Happy 2nd Birthday Caden: Party #2

Alright now we're back to Caden's birthday celebrations. I must say that the NYE party we went to was a bit confusing for him, since every party we'd been to and had been talking about was ALL about him, I think he was unsure why no one brought him gifts... ha!

So after our fun New Year's Eve party, complete with pyrotechnics, we woke up to celebrate the last of Caden's 2nd birthday party festivities. We did lots of fun birthday things before KK and Albi arrived, but those will be in the next post... the general post about Caden turning 2! This post is going to be solely dedicated to the PAR-TAY we had with KK and Albi. We were sad that Josh and Emily couldn't join us, but we understood their absence all the same! :) Maybe next year... :)

The party started off with a little gift opening... I mean let's be honest, KK and Albi hadn't much walked through the door before Caden was reaching for the first present. I finally had to say slow down child, Albi isn't even done unloading the truck! It was like Christmas all over again because Kk and Albi brought Caden his kitchen that we were not able to fit in our car on the way home earlier in the week... whoo hoo!! Dude kitchen time! I think he would have been tickled pink (or red like Elmo) just to have the kitchen, but nonetheless and forevermore, KK and Albi did not come empty-handed and had plenty more to love on (spoil) Caden with!

First up... his very own NA-NO and microphone!! Whoo hoo! He was a singing fool... SO cute! And since then I think his over-zealous attack of the microphone has actually caused it to short-out... it couldn't take the full slobber attack of the Chade... what can?! He LOVES his na-no and is having so much fun playing music! He's literally a one man band now!!
Of course no birthday would be complete without a little Thomas the Train action... KK and Albi got Caden some new train tracks and a caution gate AND a motorized train... in the form of James the Train... he loves it! I hope the Energizer Bunny still keeps the same promise... because that train has NOT stopped GOING and GOING and GOING since he got it! I have to remind him to go turn it off all the time!! Poor James must be TIRED!

Albi helping Caden open the new train tracks and caution gate...

And then... VIDEOS... lots of new videos! AND a few new friends to learn about on his videos... Mickey, Donald and the rest of the Disney Gang. KK also found Caden a set of Duck Tales videos... y'all remember Duck Tales... a-whooo-ooo... OH man! I loved Duck Tales. We haven't been able to get past the Mickey Choo-Choo video yet to try Duck Tales but I can't wait!!

After ALL of the present fun we loaded up and headed to one of Caden's favorite restaurants... Z Tejas... now you might be thinking, how in the world did Caden grow to choose Z Tejas as one of his favorite restaurants??!! Exposure my friends, exposure! Z Tejas is one of Justin and I's favorite places in Austin... outside of Siena it may be our VERY favorite, so for any special occasion we end up there and in the last two years Caden has tagged along with us every single time and we often joke about how at Z Tejas Caden is always on his VERY best behavior... from the time he was still in his car seat carrier snoozing through the meal to now he's always been a champ... which made us come to the conclusion that he TOO loved Z Tejas! So there you have it...

And like D&B we wanted to do something special for the people who love on Caden the most and Z Tejas always provides that treat!! Caden was READY! So I have to tell y'all... now when we go to restaurants, Caden orders for himself... when they come to take our drink orders he repeats, "ICE!!" over and over again... and then when it comes time to order the meal he says, "TET-UP" or ketchup... over and over again. On his birthday at Z Tejas he even got the Godfather hand into it, pursing his little fingers together to emphasize the seriousness of his desire for ketchup with his meal! And the waiter took him so seriously that he brought it out before the meal to dip his chips in... doesn't that sound delightful?! Ketchup is a cousin of salsa... so I get it! :) Our meals were FABULOUS as always and we had a GREAT time, full of laughs and smiles from the Chade! Just before we left we got a sweet pic of everyone at the party... My little two-year old Elmo fan... Such good pics!!

He was a HAPPY, HAPPY boy to be there with his KK and his Albi... and he loves to pose for pics... complete with putting his arms around us... hilarious and so so precious!! :)

After lunch we came back to the house and sang Happy Birthday to the Chade (this was like the 18th time we had sung to him over the course of the week) and ate some more Elmo cookies! I made another round for this party too! :) Check out the video of my little man blowing out his candles... he's so big!!





The rest of the day we hung out on the couch and watched some football and snacked on some yummy appetizers! We were sad for KK and Albi to go back to Say-yo but they had been a VERY busy bunch over Christmas and were excited to stay put for a while... as were we all! Thanks for coming to celebrate with Caden on his birthday, KK and Albi! The party wouldn't have had near the pizazz without y'all there! We love you!!