Making Do For A Celebration Of Two

Powdered Sugar has been scarce since the Spring. When we've tried to make our own in the past but it just hasn't quite worked out, the texture was all wrong. I was down to my last bag and a half with 8 dozen sugar cookies to frost and birthdays this week and next I had to get creative.

The result was NOT pretty and frankly NOT that tasty either. Here's Graham's Elmo birthday cake with half whip cream frosting and the last, very last of the butter cream frosting for the mouth. Now I've made some ugly cakes in the past but this might be my worst outcome yet.

So glad he's two and didn't really care.

We did a short photo session in the park before the sun went down.

He actually posed for this one.

Graham really is and always has been a sweet addition to our family.

He thinks he's as big and every bit as capable as his brothers. At times this is frustrating both for us as parents and Graham who just isn't allowed to play outside, or use the bathroom, or get near the computer without supervision. You are teaching the boys that some doors MUST remain closed or big messes occur.

He can speak in complete sentences and when he doesn't know the words he can generally get his point across well. He LOVES the Wii and asks to play it as soon as he gets up from his nap. I wonder how long it will take for him to clue in that we haven't put any batteries in his Wii remote and isn't really playing. Because of he and his brothers obsession with the game it has now been limited to weekends only. The weather is just too nice now to have them sitting on the couch.

He adores the Thomas Train Table and Accessories he inherited from his brothers. He likes light sabers, wooden puzzles, and the song: "The Wheels On The Bus." For FHE the other night it was his turn to pick the song and when we started singing one of the Primary songs and he started SCREAMING, "No! No! Bus! Bus!" So we sang that one instead.

By the 3rd boy it's hard to come up with gifts that haven't already been purchased in one form or another.

We did find something new, after a bit of searching, appropriate for warm weather play.

A water/sand play table with spinners and shovels and big MESSY fun. This ended up being a 3 bath day. I've decided once the sand is gone it will be a water only table. Wet I can handle but wet and sandy is just too much several times a day. The irony was not lost on us that we had to buy sand for this table when we live in the middle of the desert.

Graham we love you! You add such a special joy to our family. Your smiles and giggles and chubby kissable cheeks just melt our hearts. Your easy temperament make you so pleasant to be around. Your big brothers are so good to you. They love to help you at the park and keep an eye on you. They also like setting up train tracks, Legos, and blocks even though they know you will shortly destroy them.