Happy Birthday Owen

We celebrated Owen's 2nd birthday on Sunday with what turned out to be a pretty big party with all his playgroup and daycare friends. I thought most people would be out of town for the holiday weekend, but we ended up with 9 toddlers, all their parents, and 4 grandparents at our afternoon celebration.

Kaden and Braedon from daycare showed up first and gathered with Owen to watch Hudson sprint around the yard. It was a picture perfect moment until our gate turned into a "stair surfer" and all three tumbled down the stairs. Screaming and bloody noses welcomed the rest of our guests. Oops.

I took notes from Colleen and had the kids start off by decorating t-shirts. "Fabric Dye Sticks" work just like crayons, but this may have been a bit more interesting for kids a year or two older. At least parents had fun...

These kids were much more excited about spending time in the kiddie pool.
Which gave all of us a good excuse to sit around and relax with a cold beverage on a 95 degree day.
All the kiddos LOVED the pool, except for this guy that realized that the other kids were playing with "My Bucket! My shovel! My pool!"
Parents enjoyed pizza and more cold beverages while the kids wandered circles around the table picking their favorite fruits and snacks off all the other plates. As predicted, Owen S (the one pointing) was the last one at the table hoovering up the leftovers.

And it wouldn't be a party without the cupcakes. In this case berry cupcakes with "add your own" decorations. A wonderfully messy hit - thank goodness for a summer birthday where you can do this stuff outside.

Owen shared a cupcake moment with his lady friends - Piper, Hazel, and Lily.

After all the others had taken off for more playtime, Owen and Hazel stuck it out for a "dessert date" of sprinkles, sprinkles, and more sprinkles.
And finally just one die hard birthday boy stood alone...

Happy Birthday Owen!

P.S. I really think a toddler party should only be undertaken with awesome grandparent help. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Papa! They prepped food, blew up balloons, took all the pictures, served drinks, and had the party cleaned up before we came back inside from saying good-bye to our guests. That's a GREAT party!