Pancake Breakfast: Carter's 2nd Birthday!

What more can I say other than my Little Man is not so little any more??

He's practically middle aged now, but no, he won't be buying a motorcycle and slicking back his hair in order to satisfy some sad midlife crisis, he will simply take up the words "MINE," "NO!," and, my favorite, "I LOVE YOU, MOMMY" more abundantly this year versus last year.

Ahh, to be two!

{Compliments of Grandpa Paplia...Thanks, Dad!!! Invitations are totally necessary, no matter what size the shin-dig!}

But anyway, this year we had a SUPER small party for my baby. 

The reason for the teensiness of the celebration was because when I started planning for it about three weeks ago, I did not want anything that would stress me out. I didn't want to worry about RSVP's, which one of our parents' wanted to host the partay because our dwelling can't exactly handle the largest guest list, buying food up the ying yang {for Carter's first birthday party, I think we bought a cow.....there was SO.MUCH.UNUSED.MEAT...but it was de.lish, so no complaints here!}, bottom line was this: 

I wanted to host at our own place, keep it within our immediate families, and just enjoy being ultra pregnant/celebrating Babe #1/not stressing out. 

{Not that throwing regular sized parties stresses me out, but you know what I mean.}

Anyway, Carter's pancake breakfast was truly a joy from beginning to end!

It all started the night before, at 8:30 pm, when Chad and I cracked down and got to prepping:

 {We made some cupcakes to compliment the Elmo cake made by Chad's brother!}

 {I wanted to get as much done PRE-morning-of-the-party as possible {which can be accomplished simply by working for four hours straight...easy, right....?}! Remember: the theme of the day was NO STRESS!}

 {Let me tell you, keeping Carter away from this little area in the morning was just insane. Insane, I tell you!}

 {A present from Grandpa Cisneros from Australia!}

 {.....and then the morning came! Chad picked up a few donut holes AND some new balloons because the ones I had gotten on Saturday had DEFLATED! For some odd reason, waking up to the twenty, mid-air level balloons perturbed me to no end. Hormones? I don't know, but what was I thinking getting helium balloons a full 24 hours before a party? Ridiculous.}

{For the mimosa drinkers in our crowd. AKA everyone except for me that day. Boo.} 

{Chad getting the bacon going before everyone go there!} 

{Okay. THIS is what Chad's brother made! Can you believe it??!! This was made by the hands of my brother-in-law! I'm still in shock of it's gloriousness. Still.} 

{Who says you have to be related to be family?? Here's one of my best pals in the world, Jenna! And look! She even got BABY JENNA a present, because she KNOWS the little one is a girl!}
{and not to be a downer, but my face has joined the pregnancy party....no need to be nice and lie to me!} 

{Sorry, Todd, for the awkwardness of this picture, but really quick, here's the guy who made the cake! GENIUS, I tell you, GENIUS! Anyway, here we are chowing down.} 

{Cousins!} 

{And then it was PRESENT TIME! Carter was sitting high and tall in his new CARS CHAIR from Grandpa C!} 

{And many toys later, from Mommy and Daddy, a Toy Story table!!!} 

{Next, it was on to cake! By the way, our cupcakes were totally unnecessary. Todd's cake totally owned.} 

{And here is just SOME of the aftermath.} 

{Here's my baby eating dinner on his Toy Story table, sitting in his Cars chair sporting his new Chargers gear. Lucky boy, lucky boy!}

So we had a glorious time, and have accumulated enough cars and airplanes AND trucks to fill any vacant spots still left in our little penthouse of joy. Now, tomorrow is Carter's actual birthday, so we will be spending the day eating cake at odd hours, pigging out on chips, and going to see Toy Story on Ice! It will be a blast!

So if I don't see y'all for quite a few days because Babe #2 decides to come early {please, please, please, please, please!} OR we are wrapped up in Christmas tomfoolery, have a SAFE and HAPPY Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day!
Wooohoooo!


And last, but certainly not least!
Today I'm guest posting over at One Artsy Mama about our Christmas tradition, so go check it out!!

and don't forget to go link up to show off your Small Business goodies!