Lookie Who is TWO!

Thank you THANK you everyone for the thoughtful gifts and the very low-key party we were able to have for Rachel this year. It was a small to do with just a cake, few presents and a balloon, which I am grateful for. Since Rachel's birthday fell on Thanksgiving I didn't want to make a big to do and take too much away from the holiday. So Geri made her a from-scratch carrot cake covered in raspberries and strawberries:

And she LOVED the cream cheese frosting:

I had her in this adorable beige suit for the occasion. Sadly, she was overwhelmed with the strange place, some faces she doesn't see often, and in desperate need of a nap. So just before lunch....

But it was a wonderful day and not over-done, for which I am so thankful!

The next day, Black Friday, in the morning Jason was getting ready to go to the range with his aunts and grandfather. He was about to make his first trip to the car when Rachel went running up to him and said her first sentence, "No no daddy! Don't go bye-bye!" We were stunned. It was adorable!

Also while I was there visiting Rachel insisted on wearing this:

She loved the "Ole Miss" hat Geri had and every time she'd see it, she's immediately put it on her head. Oh, and notice the tu-tu? If she remembers it, which is often, she'll insist on wearing it. It was busy the time we managed to catch her on video imitating the Nutcracker Suite. I've tried again to upload a video here, but it won't work >.<

We can see she's trying so much harder to say more than one word at a time. although as is normal, we can't understand 50%+ of it yet.

One of her biggest attention grabbers is the movie Shrek. Praise the Lord there are more than one movie for this obsession! One night she cried because we had to stop the movie and the next morning when she woke up instead of saying "Mommay? Mommay!" I heard "Show? Show!" She wanted to finish watching Shrek. Right now it comes out sounding like "Tresh". I purchased a plush doll for her for Christmas, since last night the only way I got her to go to sleep was to put the DVD case in on her pillow with her.

Another thing I've noticed she'll do (and I love this one), is when someone sneezes, she'll say "Bahsh", which means "Bless you".

We did get Christmas decorations up this year and I think the first night she got really excited about them. But after that, she seems to treat them as if they've always been there.

She has FINALLY started to say "Yes" by nodding her head in agreement when we ask her things.

And apparently me saying "Hi-yah!" around the house whenever I throw something for Monty, is a word she's picked up on and uses frequently, even when she's not throwing something.

Oh - this picture is for Aunt Cindy - THANK YOU!!!