Boating!!

Some of our friends took us out to Lake Normon (lake just north of Charlotte) on Saturday. We all had a blast! The water wasn't too good for waterskiing, but at least we got out. We had a good time relaxing in the sun and eating junk food. Rachel LOVED driving the boat, feeding and swimming with "le ducks" (by the way, everything is prefaced with "le" lately...le bankie, le boo boo, le milk...) and she really enjoyed riding on "le tube," saying "wee" over every bump!

Oops

Just realized I got the two videos switched. I guess that's what happens when your brain shuts off after 9 pm like mine does.

Too Darn Hot!

It's been a long week for us, especially with Jake working longer hours and Saturdays! But, we were able to squeeze in some good quality family time Saturday after work!! The weather is already getting dreadfully hot, so we're making the most of it before it gets unbearable! Rachie's already starting to get a pretty good tan.

Motherly instincts...

Busy, busy, busy

Happy Mother's Day!

Rachie picked a beautiful bouquet of weed flowers for me today but got more interested in the camera...I love being a mom!

The other day she decided to take a shower under the flower pots

Mommy come look

She practiced her circles on our freshly painted wall and now she's perfecting lines on the closet. On Wednesday I was busy on the computer and she was begging for my attention, finally she grabbed my finger and dragged me into the next room. She was so proud, as you can tell, the way she is sitting back and admiring her mural.

What's new?

This site could be dedicated to Rachel, but we'll give you an update on us as well. Jake has been getting busier at work, which has been good for him. A couple weeks ago he baptized a friend of his from work that he met a year ago in his training group at Wachovia. It's been a fun and strengthening experience! As for me, I'm keeping busy with Rachel. When she started crawling and cruising I went from cleaning up all day to just once at the end of the day...now, maybe once a week, if I'm lucky. And, I still can't find time to do much else, but there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. Also, I just made the big entrepreneural leap into starting my own dance program. I've got 4 students signed up so far ready to start taking dance class in June. It's kind of scary, but I'm REALLY excited.

Walkin in my shoes

Rachel's at that fun stage of imitation. Everything from vacuuming, insisting on pushing the stroller on our walks, to pretending to put lotion on her face or gel in her hair...I love it!!!

Recent obsessions

"Ballooooon...Balloo, Balloo, Balloo!!"

"Manas"

I'll sometimes call her 'my little monkey' and she'll reply, "oo oo aa aa"

too cute!!














"Cheese"

which means keys
but she loves cheese too
















And the "giggles"

She asks for them at least 10 times a day, with just as much enthusiasm. Every time she asks she bounces up and down and does a little dance with her arms, which makes it hard to say no sometimes.

Dancin at Depot

This girl can make errands a little difficult, but life a lot of fun. I just can't get over how much this girl loves to dance, she cracks me up. I was thinking we should have put a hat out...we could have made some good money, don't you think?

Did I do that?

Within 24 hours of finishing the last coat of paint on our walls...

but honestly, can you get upset at a face like that?

We love visitors

Recently we had my dad and sister Brittany out here in Charlotte. They helped us paint, among other things, which we really appreciated. We sure put them to work but we had a lot of fun too! Who's next??