Birthday Extravaganza

Okay, so it wasn't really an extravaganza.

At all.

Maybe I don't feel like I can compete with the super-duper-all-out baby birthday parties so I purposefully try to keep it small and simple. That way there's no comparison. Maybe I figure he's thrilled to pieces just to have a balloon to play with and a chance to blow out candles so why over do it. Maybe I'm just cheap and lazy.

Whatever it is I just wanted to enjoy celebrating two years with our little man. And enjoy it, we did!

Saturday (the actual "Bennett Day") we woke up our big two year old with the Birthday Song and he got to blow out two candles on his blueberry muffin. It was quite a thrill. I'd post the video of how excited B was when he woke up, jumping and dancing in his bed...but then I'd have to subject your ears to Jeff and I singing first thing in the morning. It wasn't pretty.


Saturday evening family came to our house for pizza, presents and cake.

As I suspected Bennett was thrilled by the balloons. He insisted that one be on his person the entire evening. We could have just stopped there and considered the party a raging success.

But of course we had to have him open some goodies! B caught on really quickly that he should thank people for his gifts. After the first couple of presents he began saying "day doo" to the appropriate party as soon as I announced who the gift was from. He was too cute looking around the room and earnestly thanking people before he'd even opened their gifts.

I could be slightly biased but I do believe he's the sweetest boy that ever did live.

Our families gave a lot of great gifts including some matchbox cars, music CDs, puzzles, books, an awesome stand to use as he "helps" me in the kitchen (I am SO excited about that one!) and some great rain gear including galoshes and his own umbrella!


Bennett was thrilled to open this "socky". (Full disclosure here: he's seen it on the top shelf in our closet multiple times and wanted to play with it but I would just try to distract him or tell him it was too high for me to reach.)


And when we took him outside to see the soccer goals it didn't take him any time to know what to do. He'd have stayed out there for the rest of the night (with the beloved balloon tied to his wrist) if we'd let him.


But we forced him to come inside for one more surprise.

His new big boy bed!


This actually was not planned until the eleventh hour. Friday morning my mom called from a Fort Worth garage sale to tell me she'd found a cute toddler bed that I might like. After a couple more phone calls, some emailed photos and a consult with Jeff, we decided to buy it. It came with all the bedding and the little curtains to make the play area underneath like a fort or tent. I love it!

A huge thanks to Dane, Papa Day and SheySha (Gran, PapaJ and Lisa) for disassembling, loading, hauling, unloading and reassembling the bed in Allen. Y'all rock!





(Take note that we are now taking the balloon AND the ball everywhere.)

I'm not real sure that B gets that he's supposed to actually sleep there eventually but he's enjoying it nonetheless. Hopefully we'll soon get some curtains for the room and start the transition out of the crib.

Any helpful tips or tricks will be greatly appreciated! (FYI - the slide is easily removed and will certainly NOT be on the bed for sleep times.)

Finally, there were more candles to blow out and cake to eat. Don't be overwhelmed by my creativity and cake decorating skills. Everyone has their gifts.


I thought my Red Raider friends might get a kick out of how Bennett announces his age.



And just so you all know, lil' miss Dayton was around too. She sported a darling onesie from the Thomases that says "Bennett's Little Sister" in support of the birthday boy.


Whew, I'm exhausted from that recap so I'll save the huge, awesome, blow-your-mind birthday party with friends for another post.

Props to you if you made it this far. I'm sure you'll be waiting with bated breath for Birthday Extravaganza II!

(aside: in making sure I spelled "bated breath" correctly, I learned some interesting history of the phrase. I'd always thought it was "baited breath" but I was incorrect.)

(aside on the aside: "interesting history" means probably interesting only to super-dorks like myself. Don't go googling the phrase expecting to find something earth-shattering with which to impress your friends.)

(I'm really going to try to learn to be more concise. Someday.)