Happy Second Birthday, Paul!

We celebrated Paul's second birthday yesterday by having a fabulous dinner party. There were eleven adults and ten kids. It was so much fun. We served Yum Bowls, a concept rather blatantly stolen from Cafe Yumm. Our version includes Cuban Black Beans, brown rice, Yumm Sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow peppers, cheese, and olives. Delicious.
The birthday boy enjoyed the party and did very well. Here are some pics.

He was so excited about the trucks on the cake! He did eventually blow out the candle.

And then he ate the cake! Yum.

Luke ate cake, too.

This play mat folds up into a carry case for the cars/trains. It was Mommy's favorite gift! :-)

Building, Snails, and Haircuts

Paul discovered the joys of this super fun building set this week. He loves to put it together differently every time, in stark contrast to his older brother, who HAD to make it look like a pyramid each and every time.

Luke and I were unable to get the last tie on his red tunnel untied, giving it a rather rounded look. He looked at it and determined it would make a fabulous snail shell. And it did. Here is the snail.

Lastly, I took the boys to have haircuts this morning. They were so perfectly behaved! Luke sat in one chair while Paul sat in the other. Simultaneous haircuts occurred with Mommy spending the bulk of the time getting Paul to look the proper direction. Afterward the boys played with the train table and ate lollipops, or as Luke calls them, "polly-lops." Here are the results.

Luke was so focused on this new puzzle that there was no getting him to look at the camera.

Paul was more than happy to look at the camera. He looks like such a little man now! Christie at Kids Kuts put some product in his hair and this was after he had taken a nap on it. Pretty wild and terribly cute.

Fourth of July

We had a great day yesterday filled with lots of fun and good friends. We headed to our John and Holly's house where their precious 9-year old daughter decorated Luke's bike for him in preparation for the parade. This is the most fabulous neighborhood tradition ever. Engine 9 from the firehouse arrives about five blocks from their house. All the kids in the neighborhood decorate their bikes and follow the fire engine around the block three times. Most of the parents walk along the sidewalk and there are some very sweet retirees sitting in lawn chairs also. Then the fire engine parks at a corner and sets up the best sprinkler EVER down one street while allowing the kids to shoot a hose down the other street to hit a traffic cone. Meanwhile there is the most amazing potluck going on. And free Popsicles. Luke rode in the parade this year. Paul shot the fire hose. They both had three Popsicles a piece. Wow.
After the amazingly long naps, we headed to Tim and Abby's house to enjoy their hospitality for the evening. Another sweet potluck. Thirteen children under the age of ten, ten adults, a Slip N Slide, sprinkler, kiddie pool and no trips to the emergency room. Awesome! The boys did extremely well, but we did end our evening around 8pm. I think Luke forgot all about the fireworks from last year, so he wasn't at all disappointed. The kids were asleep by 8:30pm and we followed suit pretty quickly. Long, fun day.

We were one of the first families to greet the fire fighters. Grandpa introduced Paul to this wonderful woman and she brought Paul up into the engine. He was a pretty happy guy. The hat is heavy, hence the somewhat apprehensive look on his face in this shot.

Luke is ready to ride in the parade.

And they're off!

The best sprinkler ever. The temperature was between 85 and 90 degrees by this time.

Same lady who brought Paul up into the engine helped him shoot the hose. He was one happy boy.