the 2nd birthday

Raine surprised by his cake and everyone singing "Happy Birthday." ;o)
Photo by Christie Glynn Photography.

It has been three months, so it is probably silly to talk about Raine's 2nd birthday now, but I could use some cheer! Years ahead, when I use this blog to go back and look at things, I will probably be in the habit of searching a few months ahead for a recap on a special event, anyway. I imagine myself remembering this as a time of chaos. I would like to think this is a phase, related to so many big changes in one year (my mother's illness, buying a house, renting our condo, moving to a new town, traveling, changing jobs, and the whirlwind of Raine growing up so fast...) but who knows?? Perhaps from here on out, the tempo will stay at this rate?

Anyway...

Birthday gear.
Train signs for photos of guests, a card Raine bought himself (HA!), birthday ribbon & cap, & birthday tee.

Raine turned two and I initially had no grand plans. I was a *pinch* obsessed with making his first birthday party absolutely perfect, so the following year, I gave myself a free pass. No party. He is only two and wouldn't remember a party or gifts, right? I planned a quiet morning with the three of us, and just giving Raine an art easel and train track. However, as the day approached, Dan tugged my ear a little bit about at least having a few of our friends over to share in celebrating. I agreed to check with them, and to my surprise, they were all available, as well as the additional people I started asking. ;) In the end, I had a last minute excuse to put on my super creative hat and couldn't resist giving Raine a little party with a small Thomas the Train theme.

Train ticket invites.

I browsed the internet to see what train tickets look like and made my own version as an invitation with Illustrator. I made sure every guest family had their own train (number and name) and that each family member had a corresponding seat on their train. I even made sure that the departure/arrival times were appropriate. For our family in Illinois and friends in Colorado, I sent an additional letter from the commissioner at the Island of Sodor explaining the weather in the Rocky Mountain Pass might make train travel that week unsafe. (This helped the adults explain to the kiddos that they couldn't actually use the train tickets we sent them.) Dan thought I went a little bit overboard, but it is my attention to detail that makes me 'me.' ;o) I also had a fabulous assistant to help me save time with stickers and addressing envelopes:

His birthday weekend was busy with trips to the park and pool Sunday morning, Dan and I sang 'Happy Birthday' when he woke up and brought him out to the living room full of balloons. We watched him open presents that were shipped from family in Illinois. He was excited about everything and so sweet. When guests started arriving around 10, he was shy at first, but quickly warmed up once he was playing with Carlie. ;o) He had a little orange juice and cake, which was more sugar than he normally has --especially in a given day--so that was probably HIS favorite part of the day. LOL. He played, played, ate cake, played, opened presents, ate again, played, and opened more presents. There was a lot of running, bubbles, and balloon animals. It was adorable.

Help from daddy opening presents. 2 years old and he still doesn't quite get it. LOL.

What a special boy we have! Custom Thomas artwork by Mark & Mel. Pretty cool, huh?

Party down.

Conductor Raine. ;o)
Photo by Christie Glynn Photography.

Raine scored some major awesome loot. And I can say that after three months he is STILL playing with all of it quite happily. In no particular order of awesomeness: A tool set, Dr. Seuss matching game, wooden barn set, trains and a track, matchbox cars and a monster truck, an art easel, a wooden train whistle, bandana, and conductor hat (embroidered with his name!), books, socks & shirts, wooden produce, felted pizza, puzzles, a soccer ball, and custom artwork!!! :o) The best part was seeing him play with his friends and loved ones. I am totally happy it worked out that way. *And a special thank you to Dan, who baked the cake, cooked brunch, and mixed my mimosa. XOXO

You can see more photos from his birthday weekend in my album or more beautiful ones taken at the party by Christie here! ;o)

 

TWO

October Eighteenth, Two Thousand Twelve

Leah Ruth. Age 32.

Don Raine Alexander. Age 1.

My birthday morning started off with this a certain megawatt dimpled smile. Could there be anything better!?! :) Raine woke up a pinch earlier than usual which was very, very nice of him because mama was stinky and needed that extra time for a shower. We played and had breakfast, watched some Barney and Sesame Street. We dressed up in our finest. It was a special day, after all. We were making up for last year's pjs and drool. The rest of the day was made up of the usual Herzing celebratory things...Flowers, beer, and fun.



