Thanksgiving

We had a very different Thanksgiving this year - we were missing our favorite guy! Matt was able to spend Thanksgiving with his family due to the passing of his Grandpa Lenger. Rachel and I had a really great (and busy) day in SC! We had invitations from wonderful friends (thanks Lynn and Holly!) to join their dinners, but we decided to have lunch on our own at Fatz Cafe. It was a really great Thanksgiving dinner and it was fun seeing the different family groups out enjoying their meals. Rachel and I played games at the table while we waited for our food. All Rachel wanted to eat was "smashed" potatoes, so she got her own serving of those. She also ate a good amount of turkey and some pumpkin pie.


Mommy and Rachel!

Rachel enjoying her "smashed" potatoes!

After our lunch, we went and had dessert with our "SC family" - the Dowlings. They were gracious enough to invite us over even though they had out of town family visiting. The dessert was wonderful and Rachel enjoyed playing with the kids. Later that afternoon, Rachel and I went to a movie. It had been our plan to go to a movie even before Matt had to make his plans to fly to MI. So, we missed him but the movie was a fun addition to the day. We ended the day with an annual trip to Garden Ridge to see the Christmas decorations for sale. Rachel loved the reindeer that moved their heads the best! It was a busy day, but I was so blessed to be able to spend it with my sweet girl.

Remembering Great-Grandpa Lenger

Today Matt's grandpa died after suffering a stroke last Saturday. He was a wonderful man who loved God. It was so amazing to be able to share with Rachel about how he is now in heaven with Jesus. All afternoon she would ask, "How many minutes has Grandpa been in heaven now?" and I'd give her the number of hours he'd been gone. It has been wonderful to share with her about heaven and how Grandpa Lenger is now healthy and strong and with family that has already reached heaven. I'm thankful that God chose to give Matt a grandfather that loved Him and taught his family to love Him and to be ready to join Him someday. It is a legacy that will live on forever. We're also thankful that Matt could travel up to be with his family this Thanksgiving. We will miss him here, but we know his time in MI will be a blessing.

Dora video

Rachel got a surprise in the mail this week - a Dora video from her Grammy and Papa in Illinois. The unique thing about this video is that it stars Rachel! Yes, it is as goofy as you would imagine (sorry, Mom, but I know you agree!). It is basically Rachel's face added to a cartoon body. So the body moves, but Rachel's facial expression never changes. So we watched it today and Rachel laughed from the moment it started until it ended. Everytime Dora said Rachel's name or the goofy picture came up, she would laugh so hard she couldn't breathe! Very, very fun to watch Rachel watching the video!

Fun in the leaves

We had a big raking afternoon today and of course, Rachel loved jumping in the leaves!

Just because she's cute!

Friendly Competition

After school today, Rachel told me that two of her friends in her class were fighting over who gets to play the most with her. I asked if she told them that they shouldn't fight and she said, "No, I told them they should have a contest". Smart girl!

Rachel's Christmas Wish

I asked Rachel a few mornings ago what she wanted for Christmas and without skipping a beat, she said, "A basement". When I asked her why she wanted a basement, she replied - in a voice that clearly said I should have known the answer - "Because all of my friends have basements!". This really isn't true. Very few of her friends have basements. So I asked her which friends and she said, "Grandma Lenger, Grandma Debbie, Payton, Jordyn." So, that is what she wants! Grandparents, you might have to pool your money for this one - or bring your shovels!

Rachel's Ballet Mini-Show

On Tuesday, Rachel had her "recital" for her dance class. It was at the Y where she takes her class and parents were able to sit in the room and watch. She was adorable, of course! The lighting was pretty bad in the room and our camera didn't do well with it, so please excuse the poor quality of the pictures.

Star Wars

Rachel has become very, very interested in Star Wars. She saw it one night while flipping channels with Matt and was instantly mesmerized. So Matt rented Empire Strikes Back and we finished it up tonight. She saw the part where Luke Skywalker dreams about fighting Darth Vadar and we explained that it was just a dream and it wasn't really happening. Later in the movie when Luke starts a real fight with Vadar, Rachel sat up, put her finger in the air and said, "Now that is what I call NOT a dream!". The way she said it was hilarious - I have no idea where gets her words from. Oh, she also thinks Darth Vadar is "pretty".

Movie Night!

We had nothing planned for tonight, so we decided to do a movie night! We got in our jammies, camped out on the living room floor, ate popcorn and watched Sleeping Beauty. Rachel ran and hid during the scary parts and Matt pretended to be just as scared. She loved it! It was one of those perfect evenings.

I'll give you a hint . . .

Last night we went to the gym and Rachel went to childcare for a while. When Matt went to pick her up, the childcare worker was laughing and told him that after Rachel had gotten dropped off, the worker told her that she was sorry but that she had forgotten her name and asked Rachel what it was. Rachel said, "I'll give you a hint . . . it starts with an 'R'." Luckily, the worker guessed Rachel pretty quickly. Crazy girl!

Harvest Festival

This evening we went to a Harvest Festival at the church where Rachel goes to preschool. There were all kinds of games for the kids and a hayride. The best game was a gummy worm contest. The kids had to move gummy worms covered in chocolate syrup from one plate to another. We're very proud to say that our Rachel was the winner in the preschool division! :-) She still has chocolate up her nose!

Rachel and Ben

The day of Rachel's upper GI I took her to Chuck E. Cheese as a reward for doing the test. We asked our friends Kim and Ben to join us and Rachel and Ben had a great time! While we were there, the kids got their pictures done in a photo booth. We've decided they have to get married some day - if for nothing else than the extremely cute slideshow we could put together for them!