Finley is growing UP!! (2nd Birthday)

My spunky baby boy is no longer a baby. He is TWO! Finn hasn't really ever been into movies (until recently) but he LOVED the Disney-Pixar movie UP! And I mean loved it. I love it, and I cry through it...and I think it's funny that he was more interested in this adult-ish cartoon than the fast-paced Cars or even Frozen (gasp!). But I figured out really quickly why he loved it: BALLOONS. The child is obsessed with them. In fact, he has one that he is screaming for RIGHT now in his room. But I refuse to let him nap with it...seems a bit dangerous?  Anyways, we went with an UP! themed birthday party with the focus to be on the balloons and bright fun colors. We had a lot of people back out at the last minute and my fear was that Finn wouldn't have any party guests (OK, we all know that a 2-year old's birthday party is more about supporting the momma...but you get my drift), but it was a fantastic time. And we had a few surprise guests!!

I dressed Finn as Russell from the movie, and Josh was less than thrilled. I joked with him that he was going to be Carl! (watch the movie...you won't regret it) I assumed Finn would want out of his costume immediately so I took a ton of pictures. Josh ribbed me for making Finley "dress up" and at one point asked that I please take off his silly outfit and let him wear normal clothes. So I tried to take off the sash. To say that Finn refused to remove his outfit was an understatement. He loved it!!

The cake table. Regarding the cake, let's just go with that THIS was not at all what I had asked the lady (even sent her a picture) to do. I was less than thrilled with the decoration and even scraped off her balloons (and curling ribbon she stuck into the frosting) and spend the night before the party re-doing the balloons. I am picky. I know. Despite not being thrilled about the outside decoration, the inside of the cake took our breath away...you will see. And that aspect was perfect. And it tasted so so so good. So once I sank my teeth in the cake I was much happier.

Outside gift and drink tables... as well as the thumb print "guest book."  Inside food table complete with rainbow fruit!

The weather was perfect for Finn's party this year. Last year it rained buckets. I was afraid that it would be too hot this year...but it was absolutely perfect. So we could all enjoy being outside without sweating buckets, and the kids could run around. And the grown ups could do whatever.

Sweet Rush and Molly Parker...they are such nice kids and really love on my boys and I am thankful for them!! MP is just starting babysitting and she has taken a great interest in Finn, who pretty much just LOVES her.

CAKE TIME!!!  (remember the cake fiasco I spoke of above? all this for the child who hates cake.) I love these series of pictures because we are singing Happy Birthday to Finn. I love his sweet expressions.

And then it was time to blow out the candles. And what is typical in our house is Keagan jumps ahead and tries to take everything over...including opening presents and blowing out candles. So as much as this picture is not becoming of me, and I looked ticked (I was!) I had to share because it is "funny" of Keagan and typical of how our life is right now. But once Keagan stepped back, Finn figured it out and actually blew out one of his candles. Then he freaked!! (he doesn't like things that are HOT and he tells us all the time if something is hot! hot!) 

Moment of truth...it was very suspenseful as Josh cut the cake. And literally, everyone gasped. It was gorgeous!!

Finn didn't have any cake (surprise, surprise) but instead feasted on the sprinkles of a marshmallow pop. He did, however, have some the next night!! And he ate quite a bit. So maybe there is hope for him yet.

Present time!! And so many little helpful hands!

Sweet Annie!

Grown-up conversation...we look super serious.

Stacey had the camera! She took some great pictures. I don't know what genre I would classify this as! HAHA! (thanks Stacey for "manning" the camera!)

I think we realized how serious we looked, so we lightened up our pose some. Ha!

The row of men. I don't think they moved the whole night. 

Josh became super-popular with the kiddos when he started putting batteries in toys.

Random and quick snuggles from the birthday boy.

Grown-up plasma car racing between Amy and Jarrett.

As people started leaving we decided to take some not-so-candid pictures. Unfortunately we missed one family who left much earlier...Christina and her sweet family aren't pictured in these. :(

The Robinson Family

The Malone Family

The Harrod Family

The Pedigo Family. They take the cake on best family picture! The first one didn't take so well...but then poor Hank was whisked away by all the balloons and Amy and Jeremy had to hold him down. (ok, not really...but a great picture nonetheless!).

 Our family...we were photo-bombed by Annie!! 

The best one we could get without silly Annie in it. Oh course, she is basically a sister to these boys so I guess she ought to be in our family picture!

 Silly mommies.

Trying our darndest to get a pic of the kids at the end of the night. Not.Possible.

And just the girls. I do believe (other than Josh who has the camera) that all the men were probably still in their row of lawn chairs. Or maybe that row moved around the campfire. 

Keagan was too busy to have cake during the party. But by-golly at 10 o'clock when everyone had left he wanted a piece of cake. So, give the boy some cake, we did!! And he enjoyed it. 

In true Janine-fashion, I have at least one more post on Finn's second birthday to share with you! It's the birthday that keeps on going!