Henry's 2nd Birthday

Somehow my baby grew into a toddler this year! We celebrated his second year with lunch at Cici's on his actual birthday (one of his favorites!) and with a fun soccer party at MVP Sports the following weekend.

I couldn't resist posting this from his first birthday last year...

Happy boy!

Look at that sweet baby face!

The one and only time he has ever looked with disgust upon cake... and refused it. He now loves desserts just like his mama!!

...And back to this year! I brought candles to Cici's to put in his dessert there. He loved it!

It's hard to believe he's getting so big!

Charlie needed some candles too, as you can see. After lunch and dessert we headed to the apartment so Henry could open his gift from us and from Uncle Daniel (he had already gotten Mom and Dad's gift).

Opening his very own tee-ball helmet! He had been wearing Sarah Grace's bike helmet backwards for several weeks, especially when he wanted to play ball, so we decided it was time for his own helmet. Clearly I'm pretty excited about it as well... Also, he's trying to put it on backwards in this picture because he wears ALL hats backwards. He cannot be swayed otherwise.

It's on! (He did realize he had to wear this one the right way.)

The cutest face ever seen under a tee-ball helmet, I'm sure. He wanted to try it out immediately, so we all went outside.

Trying it out while he bikes.

Stepping up to the plate and getting ready to bat!

"Running the bases," which really means going to the farthest sidewalk and then turning around to come back.

Almost to home plate! Also the cutest real-life bobble head ever!

Time to do it again.

We went back inside to open Uncle D's gift, a golf set!

This is my finger on the right of the picture, and I'm fairly certain I'm saying, "This is NOT a bat! Don't hit your brother with it!"

Trying his hand at golfing.

Big brother golfing!

The following Saturday we headed to the Factory for Henry's soccer party. We'd never done anything like this before, but for a variety of reasons we decided to go with one of their party packages. Everything was easy and fun for us, with very minimal preparation. It was definitely money well spent, and the kids had a ball!

Stretching with Coach Deanna before the fun starts (Deanna was in my Lit. Theory class so we picked her as the coach. She did an excellent job!).

Deanna had different activities planned, which the kids participated in to varying degrees. Henry mainly wanted to kick the soccer ball, though, which is exactly what he did.

He ran hard!

Having a chat in the goal.

Not sure what they were doing here, but it looks like fun...

Building castles with orange cones! This was a cute activity, and they enjoyed knocking the castles over as much as they enjoyed building them. The final games during this part of the celebration involved a parachute! We have videos of this, but no pictures. The kids all loved this! Then, tired and hungry, we all went to the party room for snacks and presents.

Our precious, pooped boy waiting patiently for his cake, ice cream, and strawberries.

This one still had quite a bit of energy left!

His very cool sports cake!!

They provided drinks, paper products, plastic ware, party favors, and the cake! 

After everyone was revived from the sugar rush, Henry was excited to open his presents. He got quite a bit of baseball gear from his friends! Then all the kids had to take turns playing the machines (or pretending to play the machines, as the case may be). What a fun, relaxing afternoon celebrating our boy!

Oh, baby Henry. You are not baby Henry anymore! You are an amazing big boy, almost always keeping up with your brother and trying to do all kinds of big things. I'm not even sure you know you're younger than him, ha! (And usually when we ask you how old you are, you say 5!!) Anyway, you are quite a determined, independent guy- absolutely fearless- and I really marvel at this sometimes. You have your own brand of goofiness, several different voices (among them your soft little voice that melts my heart), and the best snuggles. I love the shape of your nose, your tiny hands that do so much, and the sweet kisses you readily give. We adore you, Henry, all three of us...and we can't wait to watch you continue to grow! We pray God's richest blessings for you, that you would come to know Christ as your Savior one day, and that you would be used mightily for His kingdom. We love you to pieces, Henry Woodrow!