Let the Games Begin!

And so begins the celebration of Jax's second year!

Today we had Jax's friend birthday party to celebrate his turning two years old!  The family birthday party is on Sunday, so he gets an entire week to be the center of attention, rock the spotlight.

Not to mention rock a paintbrush.

We invited all of his friends over to play, eat, and paint pumpkins! Since Jax was born in the fall, I felt like I needed to do something seasonal.  We even practiced ahead of time to make sure pumpkin painting was as fun for a two-year-old and company as possible.  And it exceeded expectations :)

Don't you love his pumpkin handprint?

And then came the candles and cupcakes...

...and then the sugar high.

The kids ran and danced and squabbled and laughed and then crashed into heaps on the floor.  It was an awesome day.

And, not to be outdone, Em decided now would be a good time to start sitting.  Since Jax was getting all the attention, she didn't want him to think it was all about him!  Ahem, don't forget about me!

We are really blessed to have such a great group of friends who love Jax and know him so well.  Each time he opened a gift it was his instant favorite--all of his buddies know what makes him happy and he was so spoiled!  So many laughs and beautiful presents.  Thank you to all who made an effort to be here.

And the birthday boy had a fabulous day.  So fabulous, he didn't take a nap!  He was too thrilled with his gifts and too amped up on cupcake happiness.  Oh!  And don't forget the inundation of Lightning McQueen decorations throughout his house! 

You would have thought the kid died and went to Cars heaven!  I am definitely keeping all the decorations up for the entire week--even if JDubbs does have to duck under balloons and streamers in the living room!

It really was the best day, and here's a smile to prove it:

I'm glad we have a week to celebrate, so we can take the time to appreciate everything that makes Jax such a special little guy.  Our baby's growing up, and the terrible twos are daunting, but underneath it all he's still our perfect little peanut.



Here's to you, Jax!  This is going to be an awesome week.
You only turn two once!