Rachel's social schedule

...is a very busy one this weekend. (Yesterday I was afflicted with some sort of stomach bug so I took off from work and could barely eat anything. Today I was in fine shape, but I had to cancel my morning bike ride because of the rain. DARN!)

This morning Rachel woke up early and had to pee. She actually began going into the bathroom but was wearing pajamas that snap together, so Drew had to get out of bed and help her. When she said she wanted breakfast, he gave her a bowl of oatmeal (dry) and went back to sleep. When I woke up around 8, I decided to let Drew sleep because he really needed it. I walked out of our bedroom and...what did I see? Rachel, in her glider, "reading" The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

I asked her if she wanted to help Mommy make cupcakes for a playdate with Lila and for dinner on Sunday -- we are having my friend Deni over because her husband is in Africa and she could use the company, plus she loves being around Rachel -- and when she heard I was going to make yellow cupcakes with the same frosting I used for Drew's birthday cake, she jumped up and down and threw herself on the couch out of pure joy. She then proceeded to watch me mix up the batter, which included white wine (??), and she got to pour the flour and take a crack at cracking an egg ("you can do it, Mommy," she said after trying once).

Then Drew woke up and made breakfast while we waited for the cupcakes to bake and a steady rain beat outside the windows. Afterward, he went upstairs with Rachel to play "baseball" with the inflatable bowling pin we have that Rachel uses for a bat and I could hear their laughter and roughhousing as I cleaned up breakfast and made the frosting. Rachel was dying to put on some star-shaped sprinkles on the cupcakes, which I promised her she could do.

We made a little assembly line out of it -- I frosted and she very carefully put lots of stars on the cupcakes. It was so much fun!! I can't wait until the holidays when we make lots of cookies to take to people (I wonder if I can find Hanukkah-themed cookie cutters?)

Then I headed out for a manicure and pedicure while Drew & Rachel played some more. She ate a good lunch of string cheese, ham and other things ("I finished all my jelly sandwich, Mommy!") she exclaimed when I got back. Then it was into the car and on to Lila's house. Lila's parents graciously consented to keeping Rachel for three hours while Drew & I went to a back-to-school party that my boss, Peter, held at his house in West Linn. The party was so nice; it was great to mingle with folks in a more casual setting. The food was terrific and I liked being able to talk to so many people at once; I usually spend my time in the office writing or sending e-mail.

When we went to pick up Rachel the most adorable sight greeted us; she and Lila had played DRESS-UP and Rachel had on a ballet costume and Lila had on a Snow White costume. Steve and Suzanne had put them in Lila's little red wago and taken them to the library; Steve also shot some sweet video of them dancing to princess music. I promise I will send it out as soon as Steve and Suzanne make it available.

THEN we took Rachel to a pajama party at school where she got to eat dinner, have popcorn and watch a movie; she had looked forward to this all day. Drew just put her to bed a little while ago. Altogether, an action-packed day!

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Cute Rachel sayings:

While she was quite cheerfully watching me frost cupcakes:

"It's hard being little."
"Why is it hard, sweetie?" I asked.
"Because big people tell you what to do," she answered.

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After I told her that I'd love to take a bath with her sometime and we could play with her rubber duckies together:

"You can play with my duckies as long as you want!"