James' 2nd Birthday 3.20.10

I have broken the birthday into 2 posts. The first one (this one) includes the preparation/party decor :) And the second see below includes the party entertainment...ha! Lots of pictures I am sorry but I took close to 150 so I did narrow it down ALOT. I did steal a few too from Papop's camera. I did realize that I guess when you are the person behind the camera 98% of the time you hardly ever make it in a picture. But the party was not about me (ha!) it was about celebrating James 2nd Birthday!! This second year went by way faster than the first and from what I am told each goes faster and faster. I sure hope not.


Party invite:

We started off the morning with one of James' favorites, strawberry waffles with 2 candles of course. James is not used to having candles in his waffles so he was trying to smell the candle. I forgot to tell him they were unscented. Dad stepped in to keep him from singeing his eyebrows thank goodness!

Then the ladies spent most of the day baking and decorating. Fortunately Meme made the cupcakes on Friday (they were delicious by the way...homemade strawberry ones) so all we had to do was decorate them with icing and sprinkles.

I attempted homemade icing and it turned out perfectly but it was alot of work and didn't make enough so we sent Chad to the store for already made icing. We performed a taste test and honestly there was a slight difference but not enough to make up for the effort. Luckily I had some helpers there were alot of cupcakes to ice.

These next few pictures are not great quality. I am not professional photographer (most of you knew that) and obviously still have alot to learn.

It was my first (well second) attempt at making the giant cupcake. Yes I did a practice run a few weeks ago to give me some time to place an order at a bakery if needed. It really was a lot of fun. Most of you know I am not a "cook" but I must admit I was rather impressed with the results.

No trying to smell the candle this time...he knew what to do!

Party Festivities

So before I get the festivities of the party...We sent Papop and Chad out to run a few quick errands before the party and they came back with this...meet Frankie the Fish

He conveniently sings "Gimme back that Filet of Fish" I know you all have seen the McDonalds commercial. James LOVES the commercial and now loves Frankie the Fish. He loves dancing and singing the song. It is pretty hilarious to watch. I probably heard this song this past weekend atleast 30 times. Thanks Papop!!

Chad and I gave James this Radio Flyer tricycle for his birthday. It was a hit and provided for some entertainment for everyone while family arrived.

Then we moved inside to open some presents. James had tons of gifts to open but he had lots of helpers!

His first drum set...fortunately there is volume control :)

The kids are anxiously awaiting their shot at the pinata...Darby is giving James some last minute tips.

Pinata time with Elmo!

Anna improvised with her scarf other blind fold was not cutting it.

Of course we did not put a blind fold on James only because it was his birthday :)

The pinata was not breaking. It was put together very well so we had to bring in the heavy bat. At this point I became very nervous...

Finally it breaks and the kids rushed in for candy!

James enjoying his first airhead :)

KK and Pop

Papop and Meme

Papa B and Nana came over for the day. So good to see them!

All the kiddos!! James' cousins. They are all so very sweet with James and he loves them to death.

I added this picture mainly to document James' concentration face. The tongue is always out during concentration...someone else I know does the very the same thing! As James gets older the more and more he is just like his daddy!

It was such a fun day and still hard to believe James is 2. We love him to pieces. It meant so much to Chad and I that our family was there and see how much they love him too. On to another year with more new milestones and more excitement!

New Addition

Not in our family for all those whose minds are wondering :) but new additions to our back yard landscape. For those who read the 2009 recap you remember we planted some trees last June that did not survive well one did...we moved it closer to our deck to provide a little privacy now that we have new neighbors in a once vacant home...

And then replaced the dead ones with these pretty trees. These were planted by some local mexican friends who I must say do some really good work and really fast. I am proud to report that after 2 weeks these trees are still living!

But this year we do have a little helper keeping them alive.

Chad has done some more clearing and we planted a few azaleas and olive trees in our little forest. We still have lots of things we want to do but we were not able to find any money trees to plant so we can only take one step at a time.

Note James is still watering...I am really scared to open our next water bill!


2nd Birthday post to come!! Lots of pictures to upload. Stay tuned!!

OBSESSION

This post is long over due and does not require a lot of explanation based on the pictures below. Short story. Chad's parents were so nice to give Chad a Big Green Egg for his birthday. I was excited for him because he has been talking about wanting one for several years. However I did not realize how obsessed he would become. Our meals revolve around something we can cook on it and even one time he cooked our entire meal on the egg...steaks, baked potato and veggies. There is even an Egghead Forum which he visits frequently! I give him a hard time with his obsession but I will say he is quite the cook and has mastered his egg skills in a short period of time. Pictures of the items he has cooked on the egg recently taken by his request :) And this is not all of the items he has cooked by the way...

