Brayden’s 2nd Birthday Bash

Splash pools, bubble machines, balloons and even Kraft mac n’ cheese— little b turned two in grand toddler style.

The timing worked out perfectly this year so we were able to have Brayden’s party on the actual day of his birthday, September 1. He woke up bright and early to a new Thomas the Train table and chair set from me and special birthday pancakes.





Later in the morning, Brayden, Daddy, Nana, Grandma Karen, Uncle Mark (who had just flown in from Hawaii!) and I decorated the clubhouse for the afternoon’s Elmo and Sesame Street themed party. From the street to the building’s entrance to inside the party room, we were totally Elmo-d.





At 3p, our guests arrived and the fun began! There were splash pools, bubble toys, a play tent and ball pit (Nana and Grampa’s gift from Easter of this year fit in perfectly) and lots of grass to run around in for all the kids.







Brayden was such a lucky boy to celebrate with so many family and friends. All of his immediate family was there (except for Aunty Heather and Uncle Jake) and many other family friends and daycare classmates. But, at two years old, he didn’t quite realize that everyone was there for him…until it was cake time. The minute everyone started singing to him, Brayden lit up brighter than the candle on his cake! He was so excited to hear his favorite song (as documented in this post) being sung to him. And then when it came time to blow out the candle, Brayden surprised us all by actually doing it on his own!





Next up was present time. Brayden is an incredibly blessed boy to have received such thoughtful and special gifts from guests at the party and family from Connecticut who sent presents in for the big day. Although every gift Brayden received was very appreciated, this video captures some special family gifts.

For easy reference, here’s a timing list so you can hop to the segment you’d like to see:

00:00 – Singing Happy Birthday with the Elmo cake
00:50 – Uncle Ryan and Abby’s gift
1:57 – Aunty Heather and Uncle Jake’s gift
3:12 – Mommy’s gifts
3:58 – Aunty Liz, Uncle Roger, Greg and Matt’s gift
5:17 – Grandma Karen’s gift
6:35 – Uncle Mark’s gift
7:55 – Passing out favor bags to our little guests

Brayden was in birthday ecstasy at this point. It was such an amazing experience for him.



You may have noticed that there wasn’t a time called out for when Brayden “opened” the gift from my mom and dad. That’s because the Thomas the Train tricycle they got him was immediately claimed by Brayden the absolute second he saw it, and he rode around on it (pushing with his feet; he doesn’t yet know how to pedal) for most of the party. To say he loved it would be an understatement. He ate his birthday cake from it and even opened most of his presents while sitting on it.





It was such a great time, and we hope everyone had as good of a time as we did. Brayden’s good time continued as he had gifts at home from Grandmaman Pare, Rizuttos and Onases and even more presents were delivered in the coming days from the Marchs and Serranos that he opened later.



We are so grateful for the time everyone put into attending the party, and for those who helped decorate and set up beforehand. Special cooking kudos go out to my mother and brother. The three of us cooked all four items (meatballs, ravioli, mac n’ cheese and chicken nuggets) in less than a half hour so we could roll everything out hot and fresh right as the guests arrived. It was some serious military precision-style cooking.

Thank you so much to everyone to attended or thought of Brayden that day. We worked on thank you notes today, and they will be in the mail very soon!