Luke's Birthday Party!

Today, Luke's family came over for a lovely little house party celebrating his 2nd birthday (which is actually Monday).He was in a great mood and loved seeing all his grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins. The weather was perfect and we celebrated with Luke's favorite foods: Eegee's subs and frozen drinks, Costco carrot cake (which is really Phil and my favorite- Luke likes ALL cake), Oreo Truffles, and pigs in a blanket. I also made a Shrek pinata and filled it with fruit snacks and little packs of cookies/crackers (hey- the oldest kid was THREE!) It was funny watching the kids take turns trying to break it- I accidentally made it too strong (the third layer of paper mache was obviously unnecessary) and so we had to "weaken" it with a pocket knife and finally Phil had to break it open. I decided not to feel bad about that, though. We can't all be perfect pinata makers! When we sang Happy Birthday, Luke was absolutely amazed that other people knew the words to the song we had been practicing for weeks, AND that they all sang it together! I wonder what he will think when we sing it for his cousin Gabe in two weeks, and put Gabe's name in the song, instead of his?! While eating cake, we watched a compilation of video clips from 2008 (Luke's "second year"). It was amazing to see how Luke had changed over the past year. He isn't a baby anymore- he's all boy! The party wound down with the kiddos playing in the sandbox while we sat around and watched the UA Basketball game and chatted. Luke had a great time and was the perfect host, playing well with his cousins, staying in a great mood the entire time, and giving hugs and kisses to everyone who asked.When everyone was gone, Luke kept asking where everyone went! This made me feel good, and that the stress/work/expense of planning the party was really worth it because, although he won't remember it years from now, he was old enough to "appreciate" it today!