Nathan's 2nd Birthday Party

We had Nathan's 2nd birthday party this past weekend, and overall it was a great success! Brian and I went back and forth trying to decide if we wanted to do a party or not, and finally decided that we would.  I'm glad we did, although I'm certainly thankful that its over!

We rented a shelter at a local park with a great playground. I decided originally to do a "Colors" theme, since Nathan still loves playing with his "matching colors" puzzle. Then we went to a playgroup activity where there was a bubble machine, which Nathan LOVED (that post and pics for another day), so I decided to buy a bubble machine and have a "Colors & Bubbles" theme for the party.

Nathan liked the bubble machine again, but in competition with the park (especially the swings), it didn't hold quite the appeal that it had previously. But he definitely had fun for a little while...

Brian grilled hotdogs for our dinner. 

Jennie was there and it was so good to spend time with her.  I was also pumped because I knew I could hand off my camera to her during the cake & candles and count on her to get some great shots - which she did, of course!  Here, Nathan's giving her a high-five.  Nathan was also super excited about eating Cheetos and probably ruined his dinner because he ate so many... but that's what birthday parties are for, right?!

We had about 30 people there, including kids.  Here's half of the crew, including family and people from church...

...and here's the playgroup half of the crowd.

This is what made the whole thing worth it for me.  Nathan was grinning from ear to ear when everyone gathered to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.  Throughout the whole song, he was just looking around at everyone, so happy and excited, and I got a little choked up right at the end. 

He also did a great job blowing out his candles.  He got one on the first try and the other on the second try!  I'm sure the practice that he got the night before blowing out the candle on Nana's birthday cake (twice!) helped with his success!

And here's the video that my wonderful husband thought to record on his phone.  It is also Nathan's new favorite video to watch on the computer!


The cupcakes we made for the party gave Carroll and me fits, and if it wasn't for her help, I would have probably given up and thrown them all out.  Between burning batches, forgetting ingredients, and icing that started out tasting marginal and then gave us problems with consistency, I'm amazed that they actually turned out tasting fabulous (in my opinion).  It was also my first time trying to pipe icing, so that was a learning curve as well.  It just reaffirms my typical rule for myself not to try new recipes when it really matters if it turns out well or not!  But next time I make them, I'm sure it will go a lot smoother!  I used this recipe for the cupcakes and this one for the icing (we added some powdered sugar at the end to sweeten slightly).  After hearing all my problems, I'm sure you'll want to try the recipes too (haha), but really, I thought they ended up tasting great and got lots of compliments on them from the guests!

As with last year, Nathan wasn't super interested in eating his cake.  He actually ran away from the table as soon as the candles were blown out.  He did try a bite of Daddy's a bit later though.

Jennie got a few shots of some of our friends who came to the party.

Nathan loved going down the big slide with Daddy and by himself.  Check out the awesome hair!

Now, I can shift my focus onto the next big event: our baby girl's arrival!  Thankfully she'll have a place to sleep now that I've cleaned out all the party supplies that were accumulating in her crib!