Space Oddity

 Rachel has become almost obsessed with the solar system lately... so I got on Amazon, and found a great little model for her. It was listed for ages 8 and over, so I did the painting, but she put most of it together herself!  Totally amazed me, because she knew most of the planets by location!  I had to keep looking at the names on the bar!

these are just some random pics from the past week... Our Penny Pupppy looking cute & cuddly as usual... Rach picked up a Princess ball & bat at a local yard sale, so she was having a blast playing baseball!

 Trying on some silly outfits just for the fun of it.  Sometimes, ya just gotta have a little goofiness in life, right?

She's our little shining star!

East at Easter

 So the Easter Bunny landed at our house... and it appears he is a MAJOR chocoholic!!  Ok, so it's her Daddy that provided what appears to be a lifetime supply of chocolate! Of course, that's because he plans on helping her with the challenge of emptying that basket!

After indulging in just a FEW pieces of candy, it was time to get ready for a lovely dinner at Ariani's Restaurant with Nana, Papa & "Luna Linda & Tony Baloney"...

 "Mama, PLEASE can we go eat spaghetti now"

 I love that in the sunlight you can see just how brown her hair is!  My beautiful little girl...

Finally got to the restaurant! So glad to see Nana & Papa!  Once again, taking her to a nice restaurant was not even remotely difficult!  We had a few people comment to us about what a pleasure it was to see such a well behaved little girl!  Yeah, we were totally thrilled & proud of our special young lady! 

 It's really hard to see in the picture, but this was a wonderful "self portrait" on a napkin... done by the owner/Chef at the restaurant.  Chef Dario fell under Rachel's spell and came over to our table to introduce himself.  He had our waiter bring him a new napkin, and proceeded to draw a terrific picture for Rach.  She was SO excited about it!

 It was still really nice out when we left the restaurant. As soon as we got outside, Rach asked if we could take some pictures at the flower fountain... so how could we possibly say no?

Our Happy Family 

Easter Sunday 2012

Ma Nishtana

 Another wonderful tradition continues... Passover at Auntie Ruth & Uncle Dick's house!  It was, of course, another fantastic night of wonderful friends and FANTASTIC food!

She also practiced all morning and when the time came, she even asked the 4 questions!  Ma Nishtana!!

 And for a change, Mama actually gets in on a few pictures!  (Since I'm normally the photographer, I almost never get any pictures with my beautiful girl)

 She TOTALLY adores her Auntie Ruth!

 Nana & Papa are enjoying the awesome food

We don't know what the attraction is, but every time we go to Auntie Ruth's house, Rach gets a hold of the pretty coasters that have pictures of different areas in Spain.  Here, she is explaining the game to Papa

And a little cuddle time with Nana of course! 

Family Picnic

 It was a beautiful day for a picnic, and that's just where we were heading!  It was time for my dads Bocce League Picnic once again.  Rachel is also practicing picking out all her own clothes, so she was very excited getting ready for the fun day ahead.

It was also going to be extra fun because Nana's "Cancer Buddy (who goes to Chemo the same days & time she goes) was going to come too, and was bringing her granddaughter!

Now, all that we needed to do was wait patiently for Nana & Papa to come pick us up to go to the Bocce Park!

FINALLY!!!  we get to play at the park!  Rachel just LOVES it when her Nana pushes her on the swing!  The "big kid" swings were occupied (not that her Nana would ever let her swing on those anyway! ROFL)

She REALLY enjoyed playing with her new friend, and they really hit it off!  Rach was even willing to share her pinwheel!  

And Papa was VERY happy to show his little monkee how to play Bocce! 

Fast Friends

 And MORE time on the playground!

A little sweaty, but nice to sit with Nana & Papa

And here she is with "Luna Linda & Tony Baloney"

When all was said and done, it was a really nice day at the park. Good food, GREAT fun, and making new friends... Does it get much better?

Stoned Soul Picnic

 Tommy's church picnic was held at one of the parishioners homes, across from the church.  It's actually a little compound shared by the whole family with 4 or 5 houses on the property.  Each family member has their home on the same chunk of land right next to the Edison home.

There was a clown making balloon animals so he made a parrot for Rachel.

 It was a little drizzly, but that didn't last. It turned out to be a pretty good afternoon!
The property was really nice, and many of the women were familiar from past picnics.

They also had a Barbershop Quartet playing music.  They were pretty good.  Rach really likes that style of music, so it worked out great!

Doctor Robert

 Brought Rachel to visit with Nana while she was having her chemo treatment.  She kept everyone entertained... patients & nurses alike!

After treatment, we all went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.  She LOVES going to "the salad restaurant".  She loves the salad, but her favorite is the macaroni & cheese!

The Rhythm of The Saints

St Patty's Day in our house means it's time to make a yummy New England Boiled Dinner.  Not just Corned Beef and Cabbage, but I include Parsnips, Carrots, Rutabaga, and of course, Potatoes.  We even had fresh Onion Rye bread.  My folks came over and we had a really nice night!

 Everyone cleaned their plates so I know dinner was a success!  The only problem we had was that we had far more veggies than meat... so the obvious solution... we bought a couple of extra packages of corned beef!  I cooked them up and gave 1 to mom & dad!

Pretty sure this face sums up the night.  We had a terrific evening, celebrating, eating, & laughing, laughing, laughing...

Queen of The Masquerade Ball

At Rachel's school, they celebrated Purim by hosting a Daddy's breakfast!  Only Dad's (or Grandfathers, etc) were invited to spend the morning sharing the story of Purim & having breakfast with all the students.
 The kids got to wear costumes, they made "ra'ashan" (noise makers) to blot out Haman's name, and they made special coupon booklets to give to all the dads!
She was SO excited to have her Daddy with her!  She was also really happy she got to wear her cowgirl costume!
She was also really happy when she found out she was going to have dinner with her Nana & Papa!

Where the Wild Roses Grow

Our little girl is growing up so fast, sometimes it scares me!!! It took a lot longer than it should have, but we FINALLY went out and bought her a "Big Girl Bed".  Her feet were starting to stick out thru the ends of her toddler bed, so just as soon as we got our tax refund, we hit the stores!

While Rach & I were searching, her Daddy was home converting the toddler bed frame.  As you can see, everything worked out just great!



She really loved the bedding that I picked out for her, even if it wasn't her first choice of Dora the Explorer sheets!  She was excited because there was so much purple, and (at least for the moment) purple is her favorite color!

 And what was her FAVORITE part of getting a "grown up bed"?
The fact that Penny Puppy can finally fit comfortably on the bed with her!!!  And Penny was more than happy to oblige... she made herself very comfortable at the foot of the bed, and stayed there until it was time to go to bed with us!

 The next step, we have to re arrange her room... I plan on getting her a nightstand and taking the chair out of there... just want to find something to match the color of the rest of the furniture!