Rachel's K12 Blog

I've had a hard time blogging lately - seriously blogger's block going on! I think I've broken through my block, though, as I've started a new blog to document Rachel's 1st grade year with WaVA/K12. I'll be writing about our daily adventures over there now - so come on over! :) I just posted a new post including some pics from her birthday yesterday.

Here is the link:

http://rachelk12.blogspot.com/

Still Here!

Yes, we are still alive! I really shouldn't neglect this blog so much, I know. I'll just do a quick update about what all has been going on -

School is out for Summer!!! Yay! So far we have had a really fun summer. Rachel and I are visiting the library weekly and working on her reading. Her skills are really developing, which is wonderful to see. She is participating in the Summer Reading Program at the library and has already made past the half-way mark (400 minutes) of reading - so she got a prize last week. She chose a free ticket to the Children's Museum - so we'll be making a trip to the museum probably next week.

Other than reading, we have enjoyed some fun play dates, spent some time at the pool (one of the nice benefits of apartment living), and discovered Legos. Seriously, how is it that I never knew about Legos. Well, I knew about them - but not much. I just thought they were blocks that stuck together - nothing all that special. Well, Rachel and I have both fallen in love with Lego. Right now she loves playing with them and building her own creations, but when we get a set, she always wants me to build the actual item on the front of the box for her first. And yes, I am more than happy to do it, because seriously, it is FUN! Here is a link to the set that I put together today: City Corner . Looking at it brings back memories of playing with my little Fisher Price Village that I had (and loved) as a child. And if money were not an issue, I'd LOVE to have this set to build: Green Grocer . I'm not only amazed by how fun Legos are, but also by how expensive they can be.

Yesterday was Greg's birthday. Rachel complained that it is NOT fair that everyone decorates in red, white, and blue and that there are fireworks celebrating her daddy's birthday but not her birthday. :) I was brave and actually made a homemade birthday cake for Greg this year. Usually I'll just get one from a bakery because I am not a baker. I always seem to either burn things or not cook them enough. This year I made Greg's favorite type of cake - German chocolate. And it turned out perfectly! It was even a 3-layer cake, too! Here's a pic:

And finally, we have a fun new family hobby - Geocaching. When Greg first mentioned this to me about a year or so ago, and I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it. It just didn't seem like something I wanted to do. Well, I was wrong - this is so much fun! We pretty much spent our entire long weekend out searching for caches and exploring some gorgeous areas we'd never seen. We've discovered parks we never even knew existed, a beautiful garden, fun (and sometimes challenging, at least for us!) hiking trails, amazing views... it has been great. Rachel has been falling asleep in the car at the end of the days after "treasure hunting," happy and exhausted. Between the good exercise, the thrill of the hunt, and discovering new things in our community, this is definitely a hobby we will continue. Below are some pictures we've taken while out Geocaching, Unfortunately, all of these pics were taken with Greg's phone. I nee

d to remember to bring my camera next time.

Oh how she has grown!

6 years old

19 months old

We spent the afternoon on Whidbey Island, and as I always do, I took a picture of Rachel sitting on the dog statue in downtown Langley. I can't get over how fast my baby has become a little girl. Rachel is so much fun at 6 years old, but oh how I'd love to go back in time and hold little Baby Rachel again! It is bittersweet.

Little Master Chef!

Rachel loves food. Yes, she has been a picky eater over the years, but food has always been very near and dear to her heart. We used to laugh that she was definitely "food motivated." Over the last couple of years, I've noticed that Rachel has shown more and more interest in cooking. She likes to help whenever she can. She often will pull a stool up to the kitchen bar and watch me work in the kitchen. She also will sit and watch cooking shows! In fact, like me, she is a huge Gordon Ramsey fan and loves to watch Kitchen Nightmares.

Lately, she has talked more and more about wanting to learn to cook. She has even started being very open to trying new and different foods ever since Greg explained to her that if she wanted to be a good chef, she needed to learn to taste new things. So, today, I let her make brownies for Greg. And she did it! Seriously, all I did was get out the ingredients, read the directions to her, and put the pan in and out of the oven. She poured ingredients in the bowl and stirred them. She greased the pan. She tested the cooked brownies with a toothpick to be sure they were done. She even cracked the egg all by herself. I was so impressed! I had fully expected to sacrifice a few eggs in the process of teaching her to crack an egg properly, but nope, she did it on her first try with no shell ending up in the mix. I was also so impressed with how seriously she listened to my directions and did her very best. So often, she has a habit of rushing through things and not listening. But when it comes to food, well, that is important business to Rachel! I have a feeling she is going to be a much better cook than me...and hopefully soon, she can take over some of the meal prep around here.