Raine and I stopped at the store for a chai and some flowers to put on my desk at work. I set Raine down on the ground and let him grab for whatever bouquet he wanted mama to have. He has great taste! ...And then he was off and walking away from me, grabbing at discounted DVDs and magazines. I am just beginning to let him down to toddle around and explore in stores. It is adorable and I am not ready at all for him to get better at walking and ...running! ;)

My boys met me at Sawatdee for lunch. Raine devoured his first plate of Thai food like a real champ. I don't think we could have been more proud! After lunch we walked next door to the grocery store for a cookie. Raine was sweet enough to blow out his diaper and drench his pants for me. I struggled with that one in the grocery store bathroom for a good ten minutes. He had already blown out his cute corduroy pants for the baby-sitter that morning, so THANK THE HEAVENS I was a good mama and had a THIRD change of clothes in his bag. Just when you think you don't need a THIRD change of clothes? YOU DO.

On Tap On My Birthday! Cheers!

When I got home from work that night, I was excited to find another bouquet, card, and presents on the coffee table. After we put Raine to bed I ripped open the card and presents. I have to say, I was a little disappointed. It was weird. Dan got me baking sheets and a pizza stone. Not that these aren't great things to have in the kitchen, but you know, I'm NEVER in the kitchen. That's Dan's thing. Yes, I am trying to cook a little more and he is doing a great job patiently teaching me, but you know, cooking tools are the kind of gifts that I usually give Dan. And these were two things that I had happened to mention recently that we needed to pick up at the store. Our current baking sheets were beyond repair and we broke our pizza stone years ago. I recently ordered some pizza dough from Amy's Wildtree Tasting Party and Dan said we should get a stone again for it. These just weren't the types of special gifts that had much to do with me at all.

I spent about fifteen minutes folding laundry before I finally told him in an outburst: "That was like me getting you light bulbs for your birthday!" I told him how disappointed I was that there was no special thought behind his gifts. He said he lost track of time and did the best he could but he was sorry I was upset. He asked if there was anything he could do to make up for it.

I could totally picture him running into the store after picking Raine up from the baby-sitter and making a mad dash through the aisles trying to find something to get me. I saw him getting the card and signing it really fast. I saw him grab the same bouquet of flowers that I had already sent him a picture of earlier that day. It just seemed so UNLIKE him. (I know there are many of you reading this who find this to be absolutely typical behavior but my husband was raised by a crazy, creative, thoughtful, and often romantic father and his crazy, creative, thoughtful romanticism rubbed off on Dan big time. It just wasn't like him to not put some extra thought ahead of time into my birthday!)

While Dan cooked dinner I approached him again and explained that I wasn't trying to be mean or naggy. I just thought it was unusual for him and wondered if there was something else wrong. I mean, I really dragged the situation out. I popped another beer open and waxed and waned on his history of sweet gestures. I emphasized that it wasn't about the gifts themselves--at least, it wasn't about the size of the gift. I wasn't expecting another iPad like Mother's Day or a love-bomb of letters from all of my friends, like he organized on my 30th. But even in the absence of fancy gifts, scavenger hunts, or other sweet surprises, there was at least a very heartfelt hand written message in a card or letter. So I was stumped. There was just something missing that showed his genuine and thoughtful spirit that I had grown so accustomed to experiencing! We ended the night joking that he had totally set himself up for future failure by an early history of awesomeness. I mean, you can't be perfect each and every single time, right? LOL.

Well, actually, YES, you CAN be perfect each and every single time. And he did it again. I'm sure his father would be proud. He pulled off a huge surprise.

At the end of the evening, I climbed into bed exhausted only to find something unusual next to me. A flat screen TV was hidden underneath the sheets.

OH MY HECK. 

We had been talking about getting a TV for our bedroom for a while now but hadn't officially decided. I secretly really wanted one but felt like it was such a silly and frivolous thing so I hadn't pushed it or bought one myself.

Dan laughed and teased, "And you think I'm not paying attention!" I pretty much started crying because I had been giving him grief all night long! I was so totally thrilled but at the same time absolutely horrified that I had complained and been a baby. I couldn't believe he didn't just tell me a few hours earlier and save all the trouble of listening to me go on and on!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful surprise. And he is so stinkin' awesome that he knew it would be an even BETTER surprise if he let me wait it out in my misery until the very end of the night! ;)

Awesome.

Birthday Cake

What's this daddy? I love that everyone is watching me! :)

Mmmm....Tastes like bananas...But sweeter! :)

Let me try some of this icing!

