Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Christmas is in the air. :) After Thanksgiving Rachel went with Jared to see if the line to visit Santa at the mall was too long. It wasn't terrible so we waited and Jared had the "pleasure" of meeting the big guy.

When Jared refused to sit on the big guy's lap, Todd stepped up to fill the vacancy. :) Rachel did much better than she did last year and gave some fake smiles for the camera:

When Santa asked what she wants for Christmas she promptly answered, "A puppy." We have tempered her expectations by talking about the toy puppy Santa's bringing.

Last weekend we had our ward Christmas party and Santa Claus showed up at the end for a little visit, too. Rachel was happy to hop up on his lap and tell him about the puppy she wants all over again. And she was especially excited that he gave her a candy cane this time.

We've been decking the halls at our house and it's about as decorated as it's going to get this year. I love having all the Christmas decorations out, mint M&Ms, and Christmas music. It really makes it feel like Christmas (even when I sweat when we go outside to play).

Rachel was a great helper in decorating the tree this year. And undecorating, and redecorating, and undecorating.... We've set some rules about which ornaments cannot be removed and she mostly leaves them alone now.

On a completely unrelated note, the other day after watching her Dora movie that she got for her birthday (which is all about pirates) Rachel came to me as I was doing the laundry and said, "Mom, I need a pirate costume." Luckily I just happened to have one on hand.

After I taught her some pirate talk ("Aarrgh. Ahoy mateys" and the like), Rachel walked around for a good while saying "Ahoy, ladies. Aarrrgh."

Thanksgiving

I'm attempting to catch up on blogging, but we just keep taking more pictures.... And I'm remembering that stage with Rachel when I realized that accomplishing one thing during the day made the day a success. That's where we're at with Annie now. There's certainly some truth to the idea that the key to happiness is lower expectations. Especially when a baby is involved. :)

Anyway, we had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed having my brother and his family visiting for a week (or a little more in Savannah and Jared's case). We hung out with them every day and totally neglected housework at home, so we had a ball. We went to the zoo and the kids had fun running around and seeing the animals. And climbing on the fake animals.

The lioness was right next to the cage/fence.

Feeding the ducks was a hit:

Another day we went to the duck park to feed the ducks some leftover rolls. Actually Annie and I went grocery shopping, but everyone else joined in on the fun. Jared was a little intimidated by the horde of hungry ducks, but as long as his mom or dad was with him he braved the mob.

The night before going to the duck park Rachel left this little hamster that sings "We wish you a merry Chrismas" over and over and over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She was so distraught to find that she didn't bring him home. It was a very happy reunion when she saw her little buddy had come to meet her at the park. She carried it around all over the place. :)

It was a nice, relaxing week, and we had lots of fun having Todd and Savannah and Jared visit. It made us wish we had them living closer. And for that matter, it made us wish all of Rachel's cousins (and their parents) lived a little closer. :)

Happy Thanksgiving. A few weeks ago.

Rachel's 3rd Birthday

On the 20th Rachel turned 3. She had a fun birthday and enjoyed herself thoroughly. She started out the day opening her presents from us. She loved getting her very own Dora movie (we always just borrow them from the library) and especially loved getting a Little People nativity set.

She spent many hours playing with her nativity set, especially loving that it plays Away in a Manger again and again and again. And again.

Also loving her angel. Silly girl.
After presents we had pancakes for breakfast, made to order in whatever shapes she wanted. She had a butterfly and an octopus.
The fun day continued with preparations for her party (during which she got to watch her new Dora movie), then the party itself. Her cousin Jared was visiting for Thanksgiving, and got here early enough to join in the festivities, along with some of her friends and neighbors. They had fun playing outside in the nice fall weather for a while.

When I asked Rachel what kind of a cake she wanted she said strawberry. I asked if she wanted it to taste like strawberry or look like a strawberry and she wanted it to look like a strawberry, so I went with that as the "theme" of the party. We did a strawberry shortcake version of pin the tail on the donkey: stick the jewel on the crown.

Rachel might have gotten the closest except for a couple cheating 3-year-olds who weren't real big on the blindfold idea. :)

I used a heart-shaped cake pan to make her strawberry cake and she was happy with it. Especially having all that frosting to lick off.

The frosting was a big hit with all the kids, surprisingly enough. ;) I also made a delicious pumpkin dessert called Pumpkin Treat that most of the adults enjoyed. Gluten free, even.

