My Birthday Parties

Finally, here are the pictures from my birthday parties this year!

My first party was with my friends. Mommy had her hands full doing this all by herself since Daddy was away in Africa, so the pictures aren't that great! We started off by making individual pizzas with English muffins, pizza sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. Anna took the prize for the most cheese piled on! While they were in the oven, we made these spiders out of crackers, peanut butter, pretzel sticks, and raisins. (If you click the picture to enlarge it, the best shot is on the plate near the peanut butter jar.)

After all of that food was gobbled up, we got to decorate our own cupcakes that Mommy baked in ice cream cones! Then it was on to presents...I got some really nice stuff, like a ring toss, golf club, Chuck E. Cheese tokens, and a Bob the Builder set! I've got great friends and we had a really fun time!

When Daddy finally got home from his REALLY LONG trip, he brought me some cool stuff. This is a traditional African shirt, which unfortunately didn't come in a smaller size. Oh well, I'm growing every day! He also brought me a soccer uniform from the Cameroon team...again, a bit too big. I got the most fun out of a set of Delta airport vehicles, like an airplane, a luggage carrier, a food service truck, etc. Boy were they a hit! But the best present by far was, of course, having Daddy home!

This is the family party, and here I am showing off my building expertise in the form of Lowe's and Home Depot kids' projects. Among others, I'm very proud of my roller coaster car, fire engine, biplane, and coin bank which Great-Grandpa DL was kind enough to contribute to!

We had more than just my birthday to celebrate this year. It was also Uncle Danny's high school graduation, Grandma Elaine's birthday, Daddy's return from Africa, and Father's Day! All the dads and grandpas got a picture of me in a frame that I made at Lowes. Of course, once Grandpa Chip opened his, I had to inspect it to make sure it was perfect. Although, it IS a picture of me so how could it not be?

Uncle Danny's girlfriend Theresa helped me unwrap all my presents. (I'd like to think of her has MY girlfriend though, but don't tell anyone!) I got some awesome presents this year...like a motorized Kawasaki car, the movie and bedding from "Cars", a bunch of underwear for my newly-trained behind, a very cool locust bug, lots of chalk for the driveway, a stuffed Mickey Mouse, and lots of other neat stuff! Thanks everyone!

Not only were there birthday presents to open, but also belated Christmas presents too! Here I am with Uncle Karl's girlfriend Cindi. Little did we all know that Karl had a present of his own for that bare third finger of hers just a week later! Woo hoo, I'm gonna have an Aunt!!!!

And finally, here is my new "cousin" Oliver. He was just a few weeks old at the time of the party and did we ever have fun together! I can't wait to see him again. Can't you just tell that he belongs with someone like Karl?