Baking the cake: I added blue and green to the cake to make it look like water.

This is what I stared out with.

The white cake was not level, so I cut strips of the chocolate cake to even it out.

Frosting cakes in Texas is hard, the frosting is so warm. So I gave it a crumb coating and stuck it in the fridge for 15 minutes - then I was able to frost it easily.

I did the sides first: I used brown frosting on the sides then covered it with brown colored sugar crystals and chocolate rocks. Then I frosted the top with blue, added "waves" and then blue colored sugar crystals to help the "water" look shiny.

Working on the shell.

And then there is the duck part of Joshua’s design.  When I was at the cake store, I found the perfect little candles.  So 2 candle ducks are catching a ride on the turtle’s back while on his swim in the pond:

Top view

The Ducks

Side 1

All done!

Here she is saying "TWO" and pointing to the duckies.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jillian Rose!  I am so glad you loved your cake.

All of the turtle cake picture: http://flickr.com/gp/hunterji/eSc4h7

Blowing Kisses

So excited!

A happy birthday girl!!

The kids started out with a lot of bouncing.

Everyone came inside to cool off and Jillian got to open her gifts:

With her Duck Music CD from Mat & Becca

Duck towel from us.

Working so hard getting it out of the bag, she fell over.

He wanted to open gifts too.

Then it was time to go outside and use the slip and slide.  Joshua created this just for Jillian’s party.

Wesley

She loved it - and got more turns than anyone.

Joshua was the only adult...

Wesley LOVED sliding with Joshua!!

Then everyone wanted a ride too:

Elliott

Jamisen

and Jillian too.

Then time for some splashing around.

Jillian absolutely love ducks and turtles right now.  So I knew the cake would have to include those things.  This is a design that Joshua came up with.  We are a good team.

So giddy about the ducks and turtle.

Singing happy birthday to her.

Blowing out those candles.

She could not wait to get the ducks off...she was even happier to find out they had frosting on them.

The kids ate their cake and ice cream outside.

Eating her cake...yummy!

Even Lila had some too.

Jillian’s 2nd birthday sure was filled with a lot of excitement.  With 3 different celebrations Jillian now thinks it going to be her birthday all the time.  Every morning she has been waking up saying, “my birthday tomorrow”.  We tell her that her birthday will not be tomorrow, but I don’t think she believes us.

You can have even more fun looking at the rest of our pictures from the party: http://flickr.com/gp/hunterji/5o51am

Jillian and Wesley enjoyed watching the bouncy bus go up in the backyard!

Joshua is laying it out in the backyard...it sure is big.

It's getting bigger...

Ready to go... and it sure is HUGE! Good thing we have a big backyard.

Let the Bouncy Party Begin:

Then after all of that jumping, it was time for cupcakes!

They are all waiting very patiently for their cupcakes.

Everyone got to pick out a cupcake.

Gift from Gina and Parker - Thank you!

Jillian opening her gift from Tara, Maia and Matías. Thank you!

Then it was time to go outside for one last bounce…

Wesley and Maia are trying to fix the bus.

Going in for one last bounce - this really was the last time.

Thank you coming over to play and celebrate with us!

On her actual birthday she opened gifts from Wesley, Aunt Ashley, the Myhrberg Family, Grams, Yaya and Papa, and us.

Wesley's gift to Jillian

Opening the very sweet card Wesley made for her.

He was really excited.

She loves the duckies he picked out for her!!!

The cool card from Aunt Ashley and Uncle Greg

Working very intently on the gift from the Myhrberg Family

Thank you for the horse and rider!

Then I went to check the mail and Jillian got a box from Grams in the mail:

Wesley got something too. He was very excited!

Opening a gift from Grams

She was having trouble and did not want help - then she started using her teeth. She got it open and I don't think she ate any of the paper.

Once Joshua came home from work, Jillian opened her gifts from us and from Yaya and Papa:

We got her a bowling set - Wesley is helping her get it out of the package.

She also got from us some new underpants - these ones have ducks on them!

Then she opened her new baby doll from Yaya and Papa - here she is already taking such good care of her.

And here is the food for the baby - Yaya and Papa also send a diaper changing kit and a backpack for it to ride in.

Here she is - our big girl. Wearing the new backpack and baby and she is also wearing her new sparkly pink shoes - which she got from us too.

We finished off the evening by singing Happy Birthday to Jillian and ate some small treats I got from Whole Foods:

Not too sure about this...

Blowing out the candles.

Very proud of herself.

They will never look at the camera at the same time!

She finds the frosting in the middle of the cookie.

She thinks it's so yummy, she wants to share with Dad.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jillian Rose!

