Party Time

Last Tuesday, we had Alex' birthday party. We invited three of his little friends -- Mackenzie and Esther who live here on campus with us, and Joshua from church -- and their parents, and the Reeses, and Miss Rachel. The original plan was to meet at the park near our house and let the kids play for an hour, then go back to our apartment for dinner, birthday cake, and presents. I was hoping for some nice spring weather, especially seeing as the previous weekend had brought some lovely temps in the 70's. However, as Murphy would have it, the party happened to fall on a very cold and yucky day (I think the high that day was in the low 40's). It's a good thing we live about a 5-minute drive from one of the only Taco Bell's in the entire country with a play area! So, we started the party out there instead.

Alex and Gina going down the slide

Esther and Joshua

Mackenzie managed to have a great time, despite having hurt her arm the day before. X-rays later revealed her arm was BROKEN! Poor baby!

After about an hour, we went back to our apartment for dinner. I made chicken and white bean chili, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, and pigs-in-blankets. Considering our son's love for all manner of balls, we went with a sports ball theme for the decor and table ware.

The kids ate in the kitchen.

We sure crammed a lot of people into our tiny apartment!

After everyone had eaten their fill, I brought out the birthday cake and ice-cream. In keeping with the sports ball theme, I did a basketball birthday cake. This was my first attempt at decorating anything more complicated than cupcakes, and I must say, I was quite pleased with the results (although I did have to use an entire tube of yellow food coloring gel to achieve the desired bright orange for the frosting).

Alex blows out his candles with a little help from Mommy.

After eating cake, Alex opened his presents. He got some really fun new toys, but the favorite so far seems to be the toy lawn-mower from Mommy and Daddy. He pushes it around the house all day, running over our feet and making a lot of noise. It may be relegated to an "outside toy" before too much longer!

Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate Alex' 2nd birthday!