How to have a birthday party like a 2 year old:

1. You open up your presents! Gabe got a lot of really nice gifts from his family and friends. Some of them being: A Thomas train set, a Spiderman punching bag, a beautifully restored Radio Flyer wagon (that was Uncle Jeffy's and Uncle Jay's), a TV/DVD player combo for his room, some awesome clothes, bath stuff, a toddler to grown up chair, and many other things! Good think Aunt Keeker wrote everything down for me.








2. You get yummy treats! I put colored goldfish in a fishbowl and had cupcakes on a stand in addition to the cake.





3. You have punch. Oh, and decorations! Yes, this is fish tank gravel in these glass cylinders!

4. You have a birthday cake and candles! I made this Nemo cake with help from one of my very best friends, Tami Lyons. It was kinda stressful, but in the end I was really happy with it. The "seaweed" is white chocolate, colored & melted down and then piped out by hand to look like seaweed. I think it was pretty close! Putting the finishing touches on the cake was by far the best part of the process!

5. You blow out your candles and make a wish!

6. You have treat bags! I decorated these plain orange treat bags using my scrapbooking Cricut machine. It was a lot of fun. Next time though, I won't be putting names on the individual bags. I nearly had a panic attack thinking I was going to forget one of the kids and they'd end up without a bag. Or, that a kid would show up unexpectedly. Thankfully though, it worked out!

7. You eat cake - lots of it! Gabe did great with the cake this year - a lot less messy than last year! He really enjoyed it. It's fun to get messy and not have Mom & Dad worry about it! He kept dipping his Nemo into the icing so he could lick it off. It was pretty cute!

8. Make sure you get cleaned up! Gabe got started by licking all of his fingers off!

9. Have fun!!! Gabe got this "toodah" hat from Abba Herrman. She knows how much he loves Toy Story, so she wanted him to have a hat like Woody's. He looked so stinkin' cute in it!

We had such a great day with friends and family. We kept it smaller this year - only inviting immediate family, our Bible study group, and Gabe's best friends, Will & Patrick. It was still a house full of people. As I looked around that day, I was so thankful for every person there. They all love Gabe so much. I know I say this a lot, but as a parent, that's one of the greatest joys- seeing people who genuinely love your kid. Gabe is so fortunate to be loved by so many awesome people.

We've got a big weekend ahead of us! Tonight, we have my sister Lindsey's graduation from nursing school, tomorrow we have a surprise party, and Sunday Gabe's birth family is coming over for a visit. They were unable to make it last time due to the weather. It'll be a really fun weekend.