December Accomplishments

1.  She has learned how to open the door to the car.
2.  She can actually do up 1/2 of the seat belt in her car seat.
3.  We bought her the kid version of the Forgotten Carols and she loves to listen to the song that Sarah sings. (Mary Let me Hold her Baby)
4.  M starts with Mommy, D starts with Daddy, and R starts with Rachel.  I love the way she says what words start with.  She's getting the hang of works and what they start with.
5.  Learned the Song Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman.
6.  Learned how to put he own PJ's on that are the blanket sleeper PJ's so that's a little harder to put on and she conquered it.
7.  She has become very independent.  She wants to do everything by herself and doesn't want any help.
8.  New favorite word:  Ridiculous
9.  She cut her own hair.  So now she has the short Rapunzel hair and she's fine with it.
10.  She has discovered steak and really loves it. So now if we tell her it is steak she will eat it.  We do this with hamburger, chicken or any other kind of meat we can get away with telling her this.
11.  You now climb into the car and put your car seat on by yourself.  It's hard for you to get the buckle into the bottom half but you can get the one that goes across your chest clicked together.

Scott's Birthday

Scott was off work for his birthday so that night after we ended up celebrating by using the "Forest Friend Log" my parents gave us for Christmas.  His present was the same as mine which is the George Strait concert in January.  We took a few pictures of the cake and him blowing out the candles.

 One end of the log.  Isn't it pretty cute.

 The whole log.  It's pretty cool looking.

Of course we made him put candles in it and then blow them out.  At least a little bit of celebrating even though there weren't any gifts.  The cake in this log isn't very good but the chocolate is excellent.

Big Girl Bed

We finally got the big girl bed decorated after the holidays.  I had the vinyl for several months and have just been waiting for the right time to get it on the bed.  After getting the new bedding for Rachel's bed for Christmas I got everything put together.

 Up close shot of the vinyl and what her bedding says on the pillow cases.

The full ensemble

I think it turned out awesome.

Conquering a Fear

So Rachel has been so scared of the blue slide at Burger King.  We have tried getting different people to go down with her and she just totally freaks out at the top.  Some how the little girls there today got her to go down the slide. She was so excited that she conquered it.  She even told me, "Mom I'm not afraid of the blue slide any more."  So proud of her for trying it and succeeding.

 She went down the 1st time and I was so shocked so when she came down the 2nd time I was able to get the picture.  She's so happy that it's so much fun.

Playing and having fun with her new "friends".  They actually have to help her up the tiers because some of them are to far apart for her to reach with her little legs.  Good thing there were so many little people willing to help because most of the time I have to sit on the 2nd tier and help her to the top.

Hair Cut

I still don't know what happened to make Rachel decide to cut her own hair but she did.  She was totally down watching Rapunzel while I was cooking dinner.  I get called upstairs by Scott and he proceeds to tell me he just caught Rachel cutting her hair.  Yes I was in shock.  We had been talking about going and getting her hair trimmed so but she had been so adamant about wanting long Rapunzel hair that touched the ground.  I'm completely in shock.  So here are the pictures of her cut hair.  So much for having long Rapunzel hair.

 Cut off all the curls.

 Not sure why she was crying but I think she was in shock and knew she had done something terrible.  Scott and I were just like man that's a bummer no more Rapunzel hair.  You can see how uneven it is.

 Took out the ponies to see exactly how bad it was.  Yep pretty bad.  I tried really hard not to cry but I'm sad that all her pretty locks of curls are gone.  My favorite saying she said was, "Does it look ridiculous?"  I just kept saying, "Yep it sure does."

This was how much hair was in the garbage can after she cut it.

Since I had no idea how to fix her hair I got ahold of a friend in our ward that cuts hair out of her house.  

So over to Emilee's house we went, the next day.

 Sitting in the chair.  She got to sit on some phone books to boost her up in the chair.

 Just starting out.  She sat still for the most part.

 Front view before we blow dried it.

 The back of the hair.

Side view after having it styled.

 Front part all styled and a bobby pin in to keep her hair out of her face.  It looks pretty cute but I'm having a hard time adjusting.  I really miss those gorgeous locks.  Her hair do makes her look so much more grown up.  It's sad to see her growing up.

Christmas

We got to sleep in today because Rachel woke up at her usual time of 7:30.  It was awesome.  Rachel came and got us and we were going to go wake up Grandma and Grandpa but they were already awake.  Rachel got to start with her stocking.

 Peeking inside to see what's in there.

Lets just dump it out and see what's there.  That was definitely better.

I think she was pretty happy about her stocking stuff.

1st present she opened from Santa.  The Rapunzel dress she asked him for a week before Christmas.  Yes Santa had to scramble to get this present before we left to Montpelier.

 A new iPod docking stereo so she can have the iPod charging while listening to her sleeping music at night.

A drumming pad.  She liked it because it had actually drum sticks.

Yes here is the loot that Rachel got.

From Mom & Dad:  Christmas Dress, Purple Adidas Sweet suit, PJ's, Princess sheet set and comforter, temple book, Going on a Bear hunt book and plush, rubber duck book, spider book, Dumbo DVD

Santa: Drum set, iPod Docking stereo, Rapunzel Dress 

Nelsons: Pink Beauty & Beast singing book, princess hair rubber bands

Grandma Tracy & Grandpa Pooh: Christmas Train book and magazine

Hansons: Sacrament book

Great Grandma Hobbs: The book of Mormon Stories 

Aunt Carolyn & Donna: 2 books (The Snow Day & Cute Puppy)

Stocking Stuffer: socks, head bands, toothpaste, toothbrush, marshmallow snowmen, crayon chap-stick, markers, crayon, glow stick bracelets, 2 candy cane M&M's

Someone's pretty happy and enjoying her M&M's

Scott and I got to open our presents also.  We really didn't get any Santa gifts because we got our gifts from Santa months ago.  I got my Bosch and Scott got his little giant ladder.  So mostly our gifts were from other people.

