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!

Our Little Talker

Rachel loves to talk... don't know where she gets that from! She had just been hitting her hand against her head and saying "Oh No!" but then she just started talking. I don't know what she said, but she sure did!

McCollum Visit

We had a nice relaxing visit with the McCollum's when they came to help put the swing set together. It was pretty nasty weather so we stayed in most of the weekend.

Grandma and Papa loved listening to Rachel's story... she was so into it!

Rachel liked Daddy's old work hat!

"This one right here, Papa!"

Grandma found a great deal on a windbreaker jacket for Rachel (she got it big so she could wear it next year)

Rachel loves to take things in and out of containers now.

She also likes to pull her phone around the house.

"I'll miss you, Grandma and Papa... come back soon!"

New Swingset!

Rachel has a new favorite toy! She got a swing set! It was delivered last weekend and she was so excited that she had to play on it. :)

The back yard 2 days ago...

And the back yard today! It was pretty chilly today, so she didn't go play on it today but hopefully it will warm up soon so she can enjoy it.

We didn't have school yesterday, so Dustin told his students that if they weren't busy, they could come over hand help him build a swing set, not really expecting anyone to come... well 10am on their day off, 4 kids come over and start helping! 2 of them are boy scouts so they just jumped right in sorting wood and getting everything ready. Dustin's parents came in town so his dad could help put everything together. They got in about 10:45, and by 7 last night, the set was up!