Birthday Festivities in the STL

On Sunday, August 31, we met up with some friends and family at the St. Louis Zoo to hang out and celebrate the boy's birthday. As we were planning it, we weren't thinking about it being Labor Day Weekend, and the zoo being crowded, but it so was. Parking nearly impossible, but several friends and family members who managed it and the heat (the only 90 degree day I think we had in August this year!) to come and play with us.
We started the day with birthday cake for breakfast. I had a vision for his cake, and it would have cost $40 for the local bakery to do it. So, I bought Nemo and Dory water squirters and forged ahead. Sadly, though, it was not to be. One does not become a cake decorator with a piping bag and a geek-like knowledge of "Ace of Cakes". So I got a real bakery cake at the last minute and we ate this one for breakfast.
We even lit candles and sang. Noah for some reason, felt he had to sing "Happy birthday to you! Candles!" and then blow the candles out.
We watched this very determined giraffe for five or more minutes try and get this leaf off this branch. Eventually, as you can see, he reached it, and everyone cheered.

Craig Willmann, our godson, moments before he flipped over the fence rail and onto is back on the grass.
Craig and Noah enjoying a zoo snack of animal crackers and juice pouches (which, I have discovered, do not squirt as badly as juice boxes.)
After the zoo, the party moved to Orin and Erin's house a few blocks from the zoo. Erin and I left the zoo early to decorate and set up. I found a couple fun little inflatable games for the kids to play, including this ring toss, at the party store.
Erin got out her "Ravinia" table and we put the kids's camping chairs at it for their very own spot. It was just a coincidence that the tablecloth matched the chairs perfectly.
The backyard party space. Grandma C's in the foreground.


Noah playing with the fishy decorations.
Craig sneaking the girls some snacks. Gracie's on the left, Penny's on the right.
I guess everyone was sneaking snacks to the dogs!
The thing with Noah and cups is, he can totally drink from one, as evidenced by above. The stinker just likes to put stuff in it as well, like food and wipes and toys. He also loves to watch it pour out all over the table and floor. So, he still mostly gets to drink from sippy cups.

Waiting for cake.
The second cake. I ran into town and to our favorite bakery late on Friday, hoping they would still be open. They weren't, but she had just finished with a wedding appointment, and let me in anyway. I told her I only need a cake piped with "Happy Birthday Noah" and the water squirters put on top. Luckily, they had a blank quarter-sheet cake that she could use. She took it to the back, and a few minutes later, she popped out and said "Can I do something like this?" and she had a picture of a Nemo cake that was airbrushed blue, with seaweed and bubbles piped on it. I told her oh my gosh, yes! Whatever she could do would be great. Ten minutes later, she brings out this fun and yummy cake.
He managed to get one candle out, and cousin Nathan helped with the other.

Presents! He had lots of helpers. A keytar from Orin and Erin. He loves it, and wore it all the next day at home.

Both the kids adore those singing cards, and I found one that sings, "Celebration". Disco always seems to go over well with the two year olds!

Thanks to everyone who braved the heat and the crowds! We hope everyone had a good time at the zoo and at the party.

Firsts

Last week, was Madeleine's first day of preschool for the fall term and the first dance class ever. She started at Millersburg Preschool last fall after she turned three and we could not be happier with the teacher, the school, and the MPS community. Miss Sherri is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of teacher and we are so blessed to have her.

After looking at several other studios, including some in Jeff and Columbia, I decided to enroll her in Janet's Dance Studio in Fulton. There are other, bigger, and more competition-focused studios, but for a three-year-old just starting out, Janet's is just fine. We have to go to Jeff and Columbia often enough, it's nice to have something ten minutes away. My sister and I danced for Janet's studio for a couple of years when we were little, so it's cool to have that connection, too. She's in the 4-5 year old class, but I wasn't a bit worried about her hanging with older girls. She'll be 4 soon anyway, and she's friendly and assertive enough for it not to bother her. She walked right in and sat down smack in the middle of the dance floor. There were small pieces of tape for the girls to sit on in rows, but as this was our first time, Madeleine didn't know the rules. She sat in the middle for a couple seconds, then scooted over to be right next to another little girl who was sitting in the front row by herself. The instructors are two teenage girls with few social skills - we'll see how this works out - but they do seem to connect well enough with the little girl. After they got Madeleine on her own piece of tape, Noah and I were pretty well forgotten. I told her good bye, I'm not sure if she heard me or really cared. I heard her talking the entire time as I hung out behind the curtain in the waiting area for a few minutes and then left. I figured they'd spend the first class getting to know the rules, the instructors, the other girls, stretching, etc, but when I got back, there was music playing and they were working on some tap steps already! The studio doesn't require dance wear or shoes until October, to make sure the families don't make a huge investment and then it turns out the kids don't like it. Several of the other girls had tap and ballet shoes from last year and were using them already. She came out looking happy, and asking if I had her dance shoes, so I think it was a good experience. Madeleine talks a lot, but it takes her a few hours or days to process things, so she wasn't ready to talk too much about the class at first, but since then, we've heard quite a bit. The instructors taught the girls a little cheer to say at the end of class: "We're smart, we strong, and we love to dance!".

