Epic birthday cake

Alicia really outdid herself this year with Peter's cake.  Actually, it was two cakes.  Here's cake #1:

And here's cake #2 (sporting Charlotte's favorite flavor frosting -- "blue!"):

Peter donated the vehicles that were strategically placed to be constructing (or deconstructing?) the cake. Oh, Auntie LiLi, how you spoil that little dude!

Petey blew out the candles like an old pro.

But the most amazing part about the cake was the inside -- it was striped just like construction tape!  Alicia could tell you how she did it, but then she would have to kill you.

The mess Petey made with the cake was almost as phenomenal as the design of the cake.  First, he had to put the cake into the dump truck.  Then, he smashed it all over his face before finally finding his mouth.

This kid is seriously enamored with cake (especially cakes made by Alicia).

NanaB and GrandDad kept asking Peter if he was "all done" with cake.  Peter, however, will never answer such a question in the affirmative.  I think we had to finally cut him off after his eleventh piece.  A dude only turns two once, right?

Thank you again for making such an amazing cake, Alicia!  Peter sure is lucky to have you in his fan club.

Peter's 2-year-old stats

Ack!  I'm so behind.  I haven't even finished posting about Peter's birthday (including his amazing cake!) let alone Christmas.  Might as well start chipping away at the backlog.

I took Peter to his 2-year-old well-child check-up at the pediatrician's office.  He was in perfect health, but his stats show him to be a little on the shrimpy side.  His height is 2 feet, 9 inches (20-25th percentile), and his weight is 27 pounds (25-50th percentile).  He did NOT like his flu shot (and neither did his sister, who was lucky enough to get one at the same time), but he enjoyed showing off his mad jumping skills for Dr. Hood.

Peter doesn't have to go back again for a check-up until he turns three!  Too bad we had to take him back to the office twice within the few weeks following his appointment -- once for a strep test after CJ had a positive one, and once to diagnose a hairline fracture on his clavicle.  If I can get him to wear his sling for more than two seconds I will try to post a photo of the little tough guy.  Between the clavicle and the four molars he's cutting (all at once!), he is having a pretty rough time.  Tantrums are becoming increasingly difficult to soothe, and he's acting every bit like a two-year-old.

The big news is that he is probably going to start attending the same early learning program that Charlotte started right before she turned two.  We have an appointment to fill out the paperwork on January 19th, and he would probably start the following week.  NanaB, time to start sewing Petey's school bag!  [I'm not just being a greedy brat -- she showed me the cool material she had bought for it when we were at her house over Christmas.]

Here's my super handsome little two-year-old right after his birthday.  He's cutting up some plastic veggies that attach with velcro (a gift from Greatest Aunt Janet and Great Uncle Bart) and his new sweatshirt (courtesy of Auntie LiLi and Missur Dan).  At age two, he is crazy about cars, planes, trains, and anything soft and furry (but especially his pink pig bubba).  Happy belated birthday, Peter!

Strangest concert ever

Peter, the baritone prodigy (I use that term reeeeeally loosely) gave us a concert when his grandparents and great-grandparents were in town.  Who knew his favorite toy would be that old hunk of metal?

Baptism

Peter's birthday weekend also included a baptism!

Peter is in love with the Christmas tree in the church's narthex.  I'm in love with Granny Great's awesome purple leather jacket.

Petey cleans up nicely, don'tchathink?

My mom took all the photos that weekend, so I'm finally in some of them!  I love this shot of me and my dad.

Is this Charlotte's model pout?

Charlotte was surprisingly chill about the whole water-on-the-head part.

Peter was not as thrilled, but didn't throw a tantrum or anything.

We had quite a crew there that evening for the ceremony.

Afterward, we headed back to the house for a celebratory supper of yummy wintery soups.  NanaB showed Charlotte the cake for approval before we cut into it.  Charlotte definitely approved.

Peter is a cake fiend.  He most certainly approved.

Granny Great and Grandpa Great gave us a beautiful ornament for our tree.

