Finally, another update!

Rachel scooping out her pumpkin. Notice her tongue out to help with concentration.

Sarah riding a horse at the Halloween party her teacher had for class.


Rachel enjoying the benefits of trick-or-treating. Beware, she knows what lollipops are!

Rachel and the two Jango Fett's.

Everyone thought Rachel was pretty cute.

Derek and Sarah at the church Trunk or Treat.

Tinkerbell playing a game at Trunk or Treat.

Derek and Sarah carving their pumpkins!

At the pumpkin patch!

Rachel eating her pumpkin's eye after helping Daddy clean out the insides.

Cleaning out the insides again.

Well, the past three to four weeks have been very, very busy. In October, I was sick forever it seems with allergies and the such. Then Rachel got sick, I took her to the doctor and of course they say, well wait it out. The same week I had to go on an overnight trip to Louisiana. Yeah, Rachel didn't get any better so Jim had to take her to the doctor again. They ended up having to take blood and do a chest x-ray. According to Jim, this was not fun at all. I guess to do the x-ray, they lowered her into this tube like thing onto a seat and the whole time, her arms had to be held above her head. Well then I guess they put the plate in somehow and Jim said the tech was having trouble getting it into place and he looks at Rachel and the plate is being shoved into Rachel's gums and upper lip. It is probably a good thing I was not there, or I could have been arrested when I got done with the tech. Anyway, turns out she had some sort of bacterial infection so they gave her an antibiotic and she was better within a couple of days.

Now, for the fun stuff. We took the kids to the Pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween. Rachel had a good time just running around and touching all the pumpkins. The bigger kids got to do a wagon ride and a bouncy slide thing. When we left the pumpkin patch, we went to the Knights of Columbus pumpkin carving activity. Sarah and Derek both carved their pumpkins there. Then, that evening, our church had their annual Trunk or Treat for the kids so we got the kids dressed up in their costumes and went to that. It was a fun and busy day for us all.

Rachel got to do her first real trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Sarah was at her mom's. We went to our friends house and spent the evening with them and their kids. Their son was dressed as Jango Fett from Star Wars just like Derek. Their baby that is 9 months old was a ladybug. Rachel was Tinkerbell.

Hey, I didn't wait a month to post!

Well just a short update on happenings with us. Rachel and I have been suffering from allergies I guess for like the past week and a half. Luckily mine seems to be worse than hers. However, we are both coughing and runny nose and all that fun stuff. As much as I hate the cold, I am almost wishing for a freeze.

The last weekend in September, the kids and I went to Ponca City for the Fall Festival at St. Mary's (Jim had to work) and to have a small early party for Derek's birthday. All three kids seemed to have fun at the festival. Rachel's favorite thing was the duck pond where she proceeded to get herself soaking wet. She really didn't care about winning prizes, just about getting those ducks in and out of the water. Sarah and Derek spent most of their time at the White Elephant booth and at the prize shop.

This past weekend, I took Derek and Rachel to the zoo while Jim did yard work. Sarah was at her mom's for the weekend. Rachel is starting to become more interested in the animals and things. We did the feather fest where they have birds flying all around and you can actually hand feed them. It was pretty neat, although I was afraid Rachel was going to stomp on some of the birds. She did chase quite a few but they managed to get out of her way. She pointed and chattered at quite a few of the animals throughout the zoo. Inside the rainforest, they had some kind of loud birds in a cage, I think parrots. Anyway, they were going crazy and making loud noises and Rachel thought it was hilarious and laughed and laughed.

Rachel's latest achievements are that we finally have her off the bottle (she has been taking one only at night for the past 2 months or so). However, we have not broke her from the pacifier yet and that will be the next task and probably not a fun one. She really enjoys being outside and walking around and then swinging. She is not saying a lot of words yet but will point and understands quite a bit.

Here are a couple of pictures and a video of Rachel doing her sitting dance moves.


Sarah and Derek at the Fall Festival in their funny hats.
Neither one would smile for me! It is probably not cool or something.


Rachel at the zoo laughing at the parrots making
loud noises. Notice her boo-boo on her head.
Her head came into contact with the wood landscape outside.



Derek with his cake that he decorated himself at Mom's.
I can't believe he is 10 almost!




Rachel confiscated this bear from Sarah's room. It plays
soft, slow Silent Night but Rachel still does a good little jig to it.
The video is from my camera phone so not great but oh well!

September Update

Rachel enjoying her swing. She will now point out the backdoor at the swing when she wants to go out.
Rachel checking our her new forward facing car seat.

