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!