"We Have Now Reached Our Cruising Altitude"

We had a great time today celebrating Isaac's 2nd birthday with some of his friends. Not everyone could make it, but we were so glad a few could.
We chose an airplane theme for the party mostly because Isaac shows instant and pure joy every time he sees an airplane or a helicopter. Sometimes he practically shouts, "Momma, airplane" when he spots one in the sky. But lately he's also become a big fan of Elmo, so that's why we put Elmo flying the plane on the cake.

I'm pretty pleased with how the cake turned out. And the best part is that it tasted really good (if I do say so myself). I used my mom's classic Hershey's chocolate cake recipe and cream cheese frosting--Shawn's favorite. The plane was baked in a mini loaf pan and then I cut it to somewhat look like a plane. A little bit of icing, then fondant icing, and a red piping of icing around the seam edge. The wings and tail were just pieces of a cereal box cut to size with toothpicks taped in place, covered in icing, and popped into the sides. Pretty easy and it was Shawn's idea to do them that way. I was getting a bit preoccupied with making it all edible. But I'm glad I went with his plan. It looked just at good and it was way faster.

For the first part of the mid-day party, and while the party guests were arriving, the kids colored on some giant poster sized coloring pictures of airport scenes.
Then the only "game" I planned for the 2 year old party was: "find the planes in the clouds". Connor was more interested in toys and Isaac wasn't quite understanding what to do. So I let Carly and Michael show him what to do. He got the hang of it and enjoyed it.
Then when all the planes had been found, chaos broke out. I'm not sure how it started exactly, but I'm pretty sure Shawn was the instigator. Not wanting to be too much of a party pooper, I held back from preventing them from throwing around one or two handfuls of the shredded paper "clouds". But then the next thing I knew all the paper was out of the tub that I thought was properly containing it. White strips were flying everywhere--mostly out of Shawn and Geoffrey's hands. I was totally cringing on the inside and trying to smile on the outside. Try as I might, the majority of my thoughts were about what a mess they were making. This is just the sort of thing a mom sees and instinctively knows she'll be cleaning up. Fortunately, there were many hands to clean up and yes, they did enjoy it. Just look at Carly's face! But you other moms, you know you were cringing on the inside too. I could see it in your awkward smiles that I'm sure I had too.
Shawn getting piled up by the kids. It serves him right. This was also the third time he had to clean up the strips. But you know he was the one that gave the kids the idea to throw it around anyway, so I suppose he should be the main cleaner-upper.
He's apparently seen enough parties lately because he knew what to do. He was just a bit tenative. A little extra momma puff and the candes were out.
Party guests waiting for their food. We had baked potatoes with toppings for our lunch.
The two youngest party guests--Christian and Sophia, twins.
Opening his presents with "Grandma" Bea.
Momma and Daddy hit the jackpot with this gift. It was an Elmo lunch box with two Elmo DVDs inside. Does it get much better than that? Apparently not for our little man.He had a great time and so did the rest of us. Thanks to those who were able to come and to those who couldn't but still found their own way to wish him a happy birthday. Isaac's actual birthday is Wednesday, so check back for "real" birthday photos. And I guess it also means I have one more full day to pretend he's still a baby. :)