Happy 2nd Birthday, Rebecca!!

Our little girl is 2!!!  We can't believe it.  She's growing up so fast.  We had a fun family day yesterday to celebrate.  In the morning we went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens.  First we visited the butterfly exhibit.  Wow, so many butterflies!  It was like being in a rainforest with butterflies all around you.  I think Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it more than Rebecca.  She wasn't a huge fan of having little things fly near her head :P  Then we visited the children's garden.  Rebecca had a blast!!  We were bummed that it was so chilly but we still had fun.  And at least the sun was shining.  We went to the info center where Rebecca tried on butterfly wings, made wood butterflies, read butterfly books, played with animal puppets and used a magnifying glass to look up close at butterflies.  Then we walked around outside.  There is so much to see and do outside...treehouses, a log cabin, puppets, a beaver cave, the Great Lakes water area with boats, a small garden that has stuff relating to all the senses, a huge sand area and even a special little door into and out of the gardens just for kis.  There is more, but we didn't have time for all of it...and it was too cold to stay out too long.  We're hoping to go back sometime this summer when it's warm.

Daddy had an orchestra concert in the afternoon, so our celebration continued when he got home :)  We opened presents a little before dinner.  Rebecca got a few books, a wood puzzle, some Barbies, a doll, baby bottles (her favorite present by far...she can finally feed her babies!:), baby diapers (she always want to "change" her babies), a hula hoop and a matching/sorting/counting game.  Then for dinner we had some of Rebecca's favorites - hot dogs, roasted cauliflower and brussels sprouts and homemade french fries...and ketchup of course :)  She cleaned her plate.

After dinner was cleaned up we had cake and ice cream.  Mommy made a rainbow Dora cake this year.  Rebecca requested sprinkles and rainbow ice cream.  So she got it all :)  She loved when Mommy and Daddy sang Happy Birthday too her.  She had a huge grin on her face the whole time.  The grin was quickly erased when it was time for candles :P  She attempted to blow them out.  And when Mommy helped and the flame went out she decided she wasn't a fan.  But she stil enjoyed her cake and ice cream...again cleaning her plate.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Rebecca's 2nd birthday.  She is our little miracle and a true joy.  We can't wait to see what the coming year brings.  She has her 2 year check up tomorrow.  We'll update more after that.  There are tons of new pictures in the photo album.  Be sure to check out all of our birthday fun.