The Big Day.

The day of Luke's birthday was a busy day. I had to work all afternoon and evening, so I made sure to have a little celebration for him in the morning. I moved his table to the middle of the breakfast area of our kitchen and strung a whole bunch of balloons from the ceiling fan, making him a little birthday chandelier. I wrapped the presents we had for him and displayed them on the table so that he would see them when he rounded the stairs in the morning. 

When he came down stairs and saw the table, he squeeled "BOONS!!" and ran to the balloons and started squeezing them. I was sure we were in for a big pop and subsequent tears due to the "yowd"-ness, but he managed not to pop any. 

He quickly assessed the gifts and found the one gift that wasn't wrapped--a new sippy cup with a straw. After I pointed out that it had a straw, he was obsessed and cared about nothing else but putting some apple juice in his new cup so he could drink out of it. 

 He wouldn't even touch his other presents until I had filled up his cup.

Satisfied with his new cup full of juice, he let me open the car rug that we picked out for him with the money Grandma had given him for his birthday.

 He loved it!

 Finally, he was ready and willing to open his other presents.

His very own drill was a HUGE hit.

He got down to business and started fixing things right away. It's not as easy as it looks.

He even decided to wear his workman's vest for a bit, too.

 Next he opened a new book, Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go.

 It is now #1 on his best-seller list. 

Too bad for Mommy and Daddy that it has 70 pages!

He was super excited to see that there was still one more gift left...

 A new red playground ball!

(I know...we didn't get him many gifts, but you will see why in the next few posts...and the awesome Gymboree bubbles we got him so he'll stop sucking on the bubble wand hadn't yet arrived in the mail.)

 

 When all was said and done, he insisted on eating his breakfast on his new rug...

...and drilling in between bites.

Later in the day, we met Daddy for our traditional birthday lunch at Chick-Fil-A. We tried so hard to get a good picture of the birthday boy...

but this was the best we got.

Can you believe how much bigger he is just one year later??

 Then it was time to force him to take pictures with his lame parents.

He was a little less intolerant of taking pictures with Daddy...

 

...but he did give Mommy a birthday kiss!!

Lucky for the birthday boy, the celebration continues this weekend with a very small party with his buddies!