Rachel's Milestones

This was a fun and exciting day in Rachel's life! Today she was baptized and confirmed by her dad. We had a wonderful day. Before and after the baptism, Rachel wore a dress that Grandma Packer had made for her. She was so beautiful! She looked like a princess.

Here is the front view:And the back is just as beautiful (the picture just doesn't do it justice!):Here are Grandma and Grandpa Packer with the kids before the baptism. Sophie's been keeping Grandma and Grandpa busy! She keeps insisting that they play hide and seek with her and jump on the "tram-a-boing" with her.
Rachel wore a vintage baptism dress that my mom had made for me when I was baptized over 30 years ago.
Here I am on my baptism day in the same dress:
Here's Rachel with her proud papa!
The baptismal service was beautiful. There were two other girls baptized, too. Rachel was so excited to be baptized. She wasn't even a little bit nervous to go into the water like I was when I was baptized! She said the water was warm, but the air outside of the font was freezing! She was very grateful for the warm, cozy special "baptism towel" Grandma Lacey had sent to her. Rachel said she felt really good inside the whole day.

After the baptism, we had a little party at our house with all of the people who had attended the baptism. We had all of Rachel's favorite foods--no-bake cookies, brownies, a fruit platter, cream puffs, pound cake with strawberries, as well as Mom and Dad's favorite--"cowboy caviar" salsa and chips.
Here is Rachel (she changed her dress so she could eat!) with a few of her friends:
Rachel, we love you and are so proud of you!

Rachel's Ears Pierced

Last week, we fulfilled a birthday promise for Rachel as I took her to the mall to get her ears pierced. She has been waiting patiently as we told her that she had to wait until she was 8. She was so brave! (It only took me 37 years to get up the nerve to get mine pierced!)

Here's the before picture:Here is the actual piercing. (Notice she doesn't even flinch!)


And after!

From Easter Bunnies to Birthday Parties

April's been a busy month! Last weekend we celebrated Easter. It was especially fun this year because Sophie was so excited. She's been practicing all month for the annual egg hunt by hiding plastic eggs around the house and finding them. I have a feeling I'll be finding them for months!

Sophie and Rachel with the Easter Bunny:
Rachel finding eggs in the woods.
Ben anxiously awaiting his turn!
Later that day, we went to watch Steven play in a water polo match. (He's #19--it's hard to take pictures of water polo!) He played in a week-long water polo clinic during spring break. He had a lot of fun and came home exhausted every day!!!
When we came home from water polo, we colored Easter eggs. Sophie had so much fun plopping the eggs in the water.
Rachel made fancy designs with hers. The kids' favorite part was eating them!

The highlight of this last week was having Aunt Shannon and her friend, Kristen, come visit us during Shannon's spring break. We had fun going to Pike's Place Market and eating fish at Ivar's and feeding the seagulls.
Sophie had fun playing on the "tramp-a-boing" with Shannon. Shannon and Kristen also spent lots of time playing hide and seek with Sophie. She's sad to see them go.
Friday was Rachel's 8th birthday, so we made cupcakes. Sophie had fun licking the beater.
Rachel requested waffles for her special breakfast in bed. Later that day, Steve and I brought her favorite lunch, Subway sandwich, to her at school.
Rachel had requested new bedding for her birthday, claiming that she's "too old for Disney princesses." While she was at school, Shannon and I gave her room a mini makeover. We had to remove the decals from her wall. Shannon and Kristen made a wall hanging with her name on it. Here's the before picture:
And after:
She was thrilled!

That night we had a sleepover birthday party for Rachel. She was bummed that I limited the number of girls she invited this year since it was a "sleepover." (So if your child wasn't invited, I'm really sorry!!!) We made Shrinky Dinks jewelry and stained glass butterflies. The girls had fun playing games and just being really loud! Here is Rachel with her sleepover girls birthday cupcakes she requested from a cupcake book Grandma Lacey had given her for Christmas.

I don't want to post pictures of other people's children at the party, but here's Sophie joining in on the fun of watching the movie, Bolt, with the other girls. Surprisingly, the girls actually went to sleep for their sleepover! Much different from the boys parties in the past!!!
I left the party in the hands of Shannon for a little bit while I sneaked out to Ben's Cub Scout Pack Meeting where he was awarded his Webelos Advancement. Next month he should earn his Arrow of Light. We're so proud of all the hard work and are so thankful for Tara Hatch, Lily Casey, and Wanda Orton, his past Cub Scout Webelos leaders for helping him every week!!!Saturday, we took Shannon on one of our favorite hikes--Boise Creek Falls. On our hike, there were people riding horses. They let Sophie pet one of them.
Shannon took our picture. Notice how TALL Steven's getting! (Oh, wait--he's standing on his toes. . . but he is getting tall!)
We even took Leia along for some fun. She was in little dog heaven.
The kids had fun skipping rocks in a little lake up there.
I had to take a picture of Steven. He got contact lenses two weeks ago and is very excited to be able to enjoy the outdoors without the hassle of glasses. He's in track right now, so he's especially enjoying running without glasses!
Thanks for the fun visit, Aunt Shannon and Happy Spring to everyone!

San Diego---Day 4 & LA--Day5

The most beautiful day we were in California was Thursday, the day we went to San Diego. On the way to Sea World, we stopped at the temple for a family photo-op.

We were prepared for water at Sea World. The kids wanted to sit in the soak zones for all of the shows we went to. Although they sat pretty close, we didn't get too wet! (I was thankful, but the kids were bummed.) Rachel, however, got really wet and really uncomfortable on the river raft ride.

The kids had fun hibernating like polar bears:Sophie loved the Beluga Whales (maybe because we have them at "our" zoo here?) She loved all of the fish/whales! Now whenever we read stories or sea pictures with dolphins or whales, she says, "I saw that at Sea World!"
At the end of the day, as the park was closing, Sophie insisted on riding the "tea cups." We knew we'd have a melt down all the way back to Anaheim if we didn't indulge her. So, Steve, the great dad that he is, went on the tea cups with all the kids. Thanks, Steve! (You can't really see her face, but Sophie was VERY happy!)On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Mission Beach at sundown. We found Luigi's Pizzeria and at some yummy pizza! They claim to be home of the 30" pizza. The boys insisted they were hungry, but we weren't that hungry!The next day, we got up early and checked out of our hotel. We had some time to kill before our plane left, so we drove to Hollywood. Duh! We went on the Friday before Oscars, so everything was blocked off. I wish we'd spent our time somewhere else! It was definitely not the highlight of the trip!

Next, we drove by Grandpa and Grandma Andrew's house. It was so sad to see it renovated. It just wasn't the same as I remembered it. But it was fun seeing the MarVista chapel and seeing Colonial Drive. It was fun pointing out to the kids that as a little girl, I used to run up and down the street playing with my cousins. We drove by Venice High where my mom went to school.

Then we went to Venice Beach--the actual beach. The kids had fun playing with shells and chasing birds. We told them they couldn't play in the water because we had a plane to catch! The weather was in the 70's that day which is lots warmer than a Washington Beach in the middle of the summer! This is where Steve and I came for our honeymoon, we we had some romantic reminiscing (as much as you can with 4 kids, anyway!)We finally pulled ourselves away and caught our plane. We're looking forward to going to California again--We figured we'd probably go again in the space of time after Steven gets home from his mission and before Ben leaves. We created lots of fun memories!

California Adventure--Day 3

Our 3rd day we started at Disneyland because it opened an hour before California Adventure. When the park opened, we made a mad dash to Thunder Mountain. We were able to go a few times without standing in line. (In this picture, we are in the last car where it feels a little more intense than riding in the front. I (Tammy) don't know the physics of it all, but next time, I'm definitely NOT riding in back!) Wednesday we had gorgeous weather!!! We actually felt like we were in California.

At 10:00 a.m. we went to California Adventure. I took Sophie over to Playhouse Disney while the older kids, Steve, and Natalie went on all the wild and crazy rides. Sophie loved seeing the characters from one of her favorite shows, Little Einsteins. (I didn't have the camera with me--so no pictures.)

For lunch, Natalie, Rachel, Sophie, and I went to eat at Ariel's Grotto. This is an interactive lunch where you eat yummy food while 5 of the princesses wander from table to table signing autographs and taking pictures. (If you're planning on going, you need to make reservations up to 60 days in advance.) They gave the girls crowns to decorate with stickers and wear. Doesn't my sister, Natalie, look like Miss America?!?They started out by bringing us appetizers. Sophie's favorite was the cheese sticks that had been cut into little spears. And she loved the watermelon, too!
My favorite part of the lunch was when Sophie kept asking the princesses, especially Snow White, "You want some?" as she held out her fork of macaroni to the princesses.Here's Sophie and Rachel with Sophie's favorite princess, Princess Aurora. My favorite princess was Belle because she was the nicest one. ;) She spent so much time talking to Rachel.
Cinderella was really nice, too!
Sophie's favorite part of the whole experience was the food--especially dessert! It was really yummy--we were hoping she'd let us have hers--but she ate almost every bite! After eating all of the food, we had to go on rides--ugh! Actually we had a lot of fun. I really liked the Tower of Terror. (But it was definitely NOT Ben's favorite ride.) Everyone else like California Screamin'--they'd gone on it while I'd had Sophie at Playhouse Disney. They were excited to see how I'd like it--in the copy of the picture that they automatically take, I look like maybe I'm having fun--I wasn't! :)Sophie had fun in Bug's Life Land. We went to the 4-D Bug's Life Movie which she didn't like so much, but the rest of us did. The movie was a little scary. I just covered her eyes and she was fine.

My favorite ride was Soarin' over California. It's a simulator that makes you feel like you're hang gliding over different scenic areas of California. Natalie knew where to get us seats so we were in the front row in the very center of the screen. It was so much fun!

Another favorite part of the day (no pictures, because we were tired of pictures by then!) was when we went to the tortilla-making factory and the sourdough bread factory where they give out samples. Until now, my kids have refused to eat sourdough bread because they say it's disgusting. . .after eating it at California Adventure, they (especially Ben) now love it! In fact, for dinner, we ate sour dough bread bowls with either chili or clam chowder.

After California Adventure closed, we sent Sophie back to the hotel with Natalie and went on a few last rides in Disneyland. We love Disneyland, but we were talking about all of the other fun things we want to do while our kids are young, and we figured that we probably won't go again until Sophie is Ben or Steven's age. How sad!