And just like that, he's two.

For Jude's second birthday party, we went with the one theme that we could think of that would really speak to Jude.  Purple.  In fact, in honor of his purple party, I'm changing the font color.  

We tried to talk up Jude's party for weeks before hand to make sure that he knew that it was fun and something to look forward to -- not like my brother used to be with his parties, where come cake time, he couldn't stand the pressure and would end up in tears.  For days before hand, when you would ask who was coming to his birthday party, the one answer would be Grandma.  

And boy, did Grandma make a grand appearance.  Not only was she a huge help dipping pretzels in purple chocolate the night before, but she also sported her new purple sweater and purple shoes to the party.  She was the purplest Grandma of them all!

We also worked hard making a purple fruit salad (out of grapes, blueberries, and blackberries) and purple chex mix.  But the piece de resistance was definitely the home made purple cake!

Liz worked for hours putting together the perfect cake.  It matched the favors.  It had his name on it.  It even had purple icing AND purple insides!  But you may notice that this picture is strategically taken from one corner.  That is because on the way to the Maple Maze where we had the party, we stopped to get a bag of ice.  The trunk was full of party stuff, so I set the 10 lb. bag of on top of some other items...a little too precariously.  Around one corner and BASH, the ice fell onto the cake.  I stopped the car and got out in the middle of the road.  Yes, the ice had fallen onto the cake.  The good news was it was only one corner.  The bad news was...I had the break the news to Liz.  I was sure we were going to become a divorce statistic, but she took it well and we survived.

 We got the room all set up in purple -- Jude didn't even know what to say when he walked it.  He didn't even take off his sunglasses, he was so surprised!

 Jude and his friend, June, munched on some purple food and then sported their wristbands to go out and play in the maze.  

Jude even worked with Grandma to string a purple pasta necklace - who knew that pasta dying could be so easy?

 Jude did a great job blowing out his candles, and then he thoroughly enjoyed his cupcake.  I think he actually may have had two, but who's counting?


We didn't have enough time to open presents at the party (they run a well-oiled machine in that place), so we took the presents home to open.  Jude was so excited to open all of the gifts, and it was awesome to see how he really enjoyed each one.  

Thumbing through the "doggy book" from Charles.

 Ooohing and aaahing over the car mover from Marta and Sarah.

The next morning, we woke up and opened his presents from Grandma and Mommy and Mama.  Well, he really only opened one present.  Mommy, Mama, and Grandma opened the rest.  Because after you open the Thomas the Train starter set, what else is there?  He will drive those things around the track and around the "Island of Sodor" map for hours and hours.  

We had a fantastic second year with our little man -- we can't wait for the third one to start.  (Remind me of this throughout the year when I complain about the terrible twos, okay?