Luke's Birthday Party....

Luke's 2nd birthday is tomorrow, the 21st. But, we had his party this past Saturday evening, the 17th. We decided to just keep his party to just family again this year -- we'll see what next year brings :)

Just for fun -- to start out the morning, Luke, about 2 hours after breakfast, asked for "nacks" (a.k.a. snacks). I pulled out some crackers. Usually, he'll sit on the floor and eat "nacks." But, out of the blue, he wanted to sit at the table -- NOT in his booster seat. I guess he did actually know that his birthday is coming up, and he wanted to be a big boy.

In all seriousness, though, this is a good photo of Luke in his "2" shirt -- my mom once again made his shirt for his birthday!



Marc and I both come from small families. Marc is only child. I only have one brother. So, the party consisted of Marc's parents, my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law and their three girls (Luke's cousins)!

For supper, we had grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, oriental salad (a family favorite), baked beans, strawberry whip (another family favorite), and of course, potato chips (Luke's absolute favorite).

Sooooooo, on Luke's plate, I served up a bunless hot dog, some strawberry whip, and some potato chips. Guess what he ate?



If you guessed potato chips only, you'd be correct. Nope -- Luke did not touch his strawberry whip or hot dog. I decided to not FRET over it. After all, it was his birthday party.

I did something a little bit different for dessert this year. I didn't go with the traditional cake. I ordered cookies from Connie's Cookies.



Since we all know Luke LOVES trains, I went for the train cookies. I actually asked them if they could do some lawnmower cookies as well (because Luke also really LOVES lawnmowers of any kind right now), but they said they could not. Nevertheless, the trains turned out cute.



So first, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Luke. I think he enjoyed the singing, though I know he still didn't totally get what we were doing.



Then, we all indulged in the wonderful cookies!



And, as most kids do, neither Luke nor his cousins stayed at the table very long after eating. They, however, convinced their grandmother (my mom) to entertain them while waiting on everybody else to finish up. But, at least the entertainment involved quite a bit of reading :)



Then, Marc and I decided it was time to open presents. Luke's two older cousins, did a pretty good job at sitting still and watching Luke open his presents -- with Grandma, of course.



Luke received some savings money (VERY important) and a little pull-dog from Marc's parents. Sorry, I didn't get a great shot of Luke's face with his little dog.



From Uncle Joel and Aunt Amber (and Luke's three cousins), Luke received a truck...Yep, Luke LOVED it! In fact, this photo was actually taken the next day in the car. Yes, it went in the car with us to church.



And, from my parents, he received a couple of bags of potato chips (Yep, Luke was truly indulged here), some new clothes, and the ultimate -- a little 4-wheeler!

Luke could NOT wait for the 4-wheeler to get out of the package. He kept trying to get on the 4-wheeler while Marc and my dad worked on getting it out of the package. This was accompanied with very cute and funny "boy noises" (you know, noises like trucks and cars make).







Finally....







After this point, we all headed over to our local sprinkler park. But, because this post is fairly long, I'll save that for another post :)

But, just to end this post -- the next morning, upon getting up, Luke IMMEDIATELY went to his new 4-wheeler. So, here's a photo of Luke with the 4-wheeler IN his pajamas (just to prove it).



And, after church and lunch, Luke was once again on his 4-wheeler, while holding his new truck from his aunt and uncle....And, if you look closely at this photo, you'll notice Luke is also wearing one of his new shirts he received from my parents.

And no, this photo was NOT set up by us. This is how we found Luke.



MAN -- words cannot describe how much Marc and I love this boy, and neither of us can believe he's 2 already. People tell us all of the time that time just gets faster as kids get older. So, I guess we need to hold on....it's going to speed up!

Stay tuned for more of Luke's party as well as his actual birthday!