Rachel is 2!

It's hard to believe that Rachel is actually 2 years old!  After a celebration with a few family members that were able to make it to Pawleys' Island while we were on vacation, we planned a great Elmo party for family and friends in the Raleigh area.  Unfortunately we had to postpone it a few weeks due to some illnesses in the family.  But we finally had our party!  The party had a lot of little pieces that all had to do with one of Rachel's favorite characters: Elmo.  The Elmo cake was a little tedious, but turned out great!  All the guests (kids and adults) got to make their own pizza (crust, sauce, cheese were provided and friends were invited to bring toppings if they wanted to), which is supposedly Elmo's favorite food (as he says on his part of Sesame Street, "Elmo's World").  We even added one more guest to the party... a goldfish named "Dorothy" (Elmo has a pet who another main character on his show that is a goldfish named "Dorothy")!  Rachel wore her outfit with Elmo on it and there was a sign on the door as everyone left that said "This party was brought to you by the letter R and by the number 2" (for those of you who grew up watching Sesame Street may appreciate that)!  :)  Rachel seemed to have a great time, as did Josiah (although, at times he seemed a little upset that he was not the center of attention and that it was not his party).  Most of the guests were closer to being around Josiah's age and were more his friends than Rachel's, but I've found at her age, her friends are just about anyone our family knows (if I say hi to someone, she is immediately their friend!).  She is definitely becoming more of a "social butterfly" as she gets older and is communicating to others more (not always more clearly though)... even speaking her mind more!  I guess that can be good in many ways and that's part of being 2!

Rachel was so happy to spend time with her baby cousin, Lucy, again!  Rachel had just given her a kiss and Lucy looked like she was trying to kiss Rachel back!  It's going to be fun for the kids to have a cousin so close by!

We also got a chance to visit family in Virginia and celebrate Rachel's birthday there as well!  The kids loved playing with their cousins, Adalai, Jude, and Isabella!  They also enjoyed spending time with their Aunt Stacy, Uncle Scott, Grandma, and Dida!  Josiah's shirt, in the picture of the kids with Scott's dad, if you can't read it, says "My Grandpa is a Deputy Sheriff!"  He has one just like it that says "My Dad is a Police Officer!"

Rachel has slowly been letting me do her hair more often!  Below, she let me put her hair in a pony tail... I couldn't believe it was long enough!  She looks so much older with her hair pulled back!