Happy 2nd Birthday, Carson!!!!

Our little man is now a 2-year old! That is so hard to believe! This past year has just flown by - it feels like we just celebrated his first birthday a couple of months ago. He is growing up way too fast!

In honor of Carson turning 2, we had a weekend full of airplane-themed birthday parties for him. We decided to do two parties since he has so many people that love him and that we wanted to celebrate with. The first party was Saturday afternoon/evening with Kevin's family and some of our friends. We had a big taco/nacho and fajita bar followed by one of Aunt Mary's fantastic cake creations - a 10-inch round, triple-layer, yellow/chocolate marble cake with some super cute airplane and cloud decorations! Carson even blew out his own candle on the cake! Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and I think everyone had a great time! We did! It was nice to have a chance to visit with everyone - I think it was a good sized group for the party. Carson had so much fun playing with his cousins and Vayla! He loved showing them his train table, all of his Little People and all of his other toys. He and Rebecca got a little one-on-one playtime before and after the party, too, so that was nice to see them play so well and have so much fun together.

Carson got so many awesome things - everyone was more than generous! Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom got Carson a sweet Trek bicycle!! Carson absolutely loves it and we think he will have it mastered by summertime. Although, when Grandpa asked Carson if he liked his new bike - as he was riding it through the living room with a huge smile on his face - his answer was "nope!". :) That is his answer to just about everything these days, even though it was obvious he was totally loving it! Carson's first concern with the bike was that he needed his helmet - that was pretty cool to hear! Unfortunately, his bike helmet from last summer is too small now. So we'll be making a trip to the store to get him a new helmet sometime very soon.

In addition to the Trek bicycle, Carson received a yellow teddy bear, a handmade-by-Grandma knit scarf to match his coat, Lincoln Logs, bathtub crayons, a hand-painted-by-Aunt Julie catch-a-mess art mat (she painted it all with Eric Carle characters and it is sooooo cute!!), some stylin' new clothes for spring and summer, crayons and drawing pad, Eric Carle animal sounds game, some awesome Sprig toys - a sand truck and scuba guy - they're made from all recycled materials, play money, stickers, a CD player, a gift card to Toys R Us, a wooden pizza set, some spelling puzzles, a book about the moon, a book about the human body, and a chalkboard/dry erase board combo with wooden alphabet magnets.






We continued our celebration on Sunday afternoon/evening with Sara's family. We decided to take it easy and just have some simple appetizers and sides and just order some pizza and breadsticks from our favorite local pizza joint - Rocky's. We still ended up with way too much food, but I guess having too much is better than not having enough, right? It was another strange party without my grandparents, but we all still had a good time. Carson loved having more cousins to play with again. He is at such a fun-loving age! Carson, Mackenzey, and Gabe all had fun at the train table. Carson was very watchful over Mackenzey, making sure she didn't put any small pieces in her mouth, it was so cute! We had another fantastic cake from Aunt Mary for dessert. Carson wouldn't blow out his candle this time - he was too interested in pointing out the airplane and saying it was "so cute!" Carson then had fun feeding Mackenzey small bites of cake and ice cream - it was so adorable! Mackenzey is just so fascinated by Carson and he thinks she is pretty fun, too!

Carson received lots more awesome gifts! Everyone was more than generous again! Nana and Papa got Carson a super fun tool bench! He also was given a tool set, a savings bond, more stylin' clothes for spring and summer, some Tonka trucks, an Eric Carle counting game, an alphabet learning game, t-ball sets, a Zhu Zhu pet hamster and speed boat, Hooked on Phonics, some dress-up clothes (policeman and fireman), some Play-Doh toys, a book about ships, a book about the dentist, and a book about bumblebees.






Carson is so blessed to have so many people that love him so much! Thank you to everyone that helped to make this weekend so fun and special for him and us!! We love you all!!