Amber at 29 years 364 days

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Amber.  She is truly an amazing person, an incredible mom and perhaps the greatest wife ever.  I am so thankful she has been in my life every day since she was 18.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

We started on the morning of his actual birthday by opening a few presents.  He likes to open presents.  And then continued celebrating by going out to lunch, all four of us, even though it was a work day.

Kind of excited.

That evening we opened a few presents.  The next day of course was Thanksgiving.  And that means a party and to Wesley every party is especially for him.  Especially when the party comes with juice boxes and dessert.

On Friday he got to hang out with me all day since I had the day off.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but to Wesley that is fun, maybe not as fun as a party, but still fun.

On Saturday we prepared for his real party.  We decided that instead of doing a big elaborate cake which would be both time consuming and hard to get to the park we would let Wesley decorate cupcakes for his party.  He had a blast for at least the first 15 or so.  The last few took a little coaxing to get him to finish.

Decorating cupcakes.

Too many blue sprinkles.

I'm three.

The original plan was to meet up at the park and then walk over to the fire station for a tour and afterwords come back to the park and have the party.  Remember that it was 80F on Thursday.  Saturday of course turns out chilly and then as we are at the park setting up it starts pouring.  So change of plans, no preparty.  Instead we met at the fire station.

I had my concerns.  Our group was pretty young, the oldest are in Kindergarten, and I’ve been on tours with other groups of kids that were a little academic.  Luckily, the firemen were great.  They pretty much let the kids run amuck.  On the trucks, in the trucks around the garage.  It was great.  The kids had a good time and even came away with some hats and stickers.

Ready for action.

New recruits.

We thought we might have to have the party in the back of our Subaru, but luckily it had dried out by the time we were done with our tour.  So we set back up at the park and had a nice little party.  Wesley opened more presents, blew out candles (even though it was too windy to get them lit) and ate cupcakes.  All in all it was rather nice and much less stress than our usual birthday celebrations.

He didn't notice they weren't lit.

More goodies.

After the party we played with his new toys.  And for no real reason took turns dressing up in his new chef’s outfit.

Wesley is goofy.

Dad too.

And Jillian...

And Mommy too!

Even though his party isn’t until Saturday we’ve still had some fun.  He has opened a few presents and I came home from work mid-day and we all went out to lunch at Burger King.  Later in the day he spent some of his birthday money shopping with Amber and Jillian and got himself a stuffed orca among other things.

Mom made us wear these matching outfits...cute but silly.

Saying hello to the birthday girl.

There were a lot of toys outside to play with and the always fun bouncy house!

Mary Ann and Nicholas

Keeping busy while the big kids bounced.

They were working together to stack the pumpkins.

Then we had cake and opened gifts.  All of the kids were super cute and had a blast playing together.

They were a good team.

This is his first time with the party horn.

She thought it was so fun to use!

The birthday girl.

And then we needed a new outfit…

Thank you Grams for the shirt... and it does not!!

Playing with Annalise's gift from us. Jillian is playing with Lillian who is 1 month younger than her.

We all had a wonderful time.  Annalise’s official 1st birthday is on the 29th…so Happy Early Birthday!!

She had her first juice box.  It was apple juice and she LOVED it.  So it being her birthday and all, she got this second one.  She carried it around all over and would not let it go.

The kids and the adults had a great time jumping in the bouncy castle, playing in the sandbox and making bubble snakes at the water table.

Jillian got lots of help opening her gifts.  But once they were opened, she liked to keep them in one big pile on Amber’s lap – so they would all be close to her.

Next was cake time.  Here we are singing her Happy Birthday.

She enjoyed the yummy cake.

And the ice cream too

We all had a nice time.  It was great to hang out with our friends, but we really missed all of our family.  We thought about you the whole day.  Hopefully next year we will be able to celebrate with family.

We can’t wait to see what Jillian does in this next year.  She makes us laugh everyday.  And we hope seeing her puts a smile on your face too.

Happy Birthday Jillian!

• 29 years ago you were born.
• 18 years ago we finished the sixth grade together.
• 11 years ago we started dating.
• 5 years ago (almost) we were married.
• 3 years ago I was pregnant with Wesley.
• 1 year ago I was pregnant with Jillian.
• And today we all get to remember the big and little events that have helped to make you the person you are today.

I am the luckiest woman in the world to have you as my friend and husband. You are the type of father that I always wanted for my children. They are truly lucky to have you!

Today we will celebrate your 29th Birthday very simply: Hunter Cake, Four Bean Salad and a special puzzle that Wesley and I made just for you.

I love you with all of my heart… Happy Birthday to You!!!!!!!