While we were shopping inside Wes was entertaining Rachel outside.