And then he was TWO!!!

We had such a fun day yesterday!  It was fun to celebrate his birthday on the same day that we had his party.  Since we're renting a townhouse and there's not much space here, we decided to have his party at Holli's Sweet Tooth and it was perfect!  All week whenever we talked about his party he's say "Carter, Cooper comin?"  It really is sweet how he's gotten to love his friends here and was excited for them to celebrate his big day with him.  Not that he wasn't excited about the food.  He kept saying he wanted to eat cupcakes, cake and ice cream.  And he succeeded. 

We started off the day singing and eating a big fat cinnamon roll donut.  Nothing but sugar for the birthday boy!

Because the party was at lunch time, we had some food for the kiddos.  I made candy-shop themed food like Lollipops:

 and gumballs.  They also had Starbursts (star shaped PB & J), Caramels (cheese cubes), and Ice Cream cones filled with goldfish.

 I think the cake turned out quite cute considering when I went to pick it up (30 minutes before the party) they told me they didn't have our order.  Although it doesn't look like the original that I ordered I think it turned out great for a rush order!!!

And, in case cake and ice cream weren't enough, I added some cupcakes to the mix.

Holli's provided the candy bag favors for the kids and I had some "thanks for making my party so SWEET" tags made for them.

 Kids table

 Having a little pre-party snack:

 He absolutely loved it when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and was so proud that he was able to blow out the candles himself!

 What a sugar high looks like:

 One happy birthday boy

 After the party, and a much needed nap, we set out to open his presents!

Mimi and Grumps were there to help.

 His favorite toy?  A Cars racing track complete with "a-queen" (Lightening McQueen) and another car that I'll have to learn who it is.  Next up on the favorite list is his new four wheeler!

 "Get you!"

 Learning to ride his new tricycle.

 At the end of the day, it's much easier to just get pushed by Gram!

Last night I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he said "my birthday party!"  Melts my heart that he had so much fun on his special day!

"Boo-bee" Farm

Well, it's not quite what it sounds like but this morning, while everyone else was retreating to their air conditioners, we set out to the blueberry farm for some pickin'!  I had been dead set on picking blueberries this summer-partly because I love blueberries and blueberry baked goodies and partly because I knew Banks would have a blast.  And he did.  He picked, he ran, picked and ran.  I highly recommend taking your toddler, sunscreen-coated of course, for a morning of fun!  We picked a gallon for only nine dollars and the fun we had picking was worth every penny.

 You have to hold your tongue juuuuust right!

 Serious about picking those blueberries!

 Banks loves fresh "boo-bees" and especially loves "boo-bee" muffins.  Tonight I made a fabulously dense blueberry pound cake (thanks to Mary Beth for the recipe).  I had a slice fresh out of the oven and it was melt-in-your-mouth good.  It's a good thing since I had already made the batter, went to get my bundt pan only to realize that it was packed up somewhere and my hard-headed self went through ten boxes before I found it.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake

2 sticks butter (!!)

1 stick margarine (!!!)

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 Tbsp almond extract

1 cup fresh blueberries (I used more)

Cream butter, margarine, and cream cheese.  Gradually add sugar.  Add eggs one by one alternating with flour.  Add flavoring.  Fold in blueberries and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

The Fourth!

We had a great Fourth; our first in Oxford.  We loved all the small town festivities!  I'd say this Fourth was pretty run of the mill.  There were parades, friends, llamas, turtle races, fireworks.  We sweat.  We stayed up way past our bedtimes.  Banks ate more junk than any child ever should.  We met up with some friends in Batesville and ate every type of pork you can imagine in one sitting.  There were stomach aches, plenty of desserts, balloons.  Banks played in the sprinkler, played in the Grove and on the Square.  He ran away from me more times that I can count and at least three times Granny's would chase after him sure that he was unattended.  He might as well been unattended.  We sweat some more. 

Fear not, dear blog reader(s), I had my camera and the weekend was well documented (well, all was documented but the petting zoo, as I needed to protect the poor animals from Banks' choke-hold lest they call PETA on me).

Despite the fact that I look like a drowned rat, I thought I'd put a picture of the three of us on here.

Someone remind me of the rules...it is or isn't safe to let your toddler play with firey items?

Chillin in the Grove

Waving to the folks in the parade