Party Time!

Today was Declan's 2nd birthday party. He loves the movie "Cars" so we went with that theme for his party. I had so much fun scouring the internet and coming up with ideas for the theme! 

Brad drew an incredible picture of Lightning McQueen to go over our fire place. I made a cute birthday banner and painted a chalkboard with some facts about Declan. We put all of his little cars up on the mantle. It was really cute because Declan saw it and took the rest of his cars and lined them up in the same way. He's such a sweetheart!

Here's Luigi's Tower of Tires. I apologize for the blurry photos. I didn't realize until too late that my camera was on a funky setting. 

Here's the sign that was over the table!

We also had Ramone's House of Body Art which included Cars Tattoos and a design your own car paper. 

Paula brought Declan a Radiator Racers flag to decorate for our party! 

I drew a Radiator Springs sign to help direct traffic. 

Brad and I made a race track for the kids to race their cars down the hall to the "finish line."

 Brad drew the Piston Cup for the finish line!

My favorite part was the Pit Pass I designed for the kids. Each child got a lanyard and a VIP pit pass along with a race car to play with for the day. 

I also drew Route 66 signs that we put outside to show the way to Radiator Springs. 

Saturday while Declan and I were at Trysha's, Brad decorate the cake I baked. It turned out AMAZING!! He is so talented. 

We also baked cupcakes and I made little toppers for them with stickers and a toothpick. 

For the rest of our "eats" we had Guido's pizza rolls, Mater's Tater Tots, Sally's Stop Light Fruit, Piston Cup popcorn, 

Mao and Bop arrived early with Elias and Great Nana. We had borrowed a bouncy house from a neighborhood group. It wasn't the best bouncy house, but the kids still had a great time! Declan and Elias bounced together for Great Nana. 

Our other guests, including the Linns, Hansons, Grospes, Crabers, Uncle Todd, the Fairies, the Clarksons, Grand Paula, Cousin Dan, and Christiane all arrived. 

The kids loved racing their cars on the race track, getting tattoos and decorating their own race car. Most of the kids bounced in the bouncy house too! 

Declan loved blowing out the candle on his cake. 

After eating cake, we opened presents. Declan loved having all eyes on him as he opened each gift. He doesn't understand that he's supposed to keep opening one after the other. After each one he wanted to walk around the room and show it to everyone. It was pretty cute. He was so excited to see each toy or book. He got puzzles, books, balls, legos, cars, dinosaurs, WSU and Christmas pjs, and more. He was so spoiled and loved today! 

Here he is opening presents. ;-) 

After all of our race fans left, Declan helped us clean up. He was so excited to get to play with some of his toys. He played and played while Brad and I deflated the bouncy house and did some more cleaning. 

After all of our race fans left, Declan helped us clean up. He was so excited to get to play with some of his toys. He played and played while Brad and I deflated the bouncy house and did some more cleaning. He was exhausted after so much fun and let us know it was time for bed!  We had a great day together. 

Saturday Birthday

Since Brad was gone for Declan's birthday, we celebrated with Declan on Saturday. He woke up and came out to find his kitchen all built and ready to play. He loved it. He cooked and cooked. Brad and I worked around the house while he played in his kitchen. Declan and left to go have birthday pictures take by Trysha. It was a hard photo shoot. Declan was a little grouchy with pictures. He wanted to play instead of smiling and sitting still. Trysha still managed to get some great shots, but it was a lot of work to get him to smile!

We headed home for a quick lunch and a nap. After his nap Daddy treated the three of us to the Peanuts Movie! It was great. Declan was totally enamored with being in the theater and eating popcorn.The movie was very cute. I loved that many of Charles Schulz's original sketches were included in the movie.

After the movie we took Declan out for a burger, which he didn't want to eat! However he had no problem devouring the ice cream that came with his meal! We headed for home and he got to open his presents from his family. He got two really cute outfits, a book and cars from his Nana. His Charlotte cousins set him an awesome soccer ball. We are so excited that he has two soccer balls now so that we can play with him and his goal! They also sent him two really fun books that he was so excited to read.

He also got a wonderful name book from Elias and his parents. Declan  listened to each page and pointed to the letters as I read to him. He loved it. We were laughing because Declan wouldn't open any more packages until we read him each book.

Declan headed off to bed all worn out and ready to party the next day!

I'm Two!

These are Declan's two year old photos from Trysha. It was not the best day for a photo shoot since it was pouring down rain and windy. Declan really wanted to play with all the toys in the studio so it was difficult to get him to hold still and smile! There was a 5 minute break in the rain so we ran outside for a few pictures. Even without our normally smiley boy, the pictures are great. 

Declan hates this adorable hat! 

Birthday boy

On Declan's birthday Daddy was still in Austin for work. I had gotten up early to put up a few more decorations for his party. When I heard his little voice calling for me, I went in his room singing happy birthday to him. He smiles at me and while I changed his diaper I continued singing. He kissed me and told me "happy birthday, mama.!" It sounded a little like happy birthday, anyway! I made chocolate chip pancakes for his breakfast, lit a candle and sang to him again. He loves the birthday song. 

We went to swimming, which is our usual Friday routine. Declan loved kicking in the water. Paula and Mao were there to watch him swim. After swimming Declan went to Great Nana's condo with Mao for waffles. I had to go to the dentist unexpectedly for a temporary root canal! Fun! 

Once I finished at the dentist I went to my parent's house. Declan was sound asleep. When he woke up, he got to open his birthday presents from Mao and Bop and Great Nana. He was so excited, but wasn't quite sure what to do. He realized he could rip the paper, but only saw a box so he was a little disappointed. We helped him to get it open and he found a bag for his Radio Flyer. He was excited to put stuff in it and carry it around. It will be great for when we go to the zoo! 

Next Declan opened his gifts from Mao and Bop! They gave him a collapsing soccer goal and Mickey Mouse soccer ball! He loved it. Declan even golfed into the goal. He yelled "goal" each time he made it in. 

Declan and I went home to have dinner together. A box had arrived from Aunt Whitney so we opened that. He was thrilled to see a train tunnel and hot wheels. I love watching him open boxes.He yells wow when he sees what's in each one. We called Aunt Whitney to thank her and he was thrilled to show her his new train tunnel. We played with his soccer goal and then he went to bed. While Declan slept I put together his birthday gift from Brad and me. Brad was delayed in Austin and didn't make it home until 3:30 in the morning.