midnight madness

So it's 12:30 am... and my so called 'passionate' self has gotten completely caught up in making new headbands & hairclips for "dainty doll." ... for the 2nd night in a row. I need to go to bed... especially since my sweet, sick, teething baby hasn't been sleeping well all week so there's a good chance I'll be up a few times before it's officially morning.

haha... her ears must have been ringing. She's crying for "mama". ahhhh goodnight! (hopefully!)

Our Wobbly-Walking, Kind of Talking, Dancing crazy awesome 10 month old!

Mia has always been so much fun - but I think the 10 month mark has been both Mark's & my favorite so far. She is just into absolutely everything... wobbling around trying to walk, learning and mimicking words, clapping and dancing to ANY music she hears (whether on TV, from her toys, or mommy singing), eating EVERYTHING in sight, and making us laugh constantly. Here's a few little video clips showing why we love everything about this stage (taken this past weekend). Enjoy!

Sisters

There's really nothing like the relationship between sisters.... or sibling in general. I was born into a family that gave me THREE amazing, beautiful built in best friends. I am so close to each one of them... in fact, I couldn't honestly say I was closer to one over the other. And we all are so much alike yet with distinctive differences. Even though since Mark & I moved away from Bellflower almost three years ago and I don't get to see my sisters nearly as much as I want to, we never seem to skip a beat. I have bonded with all of them through different situations...

Lisa was my roommate & bedmate for the better part of twenty years. Our bedtime ritual: "Chao" = "Good night. Love you. Don't forget to pray."

Carmen was my "cool car ride" to Jr High & would let me borrow some of her fashionable clothes so I could look as awesome as she always did. We also were able to share our engagement, weddings, and suffer through the "LGN" (look good naked) diets together so we could look "HD" (hottdamn) on our wedding nights!

Shelly and I bonded over being far away from home for the first time together... God strategically placed me in Virginia for the same year that she, Steve & newborn Colin were in North Carolina. A weekly three hour drive from north to south to hang out with the Abrahams was the highlight of my week.

There are way too many memories before and since then that I could mention... but those were the formative bonding moments for me.

I've had a different sister/niece duo out here every weekend starting the 2nd weekend of January. Lisa & Kaylie and I had SO much fun ... watching movies, veggin' in our our pajamas, drinking moscato, and walking through Old Town Sac. As did Carm, Molls & I... Going for LOTS of walks, indulging in way too much junk food, taking lots of pictures, shopping, and exchanging services (my new hair-do for pics & headbands). I can't wait to have some fun with Shelly & Brooklyn next weekend, and then my mom for a whole week! I LOVE 2011 SO FAR!!!!

JR HIGH

Jr. High.

AWESOME.

Middle School is, in my opinion, the PERFECT name for it. Lost somewhere in the middle of being a kid & being an adult.

Ohhhh goodness... God must have a sense of humor =)

When I was in high school I actually had in my head that I was going to be a middle school teacher or counselor. I was inspired because I had an awesome high school teacher, Mr. T, who invested in me spiritually as well as many other students, and encouraged me to a be a 'woman of God.' I saw so many of my classmates and friends fall into bad decisions and choose the world over God through those confusing 4 years of high school. And there were SO many times that I thought, if only they had that kind of investment and encouragement at the middle school age, when they are trying to figure out who they are. I had the desire to invest in jr. higher's like Mr. T had in me. However... come senior year of high school & into college, I completely wrote off that idea and hoped to pursue elementary age or younger (because I became OBSESSED with my first nephew, Colin, and wanted to spend all of my time with tiny little people just like him!)

God had different plans. He had placed that first desire and love for middle school aged kids in me for a reason.

Over the past 3+ years I have taught in 2 different schools - Crystal Cathedral Academy & Desert Christian Academy. At both schools God had opened the door for teaching Middle School English... and closed all other doors. It was a very direct leading. =) Last year as part of my schedule, I had to also teach 7th grade girls Bible class. I had no idea how in love with those girls & with that class I would become. I learned so much through those girls (and I hope they were able to learn some through me, as well.) But I have a new found passion for mentoring girls going through the awkwardness and awesomeness that is Jr. High.

