Best buddy's birthday party

 

One of Jack's best buddies celebrated his second birthday last weekend and Jack had a ton of fun. It was craziness as usual with 20 toddlers running around an indoor playground. There was a bouncy house which Jack enjoyed, of course.

  

He rode in the rocking row boat.

 

He took this little cutie for a ride in the camper. She was skeptical as he checked the gas gauges but they ended up having quite a nice time.

  

The highlight for Jack though was probably the food. They had pizza and it was Jack's first time experiencing this magical food. Let me tell you, he LOVED it. He had two slices and probably would have eaten more if I had let him.

 

 

A week later he was still talking about pizza. In fact, the doctor asked Jack about his 2nd birthday party and all he could talk about was "pizza". (Wrong party kid. Glad you appreciated all the homemade food I made.)

Cousin Johnny's Birthday Party

 

 Last weekend we journeyed to San Diego to go to Jack's cousin Johnny's 3rd birthday party. And he had a blast! It didn't hurt that it was held at a beautiful park...right up Jack's alley. There was lots (and lots) of room to run up and down hills which he did with enthusiasm.

 

 He had a great time climbing on all the playground equipment too. The kid loves being outside.

 

sliding down the slide with his (great) aunt margie

 

striking a disturbingly model-like pose

 The highlight for him was probably the cake. I don't often let him have sweets so this was a special treat.

 

Sadly, Jack takes after his mom which means that he has a serious sweet tooth. I want to warn him now that all those cookies and cakes will go straight to his hips (or beer belly?) but he doesn't seem interested. Does this look like a kid concerned about moderation?

 

I guess I'm sort of an enabler though. Surprise, surprise.

 

I did have my doubts though about whether the second cupcake was a good idea.

 

And here are some more cute photos from the party....

the birthday boy!

jack with his younger cousin hank

playing with his (great) uncle glen

peekaboo!

walking his best friend, Pepe

lifting his leg to copy Pepe...charming.

"I might be full."

Party's over, time for a nap.

Toddlers and mommies oh my.

 

Last week my moms club had our annual Thanksgiving potluck. We divide into three parties so that it's not too overwhelming and guess who was one of the hosts? That's right. Luckily our house is actually pretty good for hosting parties and for accommodating a lot of people. I ended up having about 20 adults and about 20 kids ranging from newborn to 4 years old. The biggest surprise was probably that Jack dealt with it really well! I was worried that he'd get cranky and clingy and want everyone to leave (because that's happened before). But he was a great host. I told him that all of his friends were coming over and he seemed excited. Then during the party he actually was pretty independent and played with the other kids and shared all his toys.

When everyone finally left he said sadly to me, "people left". It was so cute. Of course, with all the chaos and trying to organize the food and host, I managed to take exactly one picture (see above). Those were two of the lovely ladies who were so taken with little Jack.  Lining up for him already...  :-)

Birthday Parties for kiddos

 

Check out that giant blow-up water slide. Whoa. That was at one of the two birthday parties we went to on Sunday. Quite a set-up for a one year old. Of course, it wasn't for the baby but for some of the 85 (!) guests who had assembled. I have to say, standing in 100 degree heat, I totally wished that I was 8 years old so that I could go down that slide. Looked pretty fun. Of course, Jack was too young for that but he did play around in the kiddie pool. The kid sure loves water.

 

jumping up to make a big splash

 

making a break for it

Our second party was for a two year old and they had a bouncy castle. Elmo's Fun House to be exact. And, man oh man, Jack loved it. I think his daddy liked it even better and the two of them were in there for probably an hour total. They had to keep taking water breaks because they were sweating but it was pretty darn adorable.

 

John showing Jack how to get some air

bouncing!

Jack's 1st Birthday Party

Where to begin. Well, as a lover of all things sweet, I suppose I must begin with the cake. Isn't it gorgeous? Well, actually, I should probably start a little earlier.

As Jack's first birthday approached I knew I didn't want to do a big blowout with matching everything and a bouncy castle and a kids band and pony rides and all that. Sure, sounds ridiculous but here in LA, it certainly happens. I heard one friend tell of a birthday party with a live band, bartender, caterer, and a petting zoo. Anyways, low key was our style. And in our budget. Especially when Jack had no idea what was going on. I decided I wanted to have it at a park because the little guy does so much better outside. SO much better. His love of the outdoors is ridiculous. So we chose a cute little park with toddler size play equipment and invited our family and friends with little ones.

We just did some sandwiches and salads for all the guests as well as some healthy munchies for the kids.

There were hats and bubbles and a book all about Jack. What an attention hog.

Jack is enthralled by balloons so we got him a bunch.

His friend Lilly was equally pleased.

Now moving on to the cake. My sister-in-law Kelly is a master at cakes so she volunteered to make one for Jack's big day. I had no idea how complex and amazing it would be. Here she is putting the finishing touches on it.

And here's the final masterpiece.

What a hit! And Jack was impressed that it had all of his favorite animals on it. And that the little palm trees were made with wafer cookies. Yippee! Better yet? It was delicious! We got to choose between a chocolate cake with a peanut butter layer or a yellow cake with a raspberry whipped cream layer. Jack's still not doing peanuts so he dove into the yellow cake.

The ecstasy you see on his face is his first big bite of sugar. Man, why had I been keeping that stuff from him? What a mean mommy. Because it was GREAT. After that, there was no stopping him. He ate and ate and ate and ATE.

Daddy had to pull him away because I was worried he was going to get sick. He wasn't very happy about it.

To distract him, we moved on to presents. He got a lot of awesome gifts from some very generous friends.

All in all, it was so much more successful than I imagined. Mainly because I imagined him whining and crying and needing a nap mid-party. But he timed his energy surge perfectly and the weather was beautiful. Thank you to everyone who could make it!

And now, a few more pics from the big day.

Our attempt at a family photo

The cake was a big distraction though

Playing soccer with his friend Violet

The boys with Grandpa and cousin Johnny

Telling Leigh an amazing story about her keys

Jack's little friend Ethan exploring the dirt

The glee of reaching the top of the play set

Jack's youngest friend Harry

Cousin Christy with the birthday boy

Stacey and Violet stare down the cake

Aunt Kelly and cousin Hank

Aunt Leslie and Jackie

Graciously giving Leigh all the pebbles he found

Uncle Johnny and cousin Hank fooling around

Stacey showing off her new mom acrobatics

Yay for the slide!

Jack and Violet eyeing each other up

Trying to make our 1 year old laugh

My cute little boy