Park Visit & Visiting Family

A few Friday's ago Ben and I took Rachel to "Lala & Papa's Park" to eat a picnic lunch and feed the ducks... here are the pics.




(A cool front had just blown in that day, so it was quite windy and BEAUTIFUL!)


A few Sunday's ago, Rachel and I left the apartment to give Daddy some QUIET study time. It was a GORGEOUS day so we headed over to my Aunt Paz's house to visit with her. She is always so hospitable and makes us feel so loved. She pulled out a cute tea set for Rachel so that we could have a "tea party" (with apple juice of course). She also cut up some fresh fruit salad for us to snack on while she made chicken fajitas on the grill. Desiree and her kids came by and so did Jessica who brought little Daisy too. The time we spent at her house flew by and before you knew it, it was an hour past Rachel's nap time. We had to leave, much to her dismay, and she cried the whole way home! I put her down to nap as soon as we got home and rested some too. An hour and a half later, we were up and ready to go visit Aunt Yvonne for dinner.

Yvonne has her family over every Sunday, so we were delighted to see all of them as well. Rachel got to play with Aubrey and Amaya. She had a blast. I had a great time catching up with all of my cousins. It was so nice to see so many family members in one day.

Needless to say, we were very tired and slept a good night's sleep. ;)

Tia Paz and Rachel sipping their "tea".

Danielle, Rachel & Julia playing barbies and store.

Rachel and Aubrey playing with Polly Pockets.

Amaya smiling for the camera.

Aubrey, Cousin Paul, and Rachel throwing water balloons.

Ramblings for April

Rachel went to our room and found a thick manual for Photoshop and brought it to the couch to "read the bible." She thinks that any thick book is the bible, it's kind of funny! ;)

Last Monday, Kelly and Tara were able to come over again and have dinner with Rachel and I (Ben stays late that night for school.) After dinner, she watch t.v. so the girls and I could talk and clean up. When we were done, we sat down with Rachel and of course she figured that meant we were going to play Barbies. Everyone has their own Barbie now so she was handing them out to the appropriate person. We were laughing because Tara's Barbie has a "friend" that's a boy and we were naming them, so I told her he should be Eric. The reason for that name is because Tara is married to Eric, so she must have her Barbie be "friends" with Eric. ;) It was funny to Tara... here's a pic of her holding "Tara and Eric". :)

After we picked up the toys and were getting ready to put Rachel to sleep, she walked over to Kelly's shoes and put them on. She was so excited because they actually had a little heel (if you know me, I DON'T DO HEELS!!!). :) Here she is showing off her heels. :)

Old Friends... good times...

The Thursday before last, Rachel and I got to hang out with some of my very dear friends (I've known 3 of them since middle school). It was nice to get together with the girls and just catch up on everyone's life and just talk!! Rachel went with me so that Ben could finish up all the stuff he's got going right now, but SHE DID AWESOME!!! She kept saying that she has 5 friends now! ;)

She loves being with the girls, as do I. :)

Erin and I

Jen, Kelly

Tara and Erin
All of these girls went to Marshall HS, and then onto UTSA.
That's where I met up with them again! :)

Silly Rachel and Kelly

The happenings of this last week.

We've been pretty busy these last few days. We're doing pretty much what we do each week, but I just haven't made time to blog. I am today, though, so here goes.

I am uploading pics of the last few days. First, on Tuesday the 25th, Kelly and Tara came over for dinner. Kelly and I have been having dinner at my house on Monday nights so we can catch up and hang out. Rachel just loves it when "Aunt Kelly" comes over to play with her. ;) We mentioned it to Tara (who works less than a mile from here) and she wanted to join so she could see Rachel and I more. It was a blast! Both of the girls at the house reminded me of the old days when we used to hang out ALOT! :) Tara just got a kick out of the funny things Rachel did and said. She kept commenting about how fun it must be to have such a humorous little girl. :)

After dinner and dessert, we went over to Rachel's room to play Barbies. At one point, she looked up and told us that she has THREE friends (and held up 5 fingers). ;) It was so cute. She enjoyed all of us grown-up girls playing with her. :)

On Saturday, Rachel and I ventured out to a Family Fitness Day (Ben was working all day). It was at the parking lot of Kohl's, so we walked around and Rachel got to high-five a pizza (mascot for Papa Murphy's pizza) and she also got a pink balloon. Before I could tie it around her wrist, she let go and it went flying high in the sky. The people at the Spectrum booth were nice and gave her another one. :) I took a picture of her with her 2nd pink balloon (before we lost it again). ;)
On Sunday, Rachel and I left Daddy at home finishing schoolwork to go shopping. We went to Wal-Mart for some much needed things and more. I found that I was really needing a bigger laundry basket b/c my little one is handy for small loads, but not the huge ones that I've been dealing with lately (Rachel is getting bigger and her little, tiny clothes are not so anymore). :( I saw these big sturdy square laundry baskets for a few dollars, so I bought it. :) I love the hot pink color too. :) When we got home from Wal-Mart, I started to cook and left the basket out. This is what I found when I turned around! ;) She said it was her boat! :) (What is it about kids and laundry baskets??? I remember my brother and I playing in a mustard 1970s one too!)

Monday was a special day! It was my very good friend, Arati's, birthday. :)
Happy Birthday Girl! I love you and miss you very much! :)

Yesterday (Tuesday), was our bible class day. :) I love to go to learn more about God and the truth of the bible, but SO DOES RACHEL. She asks me at least once a day if it's "bible class day". I tell her on Tuesdays and Saturdays (when we go to church). She's kind of getting that, but she still has to ask. :) Here is a pic of Rachel with Ms. Brenda and Ms. Jay. :) She loves her teachers and I do too.
Today (Wednesday), I remembered as I was waking up that there is a Story Time at the library. I got myself ready early and Rachel was excited when I mentioned it to her. She loves the books and craft. :) Today the stories and songs were about moose. She made moose ears. :) When we were done, we went outside to have a snack and decided to take pics of the bluebonnets and wildflowers growing all around. *I was wondering if we were going to have many this year b/c of the lack of rain. This changed these last few days and they are popping up in small patches everywhere! Now I got my bluebonnet pics for the year. :)
I hope you all are well. :) I will try not to wait too long to blog. It's just been kind of busy and I am just getting lazy during my "conference time" (Rachel's nap). ;) God bless you!