Tomorrow he is 7...

Looking at these pictures it is amazing to think that seven years have gone by since this sweet little dude came into our lives. Amazing. He is such a sweet, thoughtful little man and we are so lucky to have him in our lives and in our family. He is growing so very fast and learning every day. He surprises us with his thoughts and feelings and we have to remember he's not a little bitty boy anymore. He is terribly excited for his birthday and we've heard all week how wonderful he hopes it's going to be. I hope it lives up to all his expectations and more. We love you little man!!

Last Day of Six

He was excited to spy a couple of presents he hadn't seen before tonight.

On the way to school this morning Noah says to me: "Mom, this is my last day of being six - it's going to be a good day...and tomorrow Mom, is going to be a GREAT day!". Who can argue with that? I can't believe our little boy is going to be seven years old tomorrow. Time has gone by so very fast. Love, love, love that boy.

On a side note - Rachel says to me as she is licking the beaters from the mixer and I am sliding Noah's cake in the oven this morning: "Mmmmmmm, this is soooo, soooo good Mommy! It tastes like Scooby Doo cake!".

Rachel's First Day of Preschool

Today was Rachel's big day - her first day at The Learning Tree preschool. She has been so very excited to go. When I had returned from taking Noah to school she had already dressed herself in the clothes I had set out for her last night and she was ready for me to fix her hair and eat breakfast. It was cute to see how truly excited she was. The only way she showed any signs of worry was right before bed last night, when I was tucking her in, she aske me "Mommy, what if I have to go potty at school?" Doug and I assured her that her teacher would show her where the potty was and that if she needed to go, she should just ask. (We were both relieved to see a little bathroom in her classroom this morning - no worries of getting lost or not making it.) After getting ready, she ate a little breakfast and we were off - of course not before a quick snap of the camera from mom. Upon arriving at school she jumped out of the car, grabbed my hand and marched right in. While waiting in the hallway to sign in she had a little guy named Julian shake her hand and tell her 'hello'. It was pretty cute. Audrey, her friend from gymnastics arrived shortly there after and we got the girls settled at the table together where there was a ball of play-doh for each child to play with. We then met her teacher Ms. Kim, and after Rachel gave me a kiss and a hug, I was on my way. It is strangely quiet at the house right now. I miss her sweet face and smile, but I know that she is having fun and learning and I look forward to hearing all about it when we pick her up. Exciting times for our sweet girl. =)

Happy Valentime's Day!

*Couldn't resist this one even if she does have peas on her face... ;)
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Happy "Valentime's" Day! I love how Rachel consistently calls Valentine's Day, Valentime's Day. That won't last long as her speech is improving and her vocabulary growing every day. We had a great Valentine's day here - Doug wasn't feeling quite well enough to go to work, so he stayed home this morning and took us all out to a wonderful lunch at The Olive Garden. The kids awoke to their Valentine gifts and seemed to enjoy them very much. Rachel fell asleep tonight clutching her new Kitty friend, Rosie. Noah played with his LEGO car quite a bit today after he got it all put together. They also spent the morning making Valentines for each other, for me and for Doug. Gotta love some homemade Valentines. Even ones with Halloween stickers in them. Thanks Rachel. Valentine's day is certainly nice, but I am lucky enough to hear those three little words every day, several times a day and they sure make my heart glad. =) Hope you all had a warm and fuzzy kind of day today. Tomorrow is a big day for Miss Rachel. She has her first day of preschool at The Learning Tree. She is so very excited. I hope it is all she wants it to be and more. =)

My Funny Valentines

Princess Furniture

That's what she calls it - Princess Furniture. Every since we moved to Tennessee and the girls no longer share a room Rachel has had a shortage of furniture. We split the nursery furniture between the girls rooms and it's been a little crazy trying to keep things organized with two girls using one small room's worth of baby furniture. So this weekend we went and picked out some 'big girl' furniture for Rachel. She has been telling me for some time that she wanted white furniture and that she would like for it to be 'very pretty' and 'girly' so that she would have a pretty room. She was very excited yesterday when the delivery truck came and she couldn't wait to run down and see what they had left for her. We're still waiting on the mirror for her dresser to come in, but everything else was delivered yesterday. The white is good to tone down all the pink - Rachel really wanted a PINK room, and as you can see she got it... She calls it 'Pinkalicious'. I'm glad she is so happy with it. =) On the flip side Kate now has a complete set of nursery furniture and I am able to get the other half of her clothes out of her floor! Yay!

All Is Quiet...

10 Months Old

Kate is 10 months old today - She is growing so fast and getting cuter every day! She is all over the place and getting very fast at her own kind of army crawl. She uses her arms to haul herself around and it's kind of funny to watch her scoot around like that. She's starting to pull herself up on the furniture and often I'll find her on her knees peering over the bumper pad in her crib trying to see who is coming in to get her. She is a little piggy who loves to eat, eat, eat and will throw the bigget fit if you are eating in front of her and not including her. She is fluidly saying Mama now, which is added to Dada and Papa. She sometimes will clearly say Bye-Bye and always waves her little hand. I love when she tells Doug night-night and waves at him before she gets put to bed. Her hair is growing and hanging over her ears - she's kind of in the in-between stage where it is neither short, nor does she have all that much of it, but I do enjoy putting bows in the little bit that she does have. She's wearing 6-9 months with some 12 months clothing thrown in here and there. She's still in size 3 diapers. She still loves her babyfood - sizes twos and threes, but will happily munch on what ever it is you might share with her. The kids are enjoying her now that she is moving and watching to see where they go and what they do. She adores them both and loves it when they try to make her laugh. She has taken a liking to Phoebe as well and will pester her beyond belief, but Phoebe will just lay there and take it. She loves music and will start to bounce almost the minute you turn it on. Most of all, we think she's as sweet as she can be and somehow still manages to get a little sweeter everyday.

Safari Girl

She loves this exersaucer soooo much! I'm so glad we picked this one for her. :) Makes me happy to see her so happy playing in it.

Game Ball!

Noah and his team played in their third game today over at Parks & Rec and they had their third win! They are doing awesome! We are so proud of Noah and glad that he truely does seem to be enjoying playing basketball. He played hard today and although he didn't make any points he worked hard for the defense, stealing the ball a few times and guarding his man. He got the ball a couple of times but couldn't remember to dribble as he was running for the goal to shoot. Next time! Great job Noah! We love you!