Fun, Fun, Fun!

We've had such beautiful days here in SA. We're truly blessed with these sunny days and cool weather, we're totally LOVING it! Also, we're getting out and PLAYING! :)

Last Friday, I took R to the park for a picnic and some play time. :) She was enjoying the first part of the outing, but towards the end, she was not feeling well. She had a headache and slight fever. Thank God nothing big came out of it and by Saturday, we were able to enjoy time with our tias. :)

MUAH! Kiss Mommy!R made a friend of the boy kind. :) Ben doesn't like that! ;)

On Saturday, Mom had invited her sisters Yvonne and Paz and we were able to come by and enjoy them all! :)

R and Tia Yvonne playing with a magnet book that she got from her tia. :)The most beautiful ladies in the world! :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few weeks ago, I found out that our church is hosting FREE ballet classes!! It's called Ballet Gloria and the class introduces the concept of using movement to glorify God. They learn how to stretch and move to the music and elementary ballet steps. Also, using movement to tell stories about God and Scripture memory. We are so excited. On Thursday, she attended her first class. Wow! It was too cute and so much fun! :)
Before class...

Here is Ms. Josie showing the girls how to stretch.

more stretching...

I had to leave because I work a full day on Thursdays, so mom and dad were there to cheer R on! She enjoyed it so much that she continued to show me the different movements that she learned from her class. Here she is before bed! :)

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On Saturday, Ben took us to the zoo! It was the perfect day given to us by God! :) We renewed our passes and enjoyed seeing the animals once again. R just loves to see them each visit... it's like the first time every time! :)

Names of GOD

Pics from the last few weeks!

On Monday, Tara, Kelly, and I got together to celebrate Tara's b-day and Kelly's great writeup from work (it's a great honor to receive one at her job). :) We went to the Scenic Loop Cafe (where Tara had her wedding reception). The atmosphere there is always so nice and serene. :) We had a great meal and ended the night with a huge dessert! :) It is always such a blessing to go out with my best girl friends in the world! :)
Tara and Kelly! :)
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Last weekend, we celebrated my cousin Michael's birthday. He and his sister and mom are in town visiting before school starts for them. We had a blast visiting with cousins that we don't see very often. Here Rachel is playing with Jordan (4 y.o.), who shared her toys so nicely with Rachel. :)

Michael, the b-day boy! :) He turned 17 this week! :)

Ben and Rachel playing around on the couch! :)

Catherine (Michael's sister) and Thalia (my cousin's daughter).

Matt and Jonah (my cousins)

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Rachel got a new princess "camera" a few weeks ago. Here she is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her! ;) The camera says, "You're as pretty as a princess!" and "Say cheese!" It's too funny when Rachel "takes a picture" of her Daddy and the tells him, "You're as beautiful as a princess Daddy!" ;)
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Rachel has been enjoying her cottage at Lala and Papa's house. Yaya even gave her a little bench to add to her cottage. It's her patio chair! :)
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A few weekends ago, we had our cousins over for a fun day of play and lunch. Desiree and I chatted while the kids played! :) They had so much fun! We missed Danielle's (the youngest) b-day party, so we were able to give her her present on that day! :)
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Last but not least, Rachel is OFFICIALLY POTTY-TRAINED!!!! Yes! Over the Christmas holidays, she decided that she was going to go poopie in the potty. Just over a year ago she started to pee pee in the potty and would be dry for the day. So we put her in underwear during the day, but at night, we'd put on a pull up.
Just a few month ago, she was terrified of pooping in the potty and would wait for the pull up and night time to go poopie. I think it helped to have her older cousin, Allison around to show her the ropes! :) She started going like if it was never a problem! ;) We are so proud of her. She no longer wants to wear pull ups at night and she has been like that for 3 whole weeks (with no accidents)! :) Thank you Lord for helping us with that stage in Rachel's life! :) I was going to post a pic of her on the potty, but i didn't want to offend anyone and it may just be TMI (too much information- in a picture format). :)