First day of MPS. I french braided her hair! (She wanted "Dorothy" hair) And, they stayed in all day!

Noah had to get in the picture, too.

In her dance gear with McDuff, who is visiting us from preschool for the weekend.

Of course, her hair had to be in a bun, and she had to wear pink tights.

And the Trogdor comes in the niiiiiiiiiight!

My Two Year Old Rock Star!

Here are some pictures from Noah's birthday, August 29. We spent the day getting ready for the zoo and the party on the 31st, and in the evening, we went to Bonkers and to Chevy's for dinner with Kelly. (The indoor pictures are not as good as the outdoor pictures because my camera sucks.)

Gramma and Granpa Ramsay gave him this totally rad fire truck. Noah loved it!

You can imagine why she was sitting by herself in the back.

Fum in the human habitrail.

I think this arcade game is a little too self-aware.

It was reading "Get Help" before Noah started hitting it, I swear.

Noah sculpts a piece of art out of his tortilla dough and crayons. He's advanced.

"Camp Wok!" Man, I hope that the Jonas Brother and the girl get together in the end!
Okay, so our waiter was so totally over working at Chevy's and was the most disinterested server I think I've ever had. The reason we went there in the first place is that we wanted Noah to get the happy-clappy song and the sombrero. We like the food, too, so everybody wins. I won a nice big Midori margarita, but that's beside the point. So we mentioned that Noah was a birthday boy, and he totally blew us off. After the meal, he brought the kids the little dish of ice cream that comes with every kid's meal, and we were opening the little gift we brought for Noah. Dude looks at me and says, "Oh, did you want us to sing to him?" I said yes, please, and then he asked when would be a good time. The meal is over, moron, our kids are jumping in their seats and throwing food like monkeys, how about now? But I said anytime that's good for them, and he's like, how about now? Thanks, guy. Appreciate it. I'm sure they must get tired of "Uno, dos, uno, dos, tres, quatros..happy happy birthday, blah blah blah blah blah..." and the hand clapping and the hat, but, he's two. After several minutes, they did finally come over clapping. Noah got his hat and big sundae - he was much more interested in the sundae.

I have a hard time believing my boy is two already. He's still sweet and pretty chill, but he's very much a two year old. He is especially focused these days on doing things himself, to the point of temper tantrums if he can't get it, or most especially, if we try to help. He likes things with wheels, and discovered all on his own that he can push his cars across the floor and make a "vroom" sound. His hands-down favorite food is candy, and can spot a piece at 50 paces. Next to candy, he loves broccolli and ice cream, and of course, nay nay nay. He thinks he knows how to get out of trouble - by saying "hug!" and putting his head on your shoulder. He's a wee bit sensitive and could learn to push back every once in a while. He's likes to use the potty, but it's still just an interesting thing to do, not a necessity, yet. His most favorite things to play with are guitars and keytars/keyboards - can't imagine where that comes from. He loves guitars and rocking out so much, that anything long and narrow-type shaped can become one. (I'll post a video of him rocking a green plastic bat.) He's friendly and outgoing and extremely curious about everything. His vocabulary is amazing, and he loves to parrot new words and phrases, but my favorite is when I tell him I love him, he says, "I yove, too".

Happy Birthday Noah-Boy!

On Friday, our Noah turned two officially, although he's been behaving like a two year old for a couple months now. I will get pictures up sometime this week, but Shannon and Orin have a couple things over at the Oddblog. Thanks again to everyone to helped celebrate our boy's birthday. I hope everyone had a good time. Thanks especially to the Hammond-Johnson family for allowing their home to be Party Central yesterday!