Oh somebody had a birthday....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!!!!

This lil kiddo turned two...a week ago already?! Wow am I behind. But his birthday has kind of been drawn out through the week, as I think all birthdays should be!

Matthew got spoiled, and we are so appreciative of all of those who celebrated Matthew's 2 year mark with us.

The birthday cake was to die for! My good friend and neighbor (and now cakster) made this for the little monkey himself. I knew she was good at cakes, but I NEVER would have guessed that Matthew's cake would have been this elaborate! It is (oops, I mean was. It was gobbled at the party and I have been eating three pieces a day at least since then of the leftovers..it won't last for long at this rate!) so adorable!!!

My sister, Vicky, and her family happened to be up on Matthew's real birthday and they weren't going to be able to come to his party later, so we had a mini celebration. I think it is hilarious that on his actual birthday we had the mini celebration and on a day that had nothing to do with his birthday we celebrated his birthday.

The kids (and others....eh hem, guilty again. I LOVE CAKE) ate up some yummy cupcakes, and I mean they (I) really ate them up!

We all headed on over to the spray (or is it splash? I can never remember the name of this place. anyway, the WATER park) after getting full on cake. It took the entire summer last year to get matthew to not scream every time we put him in cold water. We are starting all over again this year. Hey, if I were as skinny as this kid I'd hate cold water just as much!

And this is the look of surprise as he opened the first present and realized that there was more in that bag than just tissue paper! YES!
Matthew got a ton of other fun things too!

This is what he looks like when he says "heyyyyy"

Excuse me, eating here?!

We sang happy birthday and Matthew just glowed with all of the attention! I was afraid he'd get shy and start crying like he did for his 1st birthday, but apparently he's decided he likes being the center of attention.

My big kid even blew out his very own candle!!!! No help whatsoever although all of us were making blowing faces just to be sure he knew what to do. I saw all of your kissy faces.

Here's some other things that Matthew has been doing the past year:

started walking and then running and jumping

talks a million miles an hour. I pride myself in being just about the only person that understands 50% of what he says

He actually does know a lot of words

Matthew is so smart and he shows it all the time

Maybe he's just a smart alec....

Bosses other kids around, but he's so cute when he does it you can hardly ever get mad at him. Well, I have to because I'm mom, but it sure takes a strong will on my part to keep from smiling. None of the kids ever listen to him anyway :)

Colors like a 4 year old (he has artist genes from both sides of the family, it was inevitable)

puzzles like a maniac

Knows the abc's

can count to 18 (even though 15-17 sound the exact same...I know he knows what he's saying!)

Loves to see the temple

loves to "hold" his mommy

loves to rough house with daddy

hates getting his picture taken

has gone through Elmo, Spongebob, Curious George and...yes, Barney phases (all you Barney haters, take that! I watched it every day in Kindergarted and I turned out FINE!). I thought he'd like one and then get over it and move on to another, but nope, he just keeps building his list of favorites and things he CAN'T live without.

Matthew is an incredibly picky eater. Right now his favorites are hot pockets, torillas and chocolate milk.

He is so sweet and so considerate. He is always soft with babies and loves giving them kisses, especially if they're girls (he already likes giving girls smooches, ESPECIALLY his little friend Brooke! Good luck to me with his dating future!)

He is very persuasive. It usually goes

Matthew: chocolate milk?

Me: You want chocolate milk?

Matthew: Okay

Like it was my idea in the first place!

Matthew always knows how to make me laugh, even when I am in the worst mood. We love Matthew so very much and we are so lucky that he came to our family.

LOVE YOU LITTLE MONKEY