3 Years

To celebrate our 3rd anniversary, we spent the night at a farmhouse in Ashton, ID so we could attend the American Dog Derby- the longest running dog sled race in North America. We were sans Rachael, and I missed her. She apparently was fine with the separation. It was fun to spend time with just Patrick and I, although I would not repeat the farmhouse thing when 8 months pregnant again. The night before we ate at one of the 4 restaurants in town, 511 Main which is a new place, but they kept the original soda fountain that was in the drug store before. We shared a chocolate banana malt. Yummy. The next morning, we got up early (for a Saturday) to get to the races. We enjoyed watching the dogs. They were so excited to get moving, jumping everywhere. There were hundreds of dogs and a variety of races from 20 to 90 miles over 2 days. They also had children's snowshoe races and a mutt run.

Yum

Rachael likes curried rice with cottage cheese mixed in. She was licking the bowl too.

Running Wild

We removed all the furniture from the front room so that the carpet could be cleaned. Apparently, Rachael needs wide, open spaces. It will be nice when the family room is finished down stairs just for that. Sorry, no audio. Our video camera battery is dead so this was taken with the regular camera. You get the picture.

Before

Here are some before pics of Rachael's big girl room. When I say before, I mean present-time. We just got all the rest of the stuff cleaned out of there and it's pretty much a blank canvas. I thought I'd wow you more if you saw how ordinary it is now compared to how fab it will be when I'm done.

Silent Dance of Joy!

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

I might be a little happy about this. Patrick has finished one room in our basement. It is the most important room because it is the office. That means that the multitude of computers, computer desks, and computer paraphernalia can go downstairs and we are one giant leap closer to Rachael having a big girl room. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Will post more pics when the said crap, I mean computer stuff is relocated.

Moon Walk

Rachael really likes my shoes. Today she was walking backward in them. Unfortunately, all I had was my phone, but you get the picture.

Counting

Last week I discovered that Rachael can count...well in her own way.

She usually won't say the number that I say, but she's started going to the next one without any prompting from me. She's one smart cookie.

Christmas Morning

Rachael was very cute coming in Christmas morning. I'm not going to include the footage of her opening presents because she was very meticulous (read: slow) about getting all the wrapping paper off each gift. And because I'm in most of it. Next year, I get to hold the camera.