I am 2!!! Birthday Party Picture Post

 

Being the sentimental Momma that I am, I watched my little man rest for awhile, enjoying the fact that I was still the Momma of this wonderful 1 year old.  He is going (still) through a spell of not wanting sleeves, even to sleep and so he has been wearing lots of regular t-shirts to bed with pj bottoms.  I love this kid, but his clothing issues are nuts!

Happy boy as we sang him “Happy birthday” that morning and explained that he would be having all his favorite people over that day to help him celebrate!  He was very excited

Balloons!  He was beyond in love with the balloons and he excited, exaggerated hugging of the balloons about gave this Momma a heart attack!  I could just imagine them popping and terrifying him and so we ended up cutting off the strings and letting them float to the ceiling.  He still enjoyed them, just from a bit of a distance!  I did learn that we could go to Dollar Tree next year, get the Mylar Balloons and they last much longer and do not pop.  Thought I would share that mommy wisdom with you all!

I wanted to do a Barn Banner for him, but the barns were so many, I ended up making this little craft and he really liked the clouds!

A family friend of ours did his cake and it was amazing!  I had asked her months before if she could do his cake because she just does a few a weekend for a select group of people and she did this one for us.  I had a whole different cake in mind but she sent me some ideas of cakes the week before and I let Joseph and Jessy help me choose and this was the cake Joseph and Jessy chose and I could not have been happier!  I am so glad that they both know what they like and are not wishy-washy like I am sometimes!  He gets so excited to see tractors these days and it never occurred to me to incorporate the tractors and barn theme together!  He loved his cake and his celebration!!  The black bear was an addition to our family when we went to The Smoky Mountains in May and I love to incorporate something significant from our year into his party!  Last year he had his duck that he loved dressed in a party hat and so we are keeping that part of the celebrations as our tradition!

Joseph has always been so happy just to be with his Uncle DJ.  He has always got excited to see him and he has always been able to comfort him when he was around.  It is like he just knows this man loves me and I can trust him, the love between these two is clear and beautiful to see!

The first part of the party, we began by opening presents.  Joseph got really excited to tear open the paper and he loved his new recliner from Momma & Daddy! 

It was a good find and a bargain compared to trying to find one online!  He immediately got in and tried to recline   I guess he has seen his Daddy do that a time or two!! 

A little information about his shirt:  Since the theme sort of changed into John Deere tractors, we ended up trying to hurry and find him a cute shirt to wear for the day.  We found this one at the local VF Factory outlet store for a bargain, but it was a bit too big and had those dreaded long sleeves.  We ended up cutting out the long sleeves and Joseph was one happy camper, as you can tell!

Thrilled, thrilled, thrilled!  Truth be told, every sweet munchkin there helping us celebrate had to try out that recliner and they loved it too!  It was super sweet!

Joseph has been loving to try to steal my camera a lot lately so we bought him his own V.tec.h Digital Camera and it works pretty good and has games on there too!  It is a little too advanced for him just yet, but he loves to take pictures!

Presents and sweet Z and  cousin G.

Joseph opening the gift from G and her Mommy!  Scout is now a part of our bedtime routine.  His favorite songs on there are Jingle Bells, The wheels on the bus, Old MacDonald’s Farm, and The Muffin Man.   

Do you see the wonder in his eyes?  I love it!

Here, he is giving the Cane’s Dog a kiss!

He got a Brother Francis dvd and coloring book from his Aunt Shane and he loves it!

His Nanny Chelle gave him a white step stool to help him with being able to be more independent in washing his hands and brushing his teeth!  He thinks whoever thought of that was a genius!! 

Sitting on his stool, breaking it in

He received a Li.ttle Tik.es Table and chairs from his Granny & Paw and was so happy!

In a flash, he crawled on top of the table!  I think he would have tried to dance on the table if he would have been fast enough!

Play time with some favorite people!

Getting ready for cake!!

He decided the first week of advent that he did not like candles, but I tried it for his cake and he managed to stay calm, but he was not a fan of the candle.  Thinking back, I wish I would not have chose to use it!

Love this growing boy!

Taking the tractors off of the cake, I think he was saying “I waited long enough to play with those fun toys!!!”

This moment right here was the best moment of the day for me, watching him sneak little fingers onto the corner of the cake and eat the icing off of his sweet fingers!  I love that he enjoyed it that much!!!

My Aunt Shane took pictures for me and this is my favorite one from the day!  Thanks Aunt Shane for capturing this moment for  us!

Waiting for his piece of cake!

He put the tractor on his little piece of cake.

It is fun to party!

Joseph is here talking to his Granny and his Godfather, Uncle Lonnie! 

Giving ‘nene’ a hug!

Getting money to put in his Piggy.  He kept going up to his family and asking for more money   Funny boy!

He loves to put money in his Piggy and it is a life saver some days.  It can divert his attention from a full-blown meltdown. 

We were fortunate to have sweet Z and G help celebrate Joseph’s birthday.  These two girls are priceless and such blessings to so many!

Love sweet G!

We live in the most small home in the world it seems and we do birthday parties at home, we are nuts, I know.  Yet, my very smart husband suggested giving the kids rides on the four wheeler to get them outside and let the adults in the house have a quiet spell.

He really is a genius, that man!  He was riding around with kids clinging to him from all sides and said “I may not be able to afford to give them pony rides, but I can give them four-wheeler rides.”  He had us all cracking up!

The three cousins!

Our ramp that we have at our front porch is always a hit with the little ones, too!

Loving Granny!

He got this pull along puppy from his Momo & PawPaw and really likes it, he pulls it along and loves to watch it bark!

He walked his Granny out and gave her kisses bye.

 

He gave his Ancy Barbara kisses bye too!

Playing in the grass with his new Thomas slippers!

It is close to 5:4o in this pictures and his eyes were getting droopy!  Love him so much!

Watching his Granny, Aunt Melodies, and Ancy Barbara leave.

We had a game plan to release the balloons after his party to bring love to all of our favorite people in heaven, especially Sam & Nicky.  He liked this part too!

The last balloon in the distance!

I fed him a quick supper and turned on his new Brother Francis DVD and he passed out.  He went to bed around 6:15 and woke up at 5 am this next morning. 

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He got up, had breakfast, finished his Brother Francis video and then went back to sleep (we all did)!

PawPaw was sick the day before, but made a special trip to see Joseph the day after his birthday!  Just seeing his Paw Paw made his day!

Later that next night, he saw that I put his picture with his cake on my laptop as a screen saver and he decided to have a long talk with this birthday boy!  LOVE is too simple a word to express the way I am thankful for this precious child who has blessed my life with his presence!