A Day To Celebrate

We had everything set up to make Jack's 2nd Birthday perfect. The banner was hung, the gifts were wrapped, the birthday CD was in the player, the breakfast materials were layed out, and the 72 balloons were blown up (compliments of Nick) and in the hall ready to fill his room....A Day To Celebrate...

Um..pretty sure I found the Onieda Paul Revere (our everyday silverware-and only silverware we have) Toddler Set for Jack. We bought him two and had one wrapped up. It comes with a fork, spoon, and knife...he loves it because it looks just like Mom and Dad's. Shame his Dad wouldn't let me go ahead and order the Baby set too!
Everything was ready, but Jack sleeping on the floor put a hickup in our balloon plan. Nick snuck in to put him in his bed so we could cover the floor in balloons for when he woke up (idea from Angela via Melany-and will be a tradition for us-maybe next time with a pump though because Nick is still out of breath). He woke upin the transfer, fell asleep again in his bed with Nick, and was snoring so the balloon movement started...til he woke up again. There was no use fighting it so here he is rounding the corner at 11:35 PM wondering what the heck we were doing and why there were balloons covering the hall. So we played for awhile, he looked at the presents a few times, helped put the balloons in the playroom for safety reasons, and headed to bed with us...which is where he would have ended up anyway-Tough Love doesn't start til Monday night!

Our Birthday Boy having some milk in bed while starting the morning with Cars-aka: Mom and Dad trying to buy a few more minutes of shut eye.

I made Jack a whole wheat Mickey Mouse pancake...you know with some syrup and powdered sugar to negate anything healthy about it. He loved it!

We got Jack ready for Gymboree but needed to get ourselves ready so we let him open his first birthday present (which I picked knowing what it was)-a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD from the Coxe family. He instantly wanted to watch it which worked out great for Nick and I.

We made it to Gymboree. Jack was so proud of his "It's My B-Day!" pin. If anyone asked, "Who's birthday is it?", Jack would shout out, "MINE!". And if you asked how old he was he was quick to hold up two fingers (one on each hand) and shout back at you "Two Ears Old"..and sometimes he would go from there to counting his ears..."One-Two". Guess I wasn't clear on my words when we worked on years. :)

After Gymboree we headed across the street to Campisis's to have lunch with Karen, Olivia, Stephanie, and her daughter Cali. Yummy!

You can tell by the time we got home Jack had been up since before the sun after playing with balloons til midnight, played with Gymbo, had fun at lunch, and was pretty worn out...but the cake and Skype camera were already set up for Papa and Bebe -so the celebration continued a bit more before nap time.

Jack had a small cake (along with the cupcakes that Papa and Bebe had) so we sang Happy Birthday...

blew out the candles (a few times because he thought that was fun)...

he devoured the cake...and then he was able to open the big box of gifts that Papa and Bebe sent for him to unwrap with them there to watch via Skype.

Nick and Jack read 2 (the number he is obsessed with and won't go past when counting) books before we all took a 3 HOUR NAP. When we went in to wake him up at 5 he must have stayed up reading a few more books because his palette was covered in them. Along with all the animals that he must have...creature of habit...once it sleeps with him once...he has to have it every nap/night.

Aaron and Olivia came over for dinner while Karen was at a movie and after eating the kids hung out in the playroom.

Then we put the cake back together from the taste test earlier and blew the candles out a few times more!

Olivia helped Jack open his presents after the tasty cake. By then Karen was there so it was a nice little party (again-and not his last).

He loved all his gifts and cards! The boy lucked out: Cars rain boots, Elmo & Mickey figurines, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Book with CD, clothes, Elmo Loves You DVD, The Best of Elmo DVD, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD, Cars Crocs, Teddy Grahams, Cars Easter Eggs & Tattoos, Silverware, a Tot Clock (more on this later), and Beauty Bag (more on this later as well).

Angela came over for some cake after dinner and read with Jack before he hit the floor.

It truly a day to celebrate...no montage this year and I'm sick to my stomach to say I have taken no plump pictures since I went back to work. It is all we can do to make it day to day...but we're here, we're healthy (relatively speaking), and despite my rants and raves from time to time-every day that goes by I love my little boy more and more. I am so proud of him, I am amazed at how he changes with every second that passes, and look forward to seeing what this next year has in store for us....Stay tuned!