Ladies and Gentlemen....We Have a Two Year Old!

It's true!
Ryne is two!
Happened on Thursday.
We had a party!
A Toy Story Extravaganza...
yet we clung to a small party after all the Christmas hustle and bustle.
Take a look....

Buzz Lightyear took care of the balloons for us.

Ryne was super excited about the plates, napkins and...

the cups!
He kept pointing out every single character with excitement...as if they were lost and he finally found them!


The Birthday Cake!
Still get tickled when I think that we enjoyed the same Buzz and Wood birthday cake at a party the day before.


Ryne delivered party hats to everyone.


Mollie put hers on proudly.


Jordan was happy to wear hers as well.


Oh, yes, we didn't leave anyone out...

Not even Buzz!


Pizza Party for lunch.

I'm not sure Ryne even ate two bites because he was so busy playing with his party favors.


Kade found a fancy new party hat to wear...aka the Christmas decorations from the dining table.


Of course, Ryne had to try it on as well.


Looking at that cake, just ready to dive in.
But not yet....we chose to open presents first.
Why?
Well, I thought I was being smart. Let's open presents then have cake and ice cream. Then maybe we can go straight down for nap time before the cake and ice cream have time to kick in. Sounds like smart Mommy thinking, huh?
Here come the presents...

A movie...Go Diego Go!


Ryne's present from Kade.


I tied a little too much ribbon on there so Kade had to help out.


Another Toy Story friend!


One of the aliens. Oh, he liked it!


And yet another Toy Story friend....Mr. Potato Head. Whom Ryne affectionately calls "Tato Head." These two newest friends have joined the rest of the crew and now Buzz, Jessie (whom we always have to make sure has her hat), Pig, Rex, Alien, and Tato Head all accompany Ryne to bed and then he drags all of them back down the stairs every morning. I feel bad for poor Woody, whom he's had quite a bit longer...he seems to get left behind most of the time. I'm just waiting for the day when he realizes that he's been missing Woody.


Ryne did great opening each of his cards and doing his best to "read" them.
I'm thankful that he enjoyed his cards just like he did his gifts. Of course, he hasn't been carrying his cards to bed with him, though.

One last present from Mom and Dad..

A bag full of sea creatures and sea machines!


After all the fun Toy Story stuff I wasn't sure how he would respond....but he really liked them.
So did Kade. We had to keep reminding Kade that they were Ryne's presents and he needed to wait until Ryne was ready to share.

Then there were treasures from afar...

Cards from Aunt Kim, Uncle B, Brandon and Taylor!


Check out this cool magnet that Brandon made.


And one more big present to open from Aunt Kim, Uncle B, Brandon and Taylor.


His very own mailbox. Complete with letters and a package and all kinds of music noises.
Not sure how many times now Kade and Ryne have been to the mailbox to get their letters and packages. Kade likes for me to guess each time what cool thing he has in his package.
Thanks Aunt Kim, Uncle B, Brandon and Taylor!

Presents done....now on to the cake!

Ryne LOVED singing Happy Birthday to himself. It was super cute. He sang along with each birthday song phone call he got that day, too. Totally wished I would have recorded it at least once so you could see him get so excited singing to himself.
Kade was so excited that he blew out Ryne's candle without even thinking about it.
Luckily Ryne was totally okay with us relighting it for him.

Candle-blow-out take two!


He ate more cake than he did pizza!


And you know Kade was enjoying his cake.


See, I told you Ryne ate more cake than pizza....there's evidence on his mouth.


I told you we kept the party small.
This was the crew...minus me and Ryne of course, I was standing behind him taking the picture.
We just had our sweet friends Jordan, Mollie (whom had just gotten back from a trip home to West Virginia), and Susie (our friend who left DuPont and moved to Arizona a while back and was home for a visit) come over to help us celebrate. We had talked about getting together while everyone was in town and it worked out perfectly. And I'm sure it felt like more of a party to Ryne than just having the four of us.
Thanks, girls, for helping us celebrate!!


Ryne had a great time!


And we totally almost forgot the special Toy Story birthday card that Jordan made....
it was the best of all because it was full of confetti that went everywhere when he opened it!
Oh yes, he loved that!
As soon as Ryne finished his cake and opened his last card we took him straight to bed. Remember, I had a plan for nap time happening before the cake kicked in.
Guess what.....
It didn't work!
I came out of Kade's room from putting him down for a nap and found Ryne heading downstairs (all Toy Story friends in tow). I asked him what he thought he was doing and he very plainly replied, "I goin downstairs, play with my toys."
Of course he was!
We tried several times to get him to go to sleep, but it never happened. He really was determined to play with his toys. That is exactly what he did!
So, I guess Ryne's final present that day was to get to skip a nap on his birthday.
He was good and played with his toys and let us play some cards with the girls before they had to head out.
One thing is for sure...it was the BEST second birthday Ryne has ever had!!
We all had a great time.
I am so happy and blessed to have a two year old who makes me smile every single day.

And on a completely unrelated note but something that I thought was too cool not to share....

Mollie and Jordan got the exact same camera for Christmas!
What the crazy? The same birthday cake two days in a row and then the exact same camera as Christmas gifts...wondering what is going to show up next in our world as the exact same???