Owen's 2nd Birthday Party

The birthday boy with his Dada before heading to church. I loved that they were wearing matching red, white and blue ties. Oh, and poor Goose had a big fat lip that he'd gotten the day before by pulling the baby monitor down off a shelf onto his face. It was pretty sad. :(

Since most of Miles' family was in town for graduations, we decided to celebrate Owen's birthday a week early so that we could have more family there. It was really nice to have Grandma and Grandpa Wright, Aunt Megan, Uncle Mitchell, Aunt Marci as well as Uncle Matt, Aunt Kerry and cousins Hadley and Elena all there to celebrate with us.

I decided to do an "airplane" themed party since this boy *loves* all things transportation, but especially planes. I cut out a banner and clouds, and Miles drew airplanes and cut those out for decorations.

I wanted to make an airplane shaped cake, but with all the graduation festivities and family gatherings, I decided to decrease my stress level and just make a landing strip. I think it turned out quite cute. And, most importantly, it tasted good since I used the chocolate chip bundt cake recipe with cream cheese frosting. Yum!

We started with dinner. I made Peanut Ginger Chicken over Coconut Rice topped with Mango Salsa. Kerry made a delicious julienne chopped Asian salad to go with it, and we drank sparkling prickly passion lemonade. It was an awesome meal if I do say so myself. :)

After dinner, we opened presents. When I brought them out and asked Owen if he wanted to open presents, he started jumping up and down on the couch shouting, "Presents! Presents! Presents!" It was super cute.

We went pretty simple with presents, but ALL of them were a hit. He got a drawing pad and washable (thank you, Crayola) crayons from the Wickman family. He is always requesting "colors" when he sees anything you can write with. He also got a rev-up monster truck that is magnetic and can climb up the fridge or metal doors, as well as a train track set from me and Miles. Both sets of grandparents gave him money for his savings account, and I believe Grandma Van de Wetering is working on a quiet book (post to come when that arrives).

After presents, we did cake and ice cream. Owen was so excited when he saw the plane and helicopter on the cake. Miles and Mitchell were trying to get the candles lit, but were struggling because our air conditioning was blowing them out and it wasn't turning off fast enough. Owen was crying the whole time because he just wanted the toys. They were finally able to get them lit and we sang and brought the cake over to Owen. He reached right past the candles for the plane, and knocked the flames out with this sleeve. So much for actually blowing them out. Oh well. Also, Owen didn't seem that into the cake. He was more interested in the ice cream, but mostly he just wanted to play with his "pwane" and "copter."

Oh, and I also made these cute little airplanes as favors, but had hidden them in the cupboard so Owen wouldn't see them. Unfortunately, that meant I completely forgot to even bring them out. Oops!

The party was a lot of fun and like I said, it was so great to celebrate with family. We know that won't always be an option as most family members live far away and others are likely moving away from this area. Thank you to everyone who was there to help celebrate Owen's birthday with us!