Cute things Rachel has said these last few days

Rachel has a new way of bidding me goodnight. First she tries to sneak up on me, and sometimes I pretend to be scared and sometimes I don't. Tonight I didn't, and her reaction was: "Drats!" Then she went through her usual routine:

"Kiss." And she gives me a kiss.
"Hug." And she gives me a hug.

And then: "I love you, good night, and NO bad dreams."

I reciprocate, of course. Funny thing about the dreams is that I've had some really weird/scary ones over the last two weeks. No idea why.

***

The brisket was a roaring success. Time-consuming but oh, so worth it. Drew kept telling me how good it was and thanked me profusely for all the hard work I put into it. (He also suggested I auction off a homemade smoked brisket for McKinley's PTA auction in April, which I thought was a terrific idea and I just may end up doing it).

Rachel commented on how great the house smelled this morning (I had put the brisket in the oven at 200 degrees after smoking it, so it cooked low and slow while we slept). She helped me make cornbread tonight -- she is getting to be a champ at cracking eggs, a skill I did not pick up in life until much later, right, Mom? -- and so we had hot cornbread and brisket for dinner.

The moment Rachel tried the brisket she said, "Mmm! Tender as PIE!" And then she demolished the meat on her plate.

I just may have to keep her 5 forever.