Beep Beep! Ben Is Turning 2!

So we all know I am a planner so it should come as no surprise I started planning Ben's 2nd birthday party back in June. I like to try to have a theme with a bit of meaning-like last years giraffe theme and the Johnathan Adler giraffe lamp we bought 5 years ago for our one day future nursery.  I knew that Ben's love of cars neeeded to be my starting point in my brainstorming process. And it didn't take long until I remembered a game that my Grandma McCormack invented for us called "Red Car Red Car". The game was simple we would sit on my grandparents screened in porch and watch the cars go by and when you saw a red car you yelled RED CAR! That's it-nothing fancy. So simple yet so entertaining-I can't even begin to tell you how many hours were spent playing that game. So I knew it would make for a great party theme that Ben would love! My brother Patrick helped me design the invite and from there it just took off! As usual Vince thought I was going a bit overboard and said on more than once occasion "boy I'm glad Ben only has a birthday once a year". But I don't care-I enjoy it and one day Ben will look back and hopefully appriciate it.

Saturday was party day and we got super lucky with the weather-November 10th and 75 degrees outside! We had a great turnout and Ben got to play with all his friends at "his park". Aunt Joie was kind enought to keep with tradition and make Ben cookies for his party! I think they were the hit of the food table before I knew it they were gone! I decided that this year I wanted to bake his birthday party cake. There is just something special about having your mom make your birthday cake. Last year I made him a cake for his actual birthday but not for his party. This year I decided to make the cake for his party and let him pick out a special cupcake from a local bakery for his actual birthday. Thankgoodness I did a "practice cake" a few weeks back and while the party cake wasn't as perfect as I had wanted Ben didn't seem to care all he cared about was the cars on his "car cake"!

I think the one unforgetable moment of the party happened about 30 minutes in when this couple in their late 50's or so walk right in the front door with a present in hand. I said hello as they walked into the living room and I turned to my dad and said I have no idea who those people are. Yep...we had 2 party crashers on our hands! They walked right in grabbed a handful of popcorn and started chatting. I was in tears laughing. Vince and I just looked at each other like what the heck do we do. As they walked around (looking for a familiar face I'm sure) my aunt kindly asked if they were at the right party??? Then I saw the card on their present said Graham not Ben. Graham is a littel guy up the street who's 2nd birthday is a few days after Bens. I said oh you must be looking for Grahams party this is Bens party. Guess they just saw party balloons and thought it must be the right house. So funny that both little boys 2nd birthday parties we on the same day at the same time! So our party crashers left and headed up the street and we all got a really good laugh!

Ben had such a great time at his party! We are so lucky to have such a wonderful set of friends and family who took the time to help Ben celebrate! Thanks again to everyone who came-it really means a lot to the 3 of us!