A Birthday Party for Luke

Luke celebrated his second birthday with our neighbors/friends this afternoon. His actual second birthday falls on Tuesday, April 7. We had such a nice afternoon with all of our Yuma friends. This birthday was a little bittersweet for us, as it was the first kid birthday party of ours that we haven't had a single family member attend. Nonetheless, we're very grateful to have made such awesome friends here in Yuma. It's definitely a strange post for us...out in the desert, isolated from everything, hot as hot, mixture of all branches of the military, far away from family, but the very best thing is the community we have here.

By far, we are very blessed to have such a great mixture of friends. There are only 205 housing units on base, and several of those are not occuppied right now, so it's a VERY small post. Basically, any type of event becomes a community event. Officers, enlisted, Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy-none of it matters here at YPG. It's probably definitely the most unique post anyone might have the pleasure of being stationed at, at least we think so. As you might notice, it doesn't seem to matter what kid or what adult is around...our community/our family takes care of their own. We all know each other's kids, and if someone is in need, anyone and everyone steps in to help. We all joke that on emergency forms for the preschool we all really just want to list, "Emergency Contact-Any YPG parent."

I decided not to put captions on everything...I LOVE watching kids at birthday parties. They are just so cute, and even if you don't know these kids, I hope you enjoy the sweet things they are all doing in these pictures.

This is our Yuma Family.

Luke's Second Birthday, A Dog Party

Luke is really fascinated by dogs right now, so we opted to have a dog party. It was a big hit.

The doggie bags for the kids to take home

Our Birthday Boy refusing to smile for the camera

We held the party at the park directly behind our house. It was nice because we were able to just walk over all the food and supplies. In fact, our house is behind the bounce house. Friends of ours had a bounce house, so they brought it over for the party. It was a HUGE hit. Thanks for bringing it, Karen and Tom!

Notice that while the birthday boy was busy, he still took time to eat a healthy meal :) Edward and I made all the food, and we thought everything turned out well. We grilled bbq chicken and hotdogs. We also had baked beans, homemade mac and cheese (no, not Kraft), a fruit salad, coleslaw, chips, cake, and homemade ice cream.

Luke and Alex might eventually have to fight it out for this cutie...Gabriella (6.5 months) and her mom Sara...Mom and Dad, you met Gabi at two weeks old back in October. Gabriella was Edward's first newborn at the clinic after he got things up and running when we moved here.

Friends, Diana and Kyle, called before the party to see if it was okay to bring their dog down to the party. They had no idea it was a dog party; all they were thinking was an outing to the park. She's a super sweet dog and was a HUGE hit with Luke and all the other kids.

Luke spent a lot of time petting her.

I LOVE this picture because of the context...I had just announced it was time for cake. It's looks like I rang a dinner bell or something. No shock Madison is first and foremost for cake :)

Luke's cake-Everyone thought it looked huge, but we maybe have five pieces left, if that. And yes, family of mine, it's buttercream icing :)

Yes, Luke is still scraped up from his fall at preschool 10 days ago. He enjoyed his cake very much.

Madison loved her cake too, as measured by the two pieces she ate :)

We couldn't get the cake served fast enough. The kids were so cute with their cake obsessions. All seemed to enjoy Edward's homemade ice cream, one of our birthday traditions. We're very sad to report our ice cream maker died :( It didn't seem to fare well on the move, and we barely got through this batch of ice cream before it totally died. Eight years of hard use and three moves....hmmm, I guess it lived a full life.

All done and so well trained! Luke is really good about picking up after himself. He usually brings you his plate when he's done eating, and today was no exception.

Piece #2

Friends from church, Nate and Caroline with Madison

Siblings...Gabe is in Madison's preschool class, and Cassidy is in Luke's class. My kids both really like these two and talk about them all the time.

Time for presents!

A bubble maker! Luke loves bubbles and kept shouting, "Bubble."

Dad, you would be proud...it's a chainsaw! Thanks Baby Kate (and parents Heather and Kurt)...your gift was a big hit!

Amy (also in our Bible Study), you'll probably kill me for this picture...I love your doll :) Her younger daughter, Samantha, is in Madison's class.

My friends, Diana and Sara, holding two of Sara's three kids. Both are in our Monday night Bible Study...Baby Alexander will have an instant playmate, as Diana is due a month before me. She and her husband (owners of the dog) are also having a boy, their first baby. Diana and I have been hanging out a lot recently, as we feel we are almost literally experiencing each other's pain :) We also have a lot in common as she's a sixth grade English teacher, well, for two more weeks, and then, she becomes a stay-at-home mom.

Kyle, Diana's husband, practicing his dad skills with our two-year-old boy :) I think Kyle was hoping to get a chance to play with the chainsaw.

Lil' Wayne...My dad's name is Wayne, and Luke looks EXACTLY like my dad. Well, apparently he acts a lot like my dad, as one of my dad's favorite hobbies is chainsawing.

Look what Lil' Wayne's chainsaw did! Ahh, not really, but it wouldn't surprise me. The older kids had fun dragging around this dead branch.

Thanks to everyone for coming. We had such a nice afternoon. And, family members, thank you for the things you sent Luke. We'll have him open those things on Tuesday, his official birthday.