Rebecca's Birthday Weekend

Rebecca turned four on Saturday, and we celebrated all weekend long.

On Saturday we went to Target to let her pick out her gift. She picked this box of Tinkerbell fairies.

Kevin works near the Excalibur Hotel, and every time we go see him at work Rebecca tells me she wants to go to the castle. So after Target we headed to the Strip.

She's also seen the monorail running on the Strip, and she always talks about wanting to ride the "train", so we parked at the Mandalay Bay and took the tram to the Excalibur. That was enough of a train ride for her, and it didn't cost us anything.

At the castle we walked around and played a few games. She bought some candy with the tickets she won, and that was all for Saturday.

Sunday we had our families over for dinner and more celebrating.

Kevin has the steady artist hand in our family, so he was in charge of decorating the cake. He did such a good job.

My mom brought cupcakes for the kids to eat. Rebecca likes to eat the frosting off the top and a little bit of the cake, and then she throws the rest away.

It's not a birthday party without presents!

William also enjoyed Rebecca's party.

He especially loved the cupcakes.

My sister Denise bought these cute Dora Ugg Boots for Rebecca, and William decided he wanted to wear them. After Rebecca opened them, he took the box over to Kevin's dad so that he could help William put them on. He wore them for the rest of the night. They have pink trim and fur on them, but he still loved 'em.

Rebecca has seemed to grow up so much in the past couple of months. She's really become more of a little girl. Here are some things that she's been doing lately:

• She's started calling me "Mom" and Kevin "Dad". I don't know what happened to "Mommy" and "Daddy", but I kind of miss those names.
  
  
• She doesn't really sleep in our room anymore. She used to come in every night in the middle of the night with her pillow and sleep on the floor by our bed, but she has stopped doing that.
  
  
• She's been terrified of primary since the day she started Sunbeams. I would have to leave her screaming with her teachers Sister Bingham and Sister Hibbard. Lately she's been better about going in, and she even stood up at the pulpit two Sundays ago and said her part for the primary program all by herself.
  
  
• She wants to dress herself AND pick out her own outfits. I've started picking out two outfits for her to choose from so that she doesn't leave the house looking too crazy. She even wants to tie her own shoes now. I let her try, but she can't get it. I let her pull the "bunny ears" after I double knot her laces, and that seems to be good enough for now.
  
  
• She has just started praying in front of us, and she has the sweetest little prayer voice. When Kevin helps her, he likes to see how long he can make his sentences before she forgets what he told her to say. He can go on for quite a few words, and she remembers every word. It's amazing to see what kind of retention little kids have.
  
  
• We bought her a bike for Christmas two years ago, and she has just started to have an interest in riding it. She goes outside and rides her bike almost every day.
  
  
• She wants to go play at her friends' houses all of the time now. I don't do a whole lot with her when she's at home with me, but now that she's gone a lot more, I miss her when she's not around.

My little girl is growing up too fast. Happy Birthday, Baby. I hope you had a good one.