Roo's 5th Birthday Party

Roo's 5th birthday party was just what he wanted. I was hoping to not have it at the house this year but he really wanted it at the house. After checking out Paragon Gymnastics to see if we could have it there, which I think he would have loved, they told me they weren't doing Sunday parties. Alas, Uncle Matt planned his entire summer around being at the party on Sunday the 7th. So we had the party at home!

I talked with Roo a bit about what kind of cake he wanted this year. After telling him I wasn't planning on making a Wall-E cake again like last year, we agreed that a caterpillar cake would be great. He wanted it with lots of worms. I looked up some pictures on the internet to get some ideas and decided against The Very Hungry Caterpillar as I thought it was a little young for him. I showed Daddy and one of his friends at work what I planned on making and they were unimpressed, asking me if I aspired to do it nicely at all.

With that vote of confidence, I made this caterpillar cake. Dairy and egg free and delicious too! I tried a new icing recipe that someone at work gave me and it worked really well. Hooray!

When Roo first saw the cake he thought it was amazing. Roo then asked where the worms were and I told him that the caterpillar ate them and that's why it's so big. He seemed satisfied with that answer.

As for the actual party, we filled up the baby pool and put out a double slip n slide. We also gave each of the kids a water gun. The kids all had a blast playing outside and getting really wet. It was super humid out so it was good that the storms held off and they were able to play outside.

I made a bunch of food and everyone had a good time with each other. We had a "smaller" party this year though it still seemed like a lot of people for the size of our kitchen. Roo was excited to have a few of his friends over and we enjoyed catching up with friends and family.

Before Roo opened his presents I asked him if he could nicely thank each person who gave him a gift after he opened it. Roo loved everything he received and was good about thanking everyone. It was hard to pull him away from his presents last night, this morning and as soon as he got home this afternoon!

We're really glad he enjoyed his party and had so much fun with his friends!

Bug's 2nd Birthday Party

Last year Bug was sick with H1N1 for his birthday party so we decided to have a larger party than we normally have for Bug's 2nd birthday. Also, instead of baking his cake this year like I normally do, I found an allergy friendly baker that was local enough and ordered his dairy, egg, nut and other allergen free cake from there. The bakery is called The Lemonade Bakery, and everyone, especially Bug, really enjoyed the cake. We also made a few appetizers to put out and everyone enjoyed those as well and were sometimes surprised to hear that everything was allergy friendly.

Before the party started we decided to give Bug his big present from us. This is the first really big present he's gotten from us and he loved it! I know I can drive real cars, but that Jeep Rubicon looks like so much fun! And he really loved being a passenger in the truck as well!

And just before our first guests arrived, Grandma and Grandpa gave Bug his very own red wagon! Roo has a red wagon that he got from them for his 2nd birthday and Bug was so excited to get one of his own!

After everyone arrived and we all hung out for a bit we eventually had the yummy cake. Bug loved when we sang happy birthday to him and kept trying to reach for the fire on the candle. He was really cute blowing out his candle too.

After cake Bug opened his presents. It was hard to keep his attention after each new gift and he loved each of them. He loves dancing to Rock n Roll Elmo and can be found most nights dancing to the songs before bed.

He really loved the new drill. Little did the gift giver of the drill know that Bug loves drilling his teeth! That drill accompanied us to the doctor's office later that week and helped the time pass nicely.

The Toy Story race track was also one of Bug's favorite gifts! The shake and go cars are really fun to watch speed around the track, and the house, and the boys play with it every night; thanks Grammy and Papa!

Bug also go a couple of his own really big Tonka trucks from Uncle Matt. We're hoping to keep the trucks inside through the winter since the boys have so much fun racing them around the house!

And, the loudest present ever, was actually one that Roo and I picked out, not knowing it would be so loud. The push lawn mower, that Bug loves so much, is so so so loud! This may be the perfect gift to give to all my friends and their kids ;)

Bug got a ton of great presents from everyone and loves all his new toys!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Bug's 2nd birthday and we were so glad that he was well this year and could enjoy the celebration! We had so much extra cake that I froze a bunch of it and, ssshhh, don't tell daddy, I let them have cake for breakfast the next day! It was so much fun having everyone over to the house and it was a great day!