We got Origami outfits from Scott's parents.  Super cute idea.

Scott got a new purple shirt for work, I got the Bosch chopper

Hanson: Temple Picture

Aunt Carolyn & Donna: Towels

Kristi & Doug:  Melaluca lotions

Nelson's: Air Hockey

We ended up leaving around 3:00 in the afternoon and headed back to Pocatello.  We decided to be closer to home so that Scott could for sure make it back to work on the 26th.  We opened our presents at my parents house that night with them.

Rachel got a fur real white puppy.  Scott got a new Voice Male CD.  I got a brownie bites maker.  It was a great day because we got to see both sides of the family.

Close up of the dog.  He almost looks like Hunter(Scott's Parent's Dog)

SIDENOTE HERE:

These were also considered an early Christmas / Graduation gift for me.  We took in my necklace and earrings to be cleaned and inspected and the lady showed Scott these gold ones.  He wasn't sure he wanted to spend the money to get them and so he called me over and told me I could trade my sterling silver ones and they would give us what he paid for them and so then we would only owe about another $150 bucks.  Needless to say I did my puppy dog eyes and told him that they would match my necklace better and I would wear them alot more if he bought them for me.  So he did.  I love love love them and I wear them almost every day that I wear earrings and I now don't have to chose if I'm going to wear the necklace or the earrings.  I just wear them both.

Christmas Eve 2012

We spent a few days in Montpelier for Christmas.  Scott had to be back for work on the 26th and so we were only in Montpelier for two days.  On Christmas Eve it snowed and Rachel was so excited to be able to go outside with Grandpa Pooh and play on the 4 wheeler plowing.

 Snow plowing and hanging out.

Before Christmas Eve dinner we ended up having some snacks out during the day.  These are some of the snacks that we snacked on.  We decided we like the Turkey summer sausage so much better than the regular summer sausage.
The next few pictures are of Rachel outside playing.  She was so excited to see snow but her cousins wouldn't go outside because it was cold and blowing she didn't care she was just happy to be in the snow for the 1st time this year.  After awhile though I decided to go out with her to have some fun in the snow.  We had a ball and as you can tell by her smile in most of these pictures she had so much fun also.

 Coming in from outside with mom.

 

 Snow I'm so excited.

 Coming in from outside.  She really didn't want to come in but she was so cold and couldn't stand how cold her face was any longer.  She was sad to come back in.

Yes she does loves snow and had so much fun.  I had taken her over to the park and she would slide down the slide into the snow and just start laughing.  She wanted to climb up the slide by herself but she would get stuck on the top rung and so then she would allow me to help her.  She is so independent which is fine so I just wait until she asks for help.  

Dinner was great and then we headed over to Jamie's house for a fun Family Home Evening.  We did songs and stories of the birth of Jesus.  The kids were pretty good about it.  

Afterwards we ended up having a surprise visit from....................

SANTA!!!!!

This was the 1st time that Rachel wouldn't sit on a Santa's lap.  Come to find out she didn't want to sit on his lap because she had peed her pants.  Yep I did just say that.  She's been having issues with that forever it feels like.  She we got a blurry picture of her on his lap but she was squeezing me so tight she wouldn't even look at the santa.  They got candy canes from him.  After that we headed out to look at the lights in Montpelier.  Needless to say they were pathetic.  I was very sad and disappointed there weren't more.

We got home and Rachel got to open her one present for the night.

 Yes she has figured out the opening of presents.  She's got it down and the wrapping comes off alot faster these days.

Checking out the PJ's.  She actually liked them because they have snowmen on them.

 

Grandma Tracy wanted to try them out to.  I think they are a little to short what do you think?  Ha Ha Ha.  We actually had a really good laugh at this because there was a better picture but I'm not allowed to show anyone.  Rachel took the PJ's off Grandma Tracy just as I snapped the picture.  It's a really funny picture. I do value my life so I'm not showing anyone just mentioning it so we remember how funny it was.  So the day was so much fun and we did lots of things while in Montpelier for Christmas Eve. 

Early Christmas Present

We went over to see Rachel's Papa and Nema before we headed out for Christmas.  We actually had seen Nema at Walmart the night before and told her we were coming over.  So we stopped by after dinner to see everyone.  They had little twins there that we got to hold.  Rachel got her Christmas preset from them and opened it.  She was so excited she wanted us to put it together right there but we talked her into waiting until we got home.

 This is a candy sled that Nema made for Rachel.  It's totally awesome and so creative.

Look from the top.

This is the back.  You can see it's two candy canes for the sled legs, two boxes of candy, candy necklaces, a peeps sucker and then little candy bar miniatures.  

 This was what her present was.  The Disney Princess castle.  Scott and I put it together after she went to bed since it was late when we got home. Yes we did play with it a little bit.  :-)

 The front.  It is really cute and sings when you put the princesses in different parts of it.

 Playing with her princesses with her daddy.

We were showing her all the things that made music and how it all worked.  She couldn't believe it did all that.