Happy 2nd Birthday James!!!

How is my sweet baby 2?!?!? Ryan and I both agree that this second year has FLOWN by and been much easier than the first.  That first year about did us in! :) We had a wonderful time celebrating James's second birthday! 

The morning of James's birthday he was up bright and EARLY. As in before 6:00 a.m. Someone was excited! 

He was so surprised to have balloons waiting for him.  What better way to start the day off than with a birthday pancake? 

After breakfast I woke Ryan up so we could do presents.  

JT got a puzzle with way too many pieces 

A new book bag with an Elmo coloring book inside 

A nap mat for school 

And the grand finale- a basketball goal! 

 The story behind this basketball goal is a little funny. I was feeling bad that we hadn't bought James any fun toys for his birthday. While we were at the beach Ryan ended up getting him this basketball goal as a surprise.  When Ryan walked out carrying it JT yelled, threw his milk cup across the room, and bolted over to the box! It was a priceless reaction. I just wish I had it on video! 

Soon after it was time to get ready for his party.  I had emotionally blackmailed my mom into coming back from the beach with me so she could attend the party. It just didn't feel right to not have any of our family here so we were glad she was able to be with us. 

We also let him open all his birthday mail- the kid LOVES getting mail 

Ryan's sister, James's Aunt Whitney, offered to make his birthday invitations. We decided to combine two of his favorite things: ice cream and airplanes. I thought they were adorable!!! Best of all, she designed, printed, made matching envelopes, and mailed them for me! I can't explain how nice it was to not have to worry about any of that. Thank you Whitney!!!! 

None of the pizza places were opened in time for the party so we got Papa Murphy's, and Ryan was in charge of baking and slicing.  He put those surgeon skills to good use with that pizza cutter! 

Finally we made our way over to one of James's favorite places: The Frozen Frog!  I seriously considered not doing a party this year but I felt bad that Ryan missed the party last year and I knew James would have a good time. It turned out to be a lot of fun for all of us! 

Hooray- the first guests are here!

Digging into the pizza 

Brown or Briggs (sorry Erinn I still can't tell them apart!) was so cute.  He came running into the store yelling, "Hi James hi James!" 

Brown and Briggs 

Mark and Jonathan

Maisey eating a little pizza

Sweet Sweet Avery.  

After pizza it was time for ice cream.  

Taylor looks excited! 

Must have tasted good 

I had a hard time thinking of an activity a bunch of toddlers could do, but I finally found these little hats to decorate  

Of course James was still eating at this point! 

Time for presents! 

We did have a minor meltdown when James cut the corner of his eye on a table while opening his presents.  As Ryan said, "Better our kid than one of the others!" 

Couvillon family 

Daphne, Mark, and Jonathan 

James attempting to give Emmy a hug. She wasn't having any of it though! 

Mrs. Miller was so sweet to come and celebrate with us

Trying to get a family picture but not so good. At least it shows his little birthday shirt. 

I realized after that we had two sets of twins at the party! 

Reece- what a cutie! 

 Just a few of the funny things that I observed ad mist the chaos.  A kid eating food off the floor.  Another kid continuously sneaking over to eat pretzels out of the container after he had finished the ones in his yogurt. Multiple kids running around crazy with balloons.  Kids opening presents when no one was looking. And I'm sure there was much more. What do you expect with a bunch of toddlers? I'm almost embarrassed to write this but after the party was over and everyone was gone, I said that I really didn't get as much frozen yogurt as I wanted so we all got more!!! 

JT seriously has his mouth full in all these pictures 

Sweet boy was so tired on the way home but was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. Love him to bits! 

 After James, Ryan, my mom, and myself ALL took a nap it was time to think about dinner. Where do you go for a 2 year old's birthday dinner? Chuckie Cheese, Chick-fil-a, McDonalds....no not in our family. Haha!  We had been telling mom how much we liked Texas Street Steakhouse so she convinced us that we should go there. Not your typical choice for a toddler but it was fabulous! 

James with his mouth full of Nene's fillet mignon! 

Well what do you know? They brought out some free ice cream for the birthday boy. 

For someone whose favorite food is ice cream, this was the ultimate day! 

After dinner we still had to eat cake, mostly because James had helped me make it and there was NO way he was forgetting about it.  

Per the birthday boy's request: a blue cake with "balls" (sprinkles) on it 

Favorite part- having us sing and blowing out the candle 

This candle gave him some trouble 

Another mouth full!

For all of our out of town friends and family, here is a little video of James blowing out his birthday candle on his ice cream at dinner.