aaron's 2nd birthday party

Fitting that I'm posting Aaron's 2nd birthday party pics two months late, right?  I mean, he's TWO, so two months is a symbolic gesture, not just pure laziness on my part.


Sheesh.

And, honestly, my picture taking skills on that day were pretty lacking, so it's not like you were really missing out on anything.  Ugh.  

Anyway, here's what we've got.  (My apologies, Aaron.  Let's pretend that the 1,500 pictures of your first year will make up for a severely lackluster second year in pictures.)

 Opening presents from Grandma before his birthday.  Joy!

 He liked this one.

 

 Nice smile Daddy!

 Tearing paper is the BEST part.

 (My hallway isn't yellow...it was nighttime, which makes the lighting for my camera funny without the flash.)

 Funny face...obviously a blog necessity.

 Happy Birthday signs I made Aaron.

 Aaron is TWO!

 Cookie cake...a last minute change from a traditional cake, since Aaron spent the entire week before his birthday repeating "No bird-day pah-ty.  No bird-day cake."  Riiiiight.  And, just to be clear, no one should feel bad for poor Mommy who spent weeks working on the decorations, since it's my fault he's afraid of birthday cakes.  In the two months since, however, we've made some serious progress on the birthday cake front.  Tutu's birthday in October had some tears, but I have high hopes for my birthday next week.  We'll see.

 Not a flattering photo, but 1) it's a cute shot of Aaron's birthday crown (made by Aunt Frice/Trice) and 2) I'm totally making an Aaron face.  Or he's making a me face.  Whichever.

 Happy Birthday Baby!

 Our baby is TWO!

Daddy is Chief Present Opening Assistant in this family.  It was a big job, but they were up to the task.

 Books!

Toys!  Letters!  It's like these people all KNEW this kid was a letter-freak.

Oh wait, they did.  Because he's not shy about it all.  But seriously, he got some awesome presents that he loves dearly.  Thank you!!

The kids all decorated cupcakes outside...except the birthday boy, who looked at me like I was CRAZY for suggesting he touch the icing.  Mommy, the icing would make my fingers DIRTY.  My child, through and through.


And that's about it.  Oh, I didn't add any of the photos of him crying during the Happy Birthday singing.  You can probably imagine how that looked.  Tragic. 


Finally, to my baby on his birthday, Happy Birthday, sweet pie.  You're two.  That's just ridiculous.  You are so smart and learning new things everyday, I can barely keep up with you.  I'm so aware that your world is going to be rocked in January and so I'm trying desperately to soak up every little minute that we have left as a family of three.  You're a sweet boy, a smart boy and a generally good listener.  We are so blessed by you.  You've made us love more than we ever knew we could.  I can't wait to see what this year holds for you and for our family.  We love you more each and everyday!

at the park

There is a great park very close to our house which has playground equipment perfect for Aaron's short little legs and lack of coordination.  Most playgrounds are still a bit intimidating for him, but this one is a lot easier.  And less scary for Mommy.  Important.

While we were frequent visitors this summer, these photos are from this past spring when we first tried the playground out.  Pretty significant posting delay.  My bad.

"Yook, Mommy."

Our little nerd loves the abacus.  And I love his nerdiness.  Beautiful combo.

The slide is also a big hit.  (Since this photo series, Aaron is going down by himself.  Hooray!)

Have I mentioned that I love this guy?

And this guy too.

Swings.

Aaron knows he has the best daddy ever.

I can't convince him this isn't a good idea.  I know it's totally classic kid to climb up the slide backwards.  Problem is, Aaron doesn't have those skills.  He just gets stuck and keeps the other kids from coming down.  Sigh.

Sliding is definitely his favorite.

Until he smacks his head on the side of the slide.

Telling me all about his owie.

So, it was time to go. 

We are really trying to savor these last few months as a family of three.  

amanda & greg

A few weekends ago, we flew to Chicago to help celebrate the wedding of my high school best friend, Amanda and her husband, Greg.

We were a bit apprehensive about Aaron's first airplane trip...and rightly so.  He was NOT a huge fan.  Although, you couldn't tell from this photo.

If you look out the window, though, you will realize that his joy is because we were still on the ground.  He was completely unaware of what was to come.  In fact, it kind of hurts my heart to look at the pure innocence on his sweet little face.  Never again.  He is now a world wearied traveler.

He struggled the most during takeoff and landing, as well as during the flight when there were changes in altitude.  He really does not like the funny feeling that you get in your tummy when ascending or descending, and it was scaring him.  We probably should have seen it coming, since he has a pretty deep seated dislike of elevators as well.

So, we spent the entire plane ride holding hands and watching Elmo on our DVD player.

 

Once we arrived in Chicago, all was well again.  Aaron was a big fan of the hotel.  

He and Tutu spent a good chunk of the weekend here - watching TV and playing on her iPad.  We had plans to see more of Chicago, but unfortunately, it just wasn't really feasible with the schedule.  Poor Aaron struggled a bit with the (slight) time change and busy schedule.  It involved a lot of late nights and ridiculously early morning (only for Aaron).  Thankfully, Aaron is addicted to the iPad and Elmo, so staying in the hotel room wasn't really a hardship for him.
 

Here is our only family photo from the wedding.  Partially because I didn't take nearly enough pictures from the weekend and partially because Aaron spent the ceremony in the hotel room and then fell asleep about six minutes in the reception.  What a party animal.

And finally, the newlyweds.  It was a beautiful wedding and we are so glad we were able to be there.

 

For an encore, we'll rinse and repeat in a few weeks, completely with double the airplane rides, twice as much travel time, more pregnant Mommy and a more significant time change.  Bet you can't wait for that blog post.  Yeah, me neither.  :)

Congrats Amanda and Greg!