Maddy's Birthday Party

This year to celebrate our little girl's second birthday we had a BACKYARDigan BBQ! (As you can see from her party invitations.) One of Maddy's favorite shows, besides Shrek and Dora, is the Backyardigans and so we thought that it would be a fun theme for a bar-b-que.

All of my family, except my sister and her family, came down for the weekend and stayed at our house. We had a house full...Joe, Laura, Jordyn, Brooke, and Jack in the master bedroom; my mom and dad in the guest room; John, Nicole, Jaelyn, and Addisyn in the nursery; Auntie Marie on the chair in the living room; cousin Christopher on the couch in the living room; and Jason, Maddy, and I on an air mattress in the family room. Wow, what a croud crammed in small living quarters, but so much fun! It was another birthday weekend full of times we'll never forget. I'll let the pictures tell the story!

Making the chicken and steak kabobs
(Sarah, myself, cousin Chris, Auntie Marie, my brother, Uncle Joe)

My dad and brothers Joe and John grilling all the kabobs

"Happy Birthday Maddy" Video

Reaction to her Backyardigan cheese-cakes

Grabbing the flame rather than blowing it out

Eating her cake

Do I have something on my face?

Eating more dessert with the kids

Daddy and Maddy after dessert

Pinata Time

Opening Presents
(Thank you to everyone for all the great gifts...
Maddy was sure spoiled by everyone)

Mommy and Maddy on the bouncy house

More bouncy house pictures...

Maddy and cousin Jaelyn

Cousins Lane and Finn

Cousins Jordyn, Jack, and Brooke

Jaelyn in mid-air

Jordyn's turn...WATCH OUT!

More pictures from the weekend with the family in town

Out for a jog
(Jaelyn, Addisyn, and Maddy)

Addisyn driving the Beep-Beep

Auntie Marie with the kids eating Grandpa's cheese dip

Bedtime
(Jaelyn, Addisyn, and Maddy)

Cleaning the house after the party
(Maddy and Brooke)

Sunday we went to Kensington Metro Park to swim
(Jaelyn, Brooke, and Maddy warming up)

Jet's Pizza for Dinner
(Jaelyn, Addisyn, Maddy, and Brooke)

Ice Cream for Dessert
(Jaelyn, Maddy, and Brooke)

Bathtime
(Maddy, Jaelyn, Brooke, and Addisyn)

Eating the foam

So as you can see from all the pictures (and thats only a quarter of them) we had a ton of fun celebrating Maddy's second birthday with family and friends. It is always so much fun when the family comes and stays with us because we are together all weekend just enjoying each other's company without any distractions. John, Nicole, Jaelyn, and Addisyn stayed until Monday afternoon and my mom, dad, Auntie, and Brooke stayed until Tuesday morning. Maddy was going home with them for the week so I asked them to stay until Tuesday so that Jason and I could spend Maddy's actual birthday (Monday) with her. The kids had a blast playing on the bouncy house and swimming in the pools. Its always key to have some fun to entertain the kids so that we can get things ready for the party. We went shopping, played a lot of cards, had a balloon fight and a campfire, went to Kensington Park to swim and played some volleyball, watched some Lifetime (well mom and auntie did), and the list continues. Probably the only thing we didn't do is get a lot of sleep. Oh well, we had a lot of fun! Thanks to all my family for the help with the party and for making the long haul down here to spend such a special weekend with Maddy!