Super Saturday!

Today was busy and wonderful! The sun was out and it was almost 60 degrees. Finally, it felt like spring had arrived. We started the day off with our favorite breakfast, Baked Orange French Toast. Then it was off to an Easter egg hunt hosted by Christopher, one of the boys in Rachel's class. We discovered that he lives only 2 blocks from us, so we'll probably be planning some future play dates with him. When we got there, we discovered that Rachel was the only girl from her class that was invited! So it was just "Rachel and the boys" hunting for eggs in the playground across the street from Christopher's house. Here are a few pictures from the hunt:

After the Easter Egg hunt, we decided to head out to the tulip fields again. This time there were lots of gorgeous tulips in the fields. I am always amazed at how beautiful they are each year. We stopped for a couple of pics:

After visiting the tulip fields, we headed home for dinner and then dyed some Easter eggs. I have no pics of the eggs tonight, but will try to take some pictures of them tomorrow. And now, we are off to bed so that the Easter Bunny can come do his magic.

Most Embarrassing Moment Ever...

So, yesterday I had an appointment with another surgeon to discuss treatment options. I talked to his intern first and then they both came back in to examine me. Anyway, after looking at my back and discussing different possibilities, I was feeling rather flustered and nervous. Then they said they wanted to see the lump on my leg.

Well, I was in a gown but still had on my jeans. So I had to stand up and pull my jeans down below my knees so they could see the lump. I thought to myself that I felt a little awkward doing that. It is much more comfortable getting undressed in privacy than having to do it with 2 doctors standing there staring at me! Anyway, without thinking about what I was doing, I pulled my gown up close to my waist, undid my jeans, and then pulled them AND my pink panties down to my knees! EEK!!! I was so horrified to realize that I'd pulled down my panties, too, that I forgot I was still holding up my gown and basically flashing them for a second or two. Then all I could do was try to quickly find a way to pull my panties back up while trying to maintain some sense of dignity. So I quickly reached down to get my panties back up, but unfortunately, I didn't realize they had untied the back of my gown. And so of course my gown fell down exposing the rest of my body!

Seriously? I wanted to die. Rachel was practically falling out of her chair laughing and even the intern laughed! I think the nice doctor felt really bad for me and he didn't laugh, just kept saying "It's okay. It's okay...." and then he quickly said "Here, let me tie your gown back on." Did I mention that I just wanted to die? The intern ended up laughing and saying that if it made me feel any better, it wasn't the first time they'd seen a naked woman. Yeah, but was it the first time a woman decided to get naked for them after only being asked if they could look at her knee????

So yes, this ranks way up there on the most embarrassing moments scale.

Anyway, I did like the surgeon. He didn't seem as anxious to just immediately do surgery like they have done in the past. Instead, he wanted to get an MRI to better see what was going on. And then he was able to get me in for that MRI that same day. I'll see him again in a couple of weeks to discuss the results and the plan.

It ended up being a super long day because my MRI was scheduled for 6 p.m. We met Jennifer and her boys for lunch and visited for quite a while. After lunch, I took Rachel to the play area at the mall and just let her run around for a while. I also found a great little shop in the mall called Impress. They sell rubber stamps and all kinds of cool card-making supplies. Rachel and I both had so much fun browsing through the store and of course just had to buy a few stamps to share.

Then we went back to the hospital for my MRI. Since Greg wasn't with me, the techs were wonderful about playing with Rachel while I spent the next hour and a half in the MRI machine. It was a longer than normal test because of the fact there there were so many areas that needed imaging. I still have to go back for a 2nd MRI to look at the lumps on my leg. Anyway, towards the end of the test, the tech came in to inject some dye in my vein. I asked him if Rachel was being good. His reply was "Oh yeah. Hey, your kid is awesome!" Ahhh, I loved hearing that! It totally made my day. :)