Brecken's Birthday Party!!

The invites were mailed....

The cake was made...

The decorations were set up....

The guests arrived.... On this very happy day of loving and laughing and enjoying the boy who continues to steal everyone's hearts, I would be remiss to say that it is filled with as much joy as it could be. June 2 not only marked the celebration of Brecken's second year since his premature arrival into the world, but also marks the 4th month of his precious grandmother's exit out of our earthly lives. While I refuse to turn this blog into sadness, I feel as though I have to address the white elephant that hung throughout our house. My mom wasn't there. Brecken's grandma wasn't there. She would have been so impressed with the cake (I learned from the BEST!), she would have shopped for hours looking for the perfect gift for him (she had actually already told me what she was going to get him, as she always knew months in advance and could hardly wait for present-opening day to arrive!), and she would have filled our backyard with laughter. Her voice would have filled the air, her laughter would have filled our hearts, and Brecken's kisses would have filled her cheeks. I so badly want her to continue to be in Brecken's milestone pictures and for her to play a strong influence in his life; I so badly wish for her to provide guidance to me as a mother and for Brecken to have slumber parties at her house. Wait, I just realized I made an earlier promise to not make this posting sad...... :( Long story, short: Despite mom's obvious absence from Brecken's birthday party, she was RIGHT THERE in every way. In every over-the-top thing I did to make Brecken's birthday week special, she was there......

On Friday, we gave Brecken our gift to him, which was a train table. He was SUPER excited about it, with the only problem being that he NEVER wanted to quit playing with it and go to bed!! :)

Our nephew, Grady.... All smiles on party day :)

Playing "foo-ball" with Uncle Aaron...

Brecken loved getting his arms wet in the pool and thought it was hilarious when he got his hair wet...

... and even MORE funny when he got Uncle Aaron's hair wet :)

Uncle Aaron & Brecken...

Ava and Papa

Emma & Papa

Grady & Papa

Playing with his cousins...

After one-too-many meltdowns, Brecken went off to the side to have some "me" time with his finger up his nose. I was beginning to think the party was going down hill quick!!

All of a sudden, Eric came running into the backyard and yelled, "Everyone go to the front yard!" What?!? I had no idea what was going on or why we were all being shuttled to the front yard, but we all headed that way.... As Brecken rounded the corner, he saw THE most exciting thing possible for a little boy who was having a "school bus" theme party.....

A REAL BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eric had conspired with my good friend Barb Swanson and her husband to have a REAL school bus show up at our house! Absolutely amazing! There are no words to describe how cool of an experience it was and how exciting it was to watch Brecken having so much fun!