Well I am absolutely awful at trying to update this blog but I have added a couple of pictures below from our cruise. As far as news with what has been going on with us, there isn't too much to share. Things have been pretty quiet and mundane for the most part.

Rachel is walking everywhere and sometimes attempts to walk quickly or run which usually creates a fall but she is getting better every day. Sometimes when she falls, she attempts to get the pity reaction and will look and see if we are looking and what our reaction is. Then she decides whether she should cry or not. She is also getting good at mild temper tantrums but of course at this age, they are still kind of cute. If she is sitting, she will just bend her upper body forwards onto the floor and slap the floor with both hands. She also does this from a laying down position. Like I said, cute for now, but maybe not later. Jim and I got reminders of true parenthood the past two weekends. Labor Day weekend I guess she had some kind of bug and ended up getting sick all over her bed right after I laid her down for the night. Luckily Jim and I were still close by and heard her. Of course this required Jim and I doing a total bedding change, wiping down all pieces of bed and removing mattress and of course cleaning Rachel up. Her eyes were wide eyed and she wasn't sure what had just happened. We kept her up for a little while to make sure she was done (or so we thought). The next morning, when I went to get her out of bed, she had gotten sick again and this time had laid in it so it was all in her pajamas and hair. I had to wash her hair twice to get the smell out. Then that same week, she cut about 3 or 4 more teeth so last Friday we started with the really bad diapers. So bad that it created a yeast infection so that she screamed with every diaper change up until this past Wednesday. However, that too has subsided and everything seems to be back to normal.

Sarah and Derek seem to be enjoying being back in school as far as getting to see their friends. The homework is not so much fun for them but I guess they better get used to it. During their spare time at home, they either play video games, just play some made up game, or play outside on their bikes.

Now for a couple of pictures!

Picture of cenote at the Dzibilchaltun Ruins outside of Progreso Mexico. The kids and I swam in it for about 15 minutes. It is about 2 ft at the shallow end by where they are standing and 140 ft deep at the opposite end.
Derek and Sarah sitting behind the back of our boat at Progreso.
The ocean at Isla Pasion in Cozumel. We rode on a speed boat that does 360 degree turns from the pier to this island just off of Cozumel. We practically had the whole island to ouselves and they served a wonderful lunch buffet.
Our last day on the boat and we decided to play some miniature golf.

Sarah and Derek in one of the swimming pools on the boat. They swam quite a bit and also enjoyed sitting in the hot tubs.

Back from Vacation

Well, we have made it back from our cruise. The Tropical Storm didn't affect us at all! Whew! I will try to get pictures up in the next couple of days or so. We had a really good time but of course we all really missed Rachel. She got to spend the 9 days in Ponca City with Grandma and Granddad. From the sounds of it, she had a good time as did they.

Speaking of Rachel, mom said the first day she took a couple of steps a couple of times but then never did again. Well when we got her home, she started taking more and more steps. She can even walk up and down the hallway on her own. She is still a little slow and unsteady but does pretty good for a new walker! She is very proud of herself also and as she is walking, she gets a big smile on her face and then taps her chest with her hands prompting us to then clap for her.

Rachel's First Birthday

Wow, I can't believe she is already one year old! It doesn't seem possible. On her actual birthday, we just had dinner at home and Rachel actually had a three course meal consisting of meat loaf, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. I couldn't believe she ate all of it and then had seconds. We then took her to Braum's and let her hold her own ice cream cone. She definitely likes her ice cream.

Over the weekend, we celebrated by having a party for the relatives that are here in Broken Arrow. Rachel was impressed with the bows on the presents. She really didn't care much about actually opening or seeing what was inside the gift bags. However, once the items were out in the open, she became interested. The clothes she enjoyed throwing over her shoulder like she does when she comes upon any pile of clean laundry.Rachel was a little hesitant about digging into her cake, but once she put her hand in it and tasted it, she realized how fun and tasty it was!

Also, she has started standing in place for longer than a second without holding onto anything. She is not taking steps yet but will stand and talk or flap her arms then she will squat and sit down.

Hmmm, don't know about this

So, since everyone else was doing it, I thought it would be fun to try also. However given how technically challenged I am, it could be interesting, or I could just bore you to death.

Anyway, we will see how it goes.

I enjoyed seeing all of the relatives this past weekend at the big July 4th celebration and the post birthday celebration for Grandma's 80th!

Also, it is hard to believe, but Rachel is one year old today! I have added a picture of her taken 1 year ago today!