My sweet little buddy ..he brought Mickey upstairs to "help mommy sew"- could he be any cuter???? He wanted to make a big train so we took all of the track and made a huge railroad going from the kitchen to the den. Lots of fun for a Friday night :-)

WDP loves birthday parties- "More birthday parties, cupcake" He associates cupcakes with birthday parties. It's so cute. We had one this weekend and it was so fun! My friend Melanie does the best kid parties. This was a county fair theme. I think I gained 5 pounds. Hotdogs, chili, nachos (with the yellow/orange cheap cheese- yum!) peanuts, a popcorn maker, apple pie, cotton candy, etc. So fun.... So yummy.... Pants won't button today...sigh.... They also had a bounce house- in the bonus room. Talk about a good time!!! I made whoopie pies to take....delicious!!! so easy!

Cookies

box cake mix...I used chocolate for this, red velvet for work on Monday

1/3 c oil

2 eggs

a little bit of water - 1 T or so...just so it's not sooo thick

Scoop out- I use a little ice cream disher- Bake at 350 for 7-8 min. Each cookie was exactly the same size! Perfect for stacking with icing in the middle!

Icing

1 stick real butter

1 box powder sugar

pinch kosher salt

1tsp vanilla

1 T milk- more or less depending on thickness

Mix well- really well. Put into an icing bag with a fat star tip. Swirl on cookie. Top with the other cookie. I refrigerated mine until the party so the icing would not squish out when you bite into it. Not at all to toot my own horn, but these were yummy.

OK- back to the party. She had the bounce house ....games - Pony races (stick horses)- WDP didn't do to well with these...everyone else loved it!

hay rides (husband on the mower)

Face paintings, Guess the number of pickles, etc. It was so cute. You had a card and had it "punched" after you completed a game and turned it in for "prizes" at the end. What a fun idea! Happy 2nd birthday sweet Joel!!!


On another, more personal note...WDP is now spending Sunday at 6pm until Tuesday at 6pm every week with his dad. I like the consistency- makes more sense than every other week, a mid week afternoon the weeks in between, etc....but it is so hard to be away from him. I am purposely trying to stay super busy. I miss my little buddy when he's gone. I find myself giggling at something he's said recently (this weekend he pulled out a pool noodle, held it like a megaphone and said "attention, attention" over and over). I can't wait to see him tonight!!!!

The Zoo...again

I know, I know- we go to the zoo a lot, but he loves it. The park/ playground there is awesome... We fed the birds this weekend and hit up the Tot Lot for some jumpy fun. Good times were had by all! And by all I mean my sweet friend Becky and her son :-)