Rachel's Piano

So after we got Rachel we were over at my friend Kammi's house and she has a piano. Everytime we would walk in that was where Rachel would go to first. So Scott and I decided we should get Rachel her own piano. So we watched the stores and Toys R Us ended up having this little piano on sale before Christmas so I went and got it for her. It looked like it would be pretty cheap and we weren't totally sure about it but when we put it together we were pleasantly surprised at how great of a piano it really is. It has it's own piano stool with it, the volume at it's highest setting isn't very loud so we don't get tired of hearing her play it, there's a tempo control, she can change the sound of the piano to guitar, organ or several other things, there are prerecorded rhythms she can use, she could record a song if she wants, there is a microphone, and the last but not least part is there is a rapper record that you can play with that sounds like your scratching a record. It is really a cool piano. She loves to play with it. We are so grateful that she has shown such an interest in music.

She even holds her hands correctly when she plays the piano. So impressive.

Yes I am playing the piano and you are taking pictures of me again. Love her expressions.

Sledding Christmas 2010

Well since Rachel got a sled from Santa for Christmas we had to go out sledding. Scott decided the best thing to do would be to take her over to the park and just pull her around the park. So that's what we did. She had so much fun. She loves playing outside in the snow. She doesn't like it if she can't walk in it though. So every time she fell we had to hurry to pick her up because she would get so mad and cry that she was stuck. She is just so funny in the snow.

We tried to get her to do a snow angel but she fell over in Scott's snow angel. I love kids in snow suits. They just can't help themselves get up off the ground by themselves. It's hilarious to watch her try to walk all bundled up like she is.

Yes I know we did get a picture of her smiling. I tell you the girl loves snow.

She was testing whether or not she could actually walk very far. We had a pretty good trampled down area for her to play in that she could walk and not fall down.

This is her totally excited to be outside in the snow face. I love her little expression.

She was trying to make snowballs but the snow is really dry and crusty so it didn't make for any good snowballs.

Helping her get up.

The easiest place to actually pull her around in the sled was on the road. She then of course thought she should play in the road and we kept trying to keep her out of it but no such luck. Good thing the road isn't very busy.

I've fallen and I can't get up. Wish I had gotten her face because she is so crying in this picture.

Army crawling back to the road. We had put her in some piles of snow and she wasn't happy about it so she crawled right out of it backwards until we took her into the house. That was pretty funny to watch also. She is so determined that playing in the road is the funniest because she doesn't face plant.

1st Christmas with Rachel - 2010

Christmas morning Rachel actually let us sleep in until 7:30. We were pretty excited. I think we all had sleep deprivation since most of our nights in Southeast Idaho someone wasn't feeling well and so we were up most nights. We let her walk out to the front living room and the first thing she spotted was the sled. So she grabbed the sled and sat in it. She was pretty much done with Christmas at that point. We gave her rides around the house and she was just in heaven with it.

Okay I'm ready for my ride.

Why are you taking a picture of me?

Yeah this is cool.

I don't know what she was thinking in this picture but I had to laugh when I saw it.

I'm trying to get her to open up her other Santa present. She did get a few strips of the wrapping off of it.

As you can see we couldn't get her out of the sled to unwrap any more presents so we let her sit in the sled and try to unwrap her presents.

Here is one tear of the paper.

Sweet wrapping paper. This is a great gift. Who needs real gifts? She played with the wrapping paper until I took it away and talked her into pulling some more off.

She has started to make the funniest faces with her tongue. It's so cute.

Cheese!!!!

Finally we got into the Santa present. She got a Fisher Price incrediblock. It came with 16 peek a boo blocks and Santa really had a hard time finding these for her but he came up with it. We were all excited because she had this at her foster home and she loves playing with the blocks. She can stack 6 blocks and sometimes 7 before they fall over.

Playing with the peek a boo blocks. Yes she was still sitting in the sled while she played with them.

Look at me I'm stacking them in my sled.

Check out her haul of presents. She got a 35 keyboard piano, 2 mega block sets, a playhouse, a riding horse, 2 teddy bears, Elmo slippers, more PJ's, jewelry set, leap frog alphabet, blanket, magna-doodle, a safari lamp, 2 books about Jesus, and a Choose the Right plaque. We loved having Christmas with Rachel. She was so much fun and has brought so much joy to our household. We laugh at all her silly faces and she is learning so much so quickly.
This was the rocking horse that her foster family gave to her. She loves riding on it and is so cute. It actually talks to her and neigh's at her. She's had fun with it. During the Christmas break Rachel was able to spent lots of time with her cousins and has gotten to know them better. She goes around our house saying Grandpa Pooh, Uncle Ty Ty and Kylee. It's just so funny to hear her and know that she really knows them.

