The Big Little Kid Bash!

OK, so this is the last birthday party post, I swear! We decided to have the small family parties separate from the kids' party since our place can only hold so many.  The rule of "only invite as many children as your child's age" was silly to us...what 2 kids would we choose? AJ and I are busy hanging out with lots of different friends on a regular basis, so we didn't want to leave them all out, and we have gone to many of their children's parties too.  So a big bash it was!  

We decided on a construction theme, which would be easy enough to decorate and I was excited about cake ideas and the invitations.  Andy got a roll of caution tape, and I picked up some balloons and that pretty much took care of the decorations! Here's a picture of how the railings looked, and another arial shot of the general party.

We were prepared for a little bit of mayhem, but were pleasantly surprised at how manageable the party felt! All the kids were pretty good and played as well together as 2 yr olds can. Andy had the upstairs finished to a point that being up there was safe (not more exposed studs or nails) and some liked being upstairs in the space that will become AJ's new room. I put a new rug down over the cork floor and in this shot Louis (with his cast!) and Norah we having a good time driving cars and trains along the rug's roads. 

The kids also liked going outside and playing on the balcony. I personally thought it was too cold out there, but they didn't seem to mind. I thought I had taken a video of them all dancing together out there, but I can't seem to find it...they were so cute!  It's hilarious to see a bunch of 2 year olds boogie-ing to their own beats. They all have these funny moves...AJ's is to move his arms and wrists at weird angles while he bounces around. (He didn't get that from me! LOL)

We hired our good friend Kurt (also Louis' dad) to do the food for the party and it was fantastic! Everyone loved it and since it was all from his new restaurant, Lunch Rolls, many of the dads that work downtown have been frequent customers!  My dad couldn't get enough of the jambalaya, and the kids loved the baked mac & cheese. I liked the brisket roll.  All of this led perfectly up to the CAKE!!!  I made the same scratch chocolate cake that I did the week before for the Holub party, but a double batch.  Then I made a vanilla and a chocolate buttercream frosting and frosted the cake to look like the little Tonka bulldozer was making a big rubble pile on the left side of the cake. You can see 3 lines on the front side of the cake where AJ ran his finger through to sample the frosting.  I tried to smooth it out a little for when we lit the candles & sang, but who really cared, right? The cake was still yummy and that's what matters! You can see in the picture to the right that AJ used his bulldozer to help him eat his cake.  He kept mashing it unto his piece and then licking it off of the "scooper". Messy but fun. He's also sporting one of the yellow hard hats that all the kids received but almost none wore. Hahaha!  AJ wears his around when he's pretending to be a construction worker, so I assume that at least a couple of the the other kids kept theirs and do the same at home. 

Here's the video I was able to take during the birthday song...I missed the first line, but you know how it goes! 

So, after all the guests left, we got AJ down for his nap and he crashed hard, as was expected. The fresh air, excitement and sugar high all conspired against him!  After the nap, we opened his presents from his friends (opting not to do it at the party since there was already so much going on). These will just get captions as they are mostly self explanatory...

  AJ with a big smile when we told him it was time to open his presents.

AJ trying to read along as Andy reads him a card from 

one of his buddies.

Here AJ is figuring out how to play Zimbos, an elephant stacking game. He likes how there are numbers on each one!  "Does it look different if I tild my head to the side?"