Happy Birthday!

Elliot is officially two! My family came into town from Connecticut yesterday to help us celebrate.

Highlights included:

1. The totally amazing Lightning McQueen cake Jill decorated for him. Ka-chow!
2. Elliot's dinner of hot dog and eggo waffles--eaten while watching Cars (because on your birthday you get to do what you want!)
3. The Central Park Zoo
4. 80 degree weather
5. Elliot being afraid to blow out his candle (maybe I've emphasized the danger of 'hot' too much?) and Uncle Josh stepping in to save the situation.
6. Elliot eating so many "E" sugar cookies that he got indigestion.
7. Getting to see Aunt Tamarra who is just back from a semester in Isreal.

Good Weather = Happy Boy

Picture from Chris and Elliot's outing to Sheep's Meadow in Central Park last week.

And to think, this time last year he was afraid of grass.

Elliot Hearts McDonalds

I have a confession: we are patrons of McDonalds. Frequent patrons. So frequent, in fact, Elliot starts asking for fries every time he sees those golden arches. So frequent, half of the toys in his "guys" toy basket are happy meal toys. So frequent, that on a rainy day when we're tired of being stuck in our house, this is what we do:

Thank goodness for chicken nuggets.

Edward or Jacob?

I should preface this post by saying that I have what I consider to be a healthy relationship to the Twilight novels. Translated: I am perfectly aware that they are cheesy, that they overuse the verb "smolder", and that Bella is annoying--but I love them anyway.

And so does Jill. Hence, the Twilight-themed birthday party. Highlights included werewolf cupcakes, blood beverages, and a huh-larious dramatic reading by Frank, Jared and Chris (sidenote: you don't know how truly bad the writing in these books is until you read one out loud).

Since the werewolf cupcakes looked a bit better than they tasted, I also made Georgetown Cupcake's chocolate ganache cupcakes. Heather, if you are reading this, I have to disagree with you. Those cupcakes are good, but Magnolia's are most definitely better.

Pasta with Sauce

His comment right after this picture? "No bath (or 'baf' as we call it in our house). Okay, Mommy? Okay?"

And, of course, I shrugged and said, "okay."

Brooklyn Botantical Gardens

Since Jill and Oscar are leaving New York soon (despite much whining on my part), we're working hard to get through Jill's list of things to do before she goes. And since we had a day of beautiful weather that coincided with the free day at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, that's where we headed. It was like Elliot's dream land -- tons of space to run around and a koi pond with fish the size of his arm.

Also, I should admit that I stole all of these pictures from Jill's blog. Our camera has been on the fritz lately. I hope you don't mind, Jill!