Mason's 2nd Birthday and his Baseball Themed Party!

TWO! Two years old?! How is that possible? Exactly 2 years ago at 11:35 am, sweet Mason joined our family! In some ways, it seems like he was just born yesterday, but in other ways it feels like he has always been here. My heart holds a lot of love for this little guy. He is such a little ham with a big personality. He can be stubborn and strong willed, but oh so loving. He is smart, curious and independent, yet cautious. He is a guy's guy and loves everything 'boy.' He is into dinosaurs, trains, Spider-Man, Toy Story, trucks, baseball, sports - all the typical boy stuff....you name it, he is into it! Mason adores his big sister Leah and it melts my heart watching them together (most of the time - lol). He is a talker and can ramble on all day. He has a huge vocabulary and will repeat almost everything. I love his big hugs and the way he scrunches his nose and pushes out his lips for a big kiss! Happy 2nd Birthday Mason! Mom is so proud of you and I have a special place in my heart for my sweet little guy. I hope all of your wishes come true and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us this year!

This past Saturday, we had Mason's 2nd Birthday party! Mason loves baseball, so I ran with the "Baseball" theme for his party! When we woke up on Saturday morning it was POURING rain and storming. I was stressing! The plan was to be outside for the party (and grill out) and the weather was not cooperating! The past several weekends have been great (weather-wise), so I was disappointed when there was so much gloom and doom outside! Luckily, as the day went on it cleared up. God must have listened to my prayers. It was clear for the entire duration of the party. It wasn't a perfect day, but there was no rain and that is all that mattered to me! Around 3:00 pm some of our family and friends joined us to celebrate Mason's special day!

This year has been busy, busy busy! As usual, I relied on Pinterest and Etsy to help with the party planning preparation!

Invitations came from Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/paigesimple

Mason's birthday shirt also came from Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/PricelessKids 

When I started the planning, I knew I wanted to create a ball park concession stand. I found lots of cute ideas on Pinterest and tried to recreate some of the things I found!

 Ball Park Concessions - Nacho Bar, Pretzels, Popcorn, Baby Ruth Candy Bars, Big League Chew Gum, Peanuts and Cracker Jacks!

 A DIY project - bought some foam boards and painted baseball stitching

The Concession Stand! On Etsy, I found a printable baseball alphabet banner that came with all of the letters of the alphabet. I could print out what I needed and create as many banners as I wanted! I really liked that idea: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AlphaBanner 

Here are some of the other banners I created with the letters:

 The Dug Out

 Mason is 2!

 Play Ball!

Happy Birthday Mason!

I also had lots of 'baseball' decorations all throughout the house! I ordered a bucket of baseballs off of Amazon. It came in handy for decorations, but now Mason has lots of balls to practice catching and hitting!

 Baseball sign from shindigz.com

Baseballs, baseball cutouts, and baseball balloons

We also had to have some baseball themed desserts too! We had cake, cupcakes, baseball cookies, ice cream in Cub's baseball helmets and chocolate pretzel buttons. Yum!!

Cake from Walmart (I was surprised how great of a job they did with the cake and it only set me back $15)

Cupcake Toppers - from Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/LetsPartyDecorations

Baseball Cookies - Made by yours truly - lol

Cubs Baseball Helmet bowls - Amazon.com

My little cookie helper

We also had to have draft beer, just like at the ball park! It's been a long time since I've gotten a keg. Ha! For dinner, we grilled out and had burgers, brats and hot dogs. I made a BLT salad, fruit salad, potato salad, coleslaw and mostacolli. We have lots left over (including a ton of beer) - who wants to come over?!?!

 My niece liked helping the adults work the keg!

 She did have a good pour! :)

Cubs Cups!

Of course, I had to send the kids home with some goodies bags too filled with Gatorade, Cracker Jacks, Baby Ruth Candy Bars, Big League Chew Gum, Baseballs, Sunglasses, Notepads, and Baseball Paddle Ball!

I know Mason doesn't care about any of the details of the party, but I sure have fun pulling the theme together. Hopefully one day he'll look back and appreciate it. Ha! Most importantly, I hope my little man had a very special day with all of the people that love him!

Here are some other fun pictures from his big day!

 Ready to celebrate being '2'

 The party is not complete without a bounce house

 Leah had fun celebrating her 'baby' brother

 Brother and Sister Love

 The birthday boy!

 Teagan and Mason

 Auntie Amy and the birthday boy

 Melissa and Amy

 Me and my sweet boy - this is the ONLY pic I got of me and him together. Boo. We didn't do any family pictures either....too busy running around.

 Someone is tired from running around

 Baby Bella going for a ride

 Fun with friends

 Leah and Baby Ev

 Cousin Damian

 Aunt Diane and Cousin Michelle

 Mase and his best bud

 Mase ready for everyone to sing to him

 I hope all of your wishes come true!!!

 They crack me up - they have a special little bond

 Multi-tasking

 Dessert overload

 Kenadie playing bags

 Having a good time!

 Uncle Jeff and Mason (his mini-me)

Leah and cousin Bella

The birthday fun continued even after the party. On Sunday, we went out to Woodfield to Rain Forest Cafe for a special birthday dinner. Mason had a great time. He really enjoyed the atmosphere and all of the 'animals.' He got a special birthday cupcake too! After dinner, we went to Build-a-Bear for the first time. Mason got a teenage mutant ninja turtle (and Leah got a My Little Pony that she named Emily). It was fun!

Happy Birthday Mason!!! Enjoy being TWO!! I can't believe this was you two short years ago!

Mason's 1st Birthday - Down on the Farm Party

Introducing: Mason James Held