Rebecca's 2nd birthday

Rebecca had a great birthday weekend! It started with an overnight visit Thursday night from Aunt Erin (pregnant with ___ Hope Mangan), Uncle Trey, and Annaliesa. We adults had fun talking, and Rebecca and Annaliesa had fun bouncing around and giggling together.They gave Rebecca her own wheelbarrow and gardening tools for her birthday present (still need to get a picture), which was perfect since Rebecca has been wanting to use mine! And Erin finished making a beautiful quilt (seen here on back of sofa) for our bedroom, which was our five-year anniversary present. Our time was too short...I can't wait to do it again!

Then Gran came on Friday, took us to Sweet Tomatoes for Rebecca's birthday dinner, played at the park with Rebecca, and stayed up late helping us decorate and prepare food for the party on Saturday morning. The theme was "sand and sea," and I thought it came together nicely.

When our party guests arrived (three neighborhood friends), they got to decorate their own sand pail with foam stickers.

Then they got to go fishing, and, along with fish, caught some sunglasses and another sand/water toy. (I have video of this but it hasn't been uploaded yet.) Here is Rebecca in the fishing boat.We opened presents, most of which were books and/or toys with letters (yea!). Then, instead of cake and ice cream (it was a morning party, and I prefer healthier food anyway), we had muffins and a watermelon boat full of fruit, complete with a paper sail.

Finally, it was time to go outside to play with Rebecca's main present: a sand and water table! It was a big hit, but I think in the future we are only going to fill it with either sand OR water at one time...not both. I was a little disappointed that none of the guests remembered to wear their bathings suits, so I didn't get to turn on the big beach ball sprinkler from Gran until after they had all left. And we ran out of time to serve snow cones and goldfish crackers. But there will be plenty of summer playdates coming up for continuing the fun. Thanks to all of you who called and sent cards or emails! Here's our cute 2-year-old...doesn't she look old in this picture?