He's Two!!

Parker's 2nd birthday is next Wednesday so we decided to plan his party for today! We invited several of his little friends from church and had the party at lunchtime so the toddlers could all be home in time for their much-needed afternoon naps.  :)

We decided to keep it simple, so lunch was a 'make-your-own-sandwich' bar. I made a big bowl of chicken salad, then picked up a few different kinds of buns, meat and cheese as well as a few sides--chips, potato salad, fruit, etc.

It seemed like an easy and filling meal but there was one problem...the little birthday boy isn't a big fan of sandwiches. He usually picks out the cheese and leaves everything else. I wasn't sure about the other toddlers' preferences either, so I made them a special little meal....

I had seen something on Pinterest called 'toddler buffet trays.' She had gotten ice cube trays and filled the little holes with toddler food/snacks. It looked like a fun idea and something Parker would like so I stopped at Dollar Tree last week for a few ice trays. They turned out pretty cute and the toddlers seemed content to pick away at whatever food choices they liked.

Shortly after lunch one of the little girls informed me she was ready for cake, so we brought out the dessert. I had wanted Parker's party/cake to have a theme that he would recognize so Kyle looked at a bunch of cakes with me and we decided an owl one would be cute. Park has a stuffed owl he carries around and he makes the hooting sound every time he sees one. When he saw the cake this morning I heard him shout, "Owl! Whoo...whoo!"  :)

I gave him part of the small owl cake and some ice cream. When his own ice cream ran out, he reached over to Kyle's plate and started helping himself to more. Then when I looked over a few minutes later, he had pulled Kyle's whole plate over. He had a utensil in each hand and was eating off both plates.  :)

After dessert we had him open his gifts. I thought he'd be more into it this year, but he still gets distracted too easily. He opened one and wanted to play with it--didn't care that we were putting other bags/gifts in front of him. He just wanted to keep pushing the buttons on the truck he just opened. We eventually made it through all of them but it took a while. By the time we finished it was already time for the party to end and a few guests had to leave. But before we sent them off we gave out marshmallow pop favors--large marshmallows dipped in chocolate, then rolled in either sprinkles or oreo crumbs. I wanted to give out something edible and these were something I could make a few days before the party and have them ready (and out of the way) early.

So that was our day. Hard to believe our little man is two years old already!! Thanks to all of our friends who could come and help make today special!  :)