Joshua's 2nd Birthday Party

Although my nephew, Joshua's, 2nd birthday was not until this past Friday, my sister had his birthday party the Saturday before while we were still in town. I don't think she planned it around our visit, but it just worked out that it fell while we were up there. Joshua has a milk allergy - just like Taylor did, only she had her's as a baby and was over it (for the most part) after about a year - so Alicia ordered him a dairy free cake. It was pretty good, I'd have to say. It was a little chewier than your regular cake though. The theme was John Deere. I didn't get a picture of the cake, but it was so cute. If you want to see more pictures from the birthday party, Alicia has some really cute ones posted on her blog as a slide show.

Joshua's party was pretty small. She only had us, our parents, and our friend Tina and her little boy, Caleb. Tina's husband Jim was invited too, but he was busy and couldn't come. I was glad that she kept it small. I have heard that the appropriate size party for your child is one friend for the number of years you are turning. I think Rebekah was a little bored and wanted her own friends there because she ended up playing in her room by herself. At this age, most toddlers play by themselves anyway. They were all kinda doing their own thing.

On the way over, Taylor was wanting to listen to Praise Baby, of course, but we didn't have it with us, so I ended up singing the whole way over. It is about a 30 minute drive from my parents' house to my sister's house, so by the time we got there Taylor was acting a little sleepy. She ended up cuddling with my dad for a long time when we first got there, but she finally warmed up once Joshua started opening his presents.

Cuddle time with Granddaddy.

We got Joshua the "cool" gift. It was a Little Einstein's Transform & Go Rocket.

You can program up to 20 directional commands at a time.

Only an engineer dad would read the directions. :)

Granddaddy getting in some tickle time with the kids.

Joshua is such an active boy and loves to be turned upside down.

I think he wore Grandmommy out!

Caleb enjoyed playing with the balloons while Taylor gravitated to the train made out of blocks.

Tina looks on while the kids play.

Cousin Rebekah and Daddy join Taylor playing with the train.

Caleb kickin' back.

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Taylor wandered into Joshua's room and found the IncrediBlock.
She liked the music on it and started dancing to it.