Nathan, it's your birthday!

Nathan and Katie at the grocery store, helping Mommy get ready for the party:

Because Nathan loves all things Lightning McQueen, I decided to give Nathan's birthday party a car theme. I wanted to make his birthday cake in the shape of a car. Unfortunately, I tried to begin working with the cake a bit too soon (I was trying to seize the moment after putting Nathan & Katie down for a nap) and it broke into 5 pieces as I tried to move it from the pan to the tray I had prepared. So, instead, I decided to make his cake in the form of several cars going around a racetrack. Well, then I had a couple of icing issues so the end result is not exactly very pretty. I decided to name it: Junkyard Racetrack. And I left one small car unfrosted--as if its paint had all worn away--and left it off to the side of the racetrack with 3 mini-oreo wheels scattered around it:

Alas, the "ugly" story doesn't end here. Katie has become quite the climber lately and frequently pushes the chairs around so she can climb on the table. I was doing something in the kitchen to get ready for the party when I realized that I could hear Nathan playing but that Katie was being entirely too quiet. I went into the other room and Katie was on the table. Her handiwork is below:

She seemed quite pleased with herself.

I asked Tyce to set up a racetrack in the backyard with some red crepe paper, and, boy, did he come through. He cut stakes from some extra wood he had in the basement to mark out the edges of the track and left a big space in the middle where we thought the kids could eat their ice cream. What a great guy I have! I had a fuzzy idea of a racetrack game for the party and handed Tyce only a roll of crepe paper (with some vague idea of using rocks, or anything heavy, to weight it down in a circle) and he uses his mad creative & practical skills to create something way better than I imagined.

The game was "Racetrack Treasure Hunt." I sprinkled candy all around the outer circle and Tyce had them line up at a starting line and gave them each a sandwich baggie. I sang "Once there was a Race Car" (which I only came up with after guests started arriving) and, while I was singing, they could race around and collect candy. When I stopped singing, they were supposed to freeze. They didn't get out or anything if they didn't freeze (I wanted it to be non-competitive) but they all did anyway. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Well, I said we thought the kids could eat in the inner circle on the lovely blankets we set out for them. Apparently, they thought the concrete was more inviting:

All in all, it was a fun day and Nathan had a great time (especially opening his presents & playing with his presents!). Happy Birthday, Kiddo!