Opinion: Mine

I went shopping today and I'm extremely happy with the results,

which included these AWESOME Aqua 80's Shades

& a "Twinkle Little Star" necklace for Karlee.

Anyway, we just got home & I was putting away all the goodies,

Mikey tried on my sunglasses. He thought they look ok,

I think he resembles his shirt a bit too much.

:o)

I don't know what it is 

-the color of the glasses maybe-

but I'm not diggin it.

Found It

[Mikey hands me something he picked up off the carpet.]

Rachel: "How did this raisin get on the floor?"

Mikey: "Are you looking at it?"

Rachel: "Yeah...[moment of realization] OH! Wait! It's Lilly's umbilical cord!!"

found it 

:o)

Milestone 1

Lilly Alice's umbilical cord fell off January 29, 2011!

My Favorite Moments of Today...

*Woke up, legs tangled, with the man of my dreams*

*Nursed my beautiful Lilly and reflected {yeah really} on 

how wonderful it is to be able to provide for my child like this 

and debated blogging about the weird stares I received in Wal-mart the other day 

while nursing Lilly under a blanket*

*A special hug from my sweet Karlee*

*James offering to carry all our snacks from Fasmart,

and when I said, "You don't have to carry it all yourself hon."

he said, "I just want to. To be nice."*

*That first amazing sip of Starbucks Mocha Double shot Espresso*

*Some wonderful one-on-one conversation with James

about family, Hershey's Cookies & Creme Candy Bars,

Rodney Atkins & how James is his BIGGEST FAN,

and about why you can sometimes see the moon in the sky 

in the middle of the day*

{sn: I still need to look up why that is} 

*Hugs from Maddie AND Karlee when I got back home*

*Bacon & Onion and Pepperoni & Mushroom Pizzas from Dominoes

-enough said- *

and now I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening of Tinkerbell and The Usual Suspects, maybe a little TV {now that we finally have some TV Channels}, some Green tea and another Starbucks Mocha Double Shot Espresso. 

I

Love

My

Life

Sleeping Beauty

The dinner table rule at our house is pretty simple. You don't get up from the table, or get dessert, or get snacks, etc until all your dinner [or breakfast or lunch] is gone. We don't really play with this rule. Our kids know that they're expected to eat everything we put on their plates (we give them normal kid sized portions of course) and then clean up their spot afterward. They do this well with little to no complaints. When we started enforcing this rule the big kids would rotate each meal with which one didn't like something [i.e. At breakfast James would all of a sudden decide he doesn't like eggs- when he's been eating them for 6 years with no complaint. Then at lunch Maddie all of a sudden has an aversion to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, normally one of her favorites.]. It took a couple of meals for them to realize that no matter how much they say they don't like something [especially something that we KNOW they like] they still have to eat and now we have no complainers. and dinner time is usually fun and a chance for us to talk with the kids about whats going on and how school is going because we don't have the added stress of listening to the kids complain about something that just yesterday was their favorite food.

Well the other day we had spaghetti for dinner and when I was finished with my bowl I went into the living room to nurse Lilly. When she was done feeding I went back into the kitchen to see how Karlee was coming along with her bowl of spaghetti and this is what I discovered:

Needless to say, she didn't have to finish the bowl of spaghetti. I just scooped her up and carried her to bed. Chuckling to myself about the strange places kids fall asleep.
Then it gave me an idea for a promotion for my photography business, Wynks & Smiles Photography & Design. For a limited time any one that sends me a picture of their child in their most unusual napping spot, will recieve a FREE Photo Session with me. Here's the ad I created:

What do you think?

Hooked.

I recently [read: TODAY] discovered Pinterest.  I am obsessed already. It reminds me of standing in a grocery store check out line perusing the magazines and daydreaming that your house could actually look like that or that you could actually cook something that looks that good and get your kids to eat it. 

Pinterest is a way to create Bulletin Boards to showcase these particular daydream house ideas or Recipes that you want to try or Craft Ideas that inspire you. Even things that make you mad. Its another way to list. and who doesn't love a good list.

Check it out I'm actually kind of excited about it. 

Uno.

Mama.
Rachel.
Rae.
Photographer.
Painter.
Lover.
Friend.
Aunt.
Daughter.

Yep, that's all me. Now I'm adding Blogger to that list. I tried it before, got lazy, didn't do so well at keeping it up. I need it though. I need the "pen to paper" therapy of journaling, and blogging is such a fun way to journal. This time the rules have changed [so that I'll actually maintain this blog]. The One & Only Rule: The blogs are written by me and consist of whatever I feel like writing about. One day you may read [or skim through or completely skip over] a to-do list of home make over ideas and the next you're trying to figure out how I segwayed (sp?) into blogging about the poop consistency of a breast fed baby [SO MUCH DIFFERENT THAN FORMULA FED BABY POO]. It should be interesting at least :)

I'm 27 (almost). And finally, my life is perfect. I have the best friends and family a girl could wish for. I actually love my job. AND I'm doing a second job that's always been a passion of mine, Photography.

I have an amazing fiance, Mike. My Mr. Right [even though sometimes he thinks his first name is Always!!].
He's my Star Wars geek that made me fall in love with the Force and notice Yoda anywhere in a 50 mi radius. He also unleashed a Bejeweled Video Game monster in me. :) I love everything that makes him the man he is.

We have 4 GREAT Kids.

Maddie B will be 7 in just a few weeks. This girl can tell you ANYTHING you wanna know [or don't] about Fire Belly Toads. Before she came in my life, I don't think I even knew what Fire Belly Toads were. She has big dreams. When she grows up she wants to be either a "Submarine Biologist" or an "Anthropologist". This chic's no joke. :) She's a very talented artist as well, and proud of it. She'll tell you in an instant that she was "Artist of the Month" in Kindergarten.

James {aka Buck} is 6 years old and boy is he WILD! This kid has more energy that the Energizer Bunny after 3 pots of coffee! No kidding. He's only still when he's playing video games on the XBOX, which is his FAVORITE thing to do EVER! He's a redneck skater dude. He's full of mischief and usually a great source of mess. But he's one of the sweetest boys you'll ever meet. He wants to be a "Marine" when he grows up because "the only thing tougher than a marine is a navy seal".

Karlee will be 3 years old in a couple weeks. This girl. She completes me. She is so full of personality and attitude. It never fails that when we go out at least 3 people tell us "how cute she is". She's got them all fooled though, because she KNOWS she's cute and the kid plays on it. She'll cock her head to the side and smile at you with her eyes all squinkled up, you can almost hear her say "see how cute I am". She just recently discovered Barbies and she's hooked. She can't get enough.

Lilly Alice is our youngest. She's just 2 weeks old. All she really does right now is eat, sleep and poop. But she's really good at all three. :) I can't wait to see how her personality develops and where she fits in the family. Will she be tomboyish and prefer monster trucks to baby dolls? or Will she be girly and prissy like her big sister Karlee? Will she be shy and introverted like Daddy? or Will she be extroverted and talk to everyone, like mommy? Stay tuned.

This is my life. I'm not promising to blog every day. I'm not even promising to blog every week. But here it is.

By the way, the picture, those are my 4 GREAT kids. 

(Left to Right) Karlee holding Lilly Alice, James, & Maddie B