Rachel is 3!

We had quite a big day yesterday--we woke up and found a three-year-old in our house! It's been fun to celebrate with Rachel--this is the first year that she really gets what we're excited about, and she's excited, too. In fact, she spent most of the day excited, I think. There was a lot of giddy laughter around here. Rachel has been asking to hear the story of when she was born a lot lately, so she seems really to understand the connection between birthdays and birth days, which is cool. It's good to know that the magical thinking persists, though--she was pretty sure that the pile of birthday cards and new magazine at her place at breakfast had been placed there directly by the mail carrier. She wondered if the mail carrier had also brought the balloon.

Rachel has recently decided that she really likes pigs. (I think it's because they're pink, but we haven't discussed her attraction too much, so I can't say for certain.) And so we celebrated with a pig cake. (If I dare say so myself, it turned out pretty cute--and it tasted good, too!)

Rachel had loads and loads of ideas about how she'd celebrate her birthday. If we'd done everything she had planned, we'd be partying hard until Thursday, so we had to edit the agenda a bit. But a Dora pinata came up again and again and again, so that dream became reality. Quite a sweet reality, if you ask Rachel. We pulled the ribbons instead of bashing Dora's head in, since we were in the house. Rachel has been seen hugging and talking to the pinata ever since, so it's probably a good thing we went that route.


Here are the two birthday girls and the one new birthday doll. Hard to believe this amazing little girl who has changed our lives has only been around for three years--and yet, it's like yesterday that she came wailing into our lives. We love you, Rachel Baby!