simon turns two: cake and presents

Ben got back into town the day after Simon's birthday so we celebrated as a family with cake and presents. Simon loved opening up presents. He had to play with each item for awhile before we could move him on to the next present. He also loved blowing out candles and eating cake. I loved the kids' reaction when we cut into the cake and they saw all of the colors. Simon loves to cause trouble and destroy things and is so busy and fast and exhausting. But he's also so fun and happy and makes everyone laugh. The one thing that will make him slow down is reading books. He loves to bring us book after book and sit on our lap to read. And despite his love of destruction and wearing me out every day, he loves to help. As soon as he hears the dishwasher open, he runs to the bathroom to get his stool and brings it over to unload the dishes. He doesn't stop until everything is put away. He especially loves to sort the silverware in the drawer. He shows the same enthusiasm for doing laundry. He loves to help me move the clothes from the washer to the dryer and put the clothes away in the drawers. Sometimes he even gets them in the right spot. And he loves to help collect the garbage and wheel the big cans out to the curb. He has to hold on the whole way which takes awhile at his two-year-old pace and with our long driveway. After every task, he always yells "I did it!" His big head of curls just adds to his big personality and we are so happy to have Simon in our family.

Saying "hot" after he touched one of the candles.

simon turns two: pullen park

Even though we were saving cake and presents for the following day, we still wanted to do something fun on Simon's actual birthday. Amelia suggested Pullen Park and I knew Simon would love riding the train there. Actually, all of the kids loved the train ride. We also walked around the lake, enjoyed some delicious gourmet popsicles, and played at the playground.

simon turns two: morning festivities

Ben was out of town on Simon's birthday so we postponed cake and presents for a day. But on the morning of his birthday, I let him ride his new tricycle and we took a walk over to the horses. He loves having his own set of wheels to try and keep up with the big kids. For the next week, he would wake up from his afternoon nap and say "tricycle! horses!" and we would go visit the horses and goats across the street.

A quick trip to Target.