Happy Birthday, Nathaniel!!

Sept 17th 2007

Nate started the day waking up to a bed full of balloons with JT and I singing 'Happy Birthday.' He practiced blowing out candles on a pretend cake (a pillow) after each song. Of course, we did it about 20 times, each one just as enthusiastic as the last.

We spent the rest of the morning with both kids eyeing the presents lined up on the coffee table. Oh, the anticipation. I made them wait for Daddy to come home from his block exam and it was driving them crazy. Daniel's test ended later than we thought so we actually had to start the countdown over again...that didn't go over so well for JT!!

Oh, and the presents were wrapped in torn out pages from a magazine...because I am such a dork and forgot wrapping paper. A friend of ours was nice enough to loan me some (thanks, Nicole!), but then I realized, half of the gifts were too hard to wrap anyway. Didn't matter in the end because, once Daddy came home after his exam (exhausted) the paper was on the floor in about 5 minutes.

After a quick lunch, Nate and Daniel lied down for a nap while JT and I went down to decorate for the Pool Party!! The decorations were a Backyardigans theme since Nate loves them. We had hats, blowers, masks, balloons and hanging decorations. Not a lot of them made it through the party, what with the wind and rain, kids, and pool water! In hindsight, I wish I had taken a picture! Live and learn. The turnout was great considering the weather wasn't cooperating. It poured on us at one point. People were clustered under the umbrellas until, like most island showers, the rain stopped after 15 minutes. At some point, it occured to me that the birthday boy and daddy should probably make an appearance! Ryan took a trip to the house to wake them up...and still no birthday boy. When Kelly, Ryan, and I marched up to get the cakes out of the fridge, they were changing into their suits. (this is when it started to pour)

Once the boys came down, we cut the cake and had a blast. Oh, funny story!! We have an adorable friend, Peyton, who is also two. After the birthday song, Peyton ran up and blew out a candle. (there was still one left) It was hilarious to see Laura's (his mom) expression, though. Nate could have cared less because JT had been making him practice on my Glade candles all week. It was a classic child's birthday party issue. I wish I had a picture of that, too. We got it on video, though!

Ryan was our unofficial photographer and managed to somehow get everybody still left at the party into a group picture. Thank you, Ryan!!

Thank you for coming to our party, everyone!!

We ended the day relaxing with the Daddy we hadn't seen in 3 weeks. It was great luck that Nate's birthday was the same day as Daniel's block exam. He was exhausted but at least he got to spend time with us. We got ready for bed, threw on our Backyardigans masks and played until we were pooped.

**Sigh** Can he really be two?! I feel like somebody is playing a cruel joke on me since I swear that I JUST had him!!