Chad's assistant who is hoping at any moment he might drop one of his masterpieces or allow him to do the taste test.

This soon really??

I have to share this funny story...Yesterday when I picked James up from daycare I ran into one of the mom's of a girl in James class and she said I have to tell you what Riley said this morning. She said she was trying to get Riley dressed for school and the mom said "don't you want to look cute for school" Riley's response (who just turned 2) says "No I want to look cute for James!" I busted out laughing! I thought it would be years before we would be having "the talk". But I decided it must be time so it was a long ride home for James...of course I am only kidding!

I am having a moment

I created this blog because I am not good with scrapbooks (actually never created one). I want something for our family to look back on and laugh and say oh yeah I remember that...So I realized I haven't really done a post focusing mainly on James' latest "things he is doing these days". And since that is the purpose of this blog I am not trying brag and if it comes across that way I am slightly bias. I am having a moment because his 2nd birthday is just around the corner and I catch myself thinking where did the last 2 years go and why is my baby growing up so fast?? Doesn't this picture just make you smile?? Isn't he the cutest?? And no he is not trying do the choo choo train...he just shot his basketball in his goal and this is him saying "yes!"

So here it goes...

- James still loves American Idol :) We are now watching another season.

- He can easily count to 10 and mostly to 20 and can easily identify all the numbers.

- Knows his ABC's (cannot sing the song just yet but recognizes all of the letters)

- He can jump and jump and jump often (I need his energy badly)

- He loves singing along to songs in the car on the way to day care

- He can easily eat with a spoon and a fork (and he has preferences on which spoons and forks)

- He also has just started playing pretend...He made a pretend airplane with this cheese and started flying it through the air saying airplane! "vrooom vroom" He sets up his stuffed animals and has pretend conversations with them. I hear him trying to say stuff that Chad and I say to him :)

- He loves his weekly routine and doesn't like it very much when we change it up (one day Chad was home before we left work...he is usually gone before James wakes up...and this completely threw him off so confused)

- He loves books and puzzles

- He loves Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Curious George, Elmo, Special Agent Oso

- He says several phrases...like "love you Mommy (or daddy :))" "No say that daddy (or mommy)"...not my favorite but it is kind of funny the first time he said it. " I wanna watch ____" "let's build a house" "come on" (with this one he grabs your leg and starts leading you where he wants you to go) "read it" "war eagle hey!" With the arm twirl (this one is Chad's favorite)

- The "my" word is overly used

- He is not fond of brushing his teeth

- He has manners and uses them appropriately (please, thank you, yes ma'am, yes sir)

- He does not use the potty yet and doesn't seem interested so I am not pressing it

- He loves sleeping in his bed and loves having more than one paci to comfort him...some babies love a security blanket. James has security paci's. However he only has a paci when it is "night night" time

- He can throw a good temper tantrum...I am talking tears and screams and laid out on the floor...I claim he gets that from Chad...hehe. Lately these seem to happen more frequently. But when it is over he has started giving us a big hug and says "sorry mommy or daddy" That really makes my heart melt.

- His gives the best hugs and real kisses with the lip smack and sound affect

- He can walk in a room full of people and starting playing with other children he has never met. He gets that one from Chad too

- He really is the most loving child and laughs often and definitely makes us smile often.

Being a parent is extremely hard work and can be very trying at times. But it is the most rewarding job I have ever had and I absolutely could not imagine my life with out our James. We are truly blessed because a healthy happy child is something some people never get to experience and can be taken for granted. Note to self...read this last paragraph during the next tantrum!!

Curious George Recap

I am sure all of my 10 readers are so anxiously awaiting a post about the Curious George Live event! It was a huge success! James loved it and did so much better than I expected. I have summarized the night in pictures below...

Before we left James still did not know where we were going...and yes I put him in his Curious George tee...slightly not cool as Chad said. He claims you should never wear the "featured act" t-shirt to the event. I thought it was perfect and much better than the child we saw with an "man with the yellow hat" costume that made him basically look like a miniature man with the yellow hat that it completely through James for a loop. I wish I could have gotten the expression on his face when he saw him. It was completely hilarious!

So here we go...

This is what we could see (keep in mind this is the first time we have ever taken James to live performance...we havent even taken him to a movie yet)

And this was the expression on James' face the entire time. He was in a complete trance. Never took his eyes off the stage. It was so fun to watch!

During intermission...somehow we ended up with this $5 balloon!! Chad is such a sucker for these things!

And this was James on the ride home. I think it was all worth it.

Btw a few days later this is where the balloon ended up. Too high for us to reach even with a ladder. I guess we will have to wait for it to deflate. Ummm 1 week later the balloon is still resting on the ceiling. Not sure what kind of helium they are using!!