Happy Easter!

I love all holidays- getting together with family and friends and dressing up the cutest little girl there ever was is just exciting for me- I'm not going to lie. After saying that, I am realizing more now than ever what every holiday is really about. Of course I know the true meaning of all of these holidays, which has nothing to do with dressing up and being excited about baskets, eggs, candy. Easter has everything to do with Jesus dying on the cross for us and saving us from our sins. Why I am realizing this is because of that cutest little girl there ever was. Dustin and I have grown up in homes where our parents taught us the real meanings of all holidays and we are blessed to have had this. Now God has trusted us with Rachel and with that comes teaching her the same things. I guess I'm just realizing now more than ever that what we put an emphasis on is what she will think holidays are about... a lot to think about is all.

Now, after saying all that, I will still dress up Rachel and get excited about the little things, but will always put God first and make sure she knows the true meaning of why holidays are celebrated.

It runs in the family

Daddy had to work late last week- drill team auditions. It's hard to believe that auditions for the fall are here already! But I digress... we decided to go see him at work and this is what Rachel did- no coaxing from us.

She also had a great time watching the dancers and following them around the gym. She is really going to enjoy the Fall!

Early Easter

My parents came up to Roanoke this past weekend for a long weekend since Dad was on spring break and mom was able to take a few days off. We had great plans of heading to a kite festival, but we had horrible storms, so we had fun playing inside and going to the mall. (We also got absolutely soaked running across the parking lot from the mall to Cheddar's!)

Then Rachel opened her Easter bucket from Mimi and Poppy...

She loves her Little People mini-van, complete with a suitcase that opens up and Rachel pretends is her cell phone!

"Mimi, will you open my cuppy... this Peep tastes funny- but I like it!"

After the weather cleared up, we had an egg hunt in the font yard.

"I think there's one over there, Mimi"

"Hey, Poppy, I think I have something in my hood..."

"Whatcha doin' up there, Poppy?"

"I love you, Mimi!"

My favorite Mimi and Poppy!

The Homeplace!

We have an amazing small group that we are a part of at church this semester. We are going through the series "Making the Most of Your Marriage" by Kevin Leman. The series is great, our leaders are great, and all of the couples are great too! Everyone is in about the same stage of life and the kids all get along, too! We decided that we all needed to go out to eat as a group and it was not difficult to all agree to The Homeplace!

The Homeplace is one of the greatest places to eat of all time. It is all you can eat, homestyle, awesome food- they even brought us seconds on our desserts! We had nearly 30 people in our group, including 6 highchairs! So glad we got our own room.

Our very own room, filled with our amazing group!

After we ate, we went out into the yard and took LOTS of pictures! (The Homeplace is an old farmhouse on a mountain in the middle of nowhere and is a great backdrop for pics)

Rachel was trying to climb over the fence to get to the "oofs," which is her word for dog- or in this case, cows.

All the little kids

Behind the scenes of the previous picture.

Thanks, April for taking a family picture for us!

Our fearless leaders, Debby and Don!

18 months!

I can't believe that Rachel is 1 1/2 already! She is getting so big and doing so much now. She also talks all the time. Here are just a few of her new tricks:

~ Signs for More and All Done while saying the words

~ Calls me "Mommy" instead of "Momma" (sometimes)

~ Says "Oh, no!" and hits her head

~ Puts diapers on all of her "babies" which includes Tigger, her bears, a stuffed dog, a monkey, etc.

~When she needs to be changed, she gets a diaper, lays down in front of us and throws her legs up in the air

~ Climbs the stairs at an amazing speed! Giggling all the way

~ Points to her eyes, nose, tongue and belly

~ Has a little boyfriend who goes to the same babysitter and church as us. They give each other hugs and chased each other around the church today. His name is Ashton. She calls him Ash and he calls her Rae

~ Puts clothes/shoes on her "babies"

~Puts her head on our shoulders and cuddles up

~LOVES her shoes- I've said it before and I'll say it again, 100% girl

Nice Weather

We were finally able to get out and enjoy the swing set one day after work. She always points outside and says "woo!" She says that when she is swinging or sliding, so that must be what the whole set is called!

Trying to climb up the slide

Hi five, Daddy!

Hold my hand, Mommy!

"Woo!"

Little Dancer

Rachel loves to dance! Of course she usually just spins, then gets a little dizzy!