Of course opening presents was a hit and Rachel scored some pretty fun new toys. Which all the kids were eager to play with. Then it was time for the pinata.

I made the pinata into a strawberry, too. At one point while I was working on it I asked Rachel if she wanted her pinata to be a strawberry like her cake. She requested, instead, an octopus. I went with the strawberry. No legs=much easier. She didn't even miss the octopus.

The pinata is all about candy, anyway.

We are very happy to have Rachel in our family. She is a very loving big sister and a good mommy's helper. She loves to pretend and has a great imagination and an incredible (sometimes so good it's scary) memory. She is really good at making big messes, and is getting better at cleaning them up, but usually needs a little help to stay focused on cleaning up (not playing with) the toys. She's a smart girl and can read simple words with short vowel sounds and is getting better at long vowels with the silent E. She can be a little bossy and stubborn, and has the typical 3-year-old ability to push her parents' buttons, but overall she is a happy, silly girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family. Happy birthday, Rachel! We love you!

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's visit

Monday and Tuesday Grandma and Grandpa Campbell got to visit. Rachel loved it since there was plenty of this going on:

Whenever she can manage to get someone to read to her book after book after book, she's in heaven.

Here's Grandma and Grandpa with their newest granddaughter.

And the whole bunch of them enjoying some string cheese (minus Annie, of course).
On Tuesday we took advantage of the beautiful weather so they could soak up some sun before heading back to the frigid north. :) We went to Lakeside Park, which we call "The Duck Park," for a nice picnic.

Rachel got some energy expended while we were there.

Here's the bunch of us enjoying the sun. Annie took the picture for us. ;)

After eating we headed down to the shore to feed the ducks. There were lots of them in all varieties, friendly as can be to anyone with crackers or bread.

After we ran out of food we watched the birds for a while longer before heading back home.

Before Grandma and Grandpa headed back up to Mesa Tuesday night to spend a few days there, we had a pre-birthday celebration for Rachel.

We enjoyed some cupcakes that had been waiting patiently in the freezer for just such an occasion.

And Rachel opened her first birthday present of the season. Among the loot she raked in a box of Hello Kitty bandaids, by far her favorite thing the last couple of days. :) They're almost gone, what with all her "owies" she has to treat since she got them. She usually limits herself to 4 owies at a time. :)

Some pictures

Here are a few more pictures of the newest Campbell.

One of Rachel's favorite pastimes: reading books, and now she can read them to her little sis.

We actually caught the tail end of one of Annie's smiles on camera. She must have been having a good dream.

Daddy and Annie:

Isn't she a cutie?

Annie's first week home

I started this post Monday, and finally got around to finishing it today. Oops.

Annie's been home a little over a week. Here are some of the highlights of her life thus far:
We've enjoyed some nice walks around the neighborhood. Rachel brought her baby George on this walk. :)

Annie had her first bath at home and LOVED it. It was just a sponge bath, but as I was pouring water over her hair to rinse out the shampoo she looked like she was in heaven.

Rachel (and her stuffed animals) have enjoyed the "new" baby toys--they often end up piling into the swing or the bouncy chair for a nap, as long as Annie isn't already using it.

Daddy and Annie enjoying some bonding time.

Rachel and Annie bonding. Rachel climbed up next to her and said to me "Mom! Take a picture of us!" She loves her sister.

After the sister picture it was time for all us girls together.

Rachel loves reading her books to Annie. Even when Annie is fast asleep (which she is most of the time).

Tummy time. And big sis had to join in, of course.

The rare opening of the eyes. Annie is such a good baby, especially in terms of sleeping. She sleeps probably more than 20 hours a day. We'll enjoy that while it lasts. :)

Follow the prophet

Our neighbor gave Rachel a little song book with buttons that play the music to 6 different primary songs. She LOVES it. She sings along all day. This morning she brought it over to where Annie was sleeping to sing to Annie.
When singing "Follow the Prophet" she couldn't quite decide on which verse to sing:
Adam was a prophet, first one that we know.
So the king threw Daniel in the lion's den.
They were busy sinning. Noah preached in vain.
They wished they had listened when they saw the rain.
Follow the prophet, follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet. He knows the way.
Follow the prophet, follow the prophet,
Follow the prophet. He knows the way.

Rachel is being a great big sister, sharing her toys and giving kisses and bringing me a diaper to change Annie, or my waterbottle when I'm nursing.