happy happy birthday Colin!

Today is my baby's second birthday. He is currently outside doing one of his favorite things—hoeing in the garden with his Papa. His sister is sleeping so I thought I'd quickly blog some pictures from the last week including the birthday party festivities from Saturday.

These first few are from last week. This would be Colin showing me his muscles. With his Crocs on. And a diaper. And nothing else.

Then he started doing the actions that accompany the "Rockabye Your Bear" song from the Wiggles.

Colin's best friend, Mary.

Kate pulling herself up on one of her favorite toys. She's figured out how to turn the music on, and she loves to watch the flashing lights.

Colin and Nate playing "Daddy Sandwich." I love how excited Colin gets when he tries to kiss/lick/eat Nate, and I also love how hard Nate tries to keep Colin from kissing/licking/eating him.

This would be a "Colin Sandwich."

Kate getting in on the fun.

Kate taking over the picture with her crazy baby-chick hair.

And now for the party pictures. I built a fancy birthday cake for the first time. I made a bulldozer/backhoe thing out of pound cake, twinkies, twix, twizzlers, doughnuts, and m&ms. Not bad for a first attempt!

Colin got to open some of his presents in stages since not all of the family could come at the same time on Saturday. This is the tool kit from Uncle Caleb.

Throughout the day the big boys (and the little boys too, I guess) played Rockband.

The girls played with the babies in Colin's room.

Aunt Kelli getting some love from Colin.

I also made dirt cupcakes to go along with the bulldozer cake.

Colin and Donovan enjoyed a cupcake before the rest of the group.

Besides our family the only other guests at Colin's party were his friends the Nelsons. He loves them. It was super nice of them to trek all the way across the street to come to a 2-year-old's birthday party.

Hunter Nelson helping Colin open the dump truck his Granny gave him.

Donovan feeding baby Kate the baby bottle.

Mary Nelson gave Colin some swim shorts that he loves and has already used twice.

She also gave him these huge stuffed Mickey and Minnie Mouse dolls. (Hand-me-downs in excellent condition, lest you think Colin was spoiled with ridiculously expensive gifts.) Here's Colin giving Minnie some love.

And Colin's gift from me and Nate—the ABC Zoo. It's awesome. And huge. Look at his face as he tries to carry it across the room to Nate.

And these pictures are from yesterday. Kate is cute.

Colin sporting his new shades and flip flops.

Strike a pose! Donovan was hilarious, dancing around and posing in the water. DeAnna would probably prefer if you ignore the fact that she's in this picture.

In case you can't tell, Colin is pretending to be a fish (and singing "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming") while Donovan is pretending to be a frog.

And here is Kate, sporting the skirt her Aunt Lenna made for her.

We had a picnic with Brad, DeAnna and Donovan in our backyard last night. We were going to go to a park to eat, but unforeseen circumstances didn't allow for that. The little boys didn't care. They just swam in the pool again and played in the grass. Colin looks super classy out there in his diaper.

The big boys kicked the soccer ball at each other. And despite how it may appear in this picture, Colin was not in danger of being kicked or hit.

Today is Colin's actual birthday, but since I don't have transportation we will be spending it at home. I am trying to let him do some of his favorite at-home activities, which mostly consist of eating Otter Pops in different rooms around the house. I would compile a list of all the awesome things Colin does/says, but that would take me all day. He's that awesome. Just know that we love him and we'll keep him around for another year. Yay Colin!