Celebrating a Two and Four Year Old

Finally, we were able to get everyone together to celebrate Bennett who turned 2 almost a month ago and Cole who will be 4 at the end of the month. I decided awhile ago that that I would do a combined party, simply for the fact that I didn't think I would have the energy to do two parties back to back. Also, this would probably be the last year I could actually pull it off without one of the boys being super bummed about not having their own shindig.

I also decided that I wanted to do a cow and tractor party. Bennett's first animal sound and animal love was the cow or (moo) as he calls it. And Cole has loved tractors for as long as I can remember. If there is a tractor around he will ditch all else to crawl up on the seat of it and pretend to drive it. Lucky for the me, the two separate themes coincided quite nicely into one party.

Originally we were going to have the party several weeks ago, and then my whole family came down with a nasty bug. Poor Bennett, seems that his birthday time is when we all catch the plague. Fortunately, I am so happy to say that this year we managed to avoid him having another febrile seizure. Which is huge, and a party in itself. Once they are seizure free for a year, the likelihood of it reoccurring lessens. 

So celebrate we did!

And this is what we dealt with when first, we asked Cole to get dressed (he had just got up from his nap and was running around in tidy whities). And then this, was when we asked Bennett to come inside for his party. he wanted to keep doing this....

Oh well, after the rocky start both kids shaped up and we had so much fun!

We had "tractor wheels" (oreos), "cow pies" (homemade rocky road candies),

animal cookies, chocolate and white chocolate covered pretzels, homemade white chocolate popcorn,

and last but not least, cookies and cream cupcakes. Along with lots of tractors and cows.

I had ordered some adorable signage that coordinated with the cupcake toppers. And the "MOO" poster. But they seemed have gone MIA, along with my calendar....

I ordered the signage from the sweetest lady off of Etsy. Her shop is called Lauren Haddox Design (Link Here). I first saw the signage she did on a blog I follow called, The Macs. Instantly I fell in love with the simplicity and playfulness of it. She wasn't currently selling the cow party any more but quickly whipped it up for me as a custom order. And I couldn't have been any happier with it...well, except if I hadn't lost half of it. Sure, I could have printed some more out...but when push came to shove, I just got lazy.

I had so many plans for this party, and if I hadn't been sick most of this pregnancy, I probably would have conquered more of them. I planned to make a pin the tail on the cow game, construct some cute cow ear headbands for the kiddos, and paint their noses black like cows. I originally planned on having it outside with hay bales to sit, and hang donuts (tractor wheels) from the tree as a game to see who could eat them first. I envisioned tractor races, kids running everywhere and lots of sunshine.

The sunshine and kiddos we had.....but the energy I didn't.

Oh well, such is life. Honestly, I don't think either boy noticed the lack of games. They were having too much fun running around with their cousins. They both were pink-cheeked and sweaty by present time. Not to mention hopped up on sugar with the cupcakes, treats and "Moo Malts" that they partook in.

One thing I learned is that doing a joint party is nice, but it gets really hard to capture all the special moments of the day. With two birthday boys to take pictures of I felt like I really didn't get some of the pictures I wanted.....like a family one. Or one with me and the boys, or their dad and the boys. However, amongst the chaos I was able to snap a few during the opening of presents.

And, It.Was.Chaotic.

They both started ripping into their gifts with barely a moments notice, I didn't even have a chance to see who each one was from. So thank you notes should be interesting.

(Please ignore the crazy face I was making, at least I made it in a photo!) And the finale present was from the Bramma and Brampa. And has already been well worth the effort of putting it together.

We had a few too many cooks in the kitchen for the remainder of the evening. Made for a lot of squawking, shoving, and fighting over who got to flip the pancakes.

Thankfully we had a cupcake and milk break to ease the bickering.

Bramma also jumped in and saved Bennett's fingers as he went straight for the flame. And then he went straight for the frosting.

And then just like that, it was over. What a whirlwind of a party.

And I realize that another year has come and gone. My babies aren't such babies any more....in fact, if I call Cole my baby he will adamantly correct me. Bennett still likes to be my baby though. Not gonna say I mind it, I will take it for as long as I can milk it. I can't help but think of all the ways our lives will be different in another year. I'm sure it will it will bring many more smiles, many more tears, many ups and many downs. But I have no doubt that there are going to be a lot of sweet memories made, a lot of hearts growing fuller, a lot of brother camaraderie.

And I can't wait to see how each little boy will grow, as much as I would like to stop time...I know growing is something I need to embrace. So that is what this year is going to be about. Embracing the chaos, change, and growing. We are so blessed to have another year with our sweet boys, I still can't get over how my love seems to grow right along with them.

Happy Birthday my big 2 and 4 year old!!!!