The mulching was done and the signs were hung.
It was time for our big day of birthday fun!
When I was trying to think of a theme a million things came to mind. There's so much you can do with a 2/double theme, but nothing was quite the right fit. There are some cute things that Jack and Malynn are particularly fond of right now: monkeys (especially George), trucks (especially construction), tractors (especially John Deere)...but getting the balloons, plates, decorations, etc. to match was more than I wanted to invest in. So I was thrilled when the idea of circles popped into my head! We LOVE circles! It's the first shape that we really discovered, and we've been finding and drawing it with excitement ever since. It makes for a perfectly, simply, homemade-ly birthday theme!
Drawing circles is a regular part of our lives:
with sidewalk chalk, on magnetic boards, using crayons and pens.
And we've realized that circles can be part of TONS of simple pictures:
bubbles, apples on trees, snowmen, teddy bears, wheels, flowers, etc.
So I asked guests to draw a simple picture for the kids using circles in some way so that I could assemble a Circle Birthday Book for the kids. Thank you to so many of you who made a picture! Special thanks to Melody, Bryson, Samma, and Aunt Missy for helping to prep all the circle papers!
I couldn't resist decorating with pictures from each month of the past year like I did for last year's party.
I had a set for Jack...for Malynn...and for the kids together, -in circles, of course!
Special thanks to Grand & Amita who helped me cut out the circles!
As the morning warmed up the deck slowly filled with people that are all special and important to us!
Family
& Friends
(Apologies to the many who we didn't catch with the camera.)
An early favorite was T-ball!
Liam and Jack were all over it. Teigen was impressing everyone will some
"real deal" baseball action! And we have our money on Elena ending up a
soccer star. :)
Throughout the party Malynn & Jack took a little time to open gifts from people individually.
We were inspired by our friend Soso, who already turned 2, to forgo the group gift-opening event. It was so nice to have personal moments with each guest and help the kids understand and appreciate who each gift came from.
A handful of gifts were opened prior to or after the party because they were from friends who couldn't make it or people who came during the kids' nap.
I am so impressed with how appropriate and thoughtful ALL the gifts were. I am a little particular about gifts because I don't want the kids to ever feel like they get presents just for the sake of it or, worse, are entitled to it. It's important that they learn that gifts are a way people say, "I care about you, " and that's just what these gifts did. Some reflected personal connections and all were right on target for the kids.
It was confirming that we were getting all this right when a couple times the kids actually went up to the people who gave them something to say thanks,...
...like this sweet moment when Jack gave Amy & Omar a hug on the leg for the Maisy books. This is such a little thing, but it was one of those occasions when I was on the outside looking in at my son being his amazing self, and if it wasn't for the crowd around me I just might have started sobbing with pride.
One special pre-birthday gift was the one from Grand, Ottar, & Amita...our Striders!
My friend Charlotte, who is terribly far away in Wyoming, recommended them. After watching a few of the videos on the website I was convinced that we HAD to have them. I can't wait to watch the kids get better and better on them and then make a training-wheel free transition to bikes with pedals!
Thank you to everyone for showing such generosity and caring for Jack & Malynn!
The main event of the party was definitely the water balloons!
Special thanks to Uncle Nate for filling ALL the water balloons for the day!
The kids thought they were pretty darn awesome before they even knew about throwing them.
And then...it was time to launch them from the deck to the patio below. I drew a target on the patio with chalk which was decimated after about 3 balloons. :)
Awesome!
Papa took care of ALL the other balloons we had blown up inside and set up the water table -both of which were also awesome. (Thank you Papa!)
Then it was time to crank up the grill.
Unfortunately I do have a birthday blunder story. Jack ODed on juice and chips, and we only knew that juice and chips were the problem because that's what ended up all over Grand's shoulder. The kids get so little of anything like juice or chips in their diet that their system just can't handle more than a smidgeon of treats like that. After a bath and a little break, Jack was eager to get back to the action, and he and Grand were happy to sport their new clean shirts together!
Finally it was CAKE TIME!
The group sang a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday for the kids, with only a minor bobble when it was time to say the name and we hadn't established if it should be "Jack" first, "Malynn" first, or just "the twins."
Yum!
This was our best family picture from the day -not too bad actually.
Cake just makes you happy.
At this point we were sneaking up on nap time. To maximize our social time, we just decided to do a little of our "stories before nap time" outside with a couple of our new books.
There were more special moments when it was time to make the rounds and say night-night to everyone.
The kids aren't particularly giving with hugs for anyone outside of the family...except their bestest buddy, Dylan.
Sometimes Malynn gets a little silly as she gets tired, and it's always a crowd pleaser!
Here Kevin, my rowing coach from college (and coach of the current Women's NCAA champions -Go Hoos!) is telling Malynn that he should have brought a letter of intent for her birthday present, and I love that she seems to be thrilled at the notion!
Liam gave us one more gift by sharing his remarkable Woody-Woodpecker laugh!
Here's my girl -the perfect blend of sweet and silly all in one!
And the grandmas had to sneak in a couple loving kisses.
(Jack said bye and thank you to everyone, too, the camera was just following Malynn at the time. Which reminds me...thank you to all of you who picked up the camera and helped us get this fantastic photo record of the kids' 2nd Birthday!)
Happy Birthday Jack & Malynn!
