Second birthday fun!

We've had three two year olds in the house now for a week and we are still alive, though barely, but not because of the two year olds, just a nasty cold they passed on to us that has settled in my sinuses and Michelle's throat.  I really want to get a two year old wrap up post done so we don't forget all the super cute things these kiddos have been doing over the past couple of months, but I don't think I have that in me tonight so I'll just recap their little birthday celebrations tonight.

Friday morning Avery was up super early so she and I went on a special mission to the co-op in Ithaca.  We were on a mission to find whip cream and sprinkles and candles for some birthday pancakes.  We failed on the whip cream so opted for ice cream instead. =)  (oh and we also had to get some good coffee for the mommies and auntie! and some breakfast sausage for Ellie, our little sausage lover)  The kiddos thoroughly enjoyed their birthday pancakes and ate pretty much every last bite.  I think ice cream on birthday pancakes might have to be a new birthday tradition, though I think Michelle begs to differ. =) (one failure was that there were no matches in the vacation rental so the candles were just for show!)

After breakfast they got to open a couple of little presents including a tube of bath paint so they took a bath while Michelle and Jess packed us up and got us ready to leave the "vacation house."

Once we were loaded up we headed over to the Ithaca Science Center and spent the morning there since it was another 50 degree chilly day and we wanted them to burn off some energy before we hopped in the car to drive home.  They had a good time exploring the various exhibits both inside & out.

the hand dryer in the bathroom was a bigger hit than most of the exhibits!

We ate lunch at the Ithaca bakery before starting the drive home & the kiddos split a cookie that was the size of their head.

They all took a pretty good nap in the van on the drive home, but weren't too happy to still have a ways to go when they woke up.  When we pulled up to our house Isaiah started crying saying "'cation house, 'cation house, go 'cation house" because he wanted to go back to the vacation house!  Once he got over that we had some dinner and they got to open some more presents.  Grandma Rae & Grandpa Mark sent hula sets for each of them, which of course we had to try on right away.  It was pretty freaking adorable & I'm looking forward to more hula practice in the weeks and months to come.  Here are a few not so great pics of their first time in their hula skirts plus a couple of quick little videos.

I love the coconuts! =)

some is excited that her skirt is pink!

Friday night after the kiddos were in bed we went into planning mode to figure out what to do for their party the next day because it was supposed to be a potluck at a local park with a bunch of families, but the weather was going to be cold and rainy!  After lots of searching we initially planned to switch to a park closer to the house and then head back to the house for food, but by Saturday morning we decided to just have it at our house because it was really yucky outside.  So Saturday morning and nap time was a mad rush of cleaning and trying to prep the house to hold an extra 25+ people while also entertaining toddlers and prepping some food and birthday cupcakes.  In the end it turned out just fine and I think everyone had a pretty good time.  Isaiah didn't nap long enough and was pretty cranky for most of the party, but came around thanks to the bouncy house.  One of our good friends bought this bounce house and has been storing it at our house because they've been in transition with housing and it was a tight fit, but we got it into the screen porch and it was a big hit and made it way less crazy in the house! Here are a bunch of pics from the party...

I'm sooooo glad we got this picture because it captures his mood perfectly!
Grumpy gus holding his birthday balloon

thank goodness for the bouncy house!

look at all this yummy food!

and birthday cupcakes!

waiting for their birthday cupcakes

that was a lot of candles to blow out!

They wasted no time in digging in!

just making sure she got it all...

we managed to sneak in a quick family pic after the cupcakes...
well, after round one of cupcakes anyway...

Avery sharing her second cupcake with Mommy

Isaiah & Ellie moochng Hope's cupcake

look how cute I am...you know I need another cupcake mom!

And this series of Avery devouring her second cupcake was too good to not include the whole thing...

 Thankfully the kiddos could burn off some of that sugar in the bounce house...

triplet wrestling

Hope probably wished she hadn't started this game because then every kid wanted a turn!

 All in all our plan B 2nd birthday party was a success.  Sadly though, the kiddos did not seem to burn off all the sugar in the bounce house because it was a ROUGH night of sleep, which was exactly what happened last year after their cake smash on their birthday!  Might be a combination of things, but I'm definitely attributing part of the blame to the cupcakes!