Rachel is Seven

    Seven years ago all the company had gone home and Mike had returned to work. I spent the days feeding, rocking, and crying over Rachel. Was she really here? Did I know enough to care for her alone? Would she be outgoing or a Mommy's girl? Would Mike get to spend enough time with her? These were just some of the questions I thought of as I rocked, and feed, and cared for my first newborn baby girl. Here we are 7 years later, I have so far kept her alive, she is very outgoing and not afraid to stand on her own two feet, and Mike has been around for all the important things in her life. Yes he misses out on a lot but he sees her almost every day. She loves spending some one on one time with her daddy and even asked if he would take her shopping for her birthday. I was not blogging 7 years ago so this is all from memory. Some days it seems like yesterday we were in Columbia raising our first child and then others seem like so long ago that we were there.
    Monday Rachel had a late start, as the teachers had a conference in the morning. We took Rachel to school and then just came home, played and did some house work. Tuesday after dropping the girls off at school and going to Jazzercise, Alec and I went to the lumber store to look at deck material. We have a couple people getting us quoted to continue the deck across the back of the house. We came home that afternoon and baked cupcakes for Rachel to take to school. After school Rachel and Becca decorated cupcake and I made a small cake for Rachel. Kate, Hanna, and Dutch came out to play and celebrate Rachel's birthday with us. Mike and Justin both had meetings so we celebrated without them.

Cupcakes for school

Happy Birthday

Too You

   Wednesday we woke up early and after giving the girls a bath Rachel got to open her presents. Mike had to go in really early so he did not get to see Rachel until dinner time. Rachel wanted us to come to school for lunch so the kids and I joined Rachel for lunch and recess at school. Becca loved playing with Rachel's friends and Alec thought he was a pretty big deal playing with all the big kids. The only concern Alec had was that one of the Panther's was going to come scare him. He really does not like the Panther mascots. After school we came home and did homework before going to CCD and then out for supper. Marty, Lisa, Sam, Babs, John, Grandma Wanda, and Stacy joined us for Rachel's birthday dinner at Margarita's. 

She loves all the gifts Alec and Becca picked out for her.

Happy 7th Birthday

It was so hard for Becca to wait 3 days to give Rachel her gifts.

Presents from Lisa and family

The whole reason she wanted to go to Margarita's. The hat and the singing.

   Thursday the girls had school and Alec and I went to Jazzercise. Johnna came out to watch the little two while I went to lunch with Michelle and Laura and got to snuggle on their babies. I also took the suburban in for a tire rotation and enjoyed some time to myself. Friday we took Rachel to school then went to Jazzercise before coming home and packing so that we could go to Kearney. Mike was able to pick Rachel up from school then we were on the way to Kearney. We enjoyed some snacks at Cindy's before heading to the Big Apple for the evening. The kids were the only ones in Ballocity and had so much fun. Dylan, Travis and Mike also had to join them!

Rachel did her Make-up

Coming down the big, fast slide

Alec thought it was so funny that Dylan went down backwards

Monkey's in a cage.

   Saturday we got up and had a nice breakfast before Mike and Rachel went shopping. We then meet Nick, Melissa, Tucker, and Kelcee at Hy-Vee for lunch. Mike and the kids then went to Cindy's to play and visit while I did some shopping. The girls needed new spring/summer clothes! We decided to come home Saturday night since it was still raining. Sunday Mike and Alec went to Menard's and worked on the retaining wall by the new shop while the girls and I went to church and to the mall for mani/pedi's. Sunday afternoon the kids watched movies while I unpack, cleaned, and enjoyed listening to the rain. We got a total of 4 inches Friday night through Sunday morning. It then sprinkled on and off on Sunday.

Silly face picture

Blocks at Cindy's

She loved the massage chair.

She liked them scrubbing her feet