The curtain of balloons was a big hit. How to decorate for a toddler birthdaywith less than five bucks? Try balloons and some twine. It was very festive.
Even Anna got in on the fun...
She was the perfect height in the bassinet to kick and punch the balloons. She really loved lying there, staring up into all the pretty balloons.
When it was time for lunch, Chris came home with Culvers for all of us. Ben ate the hotdog portion of his corndog, and then we cleared the table for CAKE!!! Ben was very excited about the candles. He said, "Ooooooh!" But would he eat the cake? No. Of course not. I tried to give him a taste of the frosting, but he would have none of that. He did touch it a little, but he refused to try a bite, even though we told him it was like candy and cookies.
After we gave up on the cake, it was time to open some of presents we had for him. We were very surprised with how many presents Ben got for his birthday. We weren't really expecting any from anyone other than Nana. Of course, all of the presents were awesome and total hits.
As I type this, he's playing with his new instruments and watching a Nick Jr video. I've never seen Lazy Town and the Backyardigans before. I have to say, I think I could have survived without seeing them, but Ben is fascinated. This morning, we've played with his new Cars items and rolled his Thomas trains around the end table. He pushed on his new noisy truck right next to Anna's head while she was nursing, and he's raced many cars down his swirly race track.
Back to the party... he didn't stop playing with his new toys until I dragged him upstairs for a nap at 3. He didn't sleep much, and he had a meltdown because I wouldn't let him play with his new choo-choos in bed. He finally slept, but I had to wake him up at 4:30. Because... we had some very exciting plans for the evening!
Nana arrived around the same time Chris came home from work. There was much flurry as we got everyone ready to get out the door, and then Luke arrived. Yay! Luke really loved batting the balloons around. I'm pretty sure he thought they were the neatest things since play-doh and cookies.
Off we went to the Wisconsin Pizza Factory a few miles outside of town. It's like a low-key Chuck E Cheese. The boys didn't end up eating anything; they were too excited to get up on the big tower obstacle course. They raced up and down that thing for a solid 80 minutes before we bundled them back up into their coats to go home. They waited until their coats were back on to finally eat a bite of pizza. :)
Nighty-night time was nice. Ben and I watched some Thomas while he rolled his trains around on the sofa. Chris tucked our two-year-old boy into bed finally, and Ben sighed and passed out. So ended our day-long birthday party. I think I was as exhausted as Ben.
