Hyatt turns 2!

Tragically, our family is notorious for not throwing big parties for birthdays or holidays. Yes, we're even guilty of doing absolutely nothing to celebrate a holiday...not even decorating...(gasp)! We don't have family close by, and we don't branch out to make tons of friends since we're a family that would rather spend time with each other than with others, so spending a bunch of money and time on decorating and party favors seems like a waste when the kids are so small. So when Hyatt's April 3rd birthday came upon us so fast that it almost slapped us in the face, we decided that we'd better do something...anything!...to celebrate it. So on the evening of the 2nd, we invited the Tovey's over for the next day to have a hot dog roast over our branch pile we wanted to burn before another rain shower came.

Notice Hyrum's pride and joy in the background (his truck).

Just ignore all the junk in the background...it's just waiting to be taken to the dump since we're in renovating mode. (That's the old sink from the apartment you're seeing.)
Oh, guess what! I even baked a cake! Not only did I bake it, I cut the hump off the top like the pros do so it would be flat! And after that, I decorated it, for the first time in my kids' lives!!! I know, I should get an award for finally fulfilling my motherly duty. Now, don't laugh at my decorating and platter choice, but for being a last minute thing, and not having any fancy stuff, I thought I was pretty ingenious. Okay, so Hyrum was ingenius. I thought the german chocolate cake and frosting looked like dirt, so when I said I thought we ought to put something cute on top that went with dirt, Hyrum suggested we put gummy worms on it. Brilliant! Hey, I even poked holes in the cake to stick the worms in so they'd look like they were slithering out. So here's the result. Don't laugh! (My kids love playing with real earthworms, by the way. My parents would be proud since they owned a worm farm during my childhood. I grew up digging for worms in cow manure!)

Hyatt just chillin on his birthday. After his bath, he wanted to stay in PJ's all day, so he got his wish. Notice it's a trucking shirt.

Hyatt picked waffles for his birthday breakfast. He was especially happy that day getting spoiled with all the things he wanted.

Hyatt's big gift was a trampoline. The kids have been dying for one since I dismantled our last one at our old house. I threw away the old hole-riddled tarp to replace it with Karen's good one, but it ended up being a different size, so the whole thing was dumped and we got the kids a new one, WITH a better enclosure than the last one (that died after being "lovingly abused" by Vincent when he lived with us).

The kids were excited to try the trampoline, so Hyrum put up the enclosure later. Don't you love the dilapidated swingset in the background? It came with the house, and will be put to rest soon.

Talea was teaching Hyatt how to do somersaults on the tramp.

Hyatt also got bubbles (the large jug of Gazillion bubbles-the only brand worth buying, I promise!), and a bubble mower to push around, and a kiddie boom box that he was obsessed with at WalMart. Hyatt is my little music lover.

Nana (or so we assume) sent him a caterpillar tunnel that the kids adore! I can't wait to make an obstacle course outside with it for the kids, but the weather needs to be reliably drier before that happens. Right now, it takes up the only floor space their tiny room has, but it's worth it.