Grayson's Dino-Mite 2nd Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated our littlest turning 2! His birthday is actually this Friday (27th), but due to some of our schedules we decided to have his party early. We will be going to meet his new cousin (yay!!!) and to the lake on Friday, so it was just easier for everyone. 

Grayson has been obsessed with dinosaurs lately (he says RAWWWRRR any chance he gets), and I loved the idea of incorporating them for his party. I kept the food simple and bought a mac and cheese platter from GFS and did sliders and some other dips and Billy made a dinosaur head out of a watermelon (turned out so cute!) that we stuffed with fruit. 

(my stepmom once again made the cutest cake for him off of a picture template that I sent to her!)

I put the boys in matching dinosaur shirts (from Gymboree!) and I bought Grayson some pretty cute shoes that I found on clearance a few days prior!

(I bought that dinosaur off of Amazon)

No surprise that he loved his cake and wasted no time eating it all... :)

I filled up a baby pool with sand and had plastic dinosaurs and shovels for the kids to play with and we also set up a bounce house in our backyard. It was supposed to rain all day but we got lucky with not having any and it ended up being on the cooler side which was a plus!

Billy's friend let him borrow his adult sized dinosaur costume (that he used for his nephews party recently) to surprise the kids with and it was absolutely hysterical watching their reactions! Some of them were scared and weary in the beginning (Grayson clung to me for a few minutes) and some (aka Camden) were jumping up and down excited! It didn't take long for the kids to warm up to T Rex (especially after some dance moves) and soon enough they were all giving high-fives and hugs. I got some really great videos that I can't wait to show them when they're older! Grayson was smiling from ear to ear the entire party - we know he had the best time. 

And here's some more pictures from the day with our families and friends... :)

To add to the excitement that day, Billy's brother and his wife had their baby boy DURING Grayson's party! We were all so happy and excited. 

Only a few more sleeps with a one year old...le sigh. Grayson has been the biggest blessing to our family, I can't even talk about it without wanting to sob my eyes out. He is truly the sweetest, most gentle, silly, lovable little boy out there. We are beyond thankful that he is ours and to for the opportunity to watch him grow every single day. I cherish every moment I have with him. Can't wait to celebrate him on Friday, too! 

We love you SO much, buddy! 

CAMDEN'S CONSTRUCTION 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY

At this age, not many other things can explain Camden more than loving ALL things construction. It was the perfect 3rd birthday party theme for him! His party was at our house which was nice considering there was a blizzard the night prior and it was freezing outside! All of our family and friends were still able to make it to his party (which we are so thankful for-Camden was so happy to have all his little friends, cousins, and family there!) and I think everyone enjoyed it. 

One thing that we know Camden for sure enjoyed was his cake. I'm not lying when I say that 3 hours before his party, when we turned our attention off of him for no longer than a minute, he climbed up onto the kitchen counter and helped himself to the top layer of his cake. He had cake all over his mouth and Billy screamed when he saw him because he knew I would be so sad that his cake was destroyed before anyone got to see it, haha! It is totally not surprising though because Cam would so do something like that. I'm glad I at least got a picture of it before he got his hands to it! 

I think we had over 25 adults and over 10 kids here - it was such a fun party and Camden was over the moon thrilled with all his cool gifts he got. 

Here's some pictures of the details & other fun stuff from his party...

 (this pic shows some of the "damage" Cam did-which actually just looked like dirt and that it was meant to be there ha but notice how the number is gone and the other side was worse than this!)

 And as if he didn't get enough from before...after we all sang him happy birthday he dove face first right into it! He did this 3 or 4 times - everyone was cracking up. Boy loves him some cake, who can blame him?!

I can't publish this post and NOT share this amazing picture of my parents and the boys. THIS is truly what happens after 1. Too much sugar and 2. You try to make your kids take too many pictures AFTER the party (always do pictures before the party...ALWAYS!)

Also, I wanted to share some pictures from his actual birthday since his party was actually the weekend after! Billy took the afternoon off work and we took the boys to Camden's favorite place to play - Recreations Outlet (which is 5 mins from our house! so nice) - that has tons of playground sets, basketball courts, baseball and soccer nets, and trampolines! 

After they were worn out (more like us) we went out to dinner for mexican food, and Cam thought it was the coolest thing ever that they came out to sing to him and he got to wear the big sombrero...

(Grayson was so silly at dinner-making funny faces and dancing in his highchair)

And since the bowl of ice cream that he had at dinner (that he did share with us) wasn't enough for a birthday, when we got home he enjoyed some more cake. 

We definitely won't ever forget this birthday. Or how happy we all were seeing HIM so happy. 

Love you, Cam!