Austin's 2nd Birthday

I had really lofty goals for the cake, but this is what he got--a 10-inch square gluten free chocolate cake, two layers, with store-bought white icing.

Just showing how tall it was, and how tall the candles were.

The Thank You gift was homemade pralines Seth made.

There is some sort of helium shortage, so Seth just blew them up and the kids played.

and played...

the spread...

Austin blew the candles out all by himself!

enjoying some cake

I never actually got around to wrapping his gifts from us, so I just spread them out on the table and had him discover them. Two Melissa & Doug puzzles (I love the Melissa & Doug puzzles!), clear/mess-free fingerpaint, a giant coloring book, a book, and some bubbles.

He's really good at puzzles, these are almost too easy for him.

The giant coloring book was a huge hit. (no pun intended)

bubbles!

I don't "do bubbles," so these are always a Daddy-Time Treat.

Overall, I wouldn't exactly say I "enjoyed" Austin's party, but I wouldn't change anything either. It was important to me that he not get completely overlooked given the recent arrival of his baby brother, but I wasn't yet ready (health-wise) to have a house full of guests. I ended up getting quite the headache midway through and disappeared for half the party. Half the guests left and I was stuck back in the bedroom because of the blinding pain! But given that the boys' birthdays are only 5 days apart, I think this might be the last birthday party Austin has until he's of school age and wants to have friends over, so I'm all the more glad we did this for him.