Jack's 2nd Birthday

My big guy is now officially a 2 year old! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were planning his 1st birthday party...This birthday party was so much better than his first and I will tell you why--
1. It wasn't HOT outside! Last year we were all sweating to death trying to watch the kids play outside in the bounce house. This year it did get a little chilly as the night wore on but I will take throwing a jacket on over having sweat run down my back!
2. We had a smaller crowd. Last year we invited more extended family members and friends. This year we kept it to immediate family and close friends. Even though my sister didn't think the crowd was any smaller I sure did! We are very fortunate to have both sets of family in town and a great group of friends. The smallest group we can have was the group we had this year.
3. Jack understood that the day was about him. When he got up in the morning I sang him "Happy Birthday" and when I was done he said, "I get presents!". It made me laugh. I told him he does get presents because today is his birthday. He loved playing in the bounce house (even got a private bounce house experience before his nap). In fact, we couldn't keep him out of the bounce house all night. He would get in there with the big kids and jump away. Luckily for us the big kids kept an eye out for him and he only ended up with a couple of bruises. :)  We would laugh because we would get quick visits from Jack all night when he left the bounce house and quickly decided he wanted back in. I would try to make him hug as many people as I could see before we lost him again.
4. The cake wasn't a nightmare. He actually sat and let everyone sing to him (only touching the cake a couple of times) and he tried to blow out his own candle. Gabe had to help on the 2nd try, but that's what Dads are for. :)  He ate his cake and wanted seconds on his ice cream (which he got). Jack didn't each much quality food but he got his calories from chips, ice cream, and cake. Oh well...we will call it his cheat day! ;)
At the end of the night Jack was pooped! He had a great day surrounded by the most important people to him. Thanks to everyone who came over to make his day so great!

Cinnamon rolls for the birthday boy!

He loved carrying his balloons around before nap time. 

Ahhhh...the joy of having the bounce house all to yourself!

Had to have a Mickey Mouse cake!

I love that Jack is wearing his Mickey Mouse hat!

The Hulk hands were a big hit!

Reading his new Mickey Mouse book with Nana

Captain America saves the day!

Halloween

This has been the best Halloween yet! Last year Jack wasn't much fun...sorry, but he wasn't. He was just getting comfortable walking and we dressed him up in his monkey costume just long enough to take pictures. This year we would ask Jack every time we went to the store what he wanted to be for Halloween and we always got the same answer, "Ironman". 

Gabe and I went back and forth on what he should actually be for Halloween. Jack has never really liked to wear hats and he HATES wearing masks. This was going to be a problem for the Ironman costume...We ended up taking Jack to a Halloween store and letting him run around. While we were debating on what costume to get him Gabe decided to torture Jack and put the Ironman mask on him. Well, that backfired on him because Jack absolutely loved the mask! Gabe and I could not believe it!! Since he was being so good with the mask we decided to throw the entire costume on him to see if he would wear it. Not only did he wear it, but he wouldn't take it off so he wore it out of the store. I could not stop laughing because he look so cute!

Jack striking a pose in the store.

We compromised and he wore the mask on the way home.

When Halloween finally came I was hoping Jack would be as good as he was when we bought his costume. He didn't disappoint...He loved it! Wore the costume all night and had a blast. He went down 3 streets carrying his bucket and saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" and even had to pull the wagon. He was so much fun! I didn't mind the fact that he was up an hour later than normal because he was having a blast. :)

This was the moment of truth...would he wear it???

Success! (And yes, he carried his Elmo bucket!)

Ceci got him a glow in the dark pitchfork to carry around. 

Not scared to walk up the the doors by himself!

Pulling the wagon and holding his bucket of candy!

Jack loved his costume so much he had to wear it the next day as well...

This was the best $30 we have spent in a long time! :)

Pumpkin Patch

I have been such a slacker with my blog lately! Now that season has ended I can finally start to play catch up before Jack's birthday and the holidays start to roll around!
Gabe, Jack, Ceci and I went to Tomlchoff Farms here in town to have the pumpkin patch experience. Jack has been so much fun this Halloween season because he has loved seeing pumpkins. We would have to walk around the neighborhood at night so he could see them all and point them out to us. Ok, back to the pumpkin patch...We arrived around 9:30 am and stayed for a couple of hours. Jack got to feed the goats, horse, see chickens and pigs and of course pick out his very own pumpkin! It was a great day and we got out of there just before it really started to get hot! (Gotta love October in AZ!) Jack was very proud of his pumpkin and kept wanting to hold it...the bad part is he thinks it's a ball and wants to drop it all the time. Next year we will try carving a pumpkin... :)