Happy 2nd Birthday, Alexander!

We celebrated Alex's 2nd birthday last Saturday. Since he is obsessed with this Caillou character we chose him plus the popular Caillou colors of red, blue and yellow. In hindsight, it would have been easier to go with car or transportation theme since Caillou stopped airing about 10 years ago and it's impossible to find any official decorations in stores.

We made some of our own since the limited online decorations I did end up finding cost an arm and a leg to ship. Love my kid but would rather spend the money on something for him than some cheapo paper banners and table toppers.

The party was only for a couple of hours starting at 4pm. We were trying to be conscious of everyone's nap schedules. We had some light snacks, pizza, homemade soup and drinks.

A few photos of the set up before the guests arrive

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Alex was a bit anti-social at first and only wanted to play with his friend Jake and this helium balloon.

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We had Rebecca "The Balloon Lady" over as entertainment. No, she isn't called that because of an ample waist size but because she makes balloon animals. She also brought her bubble machine and did some face painting for the kids.

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Alex is trying to decide if he wants a truck or a bus painted on his arm

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One of the cool balloon animals

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Typical family photo. We can never manage a family photo where everyone looks in the same direction

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It's been a very mild winter this year and thankfully the trend continued. The kids had a fun time playing in the backyard. We had at least 15 kids over. I would have loved to get a group shot of the kids but everyone was busy running around.

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I did manage to get a group shot of me and my high school friends

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In addition to the cupcakes we also got an ice cream cake

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Lighting the candles with an oversized lighter

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Despite telling Alex about his upcoming party and singing happy birthday 10 times in a row every night for two weeks he still looks a bit confused

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We helped him blow the candles out

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Alex's favorite part so far. CAKE!

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A lot more civilized compared to last year

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You know that MTV show, My Super Sweet 16? We decided to follow suit and get Alex an awesome bulldozer. Naturally though he complained, he wanted a steam roller instead.

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It was only a two hour party but totally action packed and we were exhausted by the end. Alex had such a fun day and it was so nice to see so many of our friends!

Trick-Or-Treat

On Halloween, we went to the Kelepouris' house for some trick-or-treating.

Batman and Robin discuss strategy but disguise their plan by pretending to play with colorful stacking cups. Cunning.

From Alex's Toddler Triumphs

Ready to get some candy (that will be eaten by Mr. and Mrs. Robin, muahahaha)

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Batman waits for Robin by this amazing Batmobile (created by Peter, Jake's Dad)

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Alex is clearly upset that his father didn't think of such a wonderful idea and shows his disappointment.

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Batman seeks to comfort Robin

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Some wise words

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Robin looks happier

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He decides he'd rather be outside of the Batmobile

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Batman leads the way. Robin is kind of clueless as to what trick-or-treating actually is.

From Alex's Toddler Triumphs

More fascinated by solar lights at this point

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Spent about 20 minutes going door to door. Alex was confused as to why he was allowed to walk outside in the dark and why kept going up to people's houses.

Matt didn't need a mask for Halloween. His weird expressions were sufficient.

From Alex's Toddler Triumphs

Best we could do in terms of a family photo. At least no one is blinking.

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Stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's on the way home. Alex goes straight for the candy.
He knows he can get away with it.

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Decisions, decisions.

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Alex didn't want the fun evening to end. He decided he'd dance in his bed for awhile just to keep the party going.

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After 10 minutes of silliness, he was pooped and fell asleep on the floor in the middle of his room!

Halloween Party

In early September I thought it would be a fun idea to have a Halloween party on the last Saturday in October. I know Alex still wouldn't quite understand the concept of trick-or-treating. I wanted to give him the opportunity to dress up though so it would be fun for the whole family.

At first I only thought of inviting those from the mom's group (4-6 of us) but eventually started thinking of others that may also want to come. Over the course of the month the list kept growing and growing.

And then this Saturday, I woke up (with only a few hours until the party) thinking, "Yikes! Did I really invite 10 toddlers to the house?? Am I in over my head? Are we going to have tantrums left and right? Will they be nice about sharing toys?"

Luckily things went way smoother than I had imagined! And we had a fabulous little Halloween party for Alex and his friends on Saturday from 3-6pm. (We took nap schedules into consideration).

Bijal and her boyfriend Andrew were nice enough to come the night before and decorate the house with fake spider webs, spiders, Danger Zombie tape, pumpkins, crows, etc. We didn't want it to be over the top scary in case toddler imaginations ran too wild during bedtime.

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Amber helped me with the menu and we had TONS of food: cookies, cupcakes, cocktail weenies, samosas, ghost and pumpkin shaped sandwiches, rice krispie treats, chicken nuggets, fruit salad, turkey wraps, and lots more.

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Matt dressed up as Ralph Wiggum 'Idaho'. Simpsons fans will get the reference. I was a Luau girl and Alex was Robin, Batman's sidekick.

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His best friend Jake was Batman.

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Batman didn't feel like wearing his helmet and Robin wasn't so keen on his eye mask.

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Jane came as a fairy princess.

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Citlali came as a pirate and her brother Andrew (Bijal's boyfriend) came in army gear

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Dilan the tiger

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Siri was Supergirl and Claire came dressed as a ladybug

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Another Jake came too. He was dressed as a dragon.

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Gabe came as a lion but with it being 80 degrees outside decided the onesie was far more comfortable.

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Amber and I take five. The party would not have been as great without her!

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Matt poses with the dynamic duo

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We gave out slinkies and stickers as treats

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As the party is winding down and the parents are trying to leave, they get delayed by the slide in our front yard

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Daddies being silly with the boys

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Eventually the last guests head out and we're happy that the party was such a great success! Alex keeps using his new favorite phrase "buh-byeeeee"