No Longer "Free"

My baby turned 2 last week.

We made one last "free" trip to see family in Arizona just days before. Pictures to come.

We kept it simple, might as well while they are so young and easy, right?

We started with the traditional birthday donut for breakfast.

And the delicious (I am totally addicted) Papa Murphy's Large $5 favorite half cheese/half pepperoni and tomato pizza for dinner.

After dinner, we had a few families over for cake and ice cream.

My very first attempt at a cake.

The inspiration for the cake came from here. Thanks, Becky! I used her homemade cake and frosting recipes and they were amazing!  I ran out of time or else I would've made alot more dirt to make it a construction hill (like hers) not cliff (like mine). Wal-mart also didn't have any of the trucks I was looking for. Luckily, some friends came to the rescue with the above ones. It wasn't perfect but to Cian, it was awesome so I'll take it. P.S. Chocolate rocks were a hit and SO yummy.

I'm still in shock how much he enjoyed 16 people singing to him.

Loving the attention.

Back longer than I want to admit, for my 22nd birthday, I was over 9 months pregnant with Brycen and my sweet husband thought it would be super brilliant to light my cake with 22 trick candles--(hahaha...not!). As a result, we still stumble across them today in our birthday bag. I thought for sure the two on Cian's cake were normal.

....but they weren't. Big brother insisted he help on the 3 and 4th round of the candles re-lighting. After all said and done, the cake ended up rather moist. Baha!

His gifts included rain boots (he LOVES splashing in puddles) and a "Thomas the train" backpack. Both deals found 2nd hand--a total $3.50.

 A sucker from friends made the day complete.

Birthday boy with his personal birthday trainer. "Now, let me demonstrate how you open gifts..." (does it for him). Oh how I love this age!

The Country.

So, my camera broke back in August. Sad day. I blame that very fact, for not blogging more. That and Mister Cian is refusing to nap.

If I happen to be with Bryce, we get to use his phone for our camera. Here we are doing our Indiana Fall tradition to Exploration Acres--only the biggest corn maze in Northwest Indiana!

The free wagons to use are awesome.

Yup, we are those parents. Diaper checks in public? Of course. Not sure if this beats the nose to the diaper check or not.

Making sure he got all the ducks.

I am always asking to use his phone.

To capture these.

My several attempts to get him to look at the camera.

He is such a people-watcher.

My favorite picture of the night. These adorable tire swings (new this year!) were his favorite!

The hay ride to the maze.

Isn't the day just perfect??

Brycen taking the lead. We had a lot of rain this year, the corn got huge! Last year, was a drought and we could see over the corn to find each number (lame!) It's amazing how much 'stuff' I need to bring to be prepared. Once the sun goes down, it gets chilly. And water, is ALWAYS a necessity. Ever since my delivery with Brycen....I never want to feel that thirsty again! And I'm finding, Brycen is the exact same way.

There were 25 numbers to find throughout the different mazes. They include coupons from participating businesses. It's pretty fun.  Hopefully this picture can finally get me to fix my slouch...

His awesome, "cheese!"

Indiana is beautiful! Not mountains, but still stunning.

There was a bridge connecting two mazes and for what I'm sure is a landmark for those that get severely lost.

I only include this one for the cute boys.

And this one for me.To get it all in one picture? Baha!

The boys were loving it so much, Bryce and I took turns going to get the three number punches we needed in the connecting maze. We carried a fallen corn stalk with us so the boys could track where we were in the maze while they watched from the bridge. I wished I had gotten a picture but Bryce took his phone with him. You will have to take the above picture and insert a moving corn stalk three feet higher than the rest. The boys loved it! Little Cian, "Go Daddy! Go!" He then giggled so hard when he could see Daddy racing back.

The bridge was one of my favorite parts of the evening! Isn't the sight gorgeous?! The true country side. I LOVE it!

My boys.

Necks are overrated.

The camera phone starts to not do as well the more dark it gets, even with a flash.

It was our 5th year coming. Last year, Grandma and Grandpa Walker accompanied us (http://brycencw.blogspot.com/2012/09/t-i-m-e.html) and the three years before are summed up here: http://brycencw.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-indiana-tradition.html

We LOVE it!!