Happy Birthday Savannah!

We now officially have a two year old in our midst! Even though her official birthday was not until the 29th, Savannah had a Sesame Street party on Saturday to celebrate the big day. She was thrilled, though I'm not really sure she knew that everyone was there just for her!

Lots of our friends and family came out the the park in Folsom where we BBQ'd and hung out in the beautiful, if not a little hot, weather (how often is it 95 degrees at the end of September?).

Since Savannah is obsessed with Elmo and Sesame Street, Travis thought it would be super fun to rent an adult-sized Elmo costume for the party...until we found out that it would cost about $300. His mom came to the rescue though and did a fantastic job of making Travis an Elmo costume from scratch.

Savannah loves people in costumes...from a safe distance...but even so I was a little worried about how she'd react to a giant Elmo showing up at her party. Like I expected, she was smiling at first but then freaked out a little when she realized that he was getting closer. With my mom to protect her, she let him stand next to her and even touched his hand. After a couple minutes though, she suddenly decided that it was time for him to go, waved him away with a "bye-bye." Despite her apprehension, he must have made quite an impression; for the rest of the day and anytime anyone has mentioned her birthday since (at church, on the phone with Grandma, after waking up in the morning...) Savannah tells all about "Big Elmo" who was at her party. Get ready kids, Big Elmo might make another visit at Halloween!

Unlike last year when she was pretty indifferent, Savannah was opening presents faster than I could read the card. True to her age, after about five seconds with one new toy she was ready to see what was in the next one.

She blew out the candle like a pro and everyone dove into the Elmo and Abby cupcakes.

We're so thankful for all the awesome gifts and for everyone that was able to come! You couldn't have convinced me last year, but I really understand now how much the first birthday party is really just for the parents. This year though, things were definitely different. Savannah had so much fun playing with all her little friends and actually participated in everything. I have to say, I think this year was mostly for her and only a little bit for us!