On October 13, Smith turned TWO years old!!  It's hard to believe sometimes.  Then sometimes I can't remember life without him.  We celebrated on October 16th with family and friends.  After Millie Janalee's mega-party this past summer, I decided to invite a couple of friends from school and family only.  So, I signed my sister up for a "smallish party."  Ha!  There's really no such thing once we get started.

Kristin and Lee built and painted things within days and were ready to party! In the middle of hosting a fiesta shower for my brother and his fiancé the day before (or maybe it was the weekend before?).  We like to do crazy things like that.  Kristin came over and worked her magic giving Russ directions on attaching railroad crossings and getting electrical tape for the train tracks on the sidewalk, etc.  She brought her famous cookies and an adorable birthday cake that she made in her "spare time."  It was a party fit for a railroad king!

We planned the party right after Smith's morning nap, and it worked out perfectly!  He woke up to a beautiful setup just for him!  Our neighbors even let us borrow their jumpy house for the party.

It is so much fun for us to have a special party for each of our littles.  It may not always be this way, but for now it works out.  Thankfully, I have a sister who thrives off of party planning.  So I can give her my idea of what I want and start a Pinterest board...and she basically does the rest or tells me what to do.  We are thankful for her talent!

The guests began to arrive, and the fun began!  Thankfully, we have a dear friend who brings his camera everywhere he goes.  So we always have fantastic pictures of our parties!  I had my own camera too, so excuse the photo overload.  It was a beautiful, warm day in October!  Perfect for a 2 year old birthday!

Russ, his mom, and his brother

David and Russ

Aunt Jenny and Susu

Family gathered around the jumpy house and bean bag toss

Aunt Gail and Amanda

Sweet friends LOVING the Choo Choo train!

Big kids loving the balloons I kept blowing up for entertainment. Ha!

My sweet great-nephew with Smith!  Such a sweet picture!

Uncie Buck and Smith

Uncle Donald and Pawpaw

Kay Kay and Hughes

Me and Leah (part of our sweet photographer team)

When Millie Janalee turned two, we lived in Missouri and just had family visit.  We spent time doing fun things around St. Louis.  So watching two year olds interacting and having fun together is so sweet to me!  This age really cracks me up, because they mostly play around each other instead of with each other.  Haha!  It is safe to say, everyone had a ball!

The birthday boy playing with the bean bag toss

Sweet Sawyer!  Young love! Ha!

Cousins - Hughes and Smith

Lots of fun in the jumpy house!

After a while, we decided to bring everyone in for some birthday cake!  Kay Kay outdid herself with the cake - inspired by our invitations.  Perfectly!

We all sang Happy Birthday to our sweet birthday boy, and he was ready to dig in!  Everyone enjoyed cake, cookies, and lots of snacks for the rest of the party.

Once the party was over, there was one very sad boy who had to say goodbye to the jumpy house in our front yard.  I'm sure the neighbors loved us! Ha!  We gave Smith some extra time to jump and play before bringing the close family inside to open gifts.

One thing I've learned about little kid parties - never open gifts during the party!  Too many little kids wanting to keep the gifts they brought and not ever knowing how the birthday boy/girl will react to the gifts.  My biggest fear is the latter - "But I already have one of these!"  LOL!  For the record, that has only happened once, but Smith was only 1 at the time and didn't know the difference.  We still have both of them and it's perfect for sharing.  Haha!

Sweet Smith,  your second year of life has been the most exciting yet!  You challenge us moment by moment.  You make us laugh, and you give the sweetest hugs and kisses!  You are the easiest child in the world to put to bed or nap (as long as it is in a room isolated).  And we really need to put a lock on the pantry door, because you are a bottomless pit!  Constantly bringing food out or sneaking chocolate from the highest shelf!  You are a JOY and a delight!  You keep us on our toes and keep us humble for sure!

My prayer for you is always that God will use your strong will for His glory and purpose!  What a wonderful gift!

We love you more each day, and we are cautiously excited to see how your little personality grows as you grow!  Happy 2nd Birthday to YOU!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

One of the many great things about moving so close to family is the last minute opportunity to do something fun together.  Kristin and I made last minute plans to take the little cousins to the pumpkin patch together.  Hughes had not been  yet, and I wanted to take Smith to this pumpkin patch anyway.  Millie Janalee's class always take a field trip to this one each year, and we have a great time!  Plus it was FINALLY a cool fall morning!

The kids were so excited to see each other!  It really cracked me up.  They were screaming and running and squealing over the fact they were together at the pumpkin patch.

This big bouncy pillow thing is probably one of Millie Janalee's two favorite things at this pumpkin patch.  I worried the boys would be too young.  But I was SO WRONG!  Smith got up there and bounced around like he's been doing it for years.  Y'all.  This boy is nonstop!  Non. Stop!

It wasn't long until the tractor was ready to take a load on a hayride over to the barn and the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins, so we loaded up!  The kids enjoyed seeing the animals, feeding the sheep, and riding the pony.

Millie Janalee meets Elsa the cow

Talking to the chickens

Petting the stray horse.  We didn't find out until later that he had escaped and no one knew where he was.  Ummm...right here with us acting like he owned the place.  Haha!

Millie Janalee LOVES riding a horse!

After all the families had time to enjoy the animals at the barn, we loaded back up and rode over to the pumpkin patch.  The funny part is that this is the reason we come, but I know it's gonna be the hardest part.  Everyone wanted me to hold their pumpkin while I was holding my camera, our bag, holding hands, and sweating.  Kids were crying because they kept dropping their pumpkins.

But aren't the pictures cute?!  Hahaha!  Looks like a walk in the park through my camera lens...

You can kinda see some of the pouty faces when they had to carry their own pumpkins.

I decided after that ordeal that we would take all the pumpkins to the car before we went another step.  But first...photo op for the cousins!

And, of course, more time on the bouncy pillow followed by lots of time on the playground sliding down the super slide.  Even I slid a time or two.

My babies are growing up so fast!  Some days I am grateful for a new phase of life and new phase of childhood.  More independence each day.  Then some days, I look back and pictures and long for those baby rolls and toothless grins.

The days are long, but the years are short!  Cherishing our pumpkin patch days while I can.