Pearl turns 7 months!
It is hard to believe, she is starting to really crawl now for a few feet and then she gets tired and pulls on her tummy the rest of the way. Time to start baby proofing! Here are some pics. of her with 7 dolls. The other day I went to get her out of the crib and found her standing up, since then I have been pulling the rail up. Rose wanted to get in on the photo shoot too, so she went and put on a dress so I just had to include her sweet pic. too.

Mother's Day
On Saturday Mike and the girls took me out for a yummy brunch. It is just to hard to go out to a restaurant after church as the girls are crabby and we figured the wait would be too long. On Sunday Mike made a picnic lunch and we went to the big Orchard/farm across the street from our church and had a nice lunch and bought some vegetables to create a garden.

"Saturday Daddurday" , as Rose has affectionally named it, was a fun day. Mommy and Rose got up and went to a huge community garage sale at our church. Pearl and Daddy stayed home and caught up on some extra sleep. (and sleep they did until 11:00). Pearl never sleeps like that for me, must have been the quiet house and the fact that I had fed her at 4 AM and at 7 AM. Rose and I had fun at the garage sale and found so many great outside toys that I had been wanting to get for the girls including a swing, sandbox and slide. Our most exciting buy of the day had to be the Mega Blocks Princess castle. I almost didn't buy it but then I went back and got it. It was so cute I couldn't resist, with two little princesses I am sure we will get plenty of use out of it. It is so nice that we have the space and the yard for these fun toys.

Here are a few more pics from my trip to Mass. at Easter and when our friends Debra and Jeff visitied. Pearl turned six months a few weeks ago. She is becoming a busy little girl. She loves to sit up by herself and now gets form her stomach to sitting, so even if I try to give her tummy time she ends up in the sitting position. She will reach for and scooch to any toy she wants and then sits up to play with it. She is not crawling yet but she has the deetermination to do get things so it may not be far off. When Rose was a baby I was looking forwad to her learning to crawl and actually tried to teach her, this time I am not so interested in getting her moving around the house any faster then she chooses to do on her own. She has actually also learned to pull herself up but not on the furniture, usually on our arms or pant legs or toys or laundry baskets (which is a little dangerous as they tip:) She is our "chunka-chunka" as Rose calls her, weighing in at 17 1/2 pounds and 27" long (90% for her age) I guess she will be tall like her daddy.

Rose loves to play with other kids and is happy that we have found a new church to settle in with many girls her age or a little older. I have included some pics. of her playing with my cousin Shania (3 years old). They had so much fun playing tag (aka running around the house screaming in high pitch little girl voices). Rose is still very interested in anything "Princessy". She is already planning a Princess birthday party for herself and Pearl, even though it is still six months away. Rose is such a non-stop chatterbox. She has an excellent vocabulary and is now "inventing" her own words. It is funny as I try to figure out what word she is trying to pronounce and then realize that it is not even a real word anyway. The other day she was saying where is Daddest? I finally figured out she was asking for Mike.

I enjoy watching the girls become playmates and friends a little bit more each day. Rose anticipates Pearl learning to walk and talk and is helping me teach her sign language. Rose must be a good teacher because Pearl is starting to pick up a few signs already. It is so much fun watching them play and interact. Rose wakes up every morning looking for her "Chunka Chunka Baybay" and when Pearl sees her big sister she SQUEALS with delight!

We miss you all and wish you were closer to share in our lives. Hugs Rachel for Mike and the girls.