Festival, Fire Museum, Fall and Fun

I think I've already said it, but Rachel is loving school. A couple Saturdays ago she got real nervous and said, "Are we late for school?" (she's always worried about being late) "No, Rachel it's Saturday" "Ah, but school is so fun!" This is a note she made for her teacher this week that I thought was too cute!
We went to the playground earlier this week (as well as half her class) and it was fun to see her play with all her friends.

Tommy has been getting creative with his time spent inside, squeezing into some tight places...

Or maybe he just wants to be little again. I pulled this toy out from the "attic" (kids closet) because Katelyn has started noticing and taking interest in what's around her. It's become Tommy's new favorite toy too.Just a cute pictureLast Friday we had a Birthday/Halloween party and we were asked to bring our scariest Halloween treat. I made these brownie spiders with the leftover licorice from the Hello Kitty cupcakes. I've always wanted to take a cake decorating class, can you tell?
PJ time!
We've had some GREAT temperatures the past few days but last weekend was awful. It may have only been low 50s and I may be a wimp but the wind really does make it unbearable! I know...I'm in big trouble. Here's Kate all bundled last Saturday all ready for a day at a Citi festival that Jake was volunteering at.
It was called a Global Community event and I think it was to celebrate their support to the veterans. The event had pumpkin decorating, face painting, blow up obstacle courses, free hot chocolate, candy corn, cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs...a kids dream come true.


Jake was in charge of the Boot Camp
On our way home we stopped by the Fire Museum. The kids loved it...the old fashion trucks and the dress up. The 9-11 memorial was really neat.
Yesterday Jake took the day off of work. He didn't get any days off when Katelyn was born so he's taking some intermittently to help out around the house. He was really excited about the day...he started laundry at 7am. He took Rachel to school, went to the post office, grocery shopping, he swept, mopped, hung pictures, and even let me get out of the house for a few hours (without kids) to go buy a new shirt. It was a great day. After school we decided to take advantage of an afternoon with the whole family and the beautiful weather by going to Central Park. Living in the city we definitely aren't experiencing fall like we're used to. It was great to see some color and to just smell the fall air. We are grateful however that we don't have to rake this year :)

Rachel's "Already 5"

Rachel's birthday...an event that has been anticipated all year long. I was nervous about meeting expectations. I wanted to make it as special as she has hoped for, and in the end I think she had a very memorable birthday. We celebrated it all weekend long...

Friday
Her teacher lets parents come in for one "period" the week of their child's birthday to bring cupcakes, read a story and do an activity. Rachel requested Hello Kitty cupcakes. I'm happy with the way they turned out and that I was able to finish in time. I put the last whiskers on, the minute I needed to leave. They were a big hit.Jake was able to slip away from work to come read the story, "Giraffes Can't Dance."
Rachel wore this hat the entire day.
After eating cupcakes the teacher pulled out all her board gamesOn the way home from school she says, "in 5 weeks I'll be 10!" I corrected her and said years and then it hit me that in the same amount of time I will be the mother of a 10 year old. That's a really crazy thought!

Saturday
We wanted to take Rachel out to a restaurant, just her, Mommy and Daddy (and Kate) and I was planning on going to one nearby but at the last minute we decided to head to the Upper West Side to a place called Alice's Tea Cup. Such a fun place, with delicious sandwiches, scones, cookies and herbal tea :). It was so much more special than any random restaurant and I was SO happy we went.
Alice

Yesterday was her actual birthday. She gave a talk in Primary about how sharing the gospel helps others to come unto Christ. She even wrote part of it herself. She waited so patiently all morning, all through church, and Tommy's nap (well, patience was wearing thin at that point) to open her presents. She ripped through all of them in a minute flat.
Her request for dinner was "green spaghetti" (pesto) and a Strawberry Shortcake cake. I know she wanted the character, but a vanilla cake with strawberries was the best I could do.
In Rachel's mind one doesn't get older until after they eat the cake. Not sure where she got that idea, but it was so funny to see her take a bite and say, "Am I 5 now?!" and then she got so giddy talking about how she's taller and everything.
The Falimy
And now, I could go on and on about all the things I love about this lady, but I'm getting tired. But I will say she is one cute, silly, smart, thoughtful, creative, artistic girl. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter!

Random

Tommy and "Guckie" as he likes to call her (I have no idea where that nickname came from)
Fall pants...I mean leaves
Three's not a crowd!
Last week (I think) was Curriculum Night at Rachel's school. It was so fun to get to know her teacher a little better and see the activities they do and things they're learning. It has Rachel written all over it...she's really loving it! This is a little drawing up on one of the wall in her classroom. It says, "This is my very good dream last night. A carousel took me round and round. I didn't know, I was just at home sleeping"
This girl is getting so big! She's sure cutsie, but making me tired! We've had a few really rough nights...today I put cumin on my toast instead of cinnamon sugar. How's that for sleep deprivation.
I can't get enough of this kid!
When we hear the word "free" we go running. Last weekend Citi employees were allowed to go to the Bronx Zoo for free. A fabulous zoo! We saw some neat things. A Polar Bear throwing a ball up in the air and two bears wrestling. Tommy's favorite were the Giraffes. Rachel's favorite was the playground we found just outside the zoo on the way home.
Along for the ride...
Watching the bears
We saw a 4D Dora movie...a little too dimensional for Rachel
One morning the kids woke up and wanted to play dress up...they are super heroes.
Rachel had school off on Monday, Columbus Day. Jake was really sad he didn't have it off too, so we met him at the park for a picnic lunch.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow...

Or not for another hour. Eating breakfast in their room so me and Katelyn can keep sleeping.
Or not for another week. It was rainy all last week...and will be all this week. Rainy days are a whole different story when you don't have a car. I need to get some rain gear too, and as soon as I do it won't rain for months.So we've had some pretty lazy days...and crazy days.
By the way, Baby Kate is a month old....unbelievable! 9 lbs 14 oz. 22 inches long.Jake and I got out for a quick date night Thursday while the kids had a little party at the day care at Daddy's work. We went to a fun Spanish restaurant and then got doughnuts for dessert.Then on Saturday night we took our first trip to the Emergency Room. I knew the day would eventually come and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it. So how did I do? I was a little frantic. Trying to clean and stop the blood and trying to decide if we really needed to go, what to do with Tommy and Katelyn (Jake just left for Priesthood). It was just before bedtime. Tommy was riding his motorcycle and Rachel was using the plastic play kitchen bench as her motorcycle. As she was scooting it around it must have got caught from underneath her and she face planted on the hard wood floor, hitting her chin. We headed out about a quarter to 8:00 in a taxi to the hospital. Luckily a friend named Allison had stopped by with a gift and was willing to forfeit her plans for the evening to put Tommy to bed. We waited quite some time in the waiting room...typical right? We were admitted and given a numbing cream that would take an hour to take affect. Rachel was well taken care of though. She was given a teddy bear and a bag full of things to do, coloring books, card games, wiki stix...you should have seen how happy she was to learn that she got to take it all home. It was amazing to see her determination in coloring when they gave her the medicine to help her be a little out of it. She was definitely out of it, but kept on coloring. She ended up getting 7 stitches. It was not an easy thing for a mother to watch as they tied her down to the table and stitched her up with her yelling for them to stop, despite the numbing and valium. She was a trooper though. I think the hardest thing for her was being so tired. She kept telling me that she didn't want to stay up late. We finally got home just after midnight. And I was told it was a slow night.
She was smiling and her usual self again on Sunday...Tommy actually acted more tired than she did.