Our Rachel... from Tug to Turtle...to Princess

Rachel has dubbed herself the Princess of the House. We all tolerate it... and occasionally McCaleb will play along and be her Court Jester...but for the most part...it's really Rachel that is the Court Jester. She is quite a piece of work. I'm not sure where the personality has come from... but it is coming out FULL BLOWN and it's hilarious. She is a handful... and since she just turned 5 years old... I want to write down some of the things that she does or says now that crack me up... because I know that they will eventually fade away.

Rachel and her Quirks:

When we first came home, Rachel was 15 months old. She loved TIM... and would hold onto his finger... and lead him around the house doing lap, after lap, after lap. I nick-named her TUG. I called her Tug until McCaleb came home. McCaleb couldn't say Rachel... so he started calling her "Turtle". I love it when he calls her Turtle. I cried the first time he called her Rachel. (Seriously) Sadly, she is starting to request to be called Rachel. McCaleb can say Rachel now... so it's beginning to fade, but I will hang on to the bitter end, kicking and screaming...

Some of the funny things she says or does:

May I have a drink of Wogger? (aka: water)

She got a camera for her birthday from us... she calls it a CRAMMA.

We gave her a Birthday Tiara and a Wand... she calls it her Magic Swan.

She sees the police - and she screams... "Look, the com-pleese!"

Her new favorite thing to say - "I'm just kidding". I hear it about 500 times a day. And no, I am NOT kidding.

She has turned into a picky eater. I don't mean she won't eat ... she just picks through the food, trying to identify all ingredients. Her current favorite is Weeds... also known as: Parsley.

All dresses are called "Princesses" or "Cinderellas".

Her favorite number for a while was Eleventeen.

She cannot carry on a conversation - OR HEAR - if the TV is on. PERIOD.

She loves to be tickled... all three of my kids do... and she will line up for hours and let you tickle her over and over and over...

She calls Ketchup - CHECKUP or DIP DIP.

Some of the Amazing things she can do:

She can say the ABC's backwards almost as well as she can say them forwards.

She can count to 100, with a little coaching at 80...currently called Eighty-teen.

She is already reading...because Ali is reading...and she thinks she is just as big as Ali.

She has amazing rhythm... and we catch her dancing all the time.

She has an uncanny ability with animals. She can pick up all of Millie's feet (the one-eyed bird dog)... she can get Maggie to do tricks... and she can call any of the horses over to the fence. Picabo loves her.

She shares her things selflessly... I think this might fade eventually... but it's a blessing right now.

She is also very mechanically inclined...she can take apart and put most things together without any help.

She is a whiz at puzzles, mazes, and extremely competitive. (EXTREMELY)

She can do most anything on the computer - and shuts it down and turns it off all by herself.

And... she can actually take pretty good pictures.


Now, please don't get me wrong. Rachel loves to get dressed up... and she loves to walk around the house in her high heel shoes and talk on her Princess cell phone. But this kid basically loves to do anything - and she does it all FULL THROTTLE.

She went Snow Tubing with Tim, Kelvin and some of the kids from church this year... and they could not go fast enough for her. She is the first on up (most everyday) and on Saturdays, she gets up first so that she can beat everyone downstairs to help Daddy with the animals. She strips off her zippie or her gown, puts on coveralls and boots, and feeds the dogs and the horses.. and chases the occasional chicken. Tim says she can squeegee the floor in the garage just as quickly and just as well as he can... and if JD won't eat, she feeds him by hand. She loves to go flying with Tim... and talks about airplanes almost as much as he does. She even takes his magazines and puts them in her basket to read. She loves to play with her dolls... but give her a train set and a few hours... and she is completely occupied.

BUT...the best thing about Rachel - is that she loves her family. She is always looking to make sure everyone is being treated fairly... and she will be sure to tell me every day that she loves her brother and her sister. She has been a Daddy's girl for so long... but just lately she has started coming over to sit in my lap and love on me. At first it caught me off-guard... but I have been eating it up! She is such a sweet little girl.



For her big day - she asked to go to school to see HANK.. (that's another post in itself)... then to come home - have TACOS for dinner... and to watch a movie. She is very unassuming... and easy to please. Oh... except for the birthday cake. She wanted a princess cake she saw in one of my Pampered Chef books. And Mommy had to make it. WELL...she opened and played with the PINK Barbie doll that matched the icing... so we had a little mismatch with the cake colors. I think she was "tickled pink" with it, anyhow. And... since I was very sick and had a fever...and upper-respiratory infection... I think that it turned out pretty good - considering all the little fingers that played in the icing. :)
Happy Birthday Rachel! You are 5 Years Old!