Since we recently moved, and because it was so late in the school year & with a brand new beautiful baby girl added to our family, I have taken the year off of teaching to be a stay at home mom. I am loving every second with Mia, but am definitely feeling a void not having that day to day with my students. So I decided to embrace the passion for that age group that God has given me and have signed myself up with the Wed night Jr High youth group at our new church out here in Rocklin. It's funny... last week was my first night and I myself felt like it was my first day at a new school. It was Jr High all over again!! I was the new kid nobody wanted to talk to. It wasn't like teaching school where I have a built in role of respect & the kids WANT to know about their new teacher... for the first time I am having to earn their respect as a mentor and teacher. It's definitely different... and a challenge. But one I'm excited about =) I was not looking forward to another awkward "new kid" night as I drove to church tonight for my 2nd meeting, but prayed the whole way there for help and confidence. Tonight was already so much better & I am beginning to build relationships with the 7th grade girls small group I have been assigned to. I am so excited to get to that point in our relationship where they can feel comfortable enough to talk to me about issues they are struggling with & pray that God gives me the wisdom they need to hear. Love those girls. Miss my girls from my old school!

Ahhhh God is so good.

passionate

When my dad was asked how to best describe me he used the word "passionate." (He was at that moment talking about my work ethics... that when it's something I enjoy or 'get' I work really hard at it because I become passionate about it.) This was years ago, and at that time I smiled at that idea, but couldn't say I saw myself that way. However, now that I'm SUPER wise and in my 27th year (stop laughing) I will say that I have seen this to be true of myself in many instances. I know it's once again been a while since I blogged (I guess my passionate self has not completely gotten on board with blogging just yet..) so to give you some updates: About 4 months ago I was inspired to make my own headbands for Mia. I absolutely LOVE dressing her up and in my opinion, the headband is the must-have finishing touch. However, baby girl headbands can be EXPENSIVE! So instead of throwing away way too much money on this obsession, I was encouraged to make my own. Now steps in that passion I was referring to earlier. I got completely carried away... bought HUNDREDS of flowers for variety, even MORE plain headbands, ribbons, jewels, pearls... you name it; I bought it. Passionate. I would literally wait for Mark & Mia to head to bed, and pull close to all-nighters just making headbands and experimenting with ribbon. I'm pretty sure I became a terrible wife & mom during that time, because I was SO exhausted during the day and only ever wanted to work on my headbands! I ended up with literally hundreds of headbands and flower clips. This story does have a good ending, though.... I started to sell my excess and thus came my mini-wanna-be-business, Dainty Doll. I've actually doubled what I spent on materials and have lots extra to make more once this supply runs low. And I've gotten a handle on this "passion" and no longer make it my life. =) It's just a hobby now.

Which leads me to my current state. For the last few months I have been saving gift $$ from my birthday & Christmas to put towards a nice camera so I can take good quality pictures of my family. I had no idea how PASSIONATELY IN LOVE I was going to fall with this quick snapping, beautifully clear image making device! I am a photo-aholic. I can't stop snapping pictures of Mia (mostly because I think every single thing she does is adorable and NEEDS to be captured.) And just the other day my sister let me photograph she and her gorgeous daughter, miss Kaylie Anne. When we got home last night to start editing, I fell upon yet another passion - editing. Knowing full well that I was going to have to wake up at 5:15 am to bring them to the airport, I could not get myself to go to sleep. It was almost 2 am when my sweet husband wobbled out of the bedroom and knocked some sense in to me... "what the heck are you doing at 2 am!??" I had SO much fun taking the pictures and editing them. I am ancy for when my other two sisters and their cute kiddos come out so I can play all over again! All-nighters... here I come!!

After talking through this with my friend, Brittney, today we found a better word for it: Obessive Compulsive. =)

Whatever you call it - I'm having a blast!!

