I called my grandparents Thursday night and asked if they wanted to meet us for lunch this afternoon at The Cotton Gin – a restaurant about halfway between our houses.  The kids and I usually just go to their house to visit, so the last time we met them here for lunch was in October 2005 when we were celebrating Ethan’s 1st birthday!  I know how blessed I am to have my Granny & Pa as part of our lives and for my kids to know their great-grandparents. 

Today

October 2005

1. Favorite color – pink & purple & orange & white & brown & black & white
2. Favorite food – oranges, teddy bears & carrots & yogurt & hot dogs
3. Favorite cereal – Lucky Charms & Cimmo Cro Crunch
4. Best friend – Olivia & Tatum & Payton & Lincoln
5. Favorite toy – choo choo
6. Favorite TV show – Mickey Mouse & Little Einsteins
7. Favorite movie – Barbie & My Little Pony
8. Favorite thing to do outside – ride my bike
9. Something you like to do with Ethan – just play the match game and Sequence
10. Favorite Bible story – Delilah
11. Favorite animal – zebra & giraffe
12. If you could go somewhere right now, where would it be – Rainforest Cafe
13. Favorite snack – teddy bears
14. Favorite princess – Barbie and the Three Musketeers
15. Something you like Mommy to do with you – play the match game and play Sequence
16. Something you like Daddy to do with you – play Sequence

In true Rachel form she had a hard time deciding on just one favorite for several of these.  And I’m not sure if I should be worried or not that her favorite Bible story is Delilah.  She didn’t mention anything about Samson or how God helped him…nope, just wicked and deceitful Delilah.  Awesome.  I took her to the doctor on Monday for her well check and she checked out pretty well.  Still has this ear infection that doesn’t seem to ever really go away, but other than that 100% healthy.  I think she came in around 30th% for weight and 40th% for height.  A far cry from the child who was born looking like a 3 month old!

If this doesn’t make you laugh then you need to watch it again!

I waited a week to do Rachel’s birthday post because I’m still trying to come out of my state of denial that my baby is three…three!  That is ridiculous!  When she woke up on her birthday she told me she was very happy to not be a baby anymore because now she was an adult just like mommy.  And that just about sums up Rachel Ryan.  I had a small breakdown after I tucked her in the night before her birthday because once you have a three year old things change and I’m just not sure that I’m ready for that.  But I also love watching her grow into her personality and see what she is drawn to and what she absolutely is not drawn to.  Here are a few things about her that I’d like to remember:

• she likes to pick out her own clothes and does a pretty good job of matching everything
• she can dress herself and use the bathroom by herself
• she has abandoned her bed and sleeps on Ethan’s bottom bunk every night
• she takes a nap a couple of days a week
• she goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 most nights
• she loves going to school and Bible class
• she talks all.day.long – seriously, she can’t stop talking (My dad and I were in the car with her the other day and after about 48 minutes of constant talking, my Dad said, “Rachel, can you go just one minute without talking?”  She replied in her best robot voice, “I am a robot.  I cannot stop talking.”  That’s perfectly Rachel.)
• she wears 2T pants and 3T tops and wears a size 7 shoe
• she prefers to have her hair in pigtails or a ponytail, but most days the curls win and she just wears her hair down with a bow
• she prefers oatmeal for breakfast
• she likes grilled cheese sandwiches with Ranch (or “white sauce” as she calls it)
• when she’s not talking she’s singing
• she bites her tongue at least 247 times a day
• she falls down and hurts herself at least 247 times a day
• she loves riding her big girl bike and is getting pretty good
• she still doesn’t like going upstairs by herself
• she eats all.day.long
• her favorite drink is chocolate milk
• she loves doing crafts and painting – and she’s done after about 3 minutes

We had her birthday party last Friday morning here at home and had a pajama/donut party and it was great!  I would highly recommend it to anyone.  My parents asked her to choose where she wanted to go for dinner that night and she chose Chuck E Cheese so we did that.  We also took her to Toys R Us to spend her birthday money from Meme and she FINALLY chose a coloring book and some new crayons.  Then on Sunday – her real birthday – she chose to eat at Chuy’s for lunch.  It was a weekend full of focusing on Rachel and little miss center of attention loved every minute of it.  Here a few pictures from the weekend.  Unfortunately I left the camera at my grandparents house when we went last week for Rachel’s birthday lunch, and I have more pictures on there.  Hopefully I’ll be getting it back soon because I really feel lost without it! 

Eating her pre-party breakfast…and obviously before I had tamed that crazy hair

Playing with Mimi before the party

Blowing out the candles in her birthday donut

The spread

Part of the craziness

Making a cereal necklace

Opening gifts

Party people

Rachel – I love you with all of my heart and I am so proud to be your mom.  Happy birthday sweetheart.

Have you ever been slapped in the face (not literally) with something that you do that affects the people around you and you didn’t even realize how much it affected them?  (that was really horrible sentence structure, but you get the idea)  While I am perfect most of the time – excuse me while I get back in my chair and regain my composure – I realized this weekend how often I say, “In just a minute!”  UGH!  I won’t name any names, but the other adult who lives in this house very gently (honestly, very gently) opened my eyes to this fact over the weekend.  I’m pretty sure I sighed or made a face or something just as mature, but quickly realized that I do that A LOT. 

I was browsing around the blog world this morning while eating my Apple Jacks (my mature mom points just keep going up and up with this post), and I came across this – http://www.remodelingthislife.com/2010/01/31/it-wont-wait/.  It’s not long and it really hit home for me so read it if you get a chance.  I know that things happen and when you’re in the middle of pouring the detergent and fabric softener in the washing machine you have to finish that up, but I’m pretty sure that reorganizing the tupperware cabinet can wait until after a the lego dinosaur has consumed all of the evil witch’s lipgloss, and it can probably also wait until after the 247th wardrobe change for the resident princess, and I’m positive it can wait until after we’ve played a few rounds of Uno Moo.  Just food for thought today…

…when everyone is dressed and ready to go for church and there’s still enough time for one story.  I’ll admit this doesn’t happen very often (Ethan has been known to say, “Mom – why do we always have to go so fast on Sundays?”), but it sure is nice when it does happen. 

And I just want to brag on my mom for a minute.  A couple of weeks ago we went over to her house and she pulled this little number out for Rachel that she had just whipped up the day before:

I know with 100% certainty that I didn’t appreciate the clothes she made for me when I was growing up, but I really do appreciate the ones she makes for Rachel.  Thanks, Mom – you’re the best.