Rachel's birthday

This gorgeous little girl just turned 4 years old. 

I still remember the night she was born. I wasn't sure if I was in labor. Contractions were regular but not uncomfortable. It was the night of the ward trunk or treat. We sent our kids with the neighbors and headed to the hospital. I was sure they were going to send us home. We walked the halls for a long time and just when I was about to call it quits and head for the car, my water broke and Rachel was born only minutes later. One of my best deliveries, if I do say so myself. Anyway, enough about me.

Rachel is so smart. She knows all the words to all of her sisters' favorite songs, mostly Selena Gomez. I love to hear her singing to herself..."I..I love you like a love song, baby." And "You are the thunder and I am the lightening..." And who could forget "Pearly shells...from the ocean."

She listens to everything that is said. If I ever have a question about something that happened earlier in the day - I ask her. If I know I need to remember something and might forget it - I tell her. And I'm learning to be really careful about what I say in passing, or to myself, or to someone on the phone. She hears and remembers it all.

I was a little concerned when she was blowing out her candles. She blew them out one by one and each time her hair got dangerously close to the flame of the neighboring candle. Luckily, we were accident free and she blew out all 4 candles.

For Rachel's birthday activity we went bowling. She was very concerned that we were going to the place where she can wear the fancy shoes. I think that's her favorite part. The shoes and dancing to the music. All the kids picked out their own balls, which all happened to be the same color and same size, until they realized what they had done. Then they switched it up a bit.

Note to self for next time: It cost $42.00 to bowl one game (which is all our short attention spans can handle for now.). For $45.00 we could have added a large pizza, but it was 10:00 am and we just finished breakfast. Crazy.



This is Sydney helping Rachel and Rachel jumping. She did that a lot, along with her dancing.

I love the look on Hash's face. He was very enthralled with the ball-return system. I can't believe he didn't squish a finger.

I love bowling but I'm not good at it. I explain a little more about that in one of my posts about Camille's birthday here. This day, however, was out of the ordinary. In fact, it was extraordinary.
Actually - I was extraordinary. I actually broke my normal score ceiling of 70. But I didn't stop there. Are you ready?....

116!

Seriously, I could have cried. My best game ever!

But back to the birthday girl. She had a blast, which is the most important thing. She adds an element to our family that is essential to our happiness. I'm convinced of it. I can't imagine life without her.

LOVE YOU RACHEL!!!!