Celebrating Charlie

Celebrating Charlie's birthday was an activity spread over several days... that seems to be a trend at our house!  He opened a few gifts from us and friends on his actual birthday, and ate the cupcake you saw in previous posts.

The soundtrack to this picture would be
"Zach, let him do it, he can open it himself!"

Running for a touchdown with his new football
- thanks Neudecks!

Then my parents arrived for the weekend, and a few more gifts were opened... this boy can never have too many cars or cars-related toys!

And then Sunday was his official party.  The trampoline was put to good use first:

I know, I know, it looks terrible, doesn't it?
But he LOVES it more than you can imagine!

I have no idea, but it's cute.

Back inside, Charlie showed off some of his toys to little Violet, and posed quite charmingly in his new custom-made Lightning McQueen shirt (thanks Grandpa!).

 Sylvia enjoyed a rousing game of Sorry (sort of...),

And then we tried a few party games - including "try to get the inflated balloon to un-inflate itself into a hula-hoop (not too successful, but kids always have fun with balloons!), and pin the 95 on Lightning McQueen.

 And then it was cake time!!

You gotta love blue frosting.

We like to utilize technology at our parties so
long-distance grandparents can participate too!

 I can't decide which of these two pictures I like better... the closed mouth sorta-smile or the grimace-like smile that resembles his brother's???

The birthday boy closed his party with some good-bye hugs.

Whew - turning two takes a lot of energy!

We also visited the doctor for his two-year check-up.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover there weren't any shots - I was expecting the worst.  Apparently no more shots until he turns 5!!!  (I had to go back and look at Zach's... I could have sworn he got shots at just about every doctor's appointment.  But no, just my faulty memory again).  We had a good visit; the doctor told me Charlie made her day.  Always nice to hear.  :)

The official stats:
Height:  33.25 inches - 20th percentile!  Whoo hoo!  He was always closer to the 5th - 10th!
Weight:  24.6 lbs - 15th percentile
Head:  19.75 inches - 85th percentile.  Dude has a big head.
BMI: 15.6 - 25th percentile