I'm still having trouble believing that my youngest has turned 2. Does time magically speed up once you have kids? It must, there is no other logically explanation for how we have ended up here. He was teeny tiny just the other day!
I am just not following my own chronological blogging rules these days. But I just loved this photo so much I wanted it first. Nonni and Grandpa sent Henry a bunch of new trains for his birthday. Thomas already had the letters to spell Tommy, so now Henry has his own name train. She also sent him a bunch of Chugineers from Chuggington and I am not sure which set he was more excited about. I obviously favored the name train for photos. :)
Back to breakfast - the start of party day! The boys have been really into smoothies recently, so I made sure to include one on the breakfast "menu". Also, that may look like his fireman's hat, but it's not - it's Elmo! We were having a very Elmo themed party day today! And if you look closely, you can see Elmo got some smoothie on his nose - I think Henry was trying to share...!
Present time after breakfast! I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about ripping paper. The first few rips were teeny tiny pieces and I figured it was going to take us an hour to get it unwrapped. But they he got this giant piece and even impressed himself!
He's been super in to Pete the Cat recently and we bought him a stuffed "Pete Cat" (as he calls it). There was one morning he stole the school's Pete Cat from a classmate and there was a big kerfuffle because we made him give it back and apologize. So we thought he might like one at home. We were right!
But the giant box held this cardboard contraption that is a Space Pod. We had eyeballed it for awhile at Target, then bought it once it went on clearance after Christmas. I know the package said 6+, but we figured it would be something they could help us put together. Ha - it was so complicated and they were more interested in throwing pieces. Matt will have to put it together when his little "helpers" are napping..!
Nonni and Grandpa also sent them bubble wands (6!) for Valentine's Day and we hadn't gotten a chance to play with them yet. After the boys nicely asked if they could blow bubbles, I put their jackets on over the pajamas and we all went outside. Look how excited they are to blow bubbles!
Also look how sad the back yard looks without snow. This winter has not been very impressive...
Henry has even gotten the hang of blowing bubbles! He was blowing them like a champ after a few false starts. Now I am going to have two little guys begging to blow bubbles every single evening. Why do kids love bubbles so much??
We have a firm no bubbles in the house rule that has an exception for bath time, usually with the tiny bubble containers we get for party favors. I need to take one of the wands up to their bathroom - that would blow their little minds!
When they finally went down for a nap, I got started on decorating the Elmo cake. I figured I bought the pan for Thomas' second birthday, might as well get some more use out of it! I thought I should decorate it a little differently for Henry though and decided to use the star tip. I did about 10 stars before realizing it was a horrible idea with my ergonomic issues. Matt heard me muttering and offered to do them for me. And he did an awesome job - such a talented hubby!
Thomas woke up from his nap just in time to get a little bit of extra frosting!
Finally got Henry in his party shirt post nap time! I figured he wouldn't make it to the party with a white shirt if I put it on too early. He also loved his Sesame Street banner I put up in their play room. I was imagining getting photos with a fabulous background when I bought it, but the folds on it would not smooth out. And it was a little too shiny to be flawless, but he liked it and that was the more important thing!
Also bought these banners because I have no self control. Look at him being all cool wearing his Elmo hat backwards. I love this photo because he has the best look on his face - that mischievous little smile is so fitting! And I am also pretty proud of that shirt - I came up with it without Pinterest (what...??)!
He was more than happy to ham it up for tons of photos! I tried to get as many as I could before everyone arrived because I am awful at taking photos during parties. I will never be an event photographer. But hanging out with my boys and taking photos? Sure, no problem!
Party time! I wrapped a dish towel around Henry trying my best to preserve his shirt. His friend Jaxson apparently has no qualms about wearing bibs, but Henry usually rips them off. I guess Jaxson wearing one helped Henry keep his on. Also check out the super cool Sesame Street cups (I told you - no control!).
Little Miss Lottie also showed up for the fun, though she's not quite big enough for the kiddie table. But look at her sitting up like a total champ! She was a little bummed she didn't get any of the tasty sloppy joes or tater tots, but I promised her next year she could go to town!
After dinner jump time! Henry kept running away from the bounce house and Matt kept putting him back in. This particular "putting back" was by far the best. Henry has no fear, in case you didn't know... Also the floating Elmo face is a dangling decoration. They were a little hard to shoot around since I put them right in the middle of the house traffic pattern. Oh well!
Thomas still loves the jump house and was in and out of it multiple times! I was having trouble with the colors on the slide though, so these photos had to go B&W so the kids didn't look like technicolored tots!
Jaxson was a little more hesitant about the bounce house at first, but he warmed up to it!
Henry was worried that Lottie might be feeling left out of the bounce house fun, so he took her one of her toys that she left in the living room. What a thoughtful little guy, huh?
After we figured they had burned off enough energy and made a little more room - it was cake time! Doesn't Elmo look smashing in his stars? Matt and I are a great cake baking team! :)
Henry looks so bored in this photo. In my mind he's thinking "Come on and sing already so I can have some cake!"
So we sang! Then I handed him his candle and then went over to get the knife to cut the cake...
Only to turn around and realize he had bit a chunk out of his candle. I was telling him to spit it out and ended up having to fish the chunk of wax out of his mouth because he was convinced it was a tasty treat! Casey (Jaxson's dad) nicely thought to grab my camera and get a photo of the fight over the candle remnants. Thanks Casey! There's also a video Brittney took - apparently it was quite the hilarious moment. ;)
Finally time to eat real food - the cake! Thomas was back to his usually cheesy grin. Sigh - can't just tell a kid to smile and get a normal look out of them, can you?
Uncle Duncan gave me real smiles though (Lottie chose to dance instead)! Lottie didn't get any cake, but she was still pretty excited about the party hats! (She may or may not have tried to eat one...) She might have been the only one though - they were the tiniest hats ever. Several of us adults put them on and they were trying to strangle us during the Happy Birthday song. Actually you can see the string digging in on Henry in the photos with the cake. Lottie might be the only one they actually fit...
Whose birthday is this, anyway?? Thomas was more than happy to test out his brother's new drum kit from Aunt Heather. And Aunt Heather hid for most of these photos, but I got her in one of them! :)
More interested in the ribbon than the actual presents - sounds about right...!
Happy (day-after) Birthday, Henry! Hopefully it was as fun for you as it was for your momma!