Christmas Eve Present

So Scott and I decided we were going to allow one present to be open on Christmas Eve which will always be PJ's. So this first picture is her starting to open the present. She did really good with opening this one.Not totally sure what she was supposed to do but eventually got the hang of it.

We see the box.

Yeah the box is open.

I like my PJ's.

Oh yeah my PJ's rock but they are too big. Way to go mom.

I really didn't think they would be that big on her. They at 2T's. That's all they had but they were a really good deal on the day after Thanksgiving. Well maybe she will be grown into them by next Christmas. They will just get the pleasure of hanging out in the drawer for awhile. Scott thinks we should just put rubber bands around her ankles and then they would stay on her. I'm opting for putting them in the bottom of the drawer. Yeah we have lots of issues with her clothes because even her 18 month clothing sometimes drowns her. We roll up the legs on her pants all the time. It's so funny. I'm amazed by how petite she is.

Another Milestone

So today December 23rd our fingerprints finally came back cleared and we get to have Rachel permanently in our home. We are so excited. This starts our six month fostering. So by June we should be through the courts and she will legally be ours. The count down begins.

One of my Christmas Dresses

So while we were in Pocatello we decided we would go to church with my parents. Well we got this gorgeous dress from a friend here in Boise. I really wanted to get a picture of this dress.

As long as we let her play on the piano at my mom's house she was just happy as a lark. If you tried to take her off the piano you get the next picture.

Yep a complete melt down because she had to get off the piano. The dress is so gorgeous though. I just love it. She likes it even though she wasn't happy to have a picture taken because it was taking her away from playing the piano.

Pocatello Toddler Shower

So we ended up having a shower in Pocatello also. It was so much fun because it was the first time Rachel got to meet all of her aunts, uncles, grandma's, grandpa's, great aunts, and great grandparents. It was so much fun. We are so blessed to be supported by so many people. We are so happy to call everyone "friend". We got several really soft blankets that my friend Kristi made. We love cuddling in them because they are so soft. We also ended up with two toy chests from Scott's Grandparents. They are great to have for all of Rachel's toys. She also got lots of clothes and several items for the bath tub.

 The announcement that Amber made up to send out to everyone.

 This is one of the toys chests that Scott's grandparents gave her.  It was chuck full of toys for her from her Great Grandparents and Great Aunt's and Uncle's on Scott's side of the family.

 Opening presents.  Clothes, Clothes and more clothes. Yes we don't have to go clothes shopping any time soon.

 This was the blanket that Kristi made Rachel.  It was so cuddly.  She loved it and carried it around everywhere for awhile.

 Kristi's mom crocheted this sweater.  So stinking cute.

 Purple Outfit.

 A Dolly

 Wearing her blanket as a cape now.

 Yeah she did get to open some of the presents.  Mostly she would open one and then would go off with whatever it was and so Scott and I kept opening the many presents of everyone who showed up.

 Some of the guests.

 More guests.

Here she is just hanging with her cousin Ashley.  I'm not sure if she has any clue what really is going on but she's having fun being the center of attention.  Everyone loved meeting her and seeing her personality.  By the end she was completely finished.  She was so tired.  We really are so blessed with such great friends and family who helped us get this little girl situated in our household.  We sure love her and are so excited she will be loved by so many people.

Toy Box

So we ended up not having any toy boxes for Rachel when she first came to our house. So I found this purple bucket I had bought for girls camp and borrowed it until we could figure out what to do with all of her toys. So one day while I was at work Scott and Rachel had alot of fun playing with her toys and they were everywhere but then she decided that getting into the bucket was just as fun.

Check out all those toys everywhere. I was shocked when I got home and they were still everywhere. Yeah we all had to help clean up this mess.




I can do it. Just a second I'm going to get in there.














Ta Da I made it. I'm the bomb. HA HA HA

















Okay so how do I get out of here without it tipping over. Nope I don't want out anyways. Yeah we had to help her out because she wasn't coming out.