The Kids' Table

I forgot to mention in my last post that Colter's birthday party day included two birthday parties! Colter and his grandma are birthday buddies (almost). Their birthdays are only six days apart, so after celebrating Colter's birthday at noon, the family went out to eat to celebrate John's mom's birthday. We had lots of good food and Colter and his grandma were both serenaded and presented with free ice cream. Yum!

Ever since Colter has been around, I have been demoted to the kids' end of the table whenever the whole family eats out. Colter's cousins all want to sit by him, and of course I have to sit by him to prevent him from leaping out of his seat and throwing food at the people next to us, so that leaves me surrounded by my nieces. That's totally fine; to be honest I would rather sit by the girls anyway because I don't get to see them very often, but I really wonder what the grown-ups were saying at the other end of the table. If I had a microphone at the other end of the table to satisfy my nosiness, I would be totally fine. What were they discussing? Politics? World events? Reminiscing how John's brother used to torture him? Oh well. I guess I'll never know. That's okay; I know I'm way too young and vibrant to sit with the grown-ups anyway.

The Kids
An attempt at a family portrait---after the long, fun-filled day of birthdays, Colter was done. I love how everyone is looking at Colter as I tried to reason with him, and the look on my sister-in-law's face is funny! She looks shocked at Colter's behavior. :) What? Sweet, little Colter is throwing a fit? Surely not!

Belated Birthday Post

I knew I could count on Grandad! When I was busy catering to all my nieces and nephews at Colter’s birthday party, I didn’t stress out about not really having time to take pictures because I knew my father-in-law would have it covered. Sure enough, when the CDs arrived with pictures from Colter’s 2nd birthday party arrived, there were 193 images! 193! Whoo hoo!!!! I love how well-documented Colter’s life is.

After last year’s rushed birthday party experience that ended in a scary thunderstorm sending all the guests fleeing, we decided to cram our family into our house. Then in case of rain, we would have a roof. Roofs are good. :) Fitting all our family into our @1400 square foot home is no small feat. There were 27 people at the party, and that wasn’t the whole crew! My dad, brother, brother-in-law, and Courtney’s Nathan who technically isn’t related but has been her boyfriend for years so he counts as family, couldn’t make it because they were all working and a few friends that we had invited couldn’t come either. I don’t know what we’re going to do down the road! I have two brothers and two sisters and could end up with a lot of nieces and nephews! We’re going to have to be one of those families that builds a shed just for family gatherings. Even though it was a bit crowded, everything went great. We had a yummy birthday feast, we played pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, had a piñata (sort of), and the kids played in the sprinkler. The sort-of-piñata was my sister. Colter likes to hit things, so I thought he would like a piñata, but I never got around to making one, and I didn’t want to spend $20 on one. Instead, Courtney held the candy, and the kids hit her until she threw it around the yard. FUNNY! I think we might have an Aunt Courtney piñata at every birthday party from now on. I think it would make a great tradition—how about you, Courtney?

Colter had so much fun at his party! He loves to have company over, and there were lots of playmates for him. He got to play with all of his first cousins at one time, and he had a ball. Plus, he got several awesome new toys, including a tricycle, a Radio Flyer wagon, and a Power Wheels truck. The kid is set for life. We probably don’t need to have any more birthday parties. :)

Have you noticed all of the cake shows that are on TV now? I think I could have my own show. My speciality could be cupcake bear cakes with slightly crossed eyes and super-yummy caramel icing.

Colter was a very neat cake eater unlike at his first birthday! He did end up with a blue booger though.

There were a lot of neat eaters at the party. No frosting on these faces...

Alexis daintily licked any frosting off her fingers.

Sweet Justin managed to maintain a frosting free face.

Then there was Carter! Hee Hee. :)

See? There were a lot of people at Colter's party!Fun times in the sprinkler!

But what were these guys doing?

Dancing!

A kiss goodbye for Natalie...or is it Nicole? Natalie? Hmmm....the trials of having identical twins in the family!

Let Them Eat Cake

Happy Birthday Colter!!!!

Colter is two-years-old today! He's such a big boy all of a sudden. Sniff. Colter had a great time at his birthday party on Saturday and at the Discovery Center today. There has been lots of birthday excitement at our house--and cake. Lots of cake. :)

The hard thing about being the host of a big birthday bash is that I didn't really have time for pictures. Someday when I get copies of Grandad's, I'll post more pictures and details.

Sort of Wordless Wednesday

Why My Son's Outdoor Birthday Party

Was Rushed And Had The Fastest

Party Clean-Up Ever!