Amazingly Articulate Alec's Birthday Party

Dear readers, you may notice that I'm starting to get sick of writing about old news.  You may be getting sick of READING about old news, but I assure you that we're only a few more posts away for being caught up.  Our next stop on our trip down last months memory lane: Alec's Birthday Party!  Woohoo!

So on Alec's birthday we were back at my parents house for a brief one day stay before we flew back to the frozen winterland that is Iowa.  Alec doesn't really understand birthdays yet, but he does know that if there are candles you're supposed to sing "Happy to you!" (He still leaves the birthday part out of the song)  This is a blessing in that he doesn't know how the rest of the world does birthdays, so I can do whatever I want and he can just find out in grade school that his family is weird.  

We decided to have a family party at the Mall play area!  Maybe you think that's weird or tacky, but a large open area in winter that doesn't cost a dime isn't easy to come by in winter... and I wasn't about to rent out some place for a 2 year old's birthday party.  Since we didn't want things to be super busy we decided on 9:30 for the time.  I made Alec a birthday crown, but he refused to wear it.  Maybe next year.  Anyway, my mom and I decided that cake before lunch is like drinking before noon...  So we had muffins, oranges, and juice instead!

Alec didn't seem to mind, and I got to use Erin's beautiful cupcake stand (instead of a cake), which in itself made my morning.  

Alec may be a picky kid in some ways, but he'll down whole wheat oatmeal applesauce muffins like they're going out of style.

Then the guys played a game Alec loves:  Football.

Alec also got some good tackles in, making him quite happy.  

Alec also got to climb around on the big tree house with Mike, one of his favorite people in the entire world.

Our dear friend (who also used to be our down the street neighbors) brought their cute kiddos over to celebrate with us.  These two kids are two of the reasons I decided that maybe I could have children...  Evie and William are two of the coolest kids the world has ever known.

How does this Mommy feel about having a Two year old vs. two kids under the age of two?  

Then when things started winding down, Alec got to open some presents from Grandma, Grandpa, Robert, and the Axleys.  Some were labeled to him, and some were purposely labeled to Lyssa so he would remember to share with her.  I thought it was a great idea.  

And where are the presents from his mom and dad?  He didn't get any!  That's right, you heard me.  He didn't get any, but he did give Lyssa a Leap Frog alphabet game for the fridge, and he gave me a nice pair of black slip on shoes, and Nick a covered for his new and ever impressive Ipod Touch.  Why is he giving us gifts for his birthday?  Because we're weird, and that's how we do things around here.  Next week on Lyssa's birthday she's giving Alec a doctors kit.  She has yet to find gifts to give us.  

The idea is that on your own birthday you get to eat whatever you want, do whatever you want (within moral reason), and milk it for all it's worth, but you give everyone else in the family a gift.  Maybe another day I'll go into detail about our reasoning and benefits of this form of gift giving, but not today.  Alec did a fine job of milking the day for all it was worth, eating lots of treats and no vegetables, and avoiding all naps.  It's your day, little man, live it up!  Happy Birthday, my dear amazingly articulate Alec.