ben's 2nd birthday (party)

ben's been beginning to understand the concept of "birthdays" after watching daddy, uncle matt, and his friend, kainoa, blow out candles and open presents in the past 3 weeks. he has a little phrase what would be unrecognizable to the untrained ear but that i know means "happy birthday" and he sings a little tune with it usually too. when i told him on saturday morning that today was his birthday, he was pretty excited. he watched me ice his birthday cake in the morning but was pretty disappointed that he couldn't eat it right away. i told him we were having a party after he woke up from his nap and that his friends, elias and braedan, would be here. i reiterated that they'd be here "after his nap." when i heard him crying out from his bedroom post-nap around 1pm, the first thing he said to me was, "elias! happy birthday!". oops - sorry...a couple hours AFTER your nap, ben. poor guy - it was a lot of waiting on saturday. but when the party got going, he had a great time with his two friends, their parents, grandparents, and uncle matt and auntie katie.

i organized one wee game of find the eggs which needed parent participation but the kids found the eggs and ate the treats inside them (fruit snacks and m&ms) or stuck the stickers on their arms.


we had traditional bbq fare for dinner - the boys had sliders (aka kid sized burgers) for their dinner which was eaten at ben's new table.
present opening this year was a lot more fun as he knew that the paper should be ripped off and that the things inside were for him.
he read a few pages of each book that he got...
and note to self for next present opening - have scissors ready to free the gifts from their packaging!
ben also got a balance bike and helmet which ended in a few tears but he's ridden it through the house numerous times since saturday and i think he's going to really like it once he understands how to do it on his own.

cake!

no 2 year old party is complete without bubbles!

what a fun day!