Up, Up, and Away! Cooper is Two!

We celebrated Cooper's birthday on the 16th of October. My mom and brother arrived on Thursday - which was my mom's birthday. So, we celebrated grandma Cathy's birthday and then started working on Cooper's party.

Jackson and Cooper enjoyed some time with Uncle Daniel.

Cooper was most excited the morning of his party. He was so excited to see all of the decorations. I was holding Charlie when he was looking at this banner, and he started naming the letters. Colin and I both looked at each other in disbelief. So, I was using my foot to point to each letter, and then he started doing the same.
Nice Christmas pjs, huh?

When we were trying to decide what theme to have for the party, we tried to pick something that Cooper really loved - and then it was an easy decision -
Hot Air Balloons.
He's crazy about them.
He walks around the house with the whisk, calling it a hot air balloon.

Turns out, it's not really easy to find hot air balloon "stuff" to decorate a party with.


For the favors, we made caramel popcorn and lollipops, too.
Tried to pretend this picnic basket was "hotairballoon-ish."
Found it on clearance at Target with a tray and utensil holder, too.

The Clampitts drove in from Austin (we're so glad they are close now!)

Sugar cookies - I wanted to make cloud-shaped cookies, too, but didn't get the cloud cookie cutter in the mail until the middle of the party. HA!
Maybe we'll have an airplane party or something in the future so I can use it : )

I found cute napkins, too ... forgot to take a picture of most things.

Did I get a good picture of Cooper's shirt?
Nope.

The kids painted their own little hot air balloons paper lanterns.
Sam also painted his hair!

Also decorated paper cut outs with stickers - found these at Oriental Trading Company as well.



Charlie was a little overwhelmed. Thank goodness for my mom.

I'm loving this picture of Cooper and Nathan.
Guess Coop was warm - using his juice box to cool off.
And Nathan's pants rolled up.
Precious.



Sweet Joseph.

Trying to Charlie happy.

Lia was so excited to get a chance to hold Charlie.

Heather loaned us her bounce house again - it was a hit!



After we had lunch, it was time for cake and icecream.

That's supposed to be a hot air balloon on the top of the cake.
I made it with Rice Krispie treats covered in royal icing, then fondant.
My genius husband made the board with the dowel on it to hold the balloon up.
Cake Boss makes it look easy : )

"I did it!"

The kids loved the party blowers.

Next up, the pinata.
Colin found a place in Dallas, not too far from where he works, that will make a pinata to order. Too funny. For $23, we got ourselves a "small" pinata.
Turns out, "small" is about 3 feet tall - bigger than most of the kiddos.

The kids loved taking swings at it.

Matthew put his whole heart into it.

Auston, too.

Cooper took one swing, and then sat down and waited while his buddies did the work.
He was there to get some candy, though.

Gift time!
I think he opened 3 or 4 and was ready to move on.


Here's my attempt for a picture with the birthday boy.

After the party, the Speckmans, (who drove in from Shreveport), the Clampitts, and the Louis' all hung out for a while. It was like a mini Centenary Reunion.




Tried Cooper's new rain boots on Charlie.
I can't wait until Coop gets to wear them - here's hoping for rain, soon!

Margaret and Charlie sharing a moment.


And playing footsie.

We had such a fun day. We're so thankful we have so many great friends and family to celebrate our children with.

I'll end this entirely too long post with some sweet pictures of Cooper and his balloons.






Happy Birthday Sweet Cooper!
Can't believe you're Two!