assemble the minions.

So last week on Sept 12 was Noah's 2nd birthday but we didn't tell him it was his birthday because we were up in Whistler for Simon's big bike race. If you don't know the Whistler Grand Fondo is a scenic but gruelling 122 km bike race from Stanley park to the village in Whistler. It has been a bucket list item for Simon for awhile so I am so glad we made it happen this year. He was one of 4,000 people doing the Grand Fondo this year.

Even better, Simon has become friends with one of my best friend's husbands and the two of them have training for the Grand Fondo together. And since Lance also has young kids he knows that by "training", it means getting out for maybe 3 rides in total. (It is SO hard to make time to train in a house with little people! But if you count chasing munchkins around then both Dads got a lot of training in before the big ride!!). Anyways, Rachael and I took the kids (all 5 of them in total) to Whistler the night before and they practiced their cheering and dancing abilities until late into the late.

Daddy's best cheer squad

In the morning, we got ready to cheer the Dads and all the other cyclists. It is quite the adrenaline rush just being at the finish line and quite the spandex convention too! The kids had made "Go Dad Go!" shirts and rang cow bells for about 30 minutes until the excitement wore off  cheering for random people and then they just wanted to sit in the shade and eat Pringles. They were the cutest and best cheer squad any Dad could of asked for.

Natallie and Nala eagerly anticipating their Daddy to cross the finish line

Lance and Simon did amazing, both finished in their expected time of 5 hours. It was so hard to watch for where Simon was among so many cyclist. Next year I am going to make him wear a neon pink cape with LED lights. I was so fortunate to catch this awesome picture as he crossed the finish line! Simon came in at 5:08. The first person to finish did it in 3 hrs and 22 minutes (that's INSANE since it takes 2 hours to DRIVE up to Whistler!) and the last person finished in 9 hrs and 23 minutes (good for hanging in there!). The kids were so excited to celebrate with the Dads after! Go Super Dads!

so glad I got the shot!

Go Dads Go!

celebration party hats

So fast forward a week and now it's time to assemble the minions for Noah's birthday. It's so great that when you are two, your birthday is when your parents tell you it is so Noah's birthday was conveneintly moved to Sept 19 instead of the 12th. And because I am still exhausted from planning Natallie's rockin' My Little Pony party, we decided just to keep it more low-key with just family for Noah's party but here's a play-by-play because if I wasn't so tired I would of wanted you to be there too.

7:30am - Being serenaded by older sister in minion party hat ( not impressed with her vocal abilities and cries for mom)

7:35 am- more impressed by coming downstairs and seeing all the minion decorations. Wears party hat for all of 30 seconds before never wearing it again (despite my pleas and bribes to put it on).

7:40- finds more minion decorations and is amused (Mom is justifying all the printer ink for that sweet smile)

7:45am- couldn't wait any longer and gave Noah his birthday present. Noah is very pleased with his minions which he calls "minneees". (Mom is justifying spending too much money on stuffed animals with oversized spectacles in form-fitting overalls)

Daddy's special gift for Noah

 

10:00am: entertain party guests (i.e., my own 2 children) with snacks and craft activities. Wow it is so much easier planning activities for just 2 kids instead of a dozen!

3:30 pm- woke up from nap and decorated minion cupcakes

4:30pm- went to go see the Minion movie. Noah sat and didn't even blink for half the movie and then squirmed for the second half. Natallie was the kid in the theatre that laughed so loud that everyone turned to see who it was. Both kids were thoroughly amused every time the minions said BA-NA-NA!

6:30pm- forgot how many ads there are before a movie and that it is an hour past Noah's usual dinner time. Noah is thoroughly starving when we get to the restaurant and may possibly eat food off other people's tables so I walk with him to another store and buy a box of crackers while we wait for the food to come. When the food comes, he inhales his dinner. No pictures of dinner because I am so busy feeding this famished boy a dozen shrimp and a bowl of spaghetti and a bowl of rice

7:30pm- gets to open presents from PoPo and Auntie Rainbee. Very happy with his new minion sippy cup, minion ball and rockin' toddler Sundy School CD. 

new Minion soccer ball

7:45pm-sing happy birthday and present the minion cake! I love that putting 3 minion figurines on a store-bought cake can make a 2 year old as happy as a fancy pants Pintrest cake. Ha! 1 point for Mom, 0 for Pintrest!

8:00pm - Pose for obligatory family pictures

9:00pm - both kids in bed and I look at pictures from his birthday party last year. Feel so relieved I didn't bake stupid sugar cookies and hand paint tractors this year. Also say a thank you to God that between last year and this year, this kid learned how to sleep through the night and more recently sleep past 5:30am (can I get an Amen?!). 

10:00pm- still looking at pictures from last year to this year and try to come up with some way to freeze time because it's all going by too fast.

10:30pm- still upset over inability to freeze time but decide to go to bed and just blog about it tomorrow.

                          HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY MY SWEET LITTLE NOAH!
                                         YOU ARE SO LOVED!