B's Big Day

You only turn 2 once; why not live it up?

Well, after the post about The Cake, and all the time invested into making said cake, you can understand why Benjamin's naps were few and far between the week of his birthday. Because of the lack of naps, this is how the birthday boy appeared for his special birthday dinner at Red Robin with Grandpa Ben, Dave & I:

As we were finishing, he finally woke up so we ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, mandarin oranges and chocolate milk for his big feast. He ate the mandarin oranges and exactly one steak fry off of Dave's plate before the "crankies" returned. Dave whisked him away to get a balloon while our server prepared his birthday sundae.

The ballon cheered up our birthday boy for a moment, but by the time the sundae arrived, Benjamin was insistent that we let him "open da door" so said sundae was a soupy, untouched mess by the time I paid and gathered up our stuff. Not the most spectacular birthday ever, but what can you expect? He was very tired and very 2 that day!

Because his birthday fell on a Thursday, we held the grand festivities last Saturday. With lots of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides, we opted for a family-only party (we were trying to get it low-key, you know?). After counting up possible attendees, we were still looking at a party of ~30 people! Wowsers. While that was a daunting number, Dave & I agreed that a joint family party was much preferred over throwing two separate ones.

So, we invited the whole gang over for a day at the lake - Dave's grandmother's Bellevue home, which sits on Phantom Lake. With such a nice, large backyard, everyone spread out and did their thing. Some sat & chatted, while others swam, canoed, dug in the sand, jumped on the water trampoline or took a ride in the paddleboat. Benjamin LOVES being in water; I think it's safe to say he had a blast because we had to literally drag him from the water with his teeth chattering.

The barbecue was AWESOME thanks to family members chipping in to help. We brought burgers, hot dogs, buns, carrots, water/soda, 4 packages of cookies and of course, The Cake. Ruthie provided a fresh fruit salad and corn on the cob; Ben brought several bags of chips; Dave's sister Julie brought a pasta salad; and Mom brought a Chinese chicken salad. Looking at the table, it was a pretty impressive spread and I think everyone left with full bellies. If that is not a successful party, I don't know what is!

Cake time came and, honestly, I felt a little silly bringing out this absolutely awesome - but totally over-the-top for a 2-year-old's birthday party - HUGE cake. It had to feed 30 people, so it was actually right on, in terms of the cake size. But you know what? The kids went hog wild over it, so that was really fun to see. My friend Allison did all of the design work, so I have to give the mad props to her.

Benj patiently waiting for his piece of Mickey-cake goodness.

Pre-cutting pics of The Cake

Finally... Cake Time! The chocolate cake was so moist (after 3 days!) and the chocolate mousse filling totally made the cake.

Benjamin didn't quite get it at first, but he LOVED all of his presents - especially the gazillion different balls he received. For Dave and I, the presents were sweet and very much appreciated. But more than that, we absolutely loved seeing all of our family members celebrate, love and support this totally awesome, little guy of ours.

Despite the overcast weather, everyone seemed to have a great day. Chalk it up to just another beautiful day at the lake.