Miles' second birthday

I'm only a month late with this post. I have been waiting on the pictures and then I got the pictures and they sat on a DVD for a couple weeks before loading to the computer. No amount of technology will make up for laziness. My apologies.

ANYWAY - the party was a huge success in more ways than one. I invited a slew of people thinking at least a third of them couldn't come. Well, two or three families said they wouldn't make it, and all the rest showed up. And we are glad they did. But it was one of those parties that just grew, and grew and grew. Thanks to multiple ongoing lists and some strategic delegation, it went off without a hitch or a huge dent in our wallet.
We had a curious george party because that is by far Miles' favorite show. He wakes up in the morning and the first word is "Joooce" and the second is "Ooh, Ooh, Ah, Ah". That is code for Curious George. We borrowed a blow up ball pit from our neighbors and a tunnel for the little ones to crawl through. Then we had a special visitor come and read Miles a birthday story. He was very surprised and loved sitting in The Man with the Yellow Hat's lap. We had cake, ate snacks and called it a party! It was really a lot of fun and I was glad everyone could share our celebration.

There was no question as to what theme Miles' party was going to be. We had plenty of George items to decorate with.

Me and the birthday boy. Miles had a really good time at his party.
(I know you can't tell by the look on his face here. But really. He did.)

The upside down borrowed tunnels and the Barrera kids.

My cute niece, Allison, who told us the tunnels were upside down.
It took a 3 year old to figure it out!

The borrowed bouncy ball pit. It was a HUGE success. And better yet - it was free! I should probably bake my neighbors some cookies or something for letting us borrow it.
We had it at our church. Our house holds 4 people comfortably, so that wasn't an option. It was a cold rainy/snowy day and I am glad we didn't plan anything outside. That will always be an issue for Miles' parties. It could be gorgeous or miserably bleak.

The birthday boy chillaxin' in the ball pit.

What's a party without balloons? We purchased a shiny curious george balloon but the Party City employee didn't tie it on to the string correctly, and it came loose from the ribbon and flew away as we took them out of the car. Who me? Bitter?

I do want to say a huge thank you to all our friends for bringing such wonderful toys for the Make a Wish Foundation's Wish closet. Not only did you make our day wonderful by coming but you have cheered up another little boy or girl somewhere in Arkansas by contributing to the toy box. I delivered them the following Tuesday and the staff were so excited. They commented that these were "really nice toys". It made me proud to have such generous friends.

Miles with special guest, "The Man With the Yellow Hat". He read Curious George and the Birthday Surprise. How appropriate.

I spent way too much time on that hat but its not an item that you can find at just any old store.
I had a hard enough time finding a bright yellow shirt. And yellow pants are impossible to find.
I know. I've tried. Thanks Chris for playing along - even when your wife and kids were sick and couldn't come to the party. You were quite convincing and I loved it just as much as Miles.

A quiet story time before having cake and ice cream
(and as we let the inflatables have a rest too.)

Brother Grant partaking in the festivities and some good grandparent time.

THE cake. Wish I could claim it but we got it from the Blue Cake Company.

Miles actually blew out the candles - both of them - all by himself. I have no idea how he knew what he was supposed to do, but he did. I was thinking the whole time "Whose idea was it to blow out candles on a cake that everyone is going to eat. He is going to spit on this cake. I know it." I was right there and he didn't. I was shocked, and proud.

To calm the restless crowd of mostly 2 year olds, we had crayons and George coloring sheets to fill the time until I could cut everyone cake.

Miles enjoyed about 3 bites of cake before going back to playing with his friends.
I finished it off for him later since we ran out.

We are so glad everyone came to celebrate Miles' second birthday with us. We hope you had as much fun as we did and for those of you who couldn't make it, we hope this post can make you feel like you shared the fun with us. Hey, there is always next year. I hear that Atkinson kid can really throw a party!