Gavin's Number Two Birthday in Pictures

Gavin's second birthday party was small but special. Originally I had planned on an "outdoor play" themed party. We were going to host our family at one of our local parks, enjoy picnic fare and set up all of Gavin's new "outdoor play" toys so he could have a fun park and playground day. Instead we got rain and lots of it. Thankfully my inlaws offered up their house, which is much larger than ours. We set up the jumpolene in the entry way and the soccer goal in the garage. Papa Rod bought the balloons and Nana Cathy let us use some of vases and bowls for the tablescape and supplied good cheese for the cheese/cracker tray. Aunt Shannon brought her awesome peanut butter thumbprint cookies and assembled our very pretty snack trays. My sister all the way in Houston even pitched in by sending him a special t-shirt, that she made, for him to wear on his big day. It was very DIY of her! The men assembled all of Gavin's new toys and snuck treats from the kitchen when they thought we weren't looking. Gavin's Texas Nana and Papa sent him a couple of great gifts, each of which included a ball element. Balls always make G happy. It was a real family effort and thanks to everyone Gavin woke up from his nap to a house full of bright colors and birthday surprises. Our good friends the Graves came over and brought their two daughters. Mattie is two months old and Makella is three. Gavin really enjoyed having Makella there to play with. He wasn't always excited about sharing his toys, but the two of them had a ball in the jumpolene.











Because we ended up moving our party indoors we were able to cook a nice meal for everyone. Grilled pork tenderloin, garlic-tomato sausage, grilled okra and asparagus, roasted red pepper dipping sauce, roasted potatoes and a dijon vinagarette for the salad. Nana Cathy was excited to set up the first kids' table for Gavin's generation. The pretty table you see in the photo is a table that Papa Rod made way back when he was still single young chap. Kind of cool, huh?



Opening presents. Thank you to our family and to the Graves for being so generous to our little person on his special day. We didn't get pictures of them all, but Gavin received a few gifts from our folks in Texas and even from all the way in Las Vegas from his Aunt Peggy, who sent him a tractor (his current favorite thing). Some of his bigger gifts were the jumpolene, the soccer goal, a radio flyer tricycle (from his mom and dad), and a radio flyer wheel barrel. Once the weather warms up we'll definitely get a lot of use from the sprinkler/water fun toys from Shannon and Kelly and the bubble machine from the Graves.







You know one of our events wouldn't be complete without a vintage toy from Nana's attic. This is Casey and Uncle Tyler's old airport set. Al three of the cousins Casey, Tyler and Shannon remember playing with this toy. It was nice to watch all their faces light up too when Gavin unwrapped this gift.



Birthday cake time!! This cake was a family effort. I baked it and made the frosting. Uncle Kelly applied the frosting and made it look purty. Aunt Shannon added the sprinkles. Nana Cathy picked out the candles, let us use her special birthday plate and cleaned off the edges after Kelly was finished frosting. Uncle Tyler put the candles in the cake.






After dinner and birthday cake the kids played and the adults visited. It was a great way to spend a Saturday night.

I love these two pics because of the huge smile on Gavin's face. He really enjoyed having his buddy over.



Just hanging out...













The end of a good party. After our friends had left and the birthday boy was fast asleep, the grown ups stayed up for good conversation, sweet treats and adult beverages.




These were taken at exactly 8:00AM on Sunday, his real birthday and before everyone was up. To celebrate for real I spoiled my munchkin with hot cocoa and birthday cake for an early morning snack, after his regular banana and granola bar. Shhh, don't tell.







Gavin with his daddy on March 6, 2011



Gavin with his daddy on March 6, 2009