Petey got a special coin handed down through the family.

Grandpa Spike got a nice hat.

And thus began an extended session of "put stuff on people's heads and pretend to sneeze so it falls off." I said it before and I'll say it again -- my dad can get Peter tanked up like no one else can.

TANKED UP!!!!!

Time to switch from a box to a bow.

Whew -- GrandDad finally got Petey calmed down.  He loves his new "Cars" storybook that the Chabots gave him for his birthday.

It was a fun party!

By popular demand!

Per request, here is Grandpa Spike careening down the waterslide at Peter's birthday party:

Nice form, dad!

Peter's birthday swim party

When Corey first suggested going swimming for Peter's birthday, I thought he was nuts.  Swimming in December?  But then, I remembered the super cool indoor pool in Murfreesboro that my friend, Kym, took us to last summer.  There's a little structure for the kids to climb on that has a tiny tube slide, and then there's a big waterslide for the big kids and adults.  The best part is the zero depth entry, which is something Peter always loves whenever we swim at a pool that has one.  We were able to rent the whole thing out for an hour for a ridiculously low price, so NanaB, GrandDad, Granny Great, Grandpa Great, Grandma JoJo, and Grandpa Spike all flew in to help us celebrate.  I mean, how fun does this look?

There was a little tunnel in the structure that Peter spent the majority of his time in.

He loved charging around all over the place in the shallow water!

Charlotte conquered her initial fears of the little tube slide and then ended up going down it about 400 times in a row.

We invited the Chabots (Kym, Drew, Luke, Odessa, & Gabe) to swim with us.  Gabe liked it best when his daddy swung him up in the air.

Corey had a little trouble going down the big slide and got glares from the lifeguard on duty.

The little slide may have been more his speed.

GrandDad liked Corey's sliding technique so much, he tried it on the big slide.  Like father, like son.  I hope I'm not disowned for posting this photo.

Charlotte and Odie are great buddies.

Luke spent the entire swim party careening down the big white slide, so this is one of the few photos we got of his handsome smile.  He's getting to be such a big guy!

I must refrain from posting many more photos of the adults, because I'm pretty sure I won't get any Christmas presents if I do.  More photos to come of the rest of the weekend's festivities!

Premature start to Christmas break

Charlotte's last day of preschool before Christmas break was December 8th, and she doesn't return to school until January 5th.  Huh?  Does she really need a month-long break?  And a break from WHAT, exactly?  From having ridiculous amounts of fun with her dearly beloved Miss Sally?  Sheesh.  All the class parents were taken a little by surprise by the length of the break, but we had fun at the class Christmas party last Thursday anyway.  Here is my little elf, ready to head to school and party:

But first, she had to give Santa (made for us a few years ago by my Aunt Janet) a big smooch.

Guess who else insisted on having his photo taken?

Charlotte's class party started with pizza and grapes around the lunch table in the classroom.  That adults just stood around and watched the kids eat.

Petey (who had eaten at home) happily played with the classroom toys.

But then Petey decided he wanted to eat some popcorn with the big kids.  He pulled up his own chair to the table and made himself right at home.

Later, he was playing back at the "station" with the cars, and Chase (one of Charlie Jo's classmates) decided Peter needed to follow the rules and wear the color necklace that corresponds to the station (thus limiting the number of kids in each station because once the necklaces run out, no one else can play at that station).  Petey was a little confused, but wore the necklace like a good boy.  He does love a good accessory.

At one point, Petey had to be rescued from the boisterous and overenthusiastic big boys.  Here, Chase, Tyler, and Braden had put Petey "in jail" and Petey kept repeating "hep Mommy, hep!" ("help Mommy, help!") for goodness knows how long before I realized I should put the camera down and go help him.

Charlotte was beside herself with grief when she realized she didn't get to go back to school for four whole weeks, but I reassured her that we would have a lot of fun in the meantime (starting with Peter's birthday weekend extravaganza -- post coming soon!).