Random Cute Pics...

Here are some random pictures from the last few months of summer. She is bouncing at her daycare funfest, playing at the beach, and walking with her Goomba. It is hard to imagine that time has flown by so quickly. I remember a year ago Rachael was just learning to sit up, and now she won't sit still! Enjoy!

New tree

Here are a few pics and short video of Rachael helping take care of our new tree. We recently improved our backyard by pulling out some ground cover and putting in grass. Our old tree was dead, so we replaced it with a cute little lollipop crabapple tree. Rachael had fun watching the handymen work building our new deck and improving our backyard space. She stood at the back door watching, waving, and saying "ell---ooo" over and over.

Rachael Lately

Here are some pics of toddler Rachael lately. She has been very busy creating silly games like "feed Cookie Monster a mouth full of Kix cereal" and "try on Daddy's bike helmet". As Rachael and life get busier, the blogs get shorter. But, pictures are worth a thousand words, so here you go! Enjoy.

Rachael's Daycare Funfest

Rachael had fun at her daycare's yearly funfest/ picnic. She enjoyed a pony ride with her Goomba. Here is a picture of her! It is hard to believe she is only 18 months old....She also had fun bouncing around in the toddler "bouncy castle" which included a pirate ship and inflated dolphin for her to bounce on. More pics will be added later I am sure.

Ganna and Goomba are visiting until Tuesday. We are going to a Cubs game on Sunday.

Life gets busier and busier...

Rachael is growing so fast! She has transitioned to her new room at daycare, and is such a big girl. In the last few weeks she has hit many milestones. She is trying to talk more. She does the "toddler" slide all on her own at the park. She can go down the big curly slide with help. She rinses her own hair in the bath by lying back--- a major milestone for a little girl who refused to get her hair wet at all without screaming... She loves to wave and say, "hi" to everyone in the neighborhood. We have been having a fun summer so far.

Here is a video of Rachael rocking out. She loves to dance.

Rachael Pretends

Lately, Rachael has begun "pretending" more while playing with her toys. She also does very silly things that make us wonder what goes on in her amazing little mind. For example, she likes to climb into boxes, baskets, and her step stool and fill the space around her with her fisher price animals. All of them. She will point to any stray animals that didn't make it in with her and once they join her, she will climb out and dump them on the floor. The game starts over. She also loves to "pretend" that each little animal is going to sleep by lying them down on the floor. They also eat from a toy that has little bananas in it. She is learning her animals. She can usually pick out the right animal when I say, "where is your lion, giraffe, panda bear, etc.". She likes to trace our house numbers in front with her finger, and we talk about how we live at 609A and neighbors Tiff, George, and doggie Kiki live at 609B. She traces their numbers and says, la la la BEEE ba ba Beee. I guess she knows the letter b. It does begin her favorite words, "ball, bubble, balloon..." Here is a video of her climbing in her step stool and feeding her animals some bananas. Notice she makes a little eating sound for them.

Early Heckling

Rachael warms up her heckling technique. Later she tries to spell out Podsednik you're a bum with the crowd, but even grown-ups can't spell Podsednik very well...It was a beautiful day in the left field bleachers at Wrigley.