(Photo taken on our camera by Sarah.)

Ryan's 2nd Birthday

 We had Ryan's birthday party on Sunday, the day before his actual birthday, since it's not very feasible to have a party on a Monday! The party was held in the aerobics room at MHS, from 11am to 1pm. The theme was Thomas the Tank Engine. We had a bouncy castle and helium filled balloons, both of which were a bit hit with the kiddos. There was fun and festive music. Larry made two mixed cds, consisting of mostly 80's music! Of course we had munchies and drinks, and pizza for lunch. I opted for cupcakes instead of one big cake. I figured most of the kids there were fairly young, and cupcakes would be so much easier than trying to cut a big cake. (Also there's a lot less mess, and no cutlery to worry about!) My Aunt Jean asked an astute question via e-mail: why is there only one candle on Ryan's cupcake? Well, I only thought to put one on there, that's why!  No one at the party said a thing about it!

There were only four families there, which turned out to be just the right amount. (There were nine kiddos there, including Ryan, and one infant.) All the kids could fit on the bouncy castle at once, and the feel of the party was nice. Speaking of nice, we noticed that all the kids there were very nice to one another, and very well behaved. Yay!

There was lots of bouncing, then food, then bouncing, then the birthday song and cake, then more bouncing before the little ones tired out and everyone went home.

Larry got video of Ryan being serenaded. It was so cute, Ryan clapped at the end! He tried to blow out his candle, but wasn't quite up to it!

We decided to open presents at home. The first couple of times I was at a birthday party where this happened, I was confused. However, then I realized that with most of the kids being very young, it would probably just be confusing to them, opening the gifts at the party.

We had Thomas goodie bags, of course! (Goodie bags and decorations courtesy of my Mom. Thank you so much, Mom!)

All in all, the party went really well. Everything went smoothly, and everybody had a good time.