Happy Birthday Landon!

Disclaimer: This is a VERY long post with LOTS of pictures. I will take no responsibility for your time away from cleaning, working, or watching your kids while you read this. Thank you!

Our little man turned TWO on Friday! I'm having mixed feeling about this. On one hand I am excited that he has turned into a "kid" and has grown up to be so fun and independent. He's smart, funny, adventurous, sweet, and opinionated. On the other hand, I am sad to see my baby grow up so fast! My saving grace is that he still loves to cuddle and gives us lots of hugs and kisses and "I love you's." Sigh.

So, Thursday was their last day of daycare for the week since Grandma Susan was in town for the big birthday and wanted to keep the kiddos home from daycare on Friday so they could have a "Grandma Day!" Landon got to bring treats to his daycare friends at Jenny's house on Thursday!

On Friday (Landon's official birthday) we went to Chuck E. Cheese in Maple Grove for some fun! Landon loved the rides and games! He was SUPER brave and crawled up into the maze of tubes and tunnels all by himself. Whew! I was having visions of having to crawl up in there to find a crying, scared child...but he did great! We all had a great time.

The kid was having sooooo much fun that he didn't want to come eat, of course! Darren got him to eat while sitting in the bus. After he got a taste of the pizza he was hooked and decided that he could take a few moments away from the fun to come eat!

Love this picture...he was dancing with his new-found-friend!

Now, on to Saturday...

The theme for Landon's party was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" this year. I had soooo much fun making decorations and going all out for this one! So cute and easy to be creative.

For the meal, we served soups and salad as well as a buffet of "caterpillar foods." I cut up the five fruits that the hungry caterpillar eats in the book.

The cake was caterpillar-shaped of course and pretty easy to accomplish! I also whipped up some cupcakes this year due to an allergy in my family. It was a nice addition, I thought.

The centerpieces I just painted "Eric Carle" style. Threw them in a vase with a nice little label and "viola!"

I only made two hats this year, one for Landon and one for Addison. Last year I made them for all the kids and nobody wanted to wear them, so I made life easier this year!

For goody bags for the kids, I whipped up these cute little coloring books with personalized crayons. I also threw in gummy caterpillars with a little label to thank them for coming. Target had the little gift bags as well as plates, cups, tablecloths, etc. (I have to admit, that's where I actually got the whole idea of doing this theme in the first place!)

I bit off more than I could chew with these silverware wraps this time. Took foreverrrrrrrr! They did turn out cute I do have to say!

Next, my favorite part of the decor was the banner I made. I love it so much that I haven't been able to take it down just yet. In fact, it might stay up until it's warm enough to open the sliding glass door to the deck.

This sign hung on the door to greet our guests as they arrived!

For a shower I threw for my friend and teaching partner, Carissa, I had come up with the idea to make personalized water bottles. I thought they would be cute for this party too, so here's how they turned out!

Here's the cute little sister sporting the butterfly hat!

And our guest of honor, Landon! The shirt is made from an iron-on that I ordered from a fabulous gal on etsy.com. She custom-made this design for me after I contacted her. I had ordered two of them from her at Christmastime for the kiddos, so she was more than happy to help out. Her etsy shop is called Baby Fables and she's got some super cute stuff! Check her out.

So, on to the actual party. Here's the gift-opening. Actually it was pretty much "Mommy opening the presents while Landon begged and cried to play with each toy along the way" time. He got sooooo many nice things and was very spoiled.

The dogs thought they needed to help open presents too!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the big boy!

Miscellaneous:

The kids had a GREAT time playing downstairs in Landon's jumpy castle. Lilly had the craziest.hair.ever! from all the static electricity! Too funny.

Landon got so many fun new toys. One of my personal faves...the new wheelbarrow. Now he will have to help me with the gardening this summer! I am visualizing this whole little wheelbarrow spilling over with veggies from our garden! Oh how I can't wait!!!!!

I promised Uncle Chad and Uncle Lo that they would make the blog! They had a great time playing with Landon's new hockey net. Boys!

You gotta love these two sweet little cherubs! Irresistable!

To top off the night, Landon got to have lots of playtime with his cousins Bailey and Sam, who came down from Fargo to spend the night with us! They had a blast.

That's it!!! If you are still with me, thanks for reading. I Love Love Love having parties. Hmmmm...only five months until Addison turns 1!! Better go on that now. Theme: ladybugs.

Sayonara!