happy 2nd birthday, hunter!

Happy, happy second birthday to our wild little blonde banshee!
Many thanks to our photographer friend, Jerry Hsieh, for capturing this little man's essence.

Hunter is two years old!  This is an exciting milestone; I feel like two is the transition into solid toddler territory, no longer a a baby.  In fact, when Harper turned two, Hunter had already been alive for two months!  How the time flies.

We had Hunter's two-year check up at the doctor this morning.  He weighed in at 36 lbs. and measured 39 inches long; this puts him in the 100th percentile for height and the 99th percentile for weight.  Our pediatrician informed me that, on a curve, Hunter is the size of an average 3 1.2 year old.  Of course, Dallin and I were not surprised since Hunter has towered over our friends' children forever basically, including those who are nearly twice his age.  He did a great job at the doctor's office, showing off his extensive vocabulary and hand/eye coordination.  For a two year old, this little man has a LOT of words and puts together sentences.  He also loves imaginative play, pretending his drawings are something else and acting things out with toys.  He didn't have to get any shots this time (whew!), but he had to have his blood drawn to test for lead and other things, which is almost worse than shots as far as I'm concerned.  Seated on my lap with his concerned big sister by his side, though, he was a champ.  And his blood work came back normal, which is doubly great.

We tried to incorporate as much celebration into Hunter's birthday as possible because birthdays are just so much fun!  In the morning, we had cinnamon rolls, which are our favorite Sunday breakfast tradition, but we made them special by adding sprinkles and a "2" candle for him to blow out!  Then he tried to eat it, of course.  Silly monkey. 

Curious Hunter's birthday invitation!
Handmade by the Mama in the Yellow Hat

We had a family party later in the day, after church.  It was Curious George themed because Curious George is basically Hunter in monkey form, always curious, occasionally mischievous--sometimes intentionally and sometimes not.  He certainly keeps us hopping.  The party turned out so well!    We maintained our Curious George theme throughout, with vintage George paraphernalia thanks to Hunter's Uncle Ben (who was quite the little monkey himself when he was Hunter's age); "yellow hat" plate/cup combos; banana bread party favors; and George cupcakes from our very favorite, Georgetown Cupcake; and our friends and family signed a copy of Curious George and the Birthday Surprise for Hunter so that he can look back on all the birthday love as he grows up!  Of course, we also had a big number "2" on the wall, with all of our favorite photos of Hunter from the past year.  He had so much fun, and I think we all did too.  Oh how we love our little birthday boy!

Banana Bread Party Favors

Later that week, we continued Hunter's birthday celebration at school!  I picked up Harper early from her school so that we could both go to see our Payson Playmates friends and have cupcakes in honor of our favorite two year-old!  Becca and Nicole got the fixings for DIY ice cream cupcakes, which were a big hit with the birthday boy.  We gave our school friends copies of Curious George and the Birthday Surprise as party favors too.  We had so much fun that it was hard to leave!

Harper and Ian, reading Curious George and the Birthday Surprise with Nicole

Group hugs were a must before we could say goodbye:
Hunter, Ian, and Harper all piled onto Nicole!

I think Hunter had the best birthday week a little boy could have asked for, surrounded by so much love. Happiest birthday to our little man!