Hanging with dad

Dad has lots of toys and rachel likes her dad and likes toys so it was a win-win time for both of my cuties.

Rachel's learning to walk!

hello everyone - just wanted to let everyone know out there in cyberworld that my littlest daughter is starting to walk! we figured she would try walking earlier since she is the youngest and has a big sister who can do cool things like follow mommy into the next room, run around with dad and jump off of couches in the living room. so what's a 10 month old to do?? practice until she gets it.... and that's exactly what rachel's been up to the last couple of weeks.


on June 5th, she started taking her first steps. of course the camera is never around to capture the very first ones so she was tired and more "falling" than walking once we got the camera going.

then she started practicing her speed crawling

Then this past week she really seemed to get the hang of it and started to taking lots of steps

And now she's pretty much got it down. now the fun part is lots of practice!!! and she is. she's walking everywhere. lots of times she gets tired and just sits down and plays but the cool thing is now she can go where she wants. when i'm in the kitchen, she'll walk in and play with the frig magnetics. sometimes she likes to play in natalie's room and we'll find her half way down the hall headed in that direction.

Father's Day hugs

Daddy LOVES his girls!!!!

Da Dallas Aquarium!

Natalie really loves fish, especially if they are pink and purple! (these are her inseparable two favorite colors right now). She also loves animals and anything science-y (for the moment). Grandma Zook loves air conditioning. Rachel loves to stick her tongue out! So we decided to put all this stuff together with a trip to the Dallas aquarium and indoor rainforest last Saturday. Hanging out with my family and having fun was the best Father's day gift I could ask for.

Da Dallas Zoo!

So, we went to the zoo when it was about 150 degrees with 200% humidity because we are brilliant. Somehow we managed not to spontaneously combust before we got the girls to the kids' area which has a play-river. We actually had alot of (sweaty) fun.







(if you click on the picture above and zoom in, it looks like Rachel has a giant buck tooth. Don't worry it's just a puff!)

Camp out with Grandma....in the living room

Here's how the Zook gals "rough it":


"no Grandma, you have to go thru the tunnel to get in".

"like this".

"Where'd Rachel go?"

Rachel's face says "indoor camping really stinks....."

...but I'm AWESOME at it!" (either that or she's been listening to KISS again).

Finally - JUNE stuff!

The Best of Bumbo-seat Beethoven:

Baby Dinosaur

Why ride a "horsey" when you could have a "baby dinosaur" instead?

After some thought, however, I'm not entirely sure why I'm supposed to be a "baby" and not just a "regular" dinosaur. Do I need to get taller? fatter? brawnier? I hope Nat lets me know if I should be shopping for stilts, donuts, or steroids before the next time.

Gotta tell ya'll 'bout this thing...

In this video, (yes, back in MAY) Rachel describes just how fascinating a water bottle can be to a 9-month-old....

MAY 2011 round up - some cute pics

Here's some random pics to finish out May (now that June is almost over - I know - worst bloggers ever).

Rachel LOVES her some Dolly

Mini-me and Mom?

Sportin' the 80's New Wave 'do.

Quick chat with grandma before the water-park.

Um...."do not want" for sure.

But, put the same thing on Daddy and it's a party.

Sad thing is.....I did stuff like this way before I had kids.

Waffles make me do this

Gimme syrup kisses

Why use all those pillows.....

....when dad loves cartoons too?

I hope, for the sake of my back, that she doesn't do this when she's 30 (but it rocks right now).

Rachel has a 1000 watt toothless smile. How does she do it?