Mattimeo's Second Birthday Part 2: the Party

On Sunday, August 11th, we celebrated Meo's second birthday with some of his closest family and friends. Since one of his most favorite of things right now is whales, he had a whale themed party. These were the invitations (The front looks a bit messy because I edited out my address and phone number):

For party favors we decorated little blue bags with whale stickers and put in some bubbles and a little whale toy. The party kind of transformed into a whale and bubble party, so we got a few fun bubble toys for the kids to play with as well.

Other whale things we had were the cupcake toppers that Robbie and I made, his whale pool, and some cheese whale crackers.

For food, we made two kinds of cupcakes. The first were blueberry cupcakes with honey butter-cream frosting that I made entirely from scratch using some of the blueberries we picked the week before. The second were organic chocolate chocolate cupcakes I made from a box I found at whole foods, topped with a homemade plain butter-cream frosting.

Mattimeo enjoyed helping me cook all the food we need for the party. Besides cupcakes, we made raisin bars (no sugar, just raisins, walnuts, oats, flour, oil and water), raspberry filled "rock cakes" (from the Redwall Cookbook), and pasta salad. Memere made a delicious fruit salad, Grandma brought a whole bunch of Apple and Eve juice boxes, and I also put out cheese and crackers. I think it was a yummy selection of food, I hope others thought so too!

Raisin Bars

Homemade Pasta Salad

"Rock Cakes"

I was nervous about making sure everything was just right and that everyone would have fun together once they arrived, but Robbie assured me that I would have nothing to worry about and I suppose he was right. It was fun to see all of our different friends and family play together as we shared food and toys.

Leela was so cute and really wanted to give Meo her present right away. Poor Meo had just woken up from a morning nap (he doesn't usually take morning naps, but I luckily managed to get him to sleep so he would be rested for his party), and didn't really know what Leela was trying to do. He was more interested in eating his rock cake.

Carter and his family

Sharing lunch with Mama

Mema and baby Cheyanne

Bryce, Charlie and Noah playing at the watertable

Bryce, Charlie and Noah playing at the watertable

Memere, Meagen and Pepere enjoying the shade

Jeremy, Sarah and their lovely kids Finn and Osa

Erin and Conor (Erin is one month ahead of me in her pregnancy...also a boy!)

All on their own, Meo decided to hop into his push wagon and Leela came along to push him around the yard. It was one of the most adorable things I've seen these two little loves do so far.

Leela and Meo

Bryce, Meagen, Henry, Chalrie, Conor and Noah at the watertable

Sarah and Finn

Carter playing ball with Robbie's dad

Carter playing ball with Robbie's dad

Mema, Poppup and Cheyanne

Meo's baby girl cousin, Cheyanne

Kasia and Henry

Memere and Cheyanne

Mara and Charlie

Cousins playing on the logs

Poppup and Cheyanne

Kasia with Henry and Conor

Erin in the pool with Conor, Osa and Carter

Leela

Memere and Pepere

Finn and Osa

Erin pulling Henry and Conor while Carter helped push

Meo watching Finn and Osa in the pool

 The hat that Meo is wearing from this point on is the very special birthday crown that our friends Sarah, Jeremy, Finn and Osa made made. Sarah made it with an elastic so it will fill for many birthdays to come, and each year we are to add a new pendant to the trim. Right now he has a bird and a star, two things he really loves.

Putting on Meo's birthday crown.

Next came the part Meo was most excited for, CUPCAKES! He had been asking for a cupcake everyday after his actual birthday I had to keep telling him we had to wait until Sunday. Leela sat right down next to Meo when it was time for us all to sing happy birthday and have him blow out his candle. Then Meo had TWO cupcakes, one of each! He didn't actually eat both of them, but he did walk around with them for quite some time.

Sarah and Carter watching Meo blow out his candle

Mattimeo had a lot of fun smearing frosting all over my Dad's beard; he thought it was hilarious! 

Here are some pictures of Meo wearing his birthday crown as he ran around with a cupcake in each hand:

And a few pictures of our little family. At this point I was one day shy of 26 weeks pregnant.

I wasn't so sure how opening presents would go since at other two year old parties we had been to, the child had trouble sitting still to open their gifts. But I decided just to try to see how Meo did so that people could see him react to the gifts they picked out for him. He ended up doing a really great job and managed to open all his presents. He was really excited about them too, which was especially endearing. He got a lot of great gifts including books, LEGOs, his first pair of snowshoes, a handmade puzzle, a dragon, a moon shirt (Meo LOVES the moon as much as he loves whales), sorting stones, his first board games and a Dahlov Ipcar calender (she's a famous artist/illustrator that Robbie was fortunate enough to meet and have some of our books signed by recently). Meo even allowed his friend Leela and his cousin Bryce help him open some of his presents, which was really sweet of him.

Opening presents between Mama and Leela

Bryce checking out the Ocean book that Carter got Meo

Thank you all so much for the gifts! Meo loves them all, and it was so thoughtful of you to give them to him. We are all very grateful!

After presents, the part began to wind down, but Meo still had lots more fun with family and friends before the afternoon was over.

Kasia and Henry

Meo and Grandpa

Conor and his Daddy (and their dog Hunter)

Krista and Leela

Meo and Leela enjoying blackberries from Auntie Jess

Meo and Henry

Memere and Meo

Playing ball with Henry

Me with my sweet nephew and birthday boy

Mattimeo and Bryce spent a good portion of time racing back and forth. They were going as fast as their little legs could carry them and working so hard, but laughing and having so much fun. They were adorable!

Meo kept saying that his baby cousin Cheyanne was "awww, cute!"

Robinsons

Jess and her new boyfriend

Bryce

Henry having a snack

Sliding with Uncle Brian

How Meo slides on our slide

Sam and her new niece :)

For a good amount of time, Bryce and Meo had a blast chasing after my brother and wrestling him on the ground. They were all laughing so hard, it was really cute!

And here is Meo swinging with Auntie Jess and Grandma Robinson at the end of his party. Notice how tired and thoughtful he looks? It had been a very fun birthday party full of lots of love and laughter and this two year old was quite worn out from all the excitement!

Thank you again to all the people who could come celebrate this special occasion with us. We had a wonderful day, and you helped to make Meo's second birthday fantastic.