Pavlov's Law and Me

I've come up with the perfect description of myself when relating to holidays: I am seasonally sentimental. I get the butterflies when I think of the excitement of a new season. Not necessarily because of the official holiDAY itself... more so because of the few weeks that precede the coming holiday. I'm sure most, if not ALL women, can relate. For example:

Halloween: Visiting the pumpkin patch with a scarf & beanie on while sipping a hot pumpkin spice latte.

Thanksgiving: Eating WAY too much food for one day and topping it off with a slice of pumpkin pie & some coffee (cause there's always room for dessert) t

hen crashing on the floor for a super long nap to the sound of football & nieces and nephews running amuck.

Christmas: Shopping for presents in my winter boots while sipping a peppermint mocha... OR ...watching a movie on the couch drinking peppermint hot chocolate with the Christmas tree all lit up. (ooooh - just got the butterflies thinking about that one!!)

The common denominator in all of these: A specific wardrobe

and a specific food item. Shocking that my sentimentality comes at least 50% from my stomach. I think I need to change the title of my blog to: Food & Rachel instead of Mark & Rachel. To give myself some credit - food isn't the only stimulus that gets me salivating for a coming season; movies or TV shows can also trigger sentimental butterflies in me.

Whenever I see a long awaited first kiss on a show, like when Rachel finally gets all 50 locks open and she and Ross share their first kiss outside the Central Perk coffee house, I get the strong urge to share a moment like that with Mark. He always gets a good laugh when I get into this mode... he knows exactly what I want at that moment and starts laughing at me before I even get a chance to land one on him. Then of course, the moment is more laughable that it is sentimental.

All to say - Pavlov's Law seems to have proven once again through me. I don't salivate at the sound of a bell, but I sure do at the thought of a coming holiday! Happy fall!

A new fall favorite to add to the list: Apple Cider Beer. Not sure how many pumpkin patches will serve that... but we lucked out this year!!

Patio Pool

Mia swimming at 6 weeks...
Mia swimming at 6 months.... =)

It’s safe to say Mark and I are in a transition. Our lives have definitely gone through an incredible amount of “brand news” over the last year… particularly the last 6 months. Let’s see… we added a new mini member to our family, Mark started a new career, we moved to a brand new city, and I am a new stay at home mom. As if these changes weren’t enough, we are also trying to hang on to our first home in Indio by renting it out while also paying the remaining mortgage balance & rent to our new mini-home.

You see, after being spoiled in our much loved 4 bedroom home with it’s own pool (gotta love the cost of living difference in the desert!), we have transitioned into a 1 bedroom 900 square foot condo. So with the combination of a mortgage, bills, AND an apartment rental, we are learning to live a much simpler life by obligation. Simpler in almost every area of our lives. Our date nights have changed from frequent visits to our favorite sushi restaurant, Chomp, to a night in meal of frozen pizzas. My favorite mena-je-tua wine has been replaced by two buck chuck. And Mia’s swims have gone from our backyard Jacuzzi to her bathtub on our 3^rd floor patio deck.

But I gotta say…Mia doesn’t seem to mind the change. In fact, I think she prefers her patio pool to the big 4 foot deep Jacuzzi. She gets to sit up and play all by herself, without her floaties, and without mom having to hang on to her all of the time. Plus… I get to hang out and play on the computer & enjoy a glass of cheap wine while she “swims.”

At the risk of reaching… I’m gonna say Mia’s complete enjoyment of her patio pool versus the backyard spa is a great example to Mark and I. While it was nice to have all of the “stuff” back in Palm Desert, we are spending a lot more time enjoying each other at home, realizing what’s important, and relying more on God for our daily needs. And I gotta say – He has blessed us with more than we could ever imagine. So even though we are going through what some may refer to as a “struggle,” we are very thankful for all that we’ve been given & are learning a lot through all of this.

Ahhh the insight gained from a cheerful baby in her patio pool.