She's a Prize-winning Bee!

We entered Rachel into the costume contest at the farmers market this morning. There were two other bees in the running - both wearing the same store-bought costume (how embarrassing!). I think I saw a child with number 15 so there were at least that many in the 0-5 age group.

Here are Wes and Rachel preparing to take on the competition:

Our little bee was awarded third place! We are very proud of her for being a trooper through the process. They were slow in getting started and it was getting close to nap time, but she was sweet the whole time. The top two spots went to an elf and a sunflower, which you can sort of see in a picture of the competition below.

Rachel won some yummy bread that we will enjoy on her behalf, snap pea seeds, and $10.

Rachel was starting to get sleepy after all of the excitement. We all had a fun time!

Last Weekend

We have been keeping busy around here so I am behind on my blogging. Here is a recap of last weekend. 

On Friday night, we took Rachel to her first show at Miller Outdoor Theatre.  It was a cirque du soleil-type show called Birdhouse Factory.

It was a cool evening so Rachel got to wear her sweater and was bundled up by the time the show was over. 

 

She was very good most of the time, although she did object a couple of times when there was a particularly loud noise (like a whistle).  Kim and Rebecca came out to see the show with us so it was fun to have a picnic and visit with friends.

On Saturday, we started the day at the Zoo Boo. 

Rachel got to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and we enjoyed the zoo in the beautiful weather. 

 

 

After that, we spent the afternoon and evening with Steve and Don - playing Rock Band at the house and then going to Dry Creek for dinner and some dominos.  We are not sure how much longer Rachel will tolerate staying out and behaving herself, but she was pretty good at Dry Creek.

 

Our Little Bumble Bee

We decided that Rachel would be a bumble bee for Halloween this year.  In the future, she will choose her own costumes - for now, it is all up to us.  I decided to make a project of it and made the costume myself.  It was fun bringing it all together.  Wes helped a lot as well so it was a team effort.  Rachel even helped by being a good trooper through the fittings.

Here she is letting me figure out where the arm openings should go:

After that, we had to figure out the right length and how much stuffing to put in.

We added a hat, some wings and a black outfit underneath.  Here is the finished product:

We think she looks pretty darn cute and ready to take on all of the fun Halloween events.

Utopia Festival

This weekend, we went to Utopia for a music festival that Wes' brother Travis put together.  The whole family pitched in to get everything ready and to keep it running smoothly.  The weather was perfect, the bands were good and everyone had a great time.

Wes helped his mom out with the food preparation.

We did not get to see much of Travis as he was busy running the show and making a movie of the event.

Rachel had a fun day at the festival!  She got to play with her cousin Jonathan and relax in the sun (under a big umbrella of course).

 

 

When it all got to be a bit much, she just pulled down her sun hat and took a nap.

After the sun went down, it got a lot cooler so Rachel had to bundle up a bit.

Rachel was happy that she got to spend a lot of time at Granny's house while we were visiting and see all of Wes' aunts.  Before we left town on Sunday, we made sure to get plenty of pictures of Rachel with Granny.

 

Back to the Zoo

A cool front rolled through yesterday so today it was time to head back to the zoo.  Wes was in College Station watching the Aggies play OSU so Rachel and I hit the zoo without him.  It is a lot busier on the weekend than during the week but we still had a good time.  Rachel got to wear a hat that her Oma made her to keep her head warm as she does not have any hair.

Rachel enjoys her time at the zoo - watching the birds and checking out the animals.  She was not feeling particularly smiley for the camera today.

 

I took a picture for Wes on my phone and she was more upbeat for that.

 

 

Rachel was wearing her jeans today and she had her jacket on when we first got to the zoo.  It was not really cool enough to keep the jacket on so I took it off before I got a picture.  Here she is the last day it was slightly cool, all decked out for the fall.

We have been to the zoo together a few more times in the last few weeks.  Here are a few pictures from our earlier visits that have not made the blog yet (mostly because I just transferred them from my camera).

 

 

 

 

 

This one is with the kookaburra - one of our favorite birds from Oma's homeland of Australia.

 

 

Yummy Rice Cereal

We decided it was time for Rachel to try some solid food.  Well, sort of solid.  We started her with rice cereal mixed with milk.  Her eating skills are not quite there - it did not look like she actually consumed much of what we gave her.  She seemed to like it and was opening her mouth for more up until the end of the bowl.  It is kind of a long video - enjoy!

Five Months Old

Another month has flown by!  Rachel is five months old now and is doing very well.  I have not gotten to take as many pictures of her lately because it was my second week at work.  Work is still going well and I think I am going to enjoy my three day schedule.

While I was at work this week, Rachel got to spend some more time with her Grandma.  She really enjoys having her Grandma to play with all day.  Thanks to Kathy for her help again this week!

Productive Saturday

We got a surprising amount done today!  We started the day at 8:15am with a big garage sale held by a moms of multiples group.  Rachel would have thought Christmas had come early with all the new things she got if she knew what Christmas was.  She got an exersaucer, a jumper, a toy cube, several outfits, a book and a bike helmet (all for only about $40!).  After that, we hit the bank, the fabric store (got fabric for Rachel's Halloween costume), the library (got some great books at their annual sale) and the liquor store (got some beer and lunch at Spec's downtown).

Once we got home, we cleaned Rachel's new toys and spent a while playing with them.

Here she is in the jumper:

Playing in her exersaucer:

(she thought she might see if she could eat it)

Playing with her toy cube - she is not quite old enough for this one, but she enjoys the lights and sounds:

Rachel has been getting better at napping when she has rolled onto her tummy.  Sometimes, she calls for help to roll back to her back.  The other day, she took a nice, long nap on her tummy instead of waking herself up when she rolled over. Here she is sleeping:

Here she is, waking up happy, two and a half hours later: