Cerneka Family Adventures: The Birthday That Wouldn't Die

On October 16, Madeleine turned 2 years old! We've been celebrating for three weeks. She's had a total of three parties, starting on October 9th with a Cinderella party here at our home, when most of my family was already in town for Noah's baptism. Then we went out to Going Bonkers and out to eat on her actual birthday, and finally had a birthday lunch at Grandma C's on Saturday when we were in Belleville for Oddwalk's CD release party. All month, she's been walking around here saying, "Apise! Arpert-tied!" (trans: "Surprise! Happy Birthday!").

We started on October 9th with her Fulton party. We had Aunt Becca take her to run some errands that afternoon so I could get the house ready without her underfoot and so she could be surprised with the decorations. Her favorite movie right now is Cinderella (thanks to Aunt Becca), so when I was in the party store and found all the Cinderella stuff, I got excited and bought way too much. But she loved it, except for her cupcake, which she absolutely destroyed with her fingers but wouldn't eat. Instead, she asked for one of those big fluffy sugar cookies with the inch-deep icing. Ah well, it was her birthday.

The traditional 2nd Birthday Cupcake Smash

Showing off some birthday loot

On the 16th, the actual day of her birthday, we went to a place called Going Bonkers, which has this huge huge huge indoor play structure, along with an arcade and a snack bar. The structure is like what you'd find at McDonalds, only much bigger and with more things like bouncy rooms, slides, bridges, and swings. It was amazing, and bigger, brighter, less expensive, and less overwhelming than Chuck E. Cheese. The absolute best part is that the structure is designed so that adults can go in too and actually play with their kids (or rescue a stuck one). We had a blast! Madeleine has been crawling around on playgrounds and playplaces for about a year now, so even though she's just two and the structure is really meant for three and up, she had few problems negotiating the tunnels. Then we would have gone to McDonald's to eat - it's Madeleine's favorite - but it doesn't have a television. Being a family of Cardinal fans, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat and watch Game 5 of the NLCS. Madeleine's pretty happy anywhere she gets fries, anyway.

Crawling through the Human Habitrail

That white speck on the left high up in the air on the
bridge is my daughter, totally nonplussed about the height.
That's Gramma underneath, looking up at her and holding Noah.

Emerging victorious from the maze

On Saturday, the 21st we had her third and final party, a lunch with Shannon's family at his mom's house in Belleville. Grandma C made tiny hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, chips, and vegetables and dip for lunch and Aunt Laura brought a cookie cake and ice cream. We thought we'd try a cookie since she didn't want my cupcakes. She had a good time eating, opening presents and playing with cousin Nathan (if you can call taking toys away from him playing "with" him).

At Grandma C's house

"Apise! Arpert-tied!"

Nathan, overwhelmed by the partying, falls asleep in his lunch

The last two years with Madeleine have been incredible. This has been the most amazing, challenging and rewarding thing that I've ever done, and I had hoped for all that when we made the decision to have children. But what I never ever expected was just how much fun it is to be a mom. It's a riot. Seriously, my children are hilarious and life as a family is hilarious. God is so good, and I thank him every day for blessing us with our funny, brave, delightful, smart, fabulous little girl. Here are some picutres from the last year:

October 2005