Erik is 2 (finally!)

Technically, Erik has been 2 since July 28. But since we didn't really celebrate it -- we had planned the party for what eventually became the day of Dad's prayer service -- he's been kind of hanging in limbo for nearly a month now. We had decided to wait until Don and Mary came back to have the party, which is why it went so long. But it all worked out in the end! I think it was a very nice party, even if not everything worked out as planned.

When we had Erik pose with his cake, for example -- Erik made one effort to blow out his candles, but he was too far away, so we moved the cake closer. that was the wrong thing to do. Erik was scared of the flames; he had to hauled out of his chair and calm down and eat his cake until after everyone else already had theirs!

You'll notice the hat: He wore that thing nearly all day. Don gave it to him, and Erik immediately became attached to it!

I was fairly proud of getting his name to show up in jelly beans! (This photo was taken before the gummy frogs were added.)


The birthday Rice Krispie cake made it from Gram in Iowa in fine form! The gel frosting ran just a bit, but we could still make out "Erik 2 -- Happy Birthday" on it.

We had intended to have home-cranked ice cream, but the project failed -- we suspect that using canning and pickling salt is not an adequate substitute for rock salt. Oh, well -- we figured out that we could make a passable substitute by putting the mix in the freezer and stirring occasionally!

Lunch included applesauce from our own apple tree -- and a frog mysteriously appeared in it before the meal. Various suspects were accused of putting it there, but the culprit did not confess.

One of Erik's presents was a T-ball stand, and balls to go with it. We already had a bat. It was a hit! He played with that for a long time.


He even occasionally let Amara have a swing! (We'll work on sharing happily later.)


The playhouse was, of course, a hit with the kids again.


It's another version of a little house on the prairie! You can really see that in these photos, I think.

I like the grain bin at center stage in this one.

The girls have decided the playhouse should be called the "Fun House." Because, as Sofi explained to me, it's a house, and it's also fun. That works! We had planned to paint in the playhouse today -- I'd gotten samples of some fun colors so the kids could paint on the inside walls -- but it was so hot we decided not to start that project.

All of these photos, by the way, are by Mary! Thanks, Nama!