It's so yummy and I love it. I love my golf ball, too! Thanks for my first golf set, Grandpa Don!

No one is going to stop me!? I guess I'll just keep eating it!

...And eating it! ...And eating it....And eating it!??

Am I doing a good job!? :)

Whoa, daddy! What do you think you're doing!? Where are you taking it?

I want it back! More!  More! Please! I only get this once a year! :)

OK. Maybe I had my fill! Can I take a nap now?? :)

It Has Been an Amazing Year!

 

www.blastoniusherzing.com

Happy 2nd Birthday Alexis!

Happy Birthday, Girlfriend!

Grandpa just sent me this photo of our beautiful little niece who turns TWO today! I can hardly believe it. When we saw her last, she was six months younger, but wow, what a difference those months can make! She doesn't look like a baby anymore...She looks so tall and grown up! I suppose this is the point where she starts entering the "terrible twos" but I don't really know if that is a real stage kids go through or just myth. I DO know that my sister has mentioned Lexi's occasional little attitude, but she's bound to have a little sass with her sweetness, right? (I mean, if she is going to be anything like her mama! LOL.)

January 2012 - The last time we saw her!

It is really fun to watch her change as she grows knowing that she is only one year ahead of Raine. It is like a little preview of what I can expect! (I also think she is old enough that I can stop referring to her as "The Nef's Lil Sis.") We are hoping to Skype with the family tonight and see her and Logan. We don't do it nearly enough. Rachel and I have this fabulous technology so that we can see each other's kids whenever we want despite the fact that we live so far apart, and we rarely use it! I guess we are a LITTLE preoccupied though with our kids, households, jobs, etc. So I am very much looking forward to our next reunion in October. Can't wait to give this little girl a hug. Also in the meantime, we shipped a present for her party on Saturday. AND HOW MUCH FUN IS IT TO SHOP FOR A LITTLE GIRL. ;)

I Have a Little Boy Turning One Soon...

...So I am totally obsessing over his first birthday party!!!

My original vision was an Eric Carle and balloon themed party, but my invitation concept didn't work, which led me to consider the entire theme a catastrophic failure. I am putting it on hold until next year. I am sure you have all seen the invitation idea that I found; it has been pinned a hundred million times! The helium balloon box invite from On-Hand Modern (orignally posted July 2010).

I did my research and discovered that the invitation pictured above isn't practical. This was a water balloon, which will only hold the helium for a few minutes. So I did my own experiment. I found a party store that has balloons and had them fill a small (regular) balloon for my experiment. Next, I took it to UPS and asked if I could ship it. We found a small box the perfect size and they gave me prices for shipping (USPS $5 for 3-5 days and UPS $11 for 1 day delivery). It has been hot here in Oregon lately so I wanted to see if that would affect my boxed balloon and necessitate the 1 day shipping. There wasn't even time to test it. The balloon didn't even stay afloat for more than a few hours in our living room. :( I couldn't really troubleshoot a way for helium not to escape the balloon, and I didn't want to go bigger with a bigger box in hopes a bigger balloon would last longer. It was already adding up to be pretty costly.

Once I realized that the balloon idea wouldn't work out, I decided to start from scratch. I gave up my whole Eric Carle themed party concept. I set aside my matching invitation I had designed that used images and text from Raine's Eric Carle flashcards and Up Up I Go growth chart. (It didn't seem as fun without the balloon rising out of the box with it.) I gave up my bright, primary colored decorations with lots of helium filled balloons. And away went the food concept...A little bit of everything the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate.

I decided he only turns 1 once, and that is probably the only time I can still treat him like a baby. So then I considered doing a Peter Rabbit theme. I found this cute little invitation on Etsy, but then OH MY GOODNESS THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBILITIES ON ETSY. LOL.

Fast forward three hours.

I ended up with invitations that I think are completely unique. I don't know what sort of theme they create...Maybe none at all. But I think that's OK. His party will be sweet and celebratory and I will give myself the luxury of not worrying about a theme this year. ;) I ordered the invitations yesterday. They are so delightful; I had to share:

Thank you so much, Etsy shop Emily Isabella! ;) 

Next I need to determine what time of day and what food to serve. I think we will try to have everyone meet outside in our condominium community's common lawn next to the pool. Is it too much to open it up for pool use? I'm not really thinking I want a "pool party," but I know it will probably be hot and the kids (ranging in age from 1 to 16!) would love it. How do I incorporate pool time into such a little party? I don't know how long Raine will last in the warm sun with all of the commotion before needing a big nap!?

