TWO

Another year has gone by and my baby is no longer a baby. He is a full fledged walking/running, talking, reasoning, thinking, singing, dancing, climbing, drawing toddler. The clothes we buy now are 2T and he is officially two, no more counting by months. He is sweet and he is emotional, fiery... certainly his is is own little person. A leader for sure, he doesn't always want to do what the crowd is doing. He has his own ideas and he will let you know about them. I could never have imagined loving anyone so much. It is a cliche, but it is so true.

Happy 2nd Birthday to our wonderful, bubbly, hilarious, wild, big brown-eyed BOY!

Oh, and did I mention opinionated? We celebrated his actual birthday on Friday, December 17th at our usual Friday night spot... Gosh. Our server, Kelly (who Conor is in love with) brought out a cake with a glowing number two candle. The look on his face was priceless. He was delighted as we all sang and he blew his candle out. Then, it was time to cut the cake... big mistake. As I sunk the white plastic cake server into the butter cream frosting, Conor let out a shriek, bursting into tears, screaming "you broke it!" Huge crocodile tears streamed down his face, and I was, of course, mortified... you don't want to make your kid cry in the middle of a crowded restaurant, especially on his birthday. But never fear, Aunt Jenna to the rescue. Twirling the cake around to face the "unbroken" side toward my wailing boy, he saw this, dramatically wiped both eyes with both fists simultaneously and declared with a sigh "you fixed it" ... crisis averted.

Then it was happy laughs and cake licking for the rest of the night. Conor prefers to lick icing off of any sweet treat he may be eating and since it was his birthday he was allowed to lick it right off the cake itself. The best part, as Kelly informed us the next day, is that after we left the servers at the restaurant all ate the leftover cake, Conor licks and all!

The next morning was Conor's Elmo party. He was so excited for all of the festivities of his party and bouncy house (which unfortunately was cancelled due to the uncooperative weather). None the less, the party was a hit and everyone had a blast. I made home made mac 'n cheese (thanks for the recipe Sarah) and we ordered food and cake from Publix. The sun finally came out and the kids ran around on the golf course, splashing in the puddles. I think the balloons were a favorite and Ren tossed them up in the air and all the kids when running after them.

Conor had to warm up at first and had to play with this ice for about twenty minutes. Thanks to my friend Sarah from work for taking over for me :)

This makes me happy

Baby #2 definitely made his/her appearance for the birthday party

Nat, Seth and little A.J.

Loren and Teresa

Jimmy, Kristen & Tripp (2 months)

Nothing warms my heart like a proud papa.

Jimmy with Tripp and Loren with a sleepy Bella.

Among all of the wonderful gifts Conor received (several Elmo dolls, books, cars, clothes, shoes) was the biggest hit of the day, his brand new BMX bike courtesy of Grandpa. I never thought a two year old would be able to ride a real bike (with training wheels of course) but man, he tears it up! Don't worry, he even wears his helmet!

And then there was cake.

Anticipation...

Delivery...

Cutting the cake is obviously NOT an option at this stage...

So, we gave it back. Yes, the whole thing.

Nothing like a naked baby digging into some delicious cream cheese frosted, strawberry filled, white Publix cake to make for a great ending to a birthday party. And yes, even though he is a toddler without exception, he will ALWAYS be my BABY.