Ice cream queen

We had Rebecca's birthday party on Saturday at one of many parks near our house. When we got to the park, she said, "I don't want to go to the party; I just want to play at the park!" And I thought, "I picked the right place for her party!" The weather was beautiful, though very windy, and the dozen helium balloons broke free of the table we had tied them to, but got caught in a tree, and Steve rescued them using a long tree branch. The kids just played and ate a picnic lunch and had ice cream.

Later that evening, Rebecca was recounting her day, as she often does. She told Steve excitedly, "Hey, Daddy, I got to eat some ice cream with sprinkles and candles and a cherry!" Steve asked her, "Why did you get to eat some ice cream?" (He was trying to reinforce the idea that ice cream is only for special occasions, and she doesn't just get it anytime she wants it. He expected her to say, "because it was my birthday.") Rebecca's response was, "It's because Jesus made plenty of ice cream for me to eat!" (Well, at least she has the concept down that God provides her food!)

My baby is three today!

Okay, so everyone tells you, but you never believe how quickly three years can go by until it happens! I can't believe a full one-sixth of Rebecca's at-home training is already complete. I wish time would just stop for awhile. I truly think that the age she is at right now is the cutest!

3-year stats:

height: 38.5 inches

weight: ~33 lbs.

clothing size: usually 4t

shoe size: 8.5 XW

Bible verses she can recite if given the reference: 5 or 6? (I think we need to work on adding more, although the number increases if you count Bible verse songs that don't include the reference.)

words she recognizes by sight: ~50

songs she can sing: too many to count

number of times she wet her panties today: 1 (not bad for first try in several months!)

favorite activities: reading books, doing puzzles, playing at the park, going on errands, singing, coloring, playing with stickers, toys, etc.

favorite foods: bread, pretzels, fruit, ice cream (but also likes an amazing number of different vegetables, of which carrots are her favorite)

quote of the day: "Mommy, I want a lot of people to come to our house to see me." (Very typical of her extroverted personality.) Her party is not until next week, since I was at our church's women's retreat all day today, so she will just have to wait for that.

most endearing qualities: sparkly eyes, cute laugh, big hugs, and life-of-the-party personality

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?