The Party

Last year it was Star Wars, this year Nemo. After this party, it was quite apparent I really am my mother's child, we both tend to bite off a little more than we can chew, delegate the design stuff to our husbands, recruit the help of the construction paper wiz Whitney, and stay up way too late the night beforehand. It was all worth it though. Luke loved every minute of it.

The invites:

The decorations:

In keeping with the fishy theme.

The food:

Fish sandwiches, gold fish crackers, and carrots for the kids. Fruit, chicken curry croissant sandwiches, and tortellini salad for the adults, & cupcakes for dessert. Luke blew out his candles but only pretended to take a bite of his cake.

The games:

A favorite from my childhood, go fish, for many useless nemo inspired knicknacks. & the old standby, the Pinata. The kids went crazy for both.

The kids & presents:

All of Luke's new friends spoiled him rotten, but the crowd favorite was the fish from Aunt Tara.

The favors:

Craft boxes filled with Nemo goodness for the kids, and sweedish fish for the adults.

And the birthday boy:

Still reveling.

Yes folks, he's two!

This little guy is no longer a baby. But I can't help but want to hold on.

Should I...

Take away his binky, his silky, or both?

Be concerned he only has a vocabulary of 12 words but knows over 20 signs?

Continue using months to describe his age?

Worry that he seems to prefer dog food to sugar cookies? 

Stop thinking it's cute when he climbs out of his crib 5x's a night?

Find another favorite activity besides playing in the sink for hours?

Not secretly love that he hates being apart from me, even in our house?

Worry that the next child is going to be at least almost 3 years younger than him?

Stop asking him to show off his dance moves? He does a great funky chicken.

Not want to protect him from everyone and everything?

Just let go, and let him experience all the world has to offer?

Trouble

The rest of our holiday activities were great. More eating out, FAO Swartz, Gilmore Girls, sleeping in. This holiday marked the first Tom and I both didn't have to work, and it was glorious. We finished out the break with a little New Year's party, good friends and food a plenty. None of us made it till midnight, me included, but when the party includes a bunch of kids and babies, the night tends to end on the early side, gotta love New York for its slim pickings of babysitters.

One of the highlights of the day/night was the marathon baking I got myself into. I really have a hard time limiting myself to one or two things, especially if I am hosting something, I can thank my mom for that. I think I baked for at least 7-8 hours, without sitting down in between. Mint brownies, german chocolate brownies, nutty-chocolate bars, marshmallow coconut bars, and Tom's contribution, peanut butter rice krispie treats. I think at least a solid week of running is due for the, I ate so many I lost count, brownies I consumed in one night. Luckily the new year is here, I froze and very tightly saran wrapped the leftovers, and weight watchers is just around the corner, begging for my attendance.

The other note worthy highlight of the night was Luke mistaking the bottle of green food coloring for one of his green sippy cups. Forget the fact it was an 8th of the size, it didn't stop him. He slurped up that food dye until the bottle ran dry. The green took days to wash, but if you look close enough at our hands, green remnants are still lingering in our cuticles and nail beds.

When did it happen?

My baby grew into a little boy.

This is his friend Tenney's scooter. Luke would ride this all day if he could. One of the reasons he is getting it for Christmas. But really, he rides this thing better than I do.

Luke went sledding for the first time while he was in Utah. For the first few runs he rode tandem, but after convincing everyone he could do it himself, they let him go.

This is Luke sick. Curled up on the couch with a blanket. I feel so bad for him, but at the same time, he is just so cute.

A Problem

And a solution, at least temporarily...