Catching Up - Rachel

So, I admit, this blogging thing is getting a little out of hand with how out of date my posts are.  But, I'm hoping now that everyone is back in school I can get back to it.

This particular post is hard because it's about Rachel and basically the whole summer and what she did.  I have started it about 5 times and keep walking away because it seems so daunting.  BUT, I am going to finish, you may just have more pictures than words.  Sound OK? 

First up, 9th Birthday Party!

Rachel turned 9 on July 5th and had three girlfriends stay overnight.  It was an American Girl doll party, so everyone brought their dolls, stayed overnight and had pancakes in the morning.

We then went to the Mall of America (Rachel's first time there or maybe her second, either way she was completely overwhelmed with how much there was to see).

We did the American Girl Doll party/lunch.

If you haven't ever experienced this, it is quite the well, umm, experience.

The have their dolls sit in little chairs and the waitresses completely talk to the dolls like they are real.


A little strange? 

Yes I thought so too.


But the girls enjoyed it!

It was a fun thing to do with my little girl.



They even supplied a birthday cake and we all sang Happy Birthday!

Next up....softball!

OK, is that the cutest softball player ever?!?

She was so nervous to start the year that she wouldn't be able to hit the ball.  Well as it turned out, she could hit the ball and pretty much wherever Rachel hits the ball she can get on first base because she is a very fast runner!







We spent a lot of quality time with Emily.




And yes I realize this is an awful picture of me, I still like it because it is "US GIRLS"!

OK, when I uploaded the pictures to blogger they got completely out of order and I am too lazy to move them around, so it is what it is.



Here is Rachel on her actual birthday!  We brought Brownies and put candles in them for her softball team to sing to her!


She was so proud.

What's that?  This is suppose to be about Rachel?


Well, I just need to add that on July 7th, Bill and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary!



10 YEARS?!?  Where did the time go?



Bill being the romantic guy he is made me a carrot cake because we had carrot cake on our wedding!

Rachel was NOT in Tai Kwon Do, but she liked to pretend she was by wearing Sam's uniform.

We got new clothes for pictures and also to be worn for school.   She modeled nicely for this picture.

Since all the kids' birthdays are within 3 weeks of each other, we do one big birthday celebration. 


And in case you are wondering, like my brother Perry was, the four candles were representative of the four kids!

Another fun part of summer was we went to Vikings Training Camp.

I haven't been to training camp in well, 10 years, the year Bill and I got married and let me tell you it has changed A LOT!



The kids were way more into the activities then watching the players practice.  I mean really how exciting is that anyway?  They had fun doing the catching, running and golfing activities they had set up for the kids.  We went to a morning practice during the week and the crowds were hardly anything.

We did wait in line to get autographs.  Rachel and Parker (one of my daycare kids) thought that was really fun, but Sam and Ben, not so much.




August came along and it was County Fair time.

We live about 8 blocks from the Fairgrounds, so we go about everyday.  The kids love to look at all the animals and get free stuff from the vendors.  Well I'm not going to lie we do our share of rides and food as well.



Rachel has been growing her hair out to donate to Locks of Love.  Well after some researching we decided to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths instead of Locks of Love.  Let me tell you why.  It turns out Lock of Love charges for their wigs and Pantene Beautiful Lengths makes wigs and they are given through the American Cancer Society FREE of charge. 

Here was Rachel before her haircut.

The picture quality isn't great because we actually went in for a trim and at the last minute Rachel decided to get it cut.  So, I had to have Mary take a picture with her cell phone.



Here she is after.

It was important to Rachel that she still be able to put her hair in a pony tail.

One of the last things we did this summer was go fishing.

We went down to Mill Pond here in St. Peter and we caught NOTHING!

To say the kids were bummed, would be an understatement but at least there was a park there to play at.




And to make matters worse a month before that we were at family bible camp at Inspiration Point and the kids went fishing there.

Rachel and Sam both caught multiple fish and expected that to be the standard of how things went when you go fishing. 



Ya, not so much.




Here is Rachel just last week on her first day of 4th grade!

Bill went back to workshops on August 22nd.
Rachel's first day was August 29th.
Sam's first day was August 31st. (pictures coming soon)
Ben's first day was September 6th. (pictures coming soon)

Well that about brings us up to date.  I hope this didn't feel to rushed, trust me it wasn't.  Even with the fewer words it has still take me over a half hour to put together.