Robbie is 2! (a very long post)

Robbie turned 2 years old on March 15th!  We really don't know where the time went but we're so thankful for these 2 wonderful years with our sweet boy.

Robbie's Birth Day...

Hello, little one!

(I really can't believe that he was actually this LITTLE once.)

2 years later... our growing boy!

We decided to celebrate Robbie's birthday on Saturday, the 13th, since Rob's parents were able to fly in and spend the weekend with us.  We kicked off the party day by going out to brunch at one of our favorite places, Egg'lectic.

I was feeling brave and confident in my recent attempts at dining out with Robbie, but as soon as we settled into our booth I had the sinking feeling that this was not going to go well.

1st indicator: the booster chair they gave to us for Robbie was too unstable on the cushioned bench, and we had to wrestle him back out of it and stick him in a high chair on the short end of the table... inches away from Ellie.  It was funny to look at them sitting next to each other and realize that we really do have 2 kids this little and close in age!

It ended up being a rainy, gloomy day... which was great since we didn't have to worry about feeling guilty about staying inside and enjoying the party all afternoon.  The downside was that there wasn't much natural light to work with as I took pictures, so the quality of these photos is really poor.

I wanted Robbie's party to reflect something he's really 'into' right now... and the choice was easy.  Monsters, Inc. is his favorite movie and the colors are so vibrant and the theme was just irresistible.  I could have chosen Thomas or trains, but frankly, I'm a bit burned out with the train situation.  Ha!

However: lesson learned.  Monsters, Inc. is actually an older movie, and so there is NOTHING in stores related to the movie!  As I wandered the aisles of Party City and Target, I realized I was going to have to get creative with my chosen theme (as I lamented the Thomas table runner, party horns and hats, pinatas, and plate sets!).

Always up for a challenge, I found a few Sully and Mike Wazowski mylar balloons online for a few dollars, ordered balloons in the signature aqua / periwinkle / lime green colors, decorated cupcakes to look like eyeballs, and my mom (who just happens to be the most phenomenal artist!) hand painted a 3 foot tall poster of Mike and Sully!  We had a lot of fun decorating the edges of the poster together with random crafty items.

The only picture I have of Rob and I with the birthday boy!!  It makes me laugh so hard every time we try to get a decent posed picture.  It does not exist.

You'll have to click on this picture so that you can see the great painting my mom did up close!

Robbie wore a shirt my friend Heather made for him - Mike Wazowski in felt!  How cute is that!?

Ellie enjoys the perks of being a little sister - playing with big brother's new toys.

I think she was going in for a good chewing here.

Especially precious - Robbie's cousins James and Nicholas, who live in NJ, sent a home made DVD of themselves rapping Happy Birthday to Robbie!  It was hilarious and the next best thing to having them here with us.  Robbie was entranced.

Robbie got a few things that will allow him to mimic Daddy...

A lawn mower, which apparently was low on gas...

...and a shaving kit for the bath tub (how did he know exactly what to do, and that you need to look in the mirror to get a nice, close shave!?).

He definitely gets his concentration from his Dad.

After opening the rest of his presents (which took entirely too long, thanks everyone for sitting through that painfully slow process!), we ordered pizza and busted out the cupcakes.

The decorating of this cupcake has easily consumed my idle thoughts for the last month.

Fondant finally helped me achieve the results I was looking for!

(Yes, I'm nuts.)

This was definitely the highlight of Robbie's entire weekend - everyone singing happy birthday to him, sugar in excess, and fire present.  He even thought the party hat was fun.

We did this over and over for a good 5 or 10 minutes!

Party Animal.

The bow was just the perfect size and I couldn't resist!

You are the best present ever, little guy!

It took a little engineering by Daddy and Papa Livingston to get the new GeoTrax pieces to fit together to expand our current track - Robbie has an idea though!

Rob's on-the-spot joke:  "How many people named Robert Livingston does it take to put a toy train track together?"

(Answer: Hopefully not more than 3, because that's how many we have.)

Time flies when you're playing with trains.

Robbie was in his personal heaven!

The always-entertaining view finder, but this one has animal sounds to accompany the images!

At the end of the night, as if he knew this was his chance to capitalize on the fact that this was HIS day, Robbie begged for 'just one M&M!'.   You know, because he wasn't all sugared up already.  Occasionally I will let him pick ONE M&M out as his treat after dinner.  So we decided, what the heck.  After an entire cupcake, gobs of presents, and more stimulation from all of your relatives in one day that a 2 year old can possibly handle, what harm can one measly M&M do?

Waiting patiently for his prized M&M (seen in Rob's hand as he descends the stairs)...

Oh yeah.  It's THAT good.

Can you tell he has nearly lost his sanity at this point in the evening?

Then things started to get crazy.

I absolutely cannot resist telling you that this picture was taken immediately after my mom announced that she had pulled a stomach muscle trying to get into a standing position from sitting the way Robbie does.  (We were all trying it, some more successful than others!)  Laughing that hard was a great way to end the perfect 2nd birthday celebration for Robbie!

Thanks to all of you who made this such a special day.  It was so memorable!