Rachel's 4th Birthday

I am behind again! Surprise, surprise! 

We celebrated Rachel's 4th birthday on the 18th! The kids woke up especially early and were excited to see her presents, so we let her open them right away. I wrapped them up the night before and left them in my room.. so they came in and we piled in the bed and let her open them while Daddy opened all the packages for her. 

After we all got ready, we headed to the library. We have a library with a great kids' section in it. They have blocks, toys, a play tent, puppets, computers with games, and all sorts of stuff. The kids played with everything and Rachel asked me to read her a few books. Then she put on a puppet show with a kitty ;) I flipped through a few back issues of "Instructor" magazine. They are for teachers.. so it was pretty neat looking into a teacher's life-- since that is what I am going back to school for!

After the library we headed over to Chick Fila to have lunch. Two of Rachel's good friends, Elia and Makenzie met us up there to eat with us. The kids got kid meals and then had bowls of vanilla icecream afterwards. The adults got to sit around and talk while the kids played on the indoor playgym. They love that thing and would stay in there all day if I would let them! Arnold got a peek into our Stay-at-Home-Mom life that day.. all of us with kids out in public trying to contain them, clean up messes and dodge in and out of the crowd in there at lunchtime! He was already stressed and ready to go home. We had thought about bowling too that day, but the kids had already had enough and needed to rest.

When we got home Rachel dragged out all her new toys and played with Brooke. And that evening we went out to dinner at Carrabba's. Of course when we got there it was POURING rain and storming, so we had to run in and were wet when we sat down. Love Carrabba's, but it is crazy expensive.. so we never go anymore. Worked out perfectly that mom had given Arnold a giftcard to there for Father's Day a few days before. So we were basically having a joint celebration for him AND for Rachel ;) We had the greatest waiter and everything went pretty good. I got lasanga which I always get there, and the kids all wanted pizza.. figured they wanted the simple meal at the nice place! ;) And yeah-- our bill for 5 people was $68! Crazy, crazy. At least it was fun to get out :)

The very next day we had to take the girls in for some dental work. A few fillings for Rachel, and some crowns for Brooke. I know some people must judge us, but our girls just have horrible teeth! I never had a cavity in my life, I didn't even know what one looked like! But the girls have really seemed to suffer-- especially Brooke. I felt so bad for them. First was the issue of cost-- it was SO expensive.. at least they cut the work up into 4 visits (yeah, we still have to go back 3 more times for Brooke!!) Both the girls got laughing gas-- for Brooke because she was nervous and for Rachel because she was so young and wiggly. I was super paranoid about how they'd do since they'd never had it, and we had the sweetest nurse who came out and updated me on how they were doing. She said she understood, since she was a Mom, too :) They did great.. Arnold, Caleb and I sat in the waiting room and ate and read books while we waited. The girls didn't even get extremely sleepy or goofy like they said they might, from the meds. Rachel did run around in circles saying "I am an alien!" But she is pretty silly on a regular basis ;)

Rachel's birthday presents. I loved the polka dotted paper, and the ribbon even said "Rachel" on it. Can you tell I love birthdays?? In that big package was a shopping mall playcenter with little dolls.. that has been a hit. She also got that elephant backpack, which says her name on it. She also got a "Figit" and that thing is annoying.. it is always talking in their room. And she got some new Littlest Pet Shops and Mini Lalaloopsies I had been buying and saving for awhile now. I wanted to add to her collection.. I love it almost as much as her ;)  Oh and we can't forget about the play kitchen I scored for $20.. she got that too. It looked like a HUGE bday but I got great deals ;)

Birthday girl! In her outfit she was supposed to wear at her party but never got around to it since she was in her bathing suit the whole time! At least we had another opp. for her to wear it! 

The kids at the library. 

Playing blocks at the library.

Eating lunch at Chick Fila with her friend, Elia.

Rachel and her friend, Kenzie. They had matching skirts-- not even planned ;)

Rachel and daddy at her birthday dinner.

The waiter brought her icecream for her bday. She made such a mess!

Rachel at her dentist appt. They gave her these sparkly anntenna, and she just had to wear them right away. The silver glitter came off EVERYWHERE though, it was a mess!

She also got a butterfly tattoo! We put it on her while waiting on Brooke to get done.

Sitting together, waiting on Brooke. Caleb took this picture. Rachel's right cheek is huge because she still had gauze in there!