There was a little girl

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
 Right in the middle of her forehead.
 When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Rachel's 4th Birthday!

We had a great time earlier this month when Tante YaYa was able to celebrate with us.  She was in the state after a visit to Austin (more on that in another post).

Henry loves to relax with his tante.

Trip to Karbach with beer and healthy snacks for the kids.

Henry took a nap.

Rachel helped me decorate her birthday cake.

It was beautiful weather so we ventured out for at trip to the zoo.

Owen has gotten a lot more engaged with all there is to do.

Rachel loves to climb on things.

Silly girl with YaYa.

Silly girl on the drums (that she climbed up on)

It is hard to see, but this is the first time we have gotten to see the chimps having a snack in their special feeding area.  They were using sticks to get some tasty treats while we watched.

 

Our best effort at a family portrait.  In an unsurprising turn, Henry slept through it.

Ready for the birthday celebration!

Rachel had a princess theme so everyone got to wear tiara birthday hats.  Henry was a trooper and did not complain about it.

Castle bithday cake.

Looks like everyone but Rachel is excited about the celebration.  She was ready to light the candles.

Now she is excited!

It took a few tries but she got all of the candles out without any help.

Owen accepted the party hat as long as he had cake.

Even Daddy got to wear a hat.  Henry is looking slightly less excited about it here.

Rachel got a lot of fun gifts and cards. Thank you to everyone!

Swim Class Graduation

Rachel finished the first level of her swimming classes today.  She seems to really like the water when she is in it.  Before class, she is a little apprehensive but always tells me afterwards that she enjoyed it.  Parents are only allowed to come in by the pool on the last day.  Otherwise, we watch from behind the glass so the kids are not distracted.


Swimming across with barbells

Back float

Riding the mat

Playing with rings after diving to get them from the bottom of the pool

Getting her certificate

Rachel's "Spring" Egg Hunt

Rachel had an egg hunt today at school.  She has been looking forward to it all week and was very excited when the time finally came.


Walking out with the bag she decorated.

Getting instructions - they could each get 15 eggs.

And they are off...

Rachel was in the first of three groups to hunt (because she is one of the youngest in class), so there were plenty of eggs to find.

Sitting nicely to have her eggs counted.

Snack time!

Yummy :)

The final birthday celebrations

Once we got home from Austin, Rachel still had a little energy left to celebrate the end of the day.


She painted with YaYa using some of her new paints and paint brushes.

She also had a very fun time running around with her balloons.

She opened some nice gifts that came in the mail.

And she requested that we tie the balloons to her tricycle so she could ride around with them.

So you can fully appreciate all the fun...here is Rachel with her balloons.

Rachel's Third Birthday Party!

After the triathlon, the Austin crew met us at McKinney Falls State Park to celebrate Rachel's third birthday.  She was very excited that GranDave, Mimi, Uncle Travis, the Rays and Steve all came to celebrate.


Here is our picnic spot with lunch cooking and some of the decorations up.

Owen did not last long with the party hat but at least we got a picture of it on him.

 

We all wore our party hats!


Rachel had so much fun with Uncle Travis helping her climb trees.

As requested by Rachel she had a strawberry cake.

Here is the big birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candles.

Yummy cake!

Really - she loves cake.

After we spent some time busting open the pinata, everyone got to gather up the treats.

Uncle Travis was a big help for Rachel again.

Relaxing with Tante YaYa

Time for presents! 
You can see in the background that Josh almost has Owen to sleep.  He was fighting to stay awake because he did not want to miss anything.

Fortunately, he gave in eventually and took a nap.  Rachel could not understand how anyone could sleep at a party.

Relaxing in the shade before it was time to head back home.  Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate Rachel's birthday with us!!!