Sunday, January 10, 2010

Birthday Boy

I love to plan birthday parties. I love to make the invitations, plan the cake, and make the decorations. I knew months before Joseph was turning two exactly what kind of party he was going to have.... or so I thought. This little guy has loved owls from the beginning. Every time he saw one in a book or even pointed to one on the toile wallpaper in my bathroom....he would get so excited and "HOO" as loud as he could. The birthday invitation would read... Look WHOOOO is turning TWO! I had already designed an owl invitation in my head and found perfect matching owl wrapping paper at Barnes and Noble. It would have been a perfect party....EXCEPT.... a little over a month before the big day... I realized....something else had replaced Joe's love for owls..... something we saw many of each and every day as we drove Sophia to school....something big and yellow.....that's right.... something called a SCHOOL BUS! I have never seen a child get so excited about a school bus. Little J can hardly contain himself when he sees one roll by! I love to hear him yell BUSSSSSSSSSSS! Soooo.... I couldn't disappoint this little guy.....my perfect party plans.....kaput....down the drain.

So... I began my research....I searched all over the internet but could not find bus wrapping paper...bus cake pans, or bus paper plates (with the exception of some discontinued Magic School Bus plates selling for $8 on Ebay...which by the way I was suckered into!!) Oh my... I really had to start from scratch. An owl party definitely would have been easier because every where I went.... all I saw... owl thank you notes, owl paper, owl decorations....but for my little guy.... I knew a bus party it had to be. So I set to work....decided to make TWO pound cakes to form a 3-dimensional bus cake. I made bus invitations, feverishly cutting the wheels and each window. I found yellow table cloths and paper plates. I made red stop sign cookies, bus cookies and cupcakes for the cake walk (this was Sophia's contribution to the party). I decided a cake walk was a must have after reading Junie B Jones with her and realizing that she had never actually done a cake walk before! All this work...paid off in the end. The smile on Joseph's face when he saw his bus cake was all I needed.



Here are some pictures of the cake in progress:




Here is the invitation (the front at least). I'll refrain from posting the back side, Brett, since it does show our address!!! But the back side pretty much looked like a bus ticket with each guest's name printed, the seat number (of course being 2), the fare (2 cents) and the destination being "Joe's Party Station!"



Here are a few pictures from the day before the party! I was trying to secretly put out the favors in the dining room...but I can't sneak anything by Mr. Joe. He was peeking at me when I turned around to take a picture of the table! And I intended to save the cake's appearance for the Big Day...but that didn't work out either...so here he is seeing his cake for the first time and even waving to the people on the bus! He was driving, of course!




A few more table decorations.... and a picture of the music cd I made for the cake walk, entitled Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Every song made mention of some sort of transportation. Pretty perfect for the boy who goes nuts over anything and everything that has wheels!






I love to capture the excitement before the party. And I also love to watch the kids waiting for the guests to arrive... Apparently I took a similar picture last year on Joseph's birthday as they were watching and waiting. The first picture is from last year's party and the second is from this year's party. They were even standing in the same position!! But this year they both looked a bit taller and notice the winter wonderland outside!!




Before all of the festivities began.... somehow.... we were able to get a family picture! Yep... all of us in one place at the same time... more like a miracle!!!!



The kids had a lot of fun on the cake walk. We had been practicing all week! (The first picture is actually a "practice cake walk" and even Joseph figured out how to do it!! I knew Sophia desperately wanted to win some cupcakes....so with the help of my mom.... I happened to stop the music at just the right time:) and she WON! I wish I had a good picture of the look on her face! She was so thrilled!




Because I had to wake J up early from his nap for the party....he was a bit more subdued than he usually is. He looked pretty tired in all of the cake pictures... but I guess this was a good thing because he did actually blow out his candle with the help of his big sister and he sat long enough to eat some cake and ice cream!






We ended the party with presents after Joseph decided to begin ripping into all of them before any of us even made it into the room! I little guy can't wait forever, right? He was fascinated with his cement mixer truck from Omi and Papa and the yellow car from Auntie E. He loved the wooden bull-dozer and tow truck from Thea and hardly could contain himself when he got his own wooden bus from Yiayia! Mama and Daddy and Sophia gave him an ambulance....it is way noisy....but he LOVES it and I LOVE watching him push it around the house! Of course he got some darling clothes, and I made sure to buy him another bus book! You know me and my infatuation with children's books! Sophia was a HUGE helper during the present opening! She had just as much fun as Joseph.

In the last picture Joseph is beginning to line up all of his cars and trucks. He loves to do this. We will often be cleaning up dinner and when I look down to see what he is doing, I see a neatly spaced line of all of his trucks and cars. Oh my...I guess our neat freakishness is wearing off on him. I guess we'll have to be careful about that! :) He also was very intrigued with the manual that came with the ambulance because it showed all of the other toys that brand carries. He recognized that his old garbage truck was in there too...and kept turning the pages and saying " I have that." It's amazing how he puts new words together everyday!





Whew! Not sure if anyone is still reading at this point...but I didn't want to forget a thing! I'm so glad our little 2-year old had a good time! He is the sweetest thing ever. Joseph, you are the constant smile in my heart!!!! Hope you had a great day! We love you!






2 comments:

Yiayia said...

Can it be I have a two year old little grandson--ALL READY. Too fast, too fast. His infectious smile captures all our hearts. Happy 2 little Joseph---thank you Mama for a fun party. <3 Yiayia

mom2four said...

AMAZING party...I'm impressed! Everything looks great!