C is for Cookie!

Austin's 2nd birthday party was cookie monster theme & it turned out really cute! I had a girl on etsy.com do all of the invitations, signs, favor tags, banner, cupcake toppers, etc... and was so pleased with how adorable they turned out! I just added some fun scrapbook paper to a few things & it was perfect!

The Birthday Boy in his cookie monster shirt


Sign for front door- imagine it hung on door with ribbon (it was cute!)


The party room- our dining room




Cookie Bar


Drinks- had milk & tea in the pitchers and iced water with fruit in the beverage dispenser


Sippy cups for the kids & candy


Cupcake table (was also in dining room)


Cupcakes- I was thinking about doing all cookie monster cupcakes like the top one, but decided against it with the blue icing.


Kid table (in kitchen)




Favor table (balloons were coming out of the vase that has cookies in it). I had this in the entry hall.


Favors (chocolate chip cookies)


We had the party on Saturday 3/13, although he shares his birthday with Shane on Sunday, 3/14! The party started at 3:30, and after everyone arrived we opened gifts. Well, I opened gifts and Austin watched some of the time. He was so distracted by everyone & all of the presents! After gifts, we sang "Happy Birthday" to him (which almost made him cry- he hates all of the attention of everyone staring at him.) So after sticking his fingers in the icing of his cupcake, he decided he'd rather have a cookie..... or two.

Opening gifts


Not so sure about singing "Happy Birthday"...


Trying the cupcakes~


Likes the cookies better (in cookie monster fashion)


Some of the kids enjoying the cupcakes


Reid


Sydney


Kevin & Scott


Austin & Mommy (with my new cookie monster necklace)


Our family


I made 6 kinds of cookies for the cookie bar:

Chocolate chip cookies on a stick


Snickerdoodles


Oatmeal peanut butter sandwiches (top) & chocolate chip (bottom)


M&M


Chocolate crinkles


We were so blessed to have shared this special day with our family & closest friends!

Mat, Shanna & Evie


Papa Gary & Gran


Gigi & Papa Jim- pic taken on his actual birthday, not at the party!


Jared, Leah & Reid Windom


Meredith & Sydney Olvera


Kevin, Kristen, Sam, Seth, & Scott O'Quinn


Jennifer Harten & Lauren, Tina, and Gabby


We enjoyed visiting while the kids played, and then headed to dinner with our family after everyone left! A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Jared & Shane chatting


Catching up with Leah


Few people can make Austin laugh like Jared!!


Our sweet & very tired birthday boy!

March Birthdays

Several of Austin's good friends have birthdays in March, & we attending the first party this past weekend! Austin's closest girlfriend is Sydney, and her party was at Let's Jump- one of our favorite places! The first hour the kids spent jumping/playing in the toddler room! It was really nice to be able to sit back and watch Austin- he's getting to the point where I feel like I can let him go and watch from afar (rather than hover.)

Big smile- can you tell he's having a good time? (for some reason this doesn't even look like himself to me!)


Climbing up the slide




Getting ready to slide down




Wheeeee!


After jumping, we headed to the party room to celebrate! The theme of Sydney's party was Elmo- and her mommy, Meredith, did a great job decorating! Apparently Austin was not finished jumping... as he did NOT want to sit and eat (not even Sesame Street cupcakes)- he just wanted to try and go back into the toddler jumping room & throw fits. So basically everyone else enjoyed Chick-fil-A nuggets & fruit, then Sydney opened gifts, and finally cake time! It was a great party & made me even more excited about Austin's birthday party next weekend!!!

The birthday girl, Sydney


Sitting at the table- very interested in his Capri Sun... and that's about it!


Opening presents


The cupcakes- so cute!


Sydney enjoying her big day

Cousins

One of my cousins, Serena, was in town from California this past week- so all of us cousins in the DFW area got together for dinner at La Hacienda Ranch! I had so much fun & can't remember the last time I laughed so hard! Good food & great company! I love these girls!

Me, Becky, Serena, Jalynn, & Amy

2 Kids... trial run

This past weekend we babysat my niece, Evie, while her parents attended a church retreat! I'll admit I was a little nervous about keeping a crawling 10 month old in addition to a wild toddler. I was worried about it scaring me into never wanting to have another child! Nothing against my sweet niece, but just the chaos of ANY two children!

Mat dropped Evie off on Saturday morning & they picked her up on Sunday afternoon, and honestly.... it went really well! Evie is a very easy baby, so the hardest part was just trying to coordinate their schedules (which never really happened). Basically when one was up, the other was napping- and it was like that the entire time. Another difficult part (for me) was how chaotic the house seemed all weekend- lots of "stuff" with 2 kids!

The most difficult part was getting ourselves and both of them ready & out the door for church on Saturday evening- and then feeding everyone when we got home. But we survived!

Evie did great & we look forward to the next time she stays with us!


Evie was very curious about the cats (since she does not have any pets at her house.) She especially liked petting Max & chasing Jack!


Notice Max's face- doesn't he look thrilled?


Aunt Whitney & Evie (please ignore the no makeup/workout clothes "look" I'm sporting.)


So am I a natural with 2 or what? :)


Austin was very curious about Evie's bottle


Pulling up


Big smile- she is always so happy


Chilling with Uncle Shane before her morning nap


I love when Austin snuggles up on the couch like this (especially with his daddy)


A few things I noticed & wanted to document about Austin this weekend:

*Austin was EXTREMELY entertained by Evie- always following her around & watching her. When she would make a noise, talk, or giggle... he thought that was the funniest thing ever! I especially noticed it in the car. He probably loved having someone back there to look at!

*He was very good about sharing his toys & kept bringing things over for Evie to play with.

*Austin was not jealous of me taking care of Evie- as I thought he would be. Did that make me a little sad? Yes.

*He kept wanting to do "baby" things that Evie was doing- like eat the foods she was eating, drink from a bottle, put on a bib, play with her toys, etc.

Now just because this weekend went well, don't all of you be hounding me about getting pregnant!!