2 year checkup....

Alex had his 2 year checkup last week.  His official stats..

34 inches (45%) / 29lbs 3 oz (64%) / and crown size - 51cm - off the charts!

Makenna was 35 1/2 inches, 31lbs 13oz and tiara size of 50cm.

He's certainly starting to fill in a little more, where I feel like she was finally starting to slim down at this age.  Glad to see his head is even BIGGER than hers, too!!


Makenna had her 5 year checkup (finally) too.

She's down to 86th percentile for height and 84th percentile for weight.

The party....

I had lots of fun once again planning Alex's 2nd birthday party.

We decided to invite just family and a few of Alex's little neighbor friends to keep it small and I'm so thankful.  I've had a crazy few weeks at work and have been trying to spend as much "free" time as I can visiting dad so it was nice to keep it a little more low key and not go too crazy party planning:) 

But, I still managed to have a little fun putting it together!

The invites.  One of the benefits of a small party - you can hand make the invites and it doesn't take FOREVER to do.  

The token water bottles....lol

In usual fashion, I had more sweets than anything but I thought they turned out cute.  We did a Paw Patrol theme with lots of puppy stuff so I snagged these little dog dishes at the dollar store and filled them with homemade puppy chow.  

I had intended just to make the regular stuff, but we have a neighbor boy that has a peanut allergy so I wanted to make something he could eat so I went with Cake Batter, Pumpkin and Peanut Butter.  

Mmmmm, tasty!

White chocolate covered pretzels - aka Fetch Sticks

Licorice - aka chew sticks

And of course, no party is complete at my house without Great Great Grandma Busch's sugar cookies - shaped like dog bones (of course).  

I was glad I made these because we went to visit Cookie Beek on Saturday and her eyes lit up when she saw I brought her a container full of them.  

The sweets table

A little pup-corn

 Some salted caramel pumpkin cream cheese dip with doggy bone graham crackers for dipping

It's the little things:)

And as if there weren't enough sweets to be had.....a big 'ol cake.  I was going to get a smaller one, but the Costco ones are just such a good deal, they end up being cheaper than a smaller one.  Costco actually only has a few designs to choose from and this wasn't one of them but when I requested some paw prints on a cake they certainly came through.  I added Rubble and his dozer and Voila! 

A little punch

and finally, some Puppy PB&J's (again with the dog bone cookie cutter)

I got way less fancy with the mantle and was totally ok with that!

Makenna and I did have a lot of fun chalking these paw prints on the walk while Alex slept before his party.

My last minute attempt at some balloons outside.....there were more than a few guests that had to duck on the way in..... lol!

And my FAVORITE decoration of the day..... a fire hydrant on the bathroom door.  Of course!!

Look who woke up just in time for the party to start!!!

The birthday boy with his birthday balloon wreath

Makenna with the newest Best - little miss Leila Grace.  She is sooooooooooo sweet and I got to snuggle her and snuggle her and snuggle her.  Love you Leila!!

Alex playing with Annikana

Someone enjoyed the PB&J's - so much that he had 4 of them!!  He also helped me make them at lunch, making sure that awkward middle cut out piece didn't go to waste when I cut them out - he ate all of them!

Cake time!!

He was so proud of himself for blowing out the candles

Love the way his buddy Ben is smiling at him in this picture --- they LOVE each other- it is soooo sweet!

He only made me light the candles so he could blow them out 3 times!

He was having a blast with the Dozer on the cake.

We love you Bubbers!!!!

Time to open presents!!

He was this excited to open every. single. one.  So sweet.  I love this age!!

A new train set!

A super fun Mickey mouse card from Grandma and Grandpa

 (and more excitedly a trampoline from them!!)

A build a bear Bucky from Ben & Maddie!

Thanking everyone for coming

And the goodies for the guests

That's the sign of a great party!!!!

What a great day!!  A great ending to a great birthday week!!

We love you Alexander Brooks!!!  Happy 2nd birthday!!

Alex's 2nd Birthday

We had a GREAT day today celebrating Alex's 2nd birthday!!

Makenna was SOOO excited to surprise him with his birthday balloons.  I think she asked me 20 times the night before - "you're gonna wake me up when it's time to surprise him right?"

Here we go!

Wellllll........that didn't go as planned.  Poor kid SCREAMED when we all came in, turned on the lights and showed him his balloons.  Lol!  

Real tears..... poor kid just had a nasty poopy diaper that needed to be changed first.

And then he was happy as can be with his balloons and his new book!

There's my smiley Bubbers!!

Present time!!

Woah - a fire engine!!

And a fire station to go with it!

So fun!!  He LOVED them!

We went downstairs and let him watch his favorite - Twenty Trucks video!  

We headed out to the bus stop with sissy only to find we were greeted by 2 dump trucks and a crane that were driving around our neighborhood to pick up the fall brush.  Here he is chasing after them.

Once sissy got on the bus, we jumped in the car and followed the trucks around our neighborhood for awhile watching them work.  Then we headed to Starbucks for some breakfast, just me and my Bubbies.

"Dis is mine mommy, dis is mine?"

And of course, his smoothie!

I would love to tell you that we had the perfect little breakfast at Starbucks but shortly after I took this he lost his balance on the chair and rolled off the chair and onto the ground, under the chair next to him.  Poor kid!!  So we ended breakfast with some good snuggles at Starbucks and then headed to the Piggly Wiggly.

"I push the carts, mommy, I push the carts?"

He proceeded to try out all 12 carts they had lined up until he picked just the right one.

And then sped around the Piggly Wiggle making every old lady he almost ran over smile.  

We headed to the choo choo bridge too.  He insisted on walking....he IS 2 now after all:)  

It was the perfect day for a little fall stroll.

I love that little finger.

Just a few minutes of waiting and we were lucky enough to see a train coming!  

A little playing in the leaves, too.

I was really hoping to take the entire day off work to spend with him, but with the tax deadline the day after his birthday that doesn't work out so well.  Luckily, Ms. Jamie had a pretty special day planned for him.  

He was very impressed with the clothes she picked out for him:)  

And had lots of fun painting little pumpkins...

And only ate a *little* of the paint #blueteeth

Ms. Jamie made him a special treat for lunch - his favorite P,B&J's

And of course, some birthday cake for dessert.

Mommy picked him up a little early and we headed to Pick N Save to pick out a cake for our family.  He picked the dog cake.  

He LOVED blowing out the candles.  So much so that I lit them more than once!

We ended the day with a trip to Costco where we let him run around and then some more fun and games before bed.  I even let him wear his new Paw Patrol jammies Ms. Jamie got him to bed.  

What a great day!!!  Happy 2nd birthday Alexander Brooks!!