Aiden is 2!

Aiden turned 2 on Sunday and we had a little party for him on Saturday.  I was getting to the point where I didn't know if I wanted to throw him a party (I was feeling so low on energy), but once Halloween passed I was suddenly feeling like I could do it.  We decided to do a party based on all things that go because that's what Aiden is absolutely loving lately :)

This is the invite we sent out.  I found the design on Etsy from Kelly Medina Studios.

I tried to keep the decorations easy and pinned some great ideas on Pinterest (love Pinterest!).  I got a black tablecloth and yellow duct tape to make it look like a road.  Aiden has plenty of cars that I was able to put on :)

Then I dipped some pretzel rods in chocolate and put on a red, yellow, and green m&m to look like stoplights :)

I made a bunch of these airplanes from clothespins and craft sticks (tutorial HERE).  I was pretty happy because I assembled them a few nights before and was surprised by how much Aiden loved them.  He was carrying them all around with him :)  

Now that the party's over we'll be hanging them in his room :)

We had Aiden dressed for the occasion ;)

Strawberries, pineapple, and green grapes - again with the stoplight idea.

The whole spread.  We kept lunch basic - got deli meat and sub rolls and veggies for toppings along with the fruit.

Don't you hate it when you don't realize your picture's out of focus until it's too late to try to take another :/

Those were all of the pictures from setting up.  

Soon the guests started to arrive.  It was very low-key.  While people munched we had Aiden open his gifts.

The Rosenbaum's totally surprised us and brought this car for Aiden!!  He loved it from the very second he saw it :)

Mindy and Ari brought a train, which was perfect because Aiden actually didn't have any trains!

Checking it out :)

The Wray's brought Aiden a new outfit - perfect for our growing boy :)

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen got Aiden this car carrier.  For a few weeks before, Aiden kept spotting it in stores while we were out running errands and playing with it, so when my mom asked for an idea, I knew just what to tell her!

I love Melissa & Doug toys!

Grandma and Grandpa Knuckles got Aiden a fire truck - also Melissa & Doug :)

Thank you to everyone for their generosity.  Aiden is in heaven!

Another shot of the spread after people started eating.

Visiting.

We got an airplane cake mold from Michael's and were happy with how it turned out!  Thankfully my mom took over on frosting it because Trent and I were really struggling..haha.

I don't know if Aiden ever really figured out why he was the center of attention all afternoon ;)  Here, we were singing to him.

You can't really tell, but he was trying to blow out his candle :)

I think Trent blew it out in the end.

And then we just continued to visit and play with all of Aiden's new toys :)

We had Aiden's airplane costume as a prop by the front door.  Here we are with Kristell and her 2 cuties - Naomi and Kellan :)

Aiden with Grandma and Grandpa Knuckles.

Aunt Amber and Grandma Christensen.

There was a little miscommunication and Grandpa had made prior arrangements to take a bunch of young women horseback riding before he knew about the party, so he didn't make it.

The party seriously could not have gone better.  I was so pleased.  Thank you to Trent and Mom for helping me get everything ready and to Mom for letting us party at their place :)

Yesterday, the 17th, Aiden's actual birthday, was a pretty normal Sunday for us.  Our home teachers came by before Church with a little gift for Aiden (a little airplane and monster truck).  And then Church is sqwack in the middle of the day for us from 12-3 and once we get home Aiden goes down for a nap.

We woke up the little monkey around 6 (can't believe it's already dark outside by then) for his final gift.

Aiden with all of his gifts.  I kind of just took this for my sisters to see.

We need more space!!

Lucky boy!

I seriously can't believe we have a 2-year-old!  That just seems so old! He is the biggest joy of our lives  and we are so eternally grateful for him.  WE LOVE YOU SWEET AIDEN!!

Balloon Spooktacular and Halloween Fun

I was definitely meaning to post this earlier, as Halloween was like 2 weeks ago, so here it finally is!

I got a LivingSocial deal several weeks ago for something called a Balloon Spooktacular where there are all of these hot air balloons tethered to the ground and kids can go trick-or-treating to each one. We were pretty psyched and had the 25th marked on our calendar for a few weeks to go any time between 5 and 10 p.m.  Well the morning before, we got a call that an investigator in our ward (he's 18) had decided spur-of-the-moment he was going to get baptized Friday night at 7 p.m.  He's pretty shy so he didn't want a lot of people to be there, but we are ward missionaries so we'd gotten to know him pretty well and he wanted us to be there.  We couldn't say no!! So that definitely threw our plans for a little loop.  Trent ended up going and I stayed home with Aiden.  Once Trent got home we rushed over to the Balloon Spooktacular in Scottsdale and arrived there just before 9, so we didn't have a lot of time.  We decided to not even bother with trying to get Aiden to wear his costume, so we just went to see the balloons :)  We got there right in the knick of time because maybe 15-20 minutes later they started deflating the balloons.

Luckily Trent remembered how to change the ISO and such on our camera so we could get some semi-decent pictures.  When we just kept it on automatic we'd get a picture like this - can see a whole lot of dust in the air and can hardly see the balloons :/

They shot off some fireworks towards the end.  Aiden couldn't decide if he liked them or not!

He was not liking them at this point and just had his face buried in my shoulder..haha.

Now he likes them ;)

They had some great food trucks there (I got a fabulous quesadilla and a chocolate caramel covered pretzel stick) and lots of craft vendors.  I wish we had gotten a chance to see everything.  We will definitely be making this a tradition.  And hopefully next year we'll be able to get there at the earlier end and Aiden can actually go trick-or-treating ;)

The next evening was our Ward Halloween Party.  We (well mostly Trent) made Aiden an airplane costume that we found on Pinterest. Aiden had been pretty excited about the idea of it while we were making it, but when we tried to get him to wear it, he wasn't having it.  We were so excited though because he let us put it on him for a few minutes at the party and even did some trick-or-treating - until he decided to take it off.  He got like 3 pieces of candy ;)  We were totally okay with that!

Too bad he wouldn't wear his aviator hat.

Flying with Daddy later that evening.

A few nights later I randomly put on Aiden's aviator hat and suddenly (because I was wearing it of course!) he decided he wanted to wear it ;)

The night before Halloween we went over to my parents' to carve our pumpkins.  M&D's is on the left, Trent's is in the middle, and my little one's on the right :)

Aiden claimed my pumpkin as his own ;)

Leaving them out on our doorstep.

On Halloween we headed over to Tanis and Kent's.  Of course the grandparents wanted to see Aiden go trick-or-treating ;)  Mom and Dad came over as well.

This night, opposite from the ward party, Aiden was happy to wear his aviator hat, but would have nothing to do with wearing his airplane.  Because of this we only went to 2 houses.

This guy handed out candy in his front yard by his fire pit.

We went back to the Knuckles' to wait on trick-or-treaters and the very first kid that came was wearing a scary mask and totally freaked Aiden out.  Like he started crying and ran into my lap.  So whenever the doorbell rang Aiden would run to me.  Stupid Halloween masks.  After a while we all decided to just sit out on the driveway.

Some trick-or-treaters showed up right as I was trying to get a picture with Grandma and Grandpa Knuckles.

Silly boy :)

Our attempt at trying to get Aiden to wear his airplane..hahaha.

Not happy with us :/

Spotted some trick-or-treaters headed our way.

With Grandpa and Grandma Christensen before they headed out.

We stayed a little longer and Aiden got to hand out the candy.  He loved it!

Our pumpkins lit up before we headed in for the night.

I am excited for next Halloween when Aiden will be able to tell us what he wants to dress up as.  And we'll have an almost 6-month-old!!  Crazy!