Happy 2nd birthday, Toby!

Today is Toby's second birthday!!! Hurray!!! (I cannot believe this happened two years ago, it feels like yesterday.) To celebrate, we threw a birthday picnic for him last Sunday. Here are some photos, below, if you'd like to see....

We had the picnic on a big meadow facing the Hudson River. We spread out blankets, ordered pizzas and stacked strawberries on popsicle sticks (my mom's idea!). It was low-key and really fun.
My mom was visiting from Michigan and my sister and her husband were in town from San Francisco. It was awesome to have them there. (Note my sister's cute newly dyed red hair!)
My mom always had a rule of thumb that the number of guests at a child's birthday party should be the same as the child's age. So, for example, you'd invite one friend to your child's first birthday, and two friends to your child's second birthday, and three friends to your child's third birthday. It's a handy formula, don't you think? However, we totally ignored it and invited like fifty people. :)
Doesn't Alex look like he's standing in front of that Seurat painting?
My brother was an instant hero with the little dudes when he figured out how to fill up water balloons.
Lesson learned: You'd can't take a posed family photo with a 2-year-old.
It was such a sweet, relaxed afternoon.
Toby partied hard! At the very end, he was still going strong, and my brother scooped him up and ran with him on his shoulders. Toby insisted on doing it a million times, and you can see how exhausted my brother was getting, but he kept going. What a champ, Uncle Nick! It basically made Toby's life.
Oh, Toby. "Sometimes," said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." xoxo

P.S. Toby's first birthday party, and photos from the day he was born (he was so tiny).

(Thanks to my brother-in-law Paul for these photos, as well as Ashley and Aron. My sister is wearing this dolman-sleeved tee, which was so pretty.)