Two one's

Last weekend my boy turned two years old, and if you ask him how old he is he'll proudly say "two one's".  This is something worth celebrating, and so we did. There was cake. There was laughter. There were plenty friends and family. It was one of those busy, action packed, wonderful weekends where all the finest things in life get wrapped up into two days.

I love my boy. I love that this was a baby hand picked for me, and no matter what our future holds Jakob will always hold a very special place in my heart because he was the little who made me a mama for the very first time. What a great gift he gave me.

The least I could do in return was make him a train cake for his birthday.

And oh how worth the effort it was to see his face light up when we brought it to him. 



I pause here to admit two things, one: the cake master in our family came up to the help me ice the darn thing the night before the party (no easy feat), and two: I pretty much copied the cake my mother-in-law made for my husband on his 4th birthday many, many years ago. She sent me a photo which I had up on the lap top as we decorated.

It is an easy cake to make in principle, it just takes a lot of putting together. I would do it again any day though. It was fun, and tasty, and most of all it was worth it.

Said cake-master at her craft.

At our house a two year old's birthday smorgasbord looks something like this:

There were a few impromptu balloon blowing lessons, and Jake's older cousin Oliver was most determined to get the hang of it.  Jake was a focused student...

But in the end Oliver was the only one who got it.

Sort of....

And if you are going to have a train themed party, you'd better have a pretty decent train network set up.

At one point there was about five kids nicely playing on these tracks.

The birthday extravaganza spanned two days. Day one was for friends and their parents. Day two saw all our nearby relatives in our cozy home, and a less extravagant cake. Plain - but delicious.

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing, an old fave.

This party might have seemed more subdued to the naked eye, what with all the calm story book readings and all.

Uncle Dave reading "On the day you were born"

But don't be fooled. Jake still got his Great Grandpa to play "snake attack" with him.

Yes, that is a stuffed snake around GG's neck.

How many Boyd's does it take to set up a Hot Wheels Car wash? One...and a couple of handy relatives.

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Since the birthday weekend, these Boyds have all come down with wicked colds. It hit us almost as soon as our last guest walked out the door, and just today did I see hope of recovery through the mounds of kleenex lying around this place.  It's not been a fun week, luckily we had plenty of Tylenol and memories of last weekend to get us through the worst of it.

He never got the hang of balloon blowing, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have fun trying.

 Happy Birthday Jakob,
 Mama loves you.

March Madness: birthday edition

The first half of March is already in the rear view, and I am sad to see it go. It's been 'good busy'. There was a trip to Vancouver Island that always boosts our end of winter spirits, and a great many birthdays to be celebrated.

Swinging in Uncle Jon's back yard - Beacon Hill Park

This is one of Jake's most favorite things: Grandpa's under ducks.

March is birthday month for us. It seems like all of Jake's little friends are March babies, along with cousins, aunties, and of course our favorite: daddy.

We ate cake, collected party favors, played games, and opened presents.  We celebrated the people we loved, and were grateful for them.

But the month ain't over yet, and a few more birthdays need to be checked off the list, including my boy's. 

This weekend my baby turns two.  It shocks me that two years have passed and yet it feels like I have been living this life forever. Sometimes I can barely recall my life before him. It's been good, it's been hard, I feel fulfilled.

 

With a multitude of birthday parties come bad eating habits, and my sensibilities were starting to be offended by how few vegetables my son has consumed over the past weeks.  So my husband came up with the brilliant solution of offering Jake smoothies to drink. I know this is not a new parenting idea, but it was a breakthrough for us.

And we should have started long ago because I don't think Jake has ingested more spinach in his life. Did you know that you can barely taste spinach in a smoothie if you add plenty of blueberries, raspberries and a banana?

You can't even see the green stuff.

And we aren't shy with the spinach either, I dump a lot in there.

See, that's like half the bag.

 And this is my nearly two year old drinking a cup of frozen spinach and loving it.  Am I cruel?

I think not...  I figure it balances out all that icing he's had over the last several weekends.

Yes, there's a hunk of it stuck in between his teeth.

Alright, I am off to craft up some birthday decorations for my boy!
....wish me luck.

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Happy Birthday  to all those March babies (young and old) who have brought such happiness to our lives. We love you.

Driving back home from Victoria, this was the view that greeted us.  It said: Welcome Home.