Rachel Johnson DANCING WITH THE STARS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtMceAz7dIY

Hope this works!

The rest of the pix

Dressing up is fun to do

We recently went to a murder mystery pirate party, where I was the Black Widow and Carl was Long John Silver. Neither one of us turned out to be the murderer--drat!

Rachel was a princess for Halloween--the best part of her costume was the cape, which she often didn't want to wear (and without it her princess dress wasn't that exciting). Dacia did a great post on Halloween so I'll leave the details to her.

Lastly, Jen had the most awesome costume for Halloween and let me prance around in it the next day, a la Scarlett O'Hara--you're never too old to play dress up (at least I'm not!).

Hmmmm--having trouble getting the other pix to post, so I'll try them on a later post.

Becoming Friends

It took a while, but ever so sloooowly, Rachel and Grace are becoming friends. Grace seems to be hitting, I mean loving, a bit less less and Rachel seems to have more patience with Grace, although when Grace was over here recently Rachel said she needed some private time from Grace, then went in her room and closed the door. At least she didn't shove Grace first. And Rome wasn't built in a day, after all. Here's hoping the friendship thrives.

Preschool--Day 2

By popular (!) demand, Rachel left for Day 2 of preschool with a more girly and proportional backpack. The problem, you see, is that the black pack is actually big enough to hold her purple folder, which gets a bit crushed if I want to close the pink pack. However, many of my blog readers who shall remain nameless (Jen, Emily, Dacia, Alysia) clearly subscribe to the notion that it's better to look good than to feel good :>), so I give. And in defense of the black pack, whose loss I'm still mourning, it was from her dance class AND she got to write her name on it--how cool is that? And before any of you anonymous blog readers (Jen, Emily, Dacia, Alysia) comment on Rachel's outfit, this week is red week and in a closet of pinks and purples we were lucky to find this. Another dilemma this morning--to go or not to go to preschool. This is because last night, after driving back all afternoon from Cedar City, Rachel tossed her cookies in the car while I was in Smith's grabbing a few groceries (no worries Jen--the smell is almost gone....). Being the hands-on Dad that he is, Carl immediately called me on my cell to let me know what happened and to assure me he would sit tight until I got there.... Once home, I gave Rachel a quick bath and got her to bed. She didn't have a temp, and this morning she was fine and ate a good breakfast--all indicators that she could go to school. Now every time the phone rings I just pray it's not her teacher.

First Day of Pre-School!

Yep, my baby is off to school--it's empty nest time for two hours, twice a week. Any good Mommy would be crying now--remembering the day her baby was born, what a big, smart girl she's become, wondering where the time went. As for me...did I mention two hours TWICE A WEEK???!!! Lest you think I have ice water running through my veins, it's pre-school, for goodness sake. She'll have two years of this before the big K, at which point I'm sure I'll be a mess. Plus, I don't even think they had pre-school in my generation, and look how good we turned out.... Anywho, Rachel was very excited this morning, insisting on wearing her backpack while eating breakfast. As I drove her over, she asked if I was going to stay at pre-school with her. When I told her no, she said, "GREAT!" I guess that two hours works both ways. So, this day is noteworthy for other reasons as well. One, it made me blog, and two, I actually put make-up on before 9am on a day other than Sunday. I may post again next week once Rachel declares a major. In the meantime, though Carl thinks I'm heading straight for the TV and bon bons (are those the same as truffles?) I'm actually going to start packing for our weekend race.

Short, shorter, shortest

Since Rachel has that lovely flyaway hair and she doesn't like pigtails, barretts, headbands, or anything to tame it, it was time for a no-nonsense summer 'do. Amazingly, after a quick morning comb-out, it's short enough that there's no more bedhead. We should have done this a long time ago!

Jesus is good people

Rachel: Mommy, does our food come from Jesus?

Mommy: Yes, all good things come from Jesus.

Rachel: Jesus Christ is a very nice man.

Who does your hair?

Ah, the funny things that can happen under Daddy's watch (or lack thereof--HEY, I just did smaller text!!). While Grandma Karen spent all day Saturday with Grace, Daddy and Rachel had some bonding time. They played hide-and-seek, they studied the scriptures, they practiced reading and writing, they filled out Rachel's college applications--they had so much togetherness they were as one...ah, silly reader. In reality, Carl worked in the office while Rachel wondered what Daddy was doing as she did arts and crafts, all by her lonesome, in the kitchen, with Carl occasionally tossing her a crust of bread for nourishment. She certainly wasn't bored though--especially when arts and crafts turned into Beauty Shop, with Rachel as both hair stylist and customer. As you can see, she clearly has a knack for this, and I'm excited about all the money we'll save with her do-it-yourself prowess. Forget college--we're now thinking cosmetology school.