playtime

We went to visit family in March and David *really* liked playing with the big boys!

Kelly

two years ago!

How is it possible he was that small?

Kelly

cute boy!

"prep bowl"

As I was cleaning up the kitchen I noticed this bowl that looks as if it *could* be some fancy prep bowl for a micro salad or something. In reality it is the remains of chewed up veggies that were rejected after a brief tasting while I was cooking. hmm . . . maybe he's at least getting some veggie juices down him during the gnawing of the veggies, what do you think?

Kelly

second birthday party food and drinks

Thanks for all of the fun and sweet comments about yesterday's birthday party post.  Especially when you've moved away from your long time friends it is nice to share things in this space.  

I will not draw out the birthday party posts but I did want to split them in two since it would be a ton of photos for one.  

The cake table was my very favorite thing to put together.  I have not shown a lot of photos since I painted but here is the new dining room wall.  It used to be chocolate brown.  

I loved having that bright backdrop to decorate against.  

all of the food was "wheel" themed

"wheels" of fruit that my mom was nice enough to come early and slice and arrange for me served with a construction vehicle fork that was a Christmas gift to David from his Aunt

wagon wheel pasta salad

oreo "wheels"

if you've been around my David anytime recently I'm sure you've heard him say "special treat" so I knew I needed to include the treat tag

My mom loaned me this neat vintage washtub to hold drinks

 (and balloons)

My sweet and wonderful mom also helped me with the cake.  I was lamenting homemade piped icing birthday cakes like she used to make for me and my brother with a dairy allergy and she had the idea of doing a multi - tier cake to look like a wheel.  The cake layers were chocolate, yellow, chocolate and she baked them for me and froze them so all I had to do on the morning of the party was ice and put the yellow bus on top.  She even told me where to find the yellow bus!  (Mardel's) 

I love how he's watching me light the candles!

{photo by Adrian}

I *loved* how he was clapping along as we sang "Happy Birthday"!  

for me?!

All in all it was a wonderful second birthday!!

{plates and napkins and cup from Hobby Lobby, #2 from my sticker stash}

two sweet buddies!

We are thankful for new friends here to get to celebrate with!

Kelly

second birthday party theme and decorations

We had a very fun birthday party day on Saturday!

The theme was wheels on the bus, car, plane, digger, monster truck, fire engine, garbage truck . . . you get the idea!  

Large moving wheeled vehicles are my son's passion right now so we made sure to have plenty on hand for the guests to play with!

I recycled cardboard from our ikea cabinets that we're using in our basement remodel to make places for the cars to drive.  

I ordered the "road tape" here.  

(She has lots of amazingly wonderful stuff and I was very impressed with her customer service!)

On this sheet of cardboard I just used black marker to draw a simple road for the bigger cars.  

Very fun car carrier that was a birthday gift from Nana and Ducca.

Lots more cars

We also played a fun little game where each guest got to put their picture up on the bus.  It was kind of like pin the tail on the donkey but with two year olds we didn't use blind folds or anything else, I just handed them their picture and they enjoyed sticking it!

I found the vintage airplane toy at the Just Between Friends sale for only $2! Sold!

This is a verse I displayed at David's Baby Dedication lunch and have kept and displayed at both birthday parties thus far.  

This little "tree" was not a planned decoration but just sort of happened and it was one of my favorite things.  

(Thank you, Brenda, for the flashcards!  Remember when you found them at that garage sale for me?)

a glimpse of the food table (another post on that coming)

It is so nice to have a yard to gather flowers from.  So very different from apartment living and I am thankful.  These yellow flowers that smell wonderful are from a plant we bought at a plant sale last year before we'd even closed on our house.

Once again, I chose a book that fit the party theme (this one was one of my favorites when I was teaching and I thought with his love of every way I can sing "The Wheels on the Bus" song that he would like it too!) to use as a guest book.  I got the idea from Erin.  

Adrian made these paper airplanes for me and I made the clouds from this tutorial

I made a garland (which you can see in the background of the last photo) from brown packing paper that came in David's birthday present from his Grandma and Granddad.  It was perfect for a garland tied with various ribbons and pom poms (making another appearance from last year's birthday party!) and embellished with train and bus shapes cut out of old maps, inspired by this.  

Inspired by some of our friends from our church in Texas, we decided tell guests that in lieu of gifts we would be collecting something to donate.  Our friends have collected snuggies for children going through chemo treatments in conjunction with a drive at our church, travel size toiletries to be given to school kids who lack basic hygiene items and yarn for knitting baby items for a hospital.  We really wanted to not just soak in the excess of stuff but to share with others.  We chose the foster care ministry in Colorado Springs Hope and Home.  

I tell you this not to pat ourselves on the back or brag in any way but because I am inspired by others who think outside the box and look at the things we traditionally do in a new way and I hope that by sharing what we've been inspired to do by others that someone else may be inspired as well.  

God uses us in the ordinary, not just the extraordinary.

And back to the decorations, 

another table centerpiece

Pinwheels from David's baby shower & fabric from a closet clean out when I was teaching - one teacher's trash . . . 

balloons and books rounded out the decor and I think everyone had a good time

And once again, I took Megan's advice to take a photo of the birthday child with the parents.  

Special thanks to my sil Mandy for reading the note I'd written myself on the fridge and reminding me to get the picture and then taking it!  

birthday party sneak peak

birthday day

We are having a lovely birthday day around here today!

Balloons dumped into your bedroom first thing in the morning, what a surprise!

birthday surprise from Mama and Daddy

birthday breakfast!

We're on cloud nine!

(or just thoroughly enjoying making a huge, fun mess out of the batting mama bought to make clouds for your birthday party!)

ball pit

copying an idea off of pinterest

and yes that chalkboard in the background still says "Happy New Year 2012" and also this sweet boy seeing I had left it on the floor right there for him near a container of crayons decided to try out the crayons on the chalkboard.

Any idea how I get that off?

Thanks.

Kelly