Sheer Exhaustion...

...is the only way I can express how I still feel after the birthday party on Saturday. In just a few short hours, my house was inundated with people, food and enough toys to start a daycare. Not that we were lacking, but now we have a play house, a Cozy Coupe (which I always wanted as a child and never received), a really cool digital camera (definitely not as nice as yours, Janice) and a plethora of other items, most of them Thomas. He received so many new things that I can't even begin to imagine how I will answer the "What does Jonathan want for Christmas?" questions that I will be peppered with starting around October.

After last year's party, I learned that I needed to make things as simple as possible so I didn't spend the whole party in the kitchen. So, I did not cook any of the food but for two dips (taco and buffalo chicken) and, of course, I made the cake. Bryan has a client who very generously gave us a deal on food. We went casual--beef brisket, pork BBQ, baked beans, that type of thing. The food was awesome and all I had to do to clean up was throw everything away. Very happy. I was very pleased with how the cake turned out. The only thing I didn't love was that I ran out of room to write his name, but Bryan assured me that everyone would know who the cake was for anyway.



I was so busy running around that I didn't take any pictures myself. Fortunately, my mother and mother in law did and I was very happy that they are finally in the digital era as both were using film up until about six months ago. The pictures are not the best, but they capture the gist of the party.

This is Jonathan opening gifts. For some reason, my dad was totally into the gift opening, so much so that he orchestrated the whole thing and I pretty much missed the gifts. Oh, well.



This next one is Jonathan on his new bike. Our neighbor has a motorcycle and so Jonathan wanted one, too. I told my dad this and he actually WENT SHOPPING (which is completely out of character for him) and picked this bike. He even, according to my mother, paid extra for the Harley Davidson edition. If he could have found a black leather jacket small enough to fit J-man, he totally would have bought it.



I wish I could say that Jonathan loved the cake, but he really could have cared less. Everyone else liked it, though, so I guess that's OK.



And here's Jonathan among the carnage that used to be my living room:



The party was definitely a success. Unfortunately, Bryan and I were completely pooped after it was over. Our last guests left around ten p.m. and, after the teeniest bit of wine, we went to bed. Jonathan went to bed at 8:30, one hour later than normal, which would lead one to think that he would sleep in on Sunday. Did he? No, he did not; in fact, he got up around 30 minutes earlier than normal, making for a very cranky Jonathan all morning. He napped for three hours before Bryan woke him up. He finally wore us down with his constant requests to play in the sprinkler around five thirty last night (it was SO hot during the day). Big surprise that it's Thomas, huh?



He would run through the sprinkler and then return to his house, the whole time dripping wet and giggling infectiously. It was a lot of fun to watch:



So in a flash, the whole birthday weekend was over. Today, Jonathan had his first day in the two-year old room at school and they tell me he did great. I love watching him grow up, but I definitely had tears in my eyes this morning as I thought about him in the two year old room!