Happy Birthday Andrew

Saturday we had a 2nd birthday party for Andrew. It was kinda thrown together at the last minute since Jen's work schedule was all over the place. We were looking at the middle of the month before we could do a party for him, but I saw an opportunity on Saturday since Jen wasn't going into work until 6:00. Unfortunately the plans didn't work with my mom and Jen's dad due to prior commitments, but we had a get together with them on Andrew's actual birthday on Wednesday. Jen's dad did get back in town to stop by for a visit at the end of the party. We decided to keep it real simple with just pizza, cake and ice cream, and surprisingly that's what it turned out to be. Usually when I try to keep it simple, it gets complicated or the menu expands alot, but it didn't. Jen did a fantastic job on the cake (pictured above) it really looked good. Actually it was better than the picture shows. It was a curious George inspired cake that turned out fantastic with little tufts of grass on the top and palm trees on the side that looked great.

For pizza we decided to run over to Papa Murphy's pizza take n' bake. We like their pizza and it is really affordable. I was instructed to get two "family" sized pizzas, one being peperoni and the other "whatever". I am really bad decided "whatever", but when I got there they had a special on a 5 meat stuffed pizza that looked interesting so I ordered it. I got back to the house as people were showing up and threw the first pizza and breadsticks into the oven since the stuffed pizza required a lower cooking temp. I pulled out the first pizza and put it on the table and put the second in the oven. The first pizza was quickly disappearing and I could only hope that the second would be done before the first ran out. Just after the first pizza was finished the second came out and they both were great. The stuffed crust one was de-lic-ious with thick crust. I got quite a few comments and questions about what kind of pizza it was and how good it was. At first I was worried about left over from two "family" sized pizzas, but there ended up being nothing left which was even better. I just noticed that that stuffed pizza is on special again now so I might have to get another one pretty soon.

After we ate the kids went outside and the adults were visiting, of course in the visiting room..... the kitchen. Thank God we have a big kitchen. After a little bit I decided to get things going since kids birthday parties are supposed to be short, but it was hard since we were all having a good time visiting. I didn't want to seem like I was rushing people out the door, but I also wanted to get things moving so people wouldn't feel bad if they had to leave, so it's a strange balance. We opened up Andrew's presents and he seemed to enjoy everything that he got. Of course he got to play with them for a short time until William decided to play with them. After presents, it's was cake and ice cream. I felt bad cutting into the cake but that's what they are there for. More visiting and people slowly made their way to the door.

It was a great party with good friends, but too short for a good visit. With everything on paper plates the clean up went very fast with only a few thing in the sink to clean or put in the dishwasher. Jen got to rest a little (I think we both took a nap) before she had to head into work for the night. A few more pictures can been seen on the neglected flicker site.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveandjj_ii/