Us Ives: Brady turns two!!

Yesterday we got to celebrate the best surprise I've ever received! Brady is such a joy, and we love getting to spend our lives with him.

He is typically quiet, but we really don't have to worry about him standing up for himself. And he talks more and more- definitely speaking in full sentences a fair amount. Some of my favorite of his "go-to" phrases lately: "What are you talkin about?!"; "Mama, are you a princess??"; "Well, what are you waiting for?". He's also trying new sentences out. Today at the park he told Ryan, "Anderson doesn't want to swing" (because in fact Anderson did, but Brady wasn't ready for his turn to be over.)

He's very friendly, but he is in a shy phase. I think it's the age- at least it has been for both of my boys. He still gets upset sometimes when he's given a lot of attention, but I see him outgrowing this more and more. He is perfectly happy to tell me goodbye if he's going somewhere familiar (like "Ganma, Gampa's house,"but I almost always get the happiest "HI, MOM!" when I get to see him again.

What he loves, he LOVES. What he doesn't love, he doesn't give the time of day. This is definitely true with food. He always loves fruit, Cheerios, french fries, yogurt, and dessert. Other things come and go. He'll refuse to touch macaroni and cheese at lunch and then devour the exact same leftovers for dinner. So I never know for sure. He's not good at trying new foods yet, but I think that will improve with age.

Brady loves vehicles of any kind. He loves animals and toy animals. Mostly he loves his toys to be in pairs- one in each hand. He's also very happy to look at books and be read to. He has a few books memorized well enough that he can sort of read along with us. Not all of the words are clear, of course, but he gets the important words in.

Brady is certainly growing. His once chubby, squishy, lovely legs are now long and sturdy- not a roll to be found. He is so handsome and his smile is magic! His hair is still curly in any sort of humidity, which we all love.

He tends to run wherever he's going, and he's already mastered the solo-jump. In fact, earlier this week the boys were totally in show-off mode trying to out-jump each other in front of Grandpa and me. Anderson's jumping skills show that he is 19 months older, but Brady's jumping a lot sooner than his brother did.

I wanted Brady's second birthday to be low-key and just reflect his sweet personality. We chose a family and closest friends dinner for Anderson's second birthday, and decided to do the same for Brady's. Brady's birthday happened to fall on a Saturday, which was convenient.

{Side note: the day before Brady's birthday, our loft renovation was finally close enough to being finished that we could move furniture back in and use the space. There's still a list of work to be done- including all of the painting- but I was so glad to have the space in time for Brady's big day!}

Here was the invitation I emailed to our local family/ best friends:

And photos from yesterday's dinner:

After nap, before the party, Brady checking out the "centerpiece" on the table.

Brady and his daddy

The birthday boy and some of the ladies eating dinner. I just realized we didn't get a picture of the food table. It was pretty cute, with "stoplight fruit" (strawberries, pineapple, and green grapes), spare tires (mini-chocolate donuts), and build-your own train tracks with graham crackers, peanut butter and pretzel-sticks. Pizza and macaroni and cheese were the main course. Just picture it all as perfect as Pinterest. ;-)

More of the crew eating dinner.

Brady opened presents...

Hello, Colby!

Including a cool ride-on tractor...with some assembly required! McKenzie very sweetly requested Ryan go ahead and put it together. But he was saved by the cake... the tractor will be assembled another day.