Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Not Sure What to Have for Christmas... but we've got Plenty of Ham and Cheese!

Last Sunday I realized that I didn't have many chances to put Rachel in the darling $8 Christmas dress I scored last spring so she wore it to church.   Later at home I did a  photo shoot and since I was working with two three year olds and a one year old the fact that they're all in the frame means it was a success!
Here's my ham....

and the cheese...

What a sweetie,  she loved sitting in that chair!

My personal favorite!

This is just naughty...

Now at quick glance this looks like a winner except you start to wonder who Thomas is going to hit with that ornament.


I love Ben's smile here,  I imagine he'd have the same expression if he were coming at you with a pitchfork.  What age do they smile normal again?

Merry Christmas from the Wright trio!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Makeshift Nunchucks or Rachel Can Hold Her Own!

"Mom,  look!  She do that!"  We all had a good laugh this snowy afternoon with Rachel's antics.  One of the boys had left a Chinese yo yo (a leftover party favor) on the ottoman and Rachel is now pulling herself up.  We're also learning that our sweet girl:
1. is quite a ham.
2. getting a bit of an ornery streak  
3. loves attention from her brothers.  
But I think this following photo series says it all....





Sunday, November 7, 2010

Rachel is Quite the Party Girl...

We celebrated Rachel's birthday with 20+ family and friends that love her.  We had a brunch party that we pulled off with the help of Grandma and Grandpa DeYoung.  Grandma baked cupcakes and helped with decorating and Grandpa helped with the enormous task of entertaining the boys.  We had a lot of fun and Rachel seemed to enjoy herself.  We can't believe she's one already!  Where did the year go?  What's next?  Cell phones and boyfriends?  She's been a blessing to our family and we've really enjoyed every minute with her,  well the daytime minutes for sure! 
Rachel had a great party.  There was....
Grandpa Nelson to help with hairstyling....

A darling birthday outfit.  Grandpa's shoe is nice too...

Friends and relatives. On the right is Leah.  This is the only picture we have with Leah. She took over picture taking for us. 
Entertainment and beautiful NW November weather. 
More entertainment!

Friends.


Decorations

Prezzies!
Living room full of people.

Kitchen full of food and people.


more friends....

more friends....

and more friends....

 Uncle Ralph (and Aunt Lynda)  who drove from Portland just to come party like a one year old!
Rachel and Daddy's turn in the bounce house.

Grandma Helen

Aunt Lynda,  sandbox supervising and answering lots of questions.


The boys have been so good at helping Rachel play with her gifts!



Cake!

Someone get me a fork!

We're discovering that Rachel can be quite the ham. 



Cake topper from Etsy.  Ordered to look like the birthday girl.  Hey,  you only turn one once!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

October Was Busy and Orange...

We've had lots of fun this October with the kids.  Two years ago we had just bought our house and had moved from San Diego to Richland so we were busy with 10 month old twins, figuring out which grocery store was the best, waiting in line at the DMV and all the fun things that go with moving into a new place.  Last year at this time we were getting ready for the arrival of Rachel, and all that comes with having a newborn again.  This year we've just enjoyed the season with simplicity.   We've gone to the last of the Farmer's markets, enjoyed the boys one-day-a-week preschool and church activities, and we have our home's front steps covered with pumpkins that the boys keep rearranging creating more of a hazard than a decoration!
Aaron and I lived in Austin, which was foreign to us and hip, I greatly miss the restaurants and adventures we had.  I have fond memories of our little rental house and being a newlywed in a brand new city.  San Diego had the beach, was closer to family and held great opportunities for Aaron's career.  The boys were born there so it was a time and a place of great joy and great stress.  But the Tri Cities has lousy shopping, too few restaurants and not the most exciting landscape, but it really feels like home.   People are down to earth, there's wonderful simple things to do with small children like orchards to go pick your own fruit, pretty country drives, a series of great parks along the Columbia river and a house with a yard and neighbors who brought me casserole when Rachel was born.  We have a church we like and supportive friends that love our kids and I'm rarely stuck in traffic or waiting in a line.  There's wineries on the other side of the mountain that my house sits on and we live two miles from Costco.... enough said...  I wrote a lot so I'm going to counterbalance it with a lot of pictures.  Here's what we've been up to lately:
We were going to buy pumpkins but Rachel fell asleep in the car so we stopped to throw rocks in the river for a few minutes


The pumpkin patch. 





Rachel is usually easy to take pictures of but not today.



This picture is cute but you wouldn't believe the fight that followed!

Add caption



It was Cowboy Day at preschool.  The boys were so proud of their costume.  Our friend Denise made it for her twins and lent it to us.  Crafty friends are wonderful!  
On the hay pyramid at the pumpkin patch we went to with my MOPS group.  I can just picture the conversation: "You see them geese up there?  When they fly like that it means a long winter."

A little to close to the edge for my comfort.

Rachel along for the ride.

Picking out the perfect pumpkin.