Decorating the Tree

Rachel was so excited to put the tree up. And yes, we're the terrible people who have a fake tree, which I swore I'd never have...oh well. We had no where to get ornaments this year (again) so back to the mall we went. Luckily Rachel is crazy into Elmo and we were able to find her an Elmo ornament for this year and then our family one, of course. After putting the tree together she insisted on giving the tree kisses. She loves Mark's train and the "Santa hat" just not wearing the hat. The picture was taken right after I told her to smile, in which she responded, "NO." And yes, she usually wakes up with "pretty hair".

SNOWDAY!!!

So we got about 8" of snow last night and Mark was able to come home early so we all went out to play in the snow. It was actually the first time that Mark has ever been able to play in the snow with Rachel. We had a great time, but Rachel was bummed that we weren't able to build a snowman (the snow was to fluffy). I can't wait til the store has more sleds and we can take her sledding!!!

I am fully aware that Rachel's eyes are closed in the picture of her and I, but Mark took 3 pictures and her eyes are closed in all 3, so I chose the one that I look best in!

Presents

We were so excited for this Christmas because Rachel would really be able to enjoy it, and she did!! Every new thing she opened ("Rip It!!!") she wanted to stop opening presents and start playing with that toy or book or clothes immediately. Every person we talked to on the phone on Christmas morning was "shown" the kitchen!! Rachel would literally take the phone from us and go in her room and point it toward this kitchen so they could "see" it too! Needless to say she loves her kitchen and we love that we get to help her put all the pieces back in the cupboard and in her box of food all the time! Yeah...fun!! Notice her adorable apron and that I have a matching one...yeah, again Mark is AMAZING!! He also made her a fitted and flat sheet with a matching pillow! They're adorable and she loves them! Pictures to follow soon! She loved it all and she made sure to say "Thank you" after each present and she even gave me a huge hug after we were done opening. It was so sweet!

She was so spoiled!! Thank you to all who needlessly spoiled our little girl.

Cookies for Santa

Rachel was so excited to make and then pick out cookies for Santa and that he would eat them! As seen in the Christmas morning video in the last post, she was so excited to see that Santa ate the cookies she left for him, and drank the milk!

Also, the AWESOME Santa pants I am wearing in this picture were made by Mark...yeah, he really is that AMAZING!!!! I love you Honey!

Christmas Morning!

Disclaimer: The video was shot by Mark, who's normally not behind the camera and it is obviously a dark video, but it's mostly for the Grandparents!! Thank you.

Rachel walked into our room on Chirstmas morning like any other morning, going straight through the livingroom without looking at anything. As she climbed into bed with us and said, "Morning!" I told her "Merry Christmas" as Mark grabbed for his glasses and the camera. It was like a light clicked in her head and instantly she knew Santa had come. I literally had to restraign her as Mark tried to turn the camera on, she was wiggling and squirming around yelling, "Santa! Santa!" We love that instead of looking for what Santa brought her (which is what we thought she was looking for because she had told Santa, all 3 times we saw him, that she wanted a kitchen), she went directly for the plate of cookies, to see if he ate them! (Of course he did)!

When she looks at her stocking she grabs out her fruit snacks (which we normally don't give her). We tell her things we don't want her to have are "gross" and she believes us...for now. Which is why when she grabs them out of her stocking she says, "GROSS!!"

Santa?

So we went to a small (really small) town just outside of Bloomington to see a FREE light parade and a chance for Rachel to sit on Santa's lap. (She adores Santa)! Anyway, we got there late and missed most of the parade, but we were still able to see Santa. Rachel was so excited, until we got to Santa and he looked like this! As we are taking the picture he says, "What's going on here? Can't some one fix this beard, it's all over the place!?! This is ridiculous!!" Yeah, obviously Rachel looks less than happy in this picture compared to the one I'll post later!

I'll have to admit though, Mrs. Claus is very cute! Too bad the kids aren't there to see her!

R-A-C-H-E-L

Rachel recently learned how to spell her own name. Check it out.