Busy, busy, busy...

We've been on the go for awhile now. I feel like once April came around, my life has gotten so busy. No time to slow down. I can't even read my favorite blogs anymore and I'm totally neglecting this one. Believe me, I am always trying to take pics so that I can share them on this blog. Ben's been using the desktop alot for school work (writing curriculum for next year) and for Rachel's 3rd Video. I will post the other two soon to compare them all. ;) Every year we make a slideshow video with Rachel pics, it's so much fun to see how much she's grown and how big she's getting. I can't believe my baby is going to be three! Augh! I am feeling a bit older now.

Here are some pics that I took in the last few weeks. :)
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Playdate on Thursday (July 3rd) with Aunt Kelly and her nephew, Jacob. Tara joined us later with her girls Angelica and Michaela.

Michaela and Rachel playing princesses, barbies, little people airport among other things! :)

Angelica, Michaela and Rachel playing princess. :)

Jacob, Kelly, Angelica, Michaela, Me, and Rachel. Tara was taking the picture.

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On Sunday, we celebrated Rachel's 3rd b-day alittle early. Her b-day is on the 21st of this month, but since Aunt Vanessa and the kids are in town, we celebrated with them. :) Can you guess the theme?? Yep, princess.

Matthew, Allison, and Rachel

RAchel sang Happy birthday to herself (at first) because she was so eager to eat those cupcakes. She loves any kind of sweet food.

Cousin Allison and Rachel blow the candles out. :)

Rachel opening her many presents. :)

The Big "KIDS". Jonathan (Ben's bro), Heather (sis-in-law), Vanessa (Ben's sis), Mike (bro-in-law), Me and Ben. :)

Yaya (Ben's mom) with all of her grandbabies. :) Rachel (almost 3), Yaya, Emerson (4 mos. old), Allison (4 yrs. old), and Matthew (7 yrs. old).

Happy Birthday to ME! ;)

On June 19th, I turned 31. Now people are telling me that I can say that I am officially 29 (from here on out). ;)

Well, I had a wonderfully blessed day. I received cards and calls all day wishing me a great day and year to come. I was surprised with lunch at Chili's with my Woman's Bible Study group! You girls are the best! (Not all were able to make it, but it was so nice to catch up a bit.) :)

Later, mom took care of Rachel so that I could rest and get ready for a date night with Ben. It's so weird to actually have time to sit down and do my make up and just watch a show or two! What did I do before Rachel born! ;)

Ben took me to Olive Garden (which I'd been wanting to have since our anniversary) for dinner and we went to La Cantera to walk around. It was quite hot, but the BIG ice cream from Marble Slab was perfect for cooling off. (I got the birthday cake with sprinkles on it! Happy B-day to me!) ;)

Ben was so nice to go to any store I wanted to (we didn't even have to go to the Sony store or the Apple store either). ;) He didn't complain once, while I was looking at girly things at Macy's. ;) He made my night so special. :)

Anyhow, the following pics are the only ones that I took on my b-day. I was enjoying MYSELF too much- I guess! ;)

B-day lunch (Angie took the picture, Chance, Rachel, Me, Mom, Sarah, and Claudine) at Chili's.

Rachel enjoyed playing with Chance (one of Angie's little boys).

I had wanted a picture take of us at Olive Garden or at La Cantera, but this is what we got! ;) I forgot to pull out my camera all evening, so here we are posing in the car. :)

First few weeks of June. BUSY!! :)

Here are some pics of the last few weeks. I can't believe that June is almost over. It seems that we have so much going on in June, so it flies by super fast. :) Ben has been teaching summer school, and has just started his summer this past Wednesday. :) He is already bored and ready to go back to work! ha! I keep telling him that he needs to rest and relax, but it's not in him. ;) I can relax at anytime. :)

June 1st, my dad's b-day. We baked him a cake and sang "Happy Birthday to you" and enjoyed the cake. :) Here is a pic of Rachel and Papa. :)
On our 8 year anniversary we weren't able to really celebrate because Rachel and I were feeling under the weather. Something blew in and both of us had bad allergies. Here she is lying down watching TV. She never wants to just lie down, a few minutes later she was asleep. Poor baby!
Feeling better and playing with anything she can find. :) She loves to make believe with any thing she has in her presence. :) In the picture she has a baby comb. ;)

On June 9th, we were invited to my good friend's End Of The Year Brunch. Ms. Dotty has had us over for the past 5 years or so. Rachel just loved it. As soon as she saw the ladies from school their, she jumped up and danced and said, "Let's have a party!" (Anytime she sees a group of people together, she wants to have a party!- Is she my daughter or what!?) Paz (Aunt), Sandi, Elo (Mom), and I at Ms. Dotty's house. :) We all have worked at Carson Elementary at one time (Paz is still there.) :)
The next 3 days, Rachel had Veggie Camp at our church. She just loved it! The theme was the Veggie Tales Pirates. She kept saying she was a SUPER HERO! The teacher told me that when they were telling each student that they were a super hero, she just got all excited and cheered!!! She knows she's a hero for GOD! :) It was so much fun! I am so happy that she enjoys her bible class and teachers and friends. We are extremely blessed to be a part of this wonderful church.

We've only gone swimming 2 times this year. It's just been hard to get out to the pool. (Yes, we've been that busy!) Anyhow, this was the second time that we visited our pool.
We went to eat at Ben's favorite Mexican restaurant called Emmy's. He's brainwashed Rachel to love it too, so I am outnumbered when we are deciding where to go eat. ;) Here she was waiting patiently for her food. She played "Shapes" with Daddy. She made a rectangle by herself. Daddy the math and science teacher just loves to teach her these important things! ;)

Well, I'll post more pics soon.

Some tidbits about Rachel. She loves to talk! Augh. I remember saying, I wonder when she'll start really talking. Well, it seems over night she's just talking away. She asks me in the car, what are you talking about, even when I am driving silently. She really just wants to know what I'm thinking. ;)
She wants to know everything. She has to know what's going on in our day so that she can be ready for it.
She loves to eat. Her favorite foods are chicken nuggets, mommy's chicken w/ pasta and alfredo sauce, turkey, pb&j sandwiches, chips, fries, fruits (fluits- as she calls them), mixed veggies, yogurt, goldfish, bananas (she liked them very much when she was younger then when through a phase of not wanting them at all, now she's back to loving them), cereal (any kind that we buy), warm milk first thing in the morning, juice, water (in a special cup), pizza, bean and cheese tacos, pancakes...
She's a good eater, but she seems to be going through a phase where she'll eat certain things one day and the next, she'll gag when eating the same food. I know she'll come back to liking it, so I don't eliminate them from her diet.

Rachel has a temper and shows it more now. She seems to be going through another one of her defiant stages. She's had to be in time out a few more times and has gotten spanked too. I know that people have told me that the 3's are a bit more challenging than the 2's, so I'm ready (with God's help mostly). ;) I know that she is one very special girl and I love her so much. I've gotten to learn so much about her little personality now that she talks more. It's fun to hear about what she's thinking. She really pays attention to many things, even when I don't think she's listening. I need to write down the things that she says more because they blow me away. Well, I have to go, we're heading out. I'll blog more later. :)