"Party Time, Excellent"

My boy is 2, and if you ask him, he'll tell you so! We celebrated on Saturday (a day before his birthday) with a dinosaur bash. We had 15 kids here and their parents which made for a fun-filled, action-packed morning. It took a couple days of planning but was well worth the effort. We made posters for the yard that included "activity stations" for the kids. Jackson's daddy had the task of chalking dinosaur footprints on the sidewalk in front of the house and painting footprints in the grass leading to the backyard. When the kids arrived, they decorated their own sand pail with their name and stickers. The purpose of the pails were to collect all the dinosaurs hidden in the sand and the kids could take them home when they were done. This leads me to the "dino dig" - we hid over 75 dinosaurs in a large bathtub filled with sand. The kids had a ball, especially Jackson who just can't get enough of his new sandbox. MawMaw mentioned that Jackson had no problem climbing right into the sandbox while most of the other kids played and dug from the outside. Ah, that's my son - all boy! We also had a station for kids to make crafts with crazy nuudles (they stick together when dipped in water) and playdoh for making dinosaurs or whatever their little hearts desired. Finally, after lunch of dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and hot dogs, each kid was able to decorate their own brownies with icing and sprinkles. Ice cream topped it all off! Jackson got a lot of great presents which he has made great use of since the party (especially with all the cars, tractors, snorts, etc. that he can bring to his sandbox). It was a great time but, man, was I tired by 1pm... It also dawned on me that next year I'll be doing these parties twice a year. At least I'll have about 6 months in between to prepare and rest.

To celebrate this second birthday, we are visiting Dr. Hunt, our pediatrician, for his 2 year check up today. This will give us many new "stats" to post on his development (or non-development when it comes to his weight).

To close, I want to say, "Happy Birthday Jackson!" You are the greatest gift God has ever given me and the light of my life. I wish you many more happy birthdays and healthy years to come...

Love, Mommy