An outdoor party gives me less to worry about in terms of decor, so I think I will just try to find some nice vintage table cloths and have some flowers out with the food. 1 challenge might be finding a square cake stand for his cake. (I have a NSM's banana cake in mind for his first bite of cake, and it is only offered square.) I also kind of want to hire a photographer because I want to enjoy the party and not be worrying about taking photos.

Much to think about! (And don't even get me started on all of the toys I want to buy him). I have a couple of days to decide the time before the invitations and stamps arrive in the mail. After that, it is T Minus 7 weeks! Yea!

Colorado 2012 Part 2: Boulder Boogaloo!

A certain hot chica rockin' a sexy black pencil skirt and white button down blouse picked us up Friday to whisk us away to Boudler. ~LOL...Ally was dressed up because she had an interview for a new job. :) Still, she looked GREAT! We belted ourselves into her jeep and while Raine snored lightly and Dan and Allyson talked in the front seats, I watched the scenery go by in the sunshine with the windows rolled down. Soothing.

That afternoon, we walked down Pearl Street and stopped for a late lunch at The Kitchen, a simple and delicious little restaurant. I think Allyson said it is her favorite. It was basically yummy fresh food with an elegant yet rustic decor...Right up my alley, too. I had little plates (yes!) of hummus, bread, spiced nuts, and sauteed collard greens. Dan (who I just asked what he ordered and he was like, Oh My God I Still Think About That Sandwich!) had their roast koberstein beef sammie with horseradish aioli and caramelized onions. I don't remember what Marc and Ally got (???) but I DO remember the fabulous beer. It is a shame I couldn't finish mine because OH YEAH, I had an 8 month old baby drooling on me and vying for my attention (and for the goods under my shirt). Bless the hubby for holding him as long as he could so that I could shove all that hummus, those nuts, collard greens, and scrumptious bread in my mouth as fast as I could. The beer menu itself was beautiful. Look. Yes. We chose local and Dan ordered Oskar Blues Brewery's G'Knight Imperial Red and I had that gorgeous wheat saison ("Miho") by Funkwerks (photo below). After the Kitchen, we visited Tee & Cakes for some sweet treats. I am becoming a cupcake enthusiast (I think it is because Dan likes to watch Cupcake Wars and it has been growing on me...) So I totally loved stopping in this place. I even wanted to get some of their letterpress stationary or a t-shirt but forgot. I DID get a chocolate bacon cupcake. CHOCOLATE. BACON. CUPCAKE. Seriously. It was wonderful. ;)

Marc and Allyson (who just moved to Boulder from Chicago last fall) found an awesome apartment right downtown in the middle of everything (yet they have an awesome view of the Flat Irons, which are at the base of the Rockies.) It was really awesome to get to stay with them because of their location! Saturday morning, the first farmer's market of the season was right across the street. And when Dan and I needed to push Raine around in his stroller when we couldn't get him to nap that afternoon, we were able to do so on and around Pearl Street, where there are tons of people, shops, and restaurants. (My favorite shops were Cured and Bliss). It definitely had a major Portland/Sedona vibe if I was going to compare it to other cities I have been to; Small and quirky, for sure! It was also really awesome to stay with them because their apartment is THE BOMB and Allyson is THE BOMB HOSTESS. I wish I took more photos of the apartment, but let's just say that it was super spacious and had a bit of a rustic modern look. And she had a jacuzzi bath tub! LOL. Because we were sleep training Raine and sticking to his 7/8 bedtime pretty strictly, we didn't have the luxury of trying other restaurants for dinners. But Allyson was a wonderful little cheffy and whipped up some lovely dinners for us, including bites of sweet potato gnocci, goat cheese ravioli, homemade pesto with bread, potstickers, fruits, and cheeses. She also found Dan a sweet little chocolate stout cake for his birthday. ;) And of course there was no shortage of beer and wine!

Our last day we hit a couple of breweries (Avery and Boulder-Colorado's 1st microbrewery) for much needed Colorado sampling. Dan was pleased to spend his birthday weekend like this! :-) Of course our time together was too short, but I am grateful for that which we had. Whether we were just sitting in the living room or checking out the local breweries, it was wonderful to clink Cheers! with my dear girl (we met when we were FOUR!) and her new awesome hubby. I look forward to many, many years of times like these together. Back and forth, Oregon and Colorado. ;)