Eli's Second Birthday Party

GUESS WHO TURNED TWO???

Happy Birthday to our sweet Eli! I love how head strong and determined this little guy is. He is SO loving at times, but wow is he strong willed. I love it! Just like his Momma! He turned two on the 30th, but we had his party the 24th. We did a bubbles theme with bubble machines and lots of bubble toys. It was a hit! It rained the night before, and finally cleared a little about 1 hour before the party was to start. I was sweating it! We kept it small and simple this year, because I honestly didn't have time to plan anything elaborate after we got through Tessa's surgery. I'll make it up to him next year.

Here he is evaluating the bubble machine:

Mrs. Gen and Hank
Best buddy Aidan. (Our neighbor)
Best buddy Marley. (This is the kids babysitter Mar-Mar)...She is part of the family that's our fabulous Charlotte family! (AKA neighbors across the street).
Eric's sister Lindsay, her husband Brian, and their two girls Lacey and Nora, were able to come to the party! We were so excited!!! They live in NY, and had been in Atlanta the week before. They changed their plans a little to come party with Eli, and meet Miss Tessa.

And this is why cousin Lacey had to change clothes before getting in the car to drive to Buffalo:-) The bubble machine was a hit.

Grandpa with Mrs. Anna and Mr. Bob. They are the kid's third set of grandparents, who live across the street. They are our Charlotte family!
Why does it appear Eli is eating the bubbles, and Drake is laughing?
Reese came to play!
Eric and Aunt Lindsay. (Yes, they look like twins; they're not. Eric is around 7 years older.)
Nora had to show her Daddy some of the bubble toys.

Sweet Anna came to play.

Who knows what Eli wanted here...
Our beautiful niece Nora.

Daddy to the rescue...the sandbox needed a refill.

Tessa has the cutest birthday party bow EVER!
Uncle Brian was giving Nora some smooches.
He wanted to get to those cupcakes!
Daddy lit the candles for us.

Blowing out his two candles. (There were three, until we remembered he was in fact, only turning two!)
Our sweet boy's cake!
These two were pretty pumped about the cupcakes, cake, and ice-cream.

Drake loves to walk the dogs.
Love my girl in her shirt, eating a pop-pop!
Happy kiddos!
A little bit of blue sky peeked out at us.
It started to rain as soon as we got to the park. There is a big umbrella we sat under, and I got this cool shot of the rain coming down.

Birthday Party Fun!

Okay, so back over a month ago was Drake's party! Here are some pictures, although in reverse order.

After the party, all the cousins:

What's going through Tessa's head: "Crap, what have I gotten myself into! These people are crazy with a capital C!".
Opening presents at the party
Loving the ice-cream
Mommy and Daddy helped Drake blow out the candles. Turns out he didn't need us. (Sad face)
Obviously, she wanted more juice.

Oma and Opa were here from Buffalo!

Sweet lil' Baylor!
Tessa went down this slide no less than 20 times.
Our friends observing how times have changed;-)
Cheese pit! Drake was loving having his cousin to play with!
Oh, I heart this little face. My sweet baby.


And we marched!
And ran under the parachute...
And had an all around great time!

Eli's First Birthday Party!

Eli turns one on Wednesday, and this year has flown by as usual. We had his party this past Saturday, and really enjoyed celebrating with family and friends. It was MUCH smaller than Drake's, and I enjoyed it much more. I actually got the chance to talk with everyone who came. Unfortunately, Eric's parents both came down with the dreadful stomach virus and were stuck in our bedroom. We felt so awful for them! Eli (and Drake) really enjoyed the cake and cupcakes. As you'll see, Eli's party was a sock monkey theme. It was fun to do!

Eli had great fun playing with his monkey balloon the morning of the party

Favors



Do you remember Eli when he was this teeny tiny? He was only two weeks old, and had the sweetest squishable lips!

If anyone is looking for a science project with their kid, here is a good one. What is heavier, rain or helium? The answer- Rain! It made all the balloons look deflated:-(

Adorable hat.
Poor monkey balloon.
The party favors were sugar cookies decorated as sock monkey's. Nope, didn't make those either. Our friend from church, Bricklend did. She did the cakes as well, and I'll be happy to pass her info along to those in the Charlotte area.

Sock monkey fabric for the tables and highchair courtesy of my Mom, the fabric queen.

Cupcake wrappers and toppers from etsy:-)
Our friend Bricklend made the cake and smash cake- she's crazy talented!

Cute centerpieces, from the same etsy shop where the highchair bunting and photo banner were from. Check her out- Inspired by Owen.
LOVED his shirt with a sock monkey, a "1", and his name. So super cute! Another etsy find of course.
He decided that a nap was in order for the first fifteen minutes of the party.
Happy Birthday to our little monkey!

Singing to our sweet boy

Drake was a big fan of the cake and "cup-cups"
His smash cake was so big we ended up cutting over half of it, to serve.
Loving his new toys.
A bit overwhelmed by all the new and fun stuff. He's settled right into it now- loves playing with them all!
If you were wondering where our boys get their gorgeous eyes from...

Above: Marley, our neighbor and babysitter extraordinaire!

Below: The hat that was simply adorable, but I forgot to put it on Eli until the party was over.