The Big Number 2

I'm pretty late with this post, but much better late than never. We spent the week of Hampton's birthday in at Gran and Poppy's house and then at Sweetie and Pops' house. Of course we had parties in both places.

Hampton thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend some time with his cousins. We got to meet sweet Amelia. She was almost 3 weeks old while we were there and was just as precious as can be. She pretty much ate and slept. I enjoyed holding a tiny baby! He also got to meet Easton...the biggest 2 month old I have ever seen. It was such a blessing to witness Matt and Tiffany as parents...finally. He shared his first ice cream cone with Carrigan, and would ask for her as soon as he woke up...quite an improvement from the last time they saw each other. AK and Isabelle were such great helpers and played so patiently with him. He is still talking about all of them.

They all played well together, but I was especially impressed with H and C. One afternoon, they played together in the basement for at least an hour. All you could hear were squeals and laughter...such a precious relationship. It made me excited for H to have siblings :).

Naturally, he enjoyed snuggles from Gran (and Poppy).

We told him early in our trip that we would go see the animals and feed the horses. With his excitement for animals, we couldn't get there soon enough. Every day he would ask, "horses, food, fruit?" He was dying to feed the horses apples. He also enjoyed throwing rocks at the chickens, gathering fresh eggs (and throwing them back in...oops),mimicking the peacocks and "whistling" for the goats to come closer.

Although he enjoyed everything about our trip, the highlight had to be the birthday party and the train.

He absolutely loved Gran and Poppy's Thomas train track...so much so that they decided he needed his own at home. He loves it and plays with it daily! He and Daddy made a special trip to the toy store to get a battery operated Thomas the Tank Engine. He was so excited to show me, he could hardly stand it. I couldn't open it fast enough. I think he played with it for close to 2 hours. I love to see him so excited, but I want to be cautious to avoid teaching him that things make you happy.

Big Hug

Gran had a very special cake made just for Hampton's party. He loved it and cried when we had to leave it on the table to go eat.

Poppy also had a backhoe delivered to the farm just for Hampton. He was excited to look at it from a distance, but wasn't too confident around it up close. He wasn't too sure about sitting in the cab with Daddy and certainly didn't like it when Ben started it. I don't think Hampton understood that all the people and festivities were to celebrate him, but he definitely enjoyed everyone being there. As soon as people, mainly the kids, started arriving Hampton invited them to come play in the basement with him..."Come on people, come on." All the kids played in the basement while the adults visited up stairs.

Hampton did not hesitate to leave the fun when we told him it was time for cake. He has learned to love cake...and ice cream! He was such a big boy eating his cake and ice cream all by himself and not in a highchair.

I was surprised to see how much he was into opening his gifts. He loved the presents, but was very grateful. He gave kisses and thank yous freely.

I made a pinata that didn't work as well as I had planned, but the kids loved the candy inside. Gran even found Tonka fruit snacks to put inside. She is so special!

Hampton was so excited about the candy, he tried to eat it without taking the paper off...we don't eat candy much around here.

We are so thankful for Gran and Poppy!!!

I will post about our party at Sweetie and Pops tomorrow...this post has taken me 2 days :(. I already